Back to basics-outlining techniques-Part 1

Why back to basics?

After numerous bullions,castons,filling and padding techniques of BE, I needed something simple and so I started working on outline methods.

The idea was to fill a plain pillowcase with only outlined flowers thus consolidating all the outlining techniques in one.

I started off with the most common method - Stem stitch. I free handed a pattern from Mary Corbet's Needle'n thread and stem stitched its outline. This stitch is one of the easiest ones to learn ; the only stumbling block is sharp curves - well, in that case concentrate on your embroidery more rather than the TV ;) and take small stitches. In the flower below, I preferred ending the stemstitch at the sharp tips and starting again.
Tip :
Always keep the thread to the left of the stitching line. Take small stitches at the curves.


If you've noticed, the petal on the top right seems slightly disfigured - I tried to change the shape of the petal in between and messed up.

Then I did the next method - outline stitch. Isn't the choice obvious?
Not much problem here,except for the fact that I'd to remind myself that I was doing outline and not stem.

Tip :
Always keep the thread to the right of the stitching line. Take small stitches at the curves.

The third pic is a combination of both outline and stem - bigger petals are in stem and the small petals at the back are in outline.I used up all the bits and pieces of threads leftover - hence the multiple colors.When I started off (blue thread) I tried going around the tips with small stitches,but the tip of the petal became blunt. Then I tried ending the line of stitch at the tip and started off again to the other side.It worked fine.

Thus ends the stem stitch/outline stitch saga.Will tell you the other methods I used in my next few posts.