A NEW Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery Stitch Technique ... Braided Lace

Well, maybe not that new. But new to some, so I'll make a little tute here.

These LadyFlowers are "Becky, Bertha and Bubbles".

Becky, Bertha and Bubbles are all stitched with the same technique - a drizzle I have named "Braided Lace".  I have the instructions for these little LadyFlowers and almost 80 others in my book, My LadyFlowers by Rosalie Wakefield. Here's a picture:

I know, I know... *sigh*.  Sounds familiar.  I advertise and then I advertise some more. That's partly the reason for this blog, but the bigger reason is that I like to talk about Brazilian dimensional embroidery and am always willing to teach/share the things I've discovered. While I'm advertising, you can read more about the book, My LadyFlowers, on my website, here. 

All of the LadyFlower designs/patterns in the book will fit those little 2.5" frames, and are traceable patterns. However, you can tell from looking at the picture above that all you need are a dot for the drizzle and a spray of lazy daisy leaves and some beady or French knot curves and you'll have a design ready for your favorite wearable item or a crazy quilt, or a fabric postcard for a friend -- anywhere you can poke a needle!

I know you are more interested in learning about the Braided Lace Drizzle, so I'll tell you how to do it. I'll show you, too, with pictures as I write, since many of us are visual learners.  (And you can always drop me a note if you have questions).

You're all familiar with the basic drizzle, right? Thread your needle, come up through the fabric, unthread your needle, and start applying thread. Finish by re-threading the needle and going back down through the fabric and out. If you'd like to see a picture, please visit our BDEIG website. We have a "getting started" page that contains all of the basic stitches with diagrams and directions.  Here.  (Look around while you're here - there are freebie designs and lots of other good information, including all of the new Seminar 2013 classes, plus you can join the guild and learn even more!!!)

Back to work.

Braided Lace

You need:

      Two darners

      Two strands Lola (100% rayon Z-twist floss, from EdMar Co.), or your favorite floss weight.

         Needle Threader

      Pincushion for Drizzles

 

Thread a darner with Lola. (Repeat for the second strand.) Knot each end of a Lola strand separately (or just center one strand of Lola so that the fabric bite is approximately 1/8").

 

Bring the threaded needles up through the fabric, unthread needles. Re-insert the 2 darners, point down, about 1/8" apart into the pincushion. Like this:



You'll double cast on 18 times (this is 36 cast-on loops total, 18 alternating, on each side). Work as follows:

      With your left hand, cast on over the right needle.
      With your right hand, cast on over the left needle. 
          (The floss will cross in front) Like this (I did this a couple of times using different floss colors ...):

After you have cast on 18 sets of loops (or 36 times, total), your Braided Lace Drizzle will look like this:

See that pretty braided center vein? By the way (if you are "arranging" colors, the loops on the left side of the drizzle will be your flower "petals"). The right-size loops are 'gathered' into a tight center -- you'll see what I mean in a minute.

 

OK. After those loops are all on your needles, you will thread ONE needle:

     Thread the left-side floss into the right needle.

     Thread the right-side floss into the right needle.  Like this:

or this:

Now ...and very carefully so nothing pulls out, push that threaded right-side needle a little deeper into your pincushion:

...and always holding your floss loops against the needle (so nothing loosens or gets all wonky), carefully pull out that left-side (unthreaded) needle.  Now you have only one needle, the right-side threaded needle. See?

(I went and neatened up my fingernails as soon as I got finished here ...)

 

OK.  Finish the drizzle by pushing the right-side needle down through the fabric a little deeper into the pincushion. Remember to slip a pin or needle into the outer two floss loops so they don't twist and kink and knot for you (it's really hard to undo these with only one free hand...). Here's what I always do:

Oh, oops. Don't let these colors confuse you. I stitched this flower twice - you'll see in a minute. On the above picture, the red loops were cast onto the left-side needle. This is just a better picture, trying to show you about the pin through the two outer loops to prevent kinks and knots. On the earlier photo, the blue loops were on the left-side needle.  OK?  I guess I'd better show you:

As an interesting side note, the Braided Lace technique is a "reversible" stitch. I'll talk more about that in a minute. First, let's finish the drizzle.

 

          Pull the drizzle down snug to the fabric and the needle all the way through to the backside.

          Slip one of the strands of Lola out of the needle eye (you can use this long floss tail to knot off by hand later if you want).

 

With the one remaining threaded needle, come back up through the fabric at the base of the drizzle, or right next to where you started. Pull this threaded needle all the way through. With the tip of this threaded needle, guide the outer drizzle loop/edge/center braid of the drizzle to around in a circle to meet the beginning to the end and pull down snug. You'll have what looks like a circular flower with the blue loops forming the flower 'petals' (red loops in the flower pictured just below).

