Lazy Satin Daisy - An Interesting Dimensional Embroidery Technique

If you are looking for a small space-filler for a crazy quit or a pocket or a wearable, this stitch and flower are a lot of fun to embroider. I named the design "Fairy Duster".

I called it the Lazy Satin Daisy, and have described it in some of my Brazilian dimensional embroidery books, My Book of Stitches and Take A Stitch by me (Rosalie Wakefield).

It's easy to do -- made with offset lazy daisy stitches, their starting points close together, the "tacked end" slightly farther apart. It makes a pretty flower petal, too. 

The leaves are completed with satin stitch, and those tendrils have been renamed from "Travelin' Tendril" to "Lazy Tendrils", also in my books. If you look closely, you'll see that they are also lazy daisy stitches with one side of the stitch much longer than the other, either couched or stitched with Brazilian outline stitch (floss held below the line of stitching) -- fun to do!

Rosalie

Frame Your Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery: Make A Little Art Quilt

In my last post I wrote about one of my Millefiori designs, #8005 "Wind Chimes". I decided to "frame" or finish it as a little art quilt. Here's a picture:

I found it was a good idea to select fabrics first and coordinate them with my floss colors. This was particularly helpful when I stitched another Millefiori design (#993 "Field of Flowers") in one color only, EdMar's 100% rayon floss #227, Pale Sea Green.



That little quilt was finished with a fabric called "Fairy Frost" by Michael Miller. If you'd like to see detail photos, you can search through that Blog Archive in the right column here until you come to May 1, 2011 posts, or you can do a search for "art quilts".

 

There are lots of ways to finish our embroidery -- making small art quilts is just one idea. Of course, one of the best ways to share our Brazilian dimensional embroidery is to stitch or make them into wearable designs - vests, jackets, totes. It's a great way to share the work we love with others.

Rosalie

 

Reverse French Knot: A Stitch for Brazilian Dimensional (or any other) Embroidery

Here's a picture of a hollyhock I found blooming in my side yard a week or so ago. Isn't it pretty?  It has absolutely nothing to do with this post except that I think it's pretty.

Back in "The Olden Days" - yes, even when I did my first embroidery on those dish towels and dresser scarves my mother provided, I had SO much trouble with French knots which liked to disappear beneath the fabric.

Then I grew up and discovered Brazilian embroidery. I still had problem with disappearing French knots, but a fellow stitcher in one of my first B.E. classes patiently showed me her version of the French knot. I've done this ever since and haven't ever lost a knot, so I thought I'd share the technique with you.

I call it a "Reverse French Knot" (It reminds me of a colonial knot, worked upside down...).  Here's a picture:

And here's my explanation:

     Bring threaded needle up from fabric. Grasp the floss coming up from the fabric. Point needle toward the fabric, cross needle over the floss and "scoop" the floss around the needle 2-3 times. [A] (It's like stirring batter in a bowl.)

      Next, flip the tip of the wrapped needle up and over the floss [B] and point the needle down to the fabric and go through the fabric to finish the Reverse French Knot.

This "crossover" of the floss beneath the wraps will secure the stitch on top of the fabric.

This is how I have been happily making French knots for the past 20-plus years. I thought I should write the directions and add them to the "What Works For Me" notes I like to make. For those who have stitched my Millefiori design #8005 "Wind Chimes", you have already seen it. 

By the way, there is enough interest in this design that I am planning a small reprinting, and it should soon be available for you to stitch. If you'd like to pre-order your copy, just email me at link shown on this page. I'll save a copy for you.

I also published this stitch/technique in my latest book (Millefiori #8000 My Book of Stitches). In the index it is listed as a "Reverse Colonial Knot".  It's either colonial or French, but it works. Here's a picture of my book. People are calling it "The Pink Book". It is almost 300 pages of pure stitching excitement, and it's available at my www.Millefiori-BE.com website and is also available at www.Amazon.com:

 That's all for now.  Back to my embroidery . . .

Rosalie