Melitastitches4fun's Blog

Last month, Jacqui from New Jersey Needle Artists continued Tumbling Stripes by Marilyn Owen by going over Stripes 1-4 (working from the center out).

Stripe 1 in blue floss (DMC 797) worked fine with 3 strands of floss. Two strands looked skimpy with just enough speckles of white showing through to make me go to 3 strands. Apparently, coverage on 24 count isn’t that much different from 18 count.

Then, I thought I would use the darker blue floss shown (DMC 820) and the Petite Sparkle Rays in Stripe 2. The dark blue 820 looks a lot darker in the photo but sure didn’t when I stitched with 2 and 3 strands up against 797 (no photos). I tried both because 3 was way too heavy, and 2 was still heavy. Then, the Petite Sparkle Rays was way too wide for the stitch on Congress Cloth.

So, I pulled my old favorite Bijoux MMT437 Sapphire (same value) and decided to use 2 strands and go even thinner. And, the Petite Silk Lame Braid SP11 was thin enough to work. So, this stripe may not have the same color contrast as the original, but it definitely contrasts with Stripe 1. I was hopeful that it would work with Stripe 3, and it did.

For Stripe 3, the blue Silk Lame Braid was the right color but was too heavy (For 13 count). So, I pulled out 2 silk and 1 rayon fibers (the same as what Petite Silk Lame Braid comes as). I can’t remember the teacher who told us you can thin down Silk Lame Braid, but it works. I decided that combining them together would too, and it did. I wouldn’t recommend this for larger pieces, though. Also, since I had to repeat the first and third rows in the same DMC floss and Herringbone is worked left to right, I used half of the long floss on the top row while the rest of the thread was parked out of the way.

For the 4th stripe, I stayed with 3 strands of floss and my makeshift Petite Silk Lame Braid.

I’m ready for our next session tonight!

I see you put in the middle section that they say to do last but I don’t blame you – easier not to mess up the stripe. I also like your colors – reminds me of the Ukrainian flag colors. Looks great.

Comment by lpleyer March 20, 2024 @ 9:35 pm

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Yes, I did it because I don’t like basting. And, after hearing that the basting thread got in the way so much, I’m glad I didn’t do the basting. I hadn’t thought of the Ukrainian flag – I selected Yellow for Jackie (her talk about Yellow) – but I’m certainly happy to support Ukraine. Thanks Linda.

Comment by melitastitches4fun March 20, 2024 @ 9:45 pm

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I hate basting also !!! I did not baste when I did this project but found the large diagram great help. It’s a fun project and I can’t wait to do the jelly fish !! Yours looked wonderful.

Comment by lpleyer March 21, 2024 @ 8:32 am

Yes. Good diagrams. I’ve held off working on the Jelly fish until the chapter gets started.

Comment by melitastitches4fun March 21, 2024 @ 9:39 am