TAST week four's cretan stitch

it's once again time for me to share my practice for Sharon B's Take A Stitch Tuesday (TAST).

week four: cretan stitch

because this is a stitch that i didn't feel as comfortable with i took some time to 'doodle' a bit with my needle, various threads and some aida cloth before i felt brave enough to stitch into the stocking.
i varied the stitch length and width and generally got a fairly good feel for it.

 

then i used a hand dyed embroidery ribbon to work a variation of the cretan stitch over a slightly downward curving seam. the top of the stitch is quite small while the bottom 'legs' of it were elongated. and the spacing within the stitch elements enabled me to place three of my fabric covered buttons into every other of those spaces created  between those 'legs'. feel free to enlarge the photo for a better look at the details.
i think that this area seems unfinished and  i may come back to it at some point . . .

 

i did manage to get a button created with a cretan stitch feature. this time i worked the stitch in a uniform way in red thread across narrow white grosgrain ribbon. there is a tiny accent stitch worked onto the ends of the stitches (on both the top and the bottom) in a copper colored metallic thread. i actually used the cretan stitch to couch the ribbon to the red fabric prior to wrapping around the button.


if you are interested in seeing more loveliness within the world of embroidery you might want to take a look at CQ Mag Online's newest issue: January 2012 . this online publication always has lots of stitchy eye candy and is a great source of fancy stitching/crazy quilting information. one can browse through an extensive archive of past issues as well. a new issue is presented every four months and best of all: it doesn't cost a dime~!


recent gifts include:

• homemade cream cheese and butter (~!!~yummy~!!~)
• newly baked bread warm from the oven served with dinner
• my ritual afternoon cup of hot chocolate with cinnamon sprinkled in