A NEW Stitch for Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery

This is a Pistil Chick:

and this is an example of a brand new stitch for Brazilian dimensional embroidery that popped into my mind a while back.

I'm sort of late sharing this stitch with you because I was waiting for our BDEIG newsletter, The B.E. Wrap-Up, to be published. It now is. If you aren't already a guild member, click the link, scroll to the bottom of the page, fill out a membership app and send it in. There's a free education project in the August issue that explains more about the New Pistil Stitch, and includes a freebie traceable pattern.

Now I'll tell you all about the New Pistil Stitch.

Remember the pistil stitches we use in Brazilian embroidery to stitch the original Geron Daisy (shown above)? They are also called long-tailed French knots, knot-on-a-stalk and other occasional names That-Shall-Not-Be-Mentioned. (Yes, I read Harry Potter...), especially when you've taken your fabric bite, added the knot by wrapping the needle, and then going down and out?  ...and then to look at the finished stitch and see that it is loose and floppy and just not neat ...and you need to add a little tacking stitch like a bow-tie (or noose?) just under its chin?  Or you give it up and make a straight stitch and then add a French knot to finish?

Well, the NEW Pistil Stitch is MUCH easier.  The New Pistil Stitch begins by casting-on (not wrapping), and the needle comes up at the knot, not at the base of the pistil stitch. This will make a more secure long-tailed pistil stamen.
          This is my "Oopsy Daisy" made with all NEW Pistil Stitches:

Here's how:
>  Thread needle and knot floss.
>  Bring needle up where you want the knot of the pistil stitch to be [A].
>  Make a 1/2" fabric bite (or the length of your pistil). [A-B]
>  Bring the needle back up at [A] again and cast on with your left hand:

1 time with Lola, 2 times with Iris, 2-3 times with Glory. 

>  Wrap floss to the back side of the needle.

>  Pull needle through.

>  Sink the threaded needle into the fabric just to the right of the cast-on loop (the only place where you can), and if the pistil stem seems loose, just pull the "floss from fabric" toward you and the loops will slip down the stem a bit.

>  Pull needle through the fabric to back.

>  The Cast-on Pistil Stitch is finished!  Make more.

You can edge a leaf with New Pistil Stitches:

Whoaaa!  That's a BIG leaf!

     Well, just remember to come up on the outside edge to start your New Pistil Stitches.

Remember, the New Pistil Stitch is a cast-on pistil and is worked exactly opposite of the traditional pistil stitch, and it will make a more secure "at the fabric" long-tailed pistil stamen or petal.

Actually, I had so much fun that I was looking for places to use the New Pistil Stitch (Wait until I start with another infrequent stitch - the detached buttonhole!).  So I looked around for a flower with LOTS of stamens. I don't know where this stitch was back when we were all stitching the BDEIG Flower of the Year, the St. John's Wort:

I stitched this one but I used my Millefiori Knotted Turkey Stitch (different than the usual Turkey Work).

But I'd been there, done that.  Looked around for another stameniferous flower.  I found "Grandfather's Whiskers". Yes, it's a Cleome, and that's another name for this garden charmer.

And while the mood was hot, or the irons were in the fire, or the needle was in the fabric, I made another design -- little balloons decorated with the New Pistil Stitch, and little Baby Balloon Flowers growing nearby.

I printed these designs onto one fabric and am offering them for sale at my Millefiori website. (Look for #994 - Pocket Projects). These are three little 3" x 3" designs that work well on crazy quilts, wearable items and ...yes, even Pockets! 
          --and, of course, you all know how to embroider a pocket easily. Just undo the stitching, add the B.E. design, and stitch the pocket back in place on your shirt or Levi's (back side or knee patch). If you use a hoop, baste the pocket to a lightweight backing fabric.

Oh, yes -- one other thing.  That little Pistil Chick up there at the top?  Well, very soon I'm going to write about how I think up designs. Hopefully, some of our creative Brazilian embroidery stitchers will want to make their own. I'll tell you what I do and you can then do what you do. It will be fun, and it doesn't hurt a bit.
       If you look at that little Pistil Chick, you'll see that it's really just a rolled rose with a few modifications. I added my New Pistil Stitch for the little Pistil Flowers and made a pistil Mohawk hairdo just for fun.  It's not every day you see a chicken with a Mohawk.

The next time I write, I'm going to tell you about something interesting I discovered about the lazy daisy stitch.

And maybe if I wrote more often, these posts wouldn't be SO long.  But I hope you have fun trying my New Pistil Stitch.

Rosalie