Finishing:

And done:

By the way, if you don't like your "joins", you can tuck them beneath another flower, or you can use any green, come up from the center and make 2-3 long bullions or cast-on stitches to give an impression of calyxes.

 

As a "technical" note, when you are using Z-twist floss and double cast-ing on, you'll notice the right-side loops "untwist" slightly, or flatten out (the reason why Z-twist bullions are wrapped clockwise).  [Perle Cotton is S-twist, by the way, and for those who do not have access to Z-twist floss, just reverse the procedure.] 

          I pretty much speak in "Z-twist". When these right-side loops 'flatten out', you'll see that they sort of tuck into each other and make a nice, smooth center for your flower.

That's it:  Braided Lace!

     

Braided Lace looks different on one side than the other. When I cast on with the blue loops on the left needle, these will make 'petals'. If I cast red loops over the left needle, I'll have red 'petals'. As I mentioned earlier, this stitch is reversible and you can flip the drizzle so the 'petals' will tuck under, or you can position the drizzle so that the 'petals' pop up.

Pretty both ways! See:

At the top of this post, you'll see that Bertha, Becky and Bubbles are kicking up their skirts and enjoying themselves. 

 

If you prefer the more demure LadyFlower "Garnet", let those left-side loops rest against the fabric, or even tuck them under with your needle. The picture below introduces you to the LadyFlowers, "Amber, Opal and Garnet":

I have lots of more advanced techniques in my book, My LadyFlowers, if you have already learned the basic Brazilian embroidery stitches and are feeling adventurous.

 

Always remember, too, that if you are trying to follow my instructions and something different comes out of your needle, just give it a name and continue - you have created a new design! 

 

Be sure to drop me a note, either in the comments below or by email, if you have any questions at all. I really LOVE Brazilian dimensional embroidery. Can you tell?

Rosalie

 

Rosey Posey - Stitch My New Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery Flower

This is my Rosey Posey.

I'm going to share my instructions for this original Millefiori flower in a photo tutorial so you can stitch it, too. This design is for your own personal use; if you'd like to share it with a class, please direct them here to my blog (click the link), and ask them to make their own "save" or copy as explained below.

Before I start, I'm not sure how much space Blogger will let me have for each post, so I might need to make this in two separate posts. We shall see. I'm also going to share a handy hint for those who print these blog pages out and don't really want to use up 50 sheets of perfectly good paper. 

Technical Assistance:
Here's what to do. Open a Word file on your computer. Select and Copy this blog entry and paste it into the Word file. Next, reset your Word page layout to "narrow margins" and "two columns" with just 1-2 points between. This entire entry will shift into 2 columns and many fewer pages. Squish the corners of the overly large pictures to fit the column.  Go to "Line and Paragraph Spacing" and (while the entire post is on the page/s) adjust everything to "single space" on the "Line Spacing" choice. I'm typing here in the Verdana font, but you can reset your font to 10 or 11-pt Arial if you like. If you didn't have an iPad or reader to transfer this tutorial to, you will have just a few pages that you can print and take with you.

Well, now -- on to the fun!
         I've stitched this flower with 2 colors Iris (EdMar's lovely Z-twist  embroidery floss), a pale shaded pink and a bright fuchsia pink.

You'll need:   Seed beads (you only need 7), size 10/o or 8/o - or even 6/o (the largest, if you are making a Rosey Posey with Nova)
                   You can substitute pearls or crystals if you like, 3mm or 4mm
                   You could even stitch a tiny button in the very center (a little blue birdie button like it is sitting on a nest??)
     Also:       Rayon floss in two colors, or you can try a fiber such as Candlelight or any of the Rainbow Gallery threads.
                   Your #1 milliners needle (the Lola needle)

Any floss weight will work for my Rosey Posey. Every stitch is a 12-loop cast-on.
When I used Iris, I selected size 10/o seed beads (the craft store version of size 11/o seed beads - I wanted a silver-lined bead for sparkle). Try size 8/o seed beads if you are using Lola.

You can stitch this flower on any wearable item or a tote bag or anything that doesn't move. All you need to draw is one little triangle with its sides just under 1/4" or 5mm.

Stitch a bead in the center of this triangle (or you can make a 3-wrap French knot). TIP: If you attach beads with a backstitch, they will lie on their sides.

(If any of the typing on these pictures doesn't show up, just double-click the image and you'll have a larger version.) The printed image on the right is from my first set of instructions for this flower. I gave it as a freebie in the goody bags for those who attended our BDEIG 2012 Seminar.

I have bead soup! See . . .

Leftover beads in a box, all sorts and sizes. Whenever I need just a few, I'll sort through and find what I need. If I collect them on a straight pin, I can pin the pin to my embroidery and the beads will stay put.

