All fluffed up on a winter's day.
Not a typical Blue Jay stance
so I had to colour inside the lines to remind myself!
The background of my original photo was blurry blobs of white and green
so I put in snowballs!
A knotted blue feather stitch seemed appropriate.
And here's how it's done if you're interested
Think of the three points of a V.
Bring needle up through the top left point of that V
Take the needle down at the top right and up through the base of that V
making sure you hold the thread under the needle as it emerges.
and voilà first step done.
Now wrap the thread around your V once.
Make sure the needle travels under your V but over the trailing thread.
Oh, and don't take it through the fabric at this point.
Et Voilà a knot appears.
Then you start a new V to the right...
add a knot...
then go leftwards for the next one!
and so on and so forth.
Liked the look of this stitch so much
I thought you might enjoy trying it.
Let me know if this was of any interest...
or indeed of any use!
I smiled when I saw those little blue stitches on your cloth (and thank you for the great tutorial. I will try this new stitch).
ReplyDeleteBeautiful fluffed up little blue jay. We have beautiful little blue wrens here in Australia. One of my most favourite birds.
Love your sketch and the snow balls look wonderful.
Jacky xox
I haven't embroidered in too long but when I did this was one of my favorite stitches! You can cover a lot of territory with it pretty quickly.
ReplyDeleteLove the drawing as well!
oh yes, i like this. never thought of knotting that one before. that blue is a sensory delight here in brown Calgary:)
ReplyDeleteI like that stitch...it reminds me of making net. Your sketches...they make me want to draw more.
ReplyDeleteI joined TAST and lo and behold the first stitch is the feather stitch. Thanks for your demo. I love the knot adding great texture. Really, thank you!
ReplyDeleteOf course I love the bird and the series of drawings you have been posting.
Is your drawing a natural talent, have you taken classes. I think drawing IS a natural talent anyway that can only be enhanced with lessons.
Today, I am grateful for this post.
xx, Carol
Love this little guy!! Thanks for the instruction - I'd never heard of a knotted feather stitch - I'm going to print off these instructions!
ReplyDeletean excellent little tutorial, makes me want to stitch! (and the bluejay blue is gorgeous) xxoo, sus
ReplyDeleteI looked at your blue stitching on the cloth and thought how lovely it looked, and just like bird footprints in the snow. I wondered how you made it and then ! there was the demo. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteIt's a delightful stitch. I won't be at all surprised to find it suddenly popping up all over the internet!
ReplyDeleteYes, yes...thank you for the stitch demo. I think you should more since your work is so lovely. I too am doing the TAST and my thoughts were as Carol's. I'm going to have to try this. And thank you for the cretan stitch info too. indeed the blue bird prints in the snow. i can see how passionate you are about you art and how you see with your tools. I'm bookmarking and printing this for sure. Thank you so much for your sharing. yum
ReplyDeletejust did the fly stitch for TAST and your tutorial was a good refresher for me of the feather stitch. don't think i've ever done it with the knot. i will try it. thanks.
ReplyDeleteHe's lovely - and he goes so well with the stitch and the thread. Nice.
ReplyDeleteThat Blue Jay drawing is a beauty, Penny!
ReplyDeleteMust try those knotted stitches, thanks!
I love the Jay, Penny and this stitch is really nice. Just got my hoop upstaris and I will try it right now. Thanks for this.
ReplyDeleteYour drawings are exquisite and what can I say about your stitches, oh Queen of Stitches?
ReplyDeleteThank you! I like fly stitch a lot but haven't seen this variation before. I wouldn't have thought of knotting it like this.
ReplyDeleteI like how some of your knotted feather stitch is more random, apart from being in the row - it makes me imagine a story about the jay having stopped there and left tracks and wonder what she was doing. Thanks for the tutorial!
ReplyDeleteIt's a wonderful rendition of a blue jay. Thanks for sharing with us how you did some of the stitching on the piece.
ReplyDeleteexcellent instruction, you've inspired me to have a try later today. thankyou
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the tutorial. Well done and thanks.
ReplyDeleteSo enjoyed this post and just tried the stitch on my little chicken cloth and it worked fine. Thank you for this tutorial.
ReplyDeletepenny, i just love your knotted feather stitch...and specially in the blue and scattered randomly! the suggestion of the jay's prints in the snow is just perfect. thank you for the tutorial...i shall have to dream something up to give it a try!
ReplyDeleteGlad you want to try it! And thanks for your thoughts. One of my pleasures in life is to look through the many stitch dictionary type books I have and experiment.
ReplyDeleteThe feather stitch is one of my favourites and now, with the knotted one, you've given me something new to try. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I do love your bird sketches. Simply lovely!! Do your plans include developing them into a series of stitched pieces?
ReplyDeleteI've never thought of putting a knot in a feather stitch - great idea! It adds a little substance to the stitch.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the stitch demo.
ReplyDeleteA very nice result, the knot adds an interesting texture.I will try later.