Kusano Design, squares

Published on 26th November 2018

Now I am back to stitching by myself rather than trying to cover what is needed in class I've gone back to the advice we were given to stitch all repeats of a motif at once if possible.  But first, details of what I did in class and then what I've done since.

Teeny tiny squares - 1.4cm across to be exact. Stitch outline with 2F diagonal layer to fill it in.

Japanese embroidery, detail

I made some little measures in acetate to ensure the shape was square and the right size.  Even so I got the stitch transfer wrong on a couple, not so obvious with just the outline but once the silk went in!  Spot the odd one out.

Even more obvious when a couple more have gone in.  To save time in class, I left the wonky one and went onto the next step so as not to waste time.  It came out and was re-done later.

This is the point at which it became obvious why not everything is stitch transferred.  While the transfer is needed to ensure  I got my squares square!  The lines going between the squares had to be adjusted to ensure they matched.  If I'd had a stitch transfer on these sections, it would have been a real pain to take them out in order to re-position a line. 

The original of this design stitched by the Studio was a slightly larger size than mine so I had to adjust things slightly.  A single strand couched, rather than a pair type of thing.  It was interesting to think about the design from this point of view and to make alterations on how it felt or looked, particularly since it isn't one of my own designs. 

The twisted gold outline and cross in the centre was stitched by Kusano Sensei.  All done by eye, no measuring!

Onto the hanabishi.  Teeny tiny petals stitched in a 1.5-1T.  So, how to get an even split when you have 15 suga?  Well, the answer was very simple, you don't.  One side has 8 suga the other 7.  Split the threads, twist them up, get stitching.  No angst about how 1 suga will make a difference. 

The little crenellation shapes on the sides were also stitched in class.  I'm not really happy with these, again they are teeny tiny motifs and are at a really hard angle to stitch on the frame.  I've put in more as you'll see in the last photo and they do get better.  They may still come out, but I'll leave it until I stitch the rest to decide.  The circle of twisted silver also went in but later came out again because it was too close to the motifs on the sides when they had gone in.  I'll leave these to last so I can adjust them to be central to the hanabishi and the sides. 

This is how the squares will look when complete. 

Last weekend I went back to this section and as advised in class worked all the little motifs in order.  First I completed all the squares, then the twisted gold outlines and centre crosses (though a couple of these may be re-done as they are not as central as they might be) get back to me when I've had 50 years of practice at putting things in by eye like Kusano Sensei!, then the gold centres of the hanabishi then the petals. 

I'm having a break from all those straight lines now and am doing more on the cloud and dragon section.   There will be another update before too long I hope.

Keywords

Studio Kusano

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