Work in Progress Wednesday - 9 April 2014
I have to say it, Anchor Marlitt is beastly stuff to work with! It's incredibly springy and is forever slip-sliding against itself in the needle and every few stitches see me having to re-align the threads in the needle as one has slipped and is then longer than the other and doesn't pull through fully. Add to that the thread having a mind of its own when it comes to how it lays on the fabric as well and you've got hard work for relatively messy, uneven stitches. That wouldn't trouble me greatly normally, but this is a competition piece, so I wanted it to be as near to perfect as I could make it.
Having said that, the thread shines wonderfully and I took this photo with the light falling on the stitches so that you can see the difference in sheen between Marlitt and the regular Anchor stranded cottons used so far. I think Marlitt is much like metallic threads in that they're all a real pain to work with, but they look great in the piece.
Here's the full piece at the moment. It's a little behind the published schedule at the mo, but as the schedule was leading to completion almost 3 months ahead of the show date, I'm not worried about it as yet. There is a lot to stitch at the mo, what with wedding things etc to do, and I haven't had much oomph to get on with it of late, but it seems to be coming slowly back.=)
You can join in with a piece of your own, or see what others in the group are up to on Pintangle.
Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014
Labels:
Cross Stitch,
Threads,
WIP,
WW
11 comments:
This is going to be amazing! Rayon gloss is difficult, but the shine is unparalleled. :)
Darn autocorrect! That should be floss, of course.
:)
Hi Elizabeth this is looking wonderful I love the shine the rayon gives. I've no update this week as we my Mum is visiting so not got any stitching done. I normally would have done some stitching but as the completed project is a gift for my Mum for Christmas I can't do it while she is here
Jackie x
Oh, this is coming along nicely, Elizabeth! No more Swiss cheese,LOL.
I now about frustrating threads, but one sometimes needs to endure the hardship to get the right result. Keep up the good work.
You are so brave using that rayon thread the results are great. I would have had a million melt downs.
Beautiful! I've been working with rayon threads lately and I know just what you are talking about - difficult to work with but so pretty!
How well I remember working with Marlitt. It must be ... 10 years ago or more? I still have the scars :-) and the remains of the skeins are labelled "Never again"!
The Lady's looking good though!
She is looking fantastic! The shine really does add to the piece.
I have a few flosses that sound like your Marlitt. They do look pretty once the battle of the threads is won, so sometimes I just cannot resist. (I still grumble at myself during the process though!)
I can't believe how much movement the skirt has, I really thought your fabric was folded when I first looked!
I'm not a fan of rayon, but you've done a fab job with this. Hope you're feeling better now.x
I entirely agree about the Marlitt. I've found that it calms down if you dampen it and let it dry, then stitch with it. It takes out the spring - but also some of the shine, so there's a trade-off there...
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