Here is a triangle I've drawn on my crazy quilt (made with Moda fabrics in soft blue, lavender, pink)

On each of the triangle sides, make a 12-loop cast-on stitch.

Keep the Needle Path (the path of the needle through the fabric) or (a  c-d  b) in a straight line with the c-d part of the stitch in the center to "widen" the petal.

From the What-Works-For-Me Department -- A TIP:

There is a definite right and wrong side to cast-on stitches made with Z-twist rayon floss. The following method keeps the loops nicely twisted. Hold the needle with your right hand; cast floss over the tip of the needle with your left hand. When all loops are on the needle, tuck the floss behind the needle; hold the stitches gently on the needle and pull through. Keep a gentle hold on the loops until the stitch is settled in place. This prevents twists and kinks in your stitch. Check the “Basic Stitches” page at the BDEIG website to learn another method of making cast-on stitches. –and then do whatever works for you (like making your own department!).

 

When the first 3 petals/triangle is finished, change colors (the change of color floss makes this flower easier to learn the first time). Add a 12-loop cast-on stitch across each point of the triangle. Add another bead just in front of each of these stitches.

The darker-color cast-ons are stitched at each point of the first triangle:



Three beads are stitched just behind each of these darker pink stitches:

Like this:

Next, close those triangles with 2, 12-loop cast-on stitches on each side. You now have 4 triangles, total, with a bead in the center of each. Easy as pie, right?? A picture or two will help:

 

See how nicely it works!

Here's a diagram to help (visual aids are always nice):

You have just completed diagram 1 above (the first four triangles). Now you will add three more triangles around. Two sides of the next triangles and a bead are shown in the center diagram above.

 

I have already explained that it works for me to cast-onto the needle, place floss behind, and settle it in place for a kinkless-cast-on stitch.

Back to our embroidery ....

     We now have the three triangles of the second round (around the center triangle) finished:

We're going to add three more triangles and three more beads to complete the main part of the Rosey Posey. The first two sides of each of these "Round 3" triangles will be placed back-to-back with those of Round 2. I found it helpful if I drew short lines for those first two sides. Refer to the center diagram above. A picture is even more helpful; a larger picture, even more so:

 

See those blue lines? Each will hold 12-loop cast-on stitches for Triangles #5, 6 and 7.

The photo above is self-explanatory. The photo below shows that you now have  one center triangle in a light color, and 6 triangles around -- a total of 7 triangles, each made with 3, 12-loop cast-on stitches.

Finish your Rosey Posey with a little doily. Two rows of running or continuous cast-on stitches around will snug the petals together and keep your flower standing upright. Here's a diagram of what we'll do:

Change to your lighter color (the flower-center color) - or use green if you'd like your Rosey Posey resting on a bed of leaves.

Check that diagram just above for A Clue to What We Will Do.  Bring your needle up in front (or above) any triangle point (#1), slip the needle beneath triangle point #2 (work clockwise) and back under triangle point #1. Cast on 12. 

      Without going down and out, slip your needle beneath triangle #3 and back under #2 and cast on 12 times again. Repeat around. You'll have 6 "slightly stretched out" cast-on stitches around,

 

Add a second round of 15-loop running cast-on stitches, this time working through the loops of the previous row.  Like this:

See?

And now, your Rosey Posey is finished! Wasn't that fun?

Here's a picture:

And here are a few more ideas. I stitched this Rosey Posey with Lola  (on black fabric:

For this Rosey Posey I used an overdyed color. I think I used Nova weight:

This picture was somewhere on the Internet and it was my inspiration for my Rosey Posey adapted to Brazilian dimensional embroidery:



I hope you will enjoy stitching this new Millefiori flower, the Rosey Posey, by me (Rosalie Wakefield), and will visit my website to see more of my B.E. designs.

 

As I mentioned earlier, this design is for your own personal use. You are welcome to share this design and link to my blog with your classes and friends, but please don't charge them. Remember, I'm not charging you for this freebie. I know that you all know and respect that this is a copyrighted design, but you are welcome to use it on anything you'd like to stitch for yourself.

 

Let me know if you have any questions. I'll answer any comments or you can email me here. Thank you for reading here, and have fun!

 Rosalie                    

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edelweiss - A Free Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery Design for You

Each month during the coming year, the Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery International Guild, Inc. (BDEIG) is featuring a free design (posted for one month only and then gone forever). Up now is my "Edelweiss" design. You'll find a pdf file to download here.

I wrote about this design here on this blog a few weeks ago. You can read about how I finished the embroidery with the picture tutorial here. I stitched the design on medium blue poplin, but since it's such a simple traceable pattern, you could transfer it to any wearable item or onto fancy fabric or the fabric of your choice for a crazy quilt motif.

I hope you enjoy the design, and while you are visiting the BDEIG website, be sure to stick around a while and look at all of the other interesting pages.