Raised Lace Bullion - The NEW Name for this Brazilian Embroidery Stitch

Raised Lace Bullion

...because that's exactly what it is.

 

This is the stitch I shared in the last two blog entries. I named it "Spinal" something which sounded a little too medicinal for me - so I thought about it on the way home from the grocery store this afternoon.

 

And THEN I thought about other things I could do to have my way with it. Now I'm sharing with you, and I'd love to see what you can all think up. You've read the directions already, so I'll share another idea:

First I'll write about the cast-on stitches on each side of the bullion. You can see that the lighter color shows points A, B, and comes up at "C". A-B-D and the down-and-out position at "D" are all in a straight line with just a couple of threads between A-C and later with D-B. 

I've mentioned previously that while I'm casting on with my left hand, I'll hold the loops on the needle and pull them down to the needle approximately the thickness of my fingernail (this keeps the cast-on stitch from getting too tight).

          After placing the loops on the needle, I wrap the floss to the back and then hold everything onto the needle as I settle the stitch in place.

You can see from the picture above how this helps the cast-on stitch to stay nice and even. The picture shows that I'm starting to whip stitch under the carrying cord on both sides and over the bullion on top. As I was doing this, I thought that I could have even more dimension by adding a row of up and down detached buttonhole stitches along that darker-color center rib. I didn't do it, but I thought it.

Instead, I made a second cast-on stitch (15 loops this time) on each side of the first cast-on stitch, and then I added a row of detached buttonhole stitch. (I stitch with the needle pointed away from me - or 'up' - when I do this stitch.)

 

I'll add my usual disclaimer here. I write about what works for me. Everyone should do these stitches in the way that works best for them.



Only one side is shown. Cuthbert, my Norwegian Forest Cat, hopped up on my lap and wanted to admire my work.

I let him. (I'm a sucker for compliments, especially from a cat.) I did manage to snap a couple of photos of the finished idea, upside down and right side up:

OK, I agree. I looks a little like a hot dog on a bun needing only mustard. Cuthbert did wonder where it was, because he was getting hungry.

Rosalie

......and Cuthbert