Art Crafts and more........

Feather stitch for Tast 2012

2012-01-22T15:06:00.001+05:30

Hi
I missed out doing the second week of TAST 2012 by Sharon...I was basking in the glory of being featured on her blog with nine others for my Fly stitch sample..that i missed out completing the second stitch. So now I am back with the stitch of this week -Feather stitch. You can see sharon's tutorial here.My earlier versions can be seen here
I have tried to use this stitch in a closed stacked manner to form a mesh like feel and accentuating with sequins and beads.
This stitch is used in one part of the design of a cushion cover,

The above feather stitch is worked on a piece of fabric which will be a part of a bag!!!Love the vibrant colours!!!!1

TAST 2012-Fly Stitch

2012-01-07T22:59:00.000+05:30

When Sharon Of PINTANGLE announced TAST 2012...I jumped in as usual:-). Though I have stitched some of these stitches earlier, I needed a push to start reviving this blog and what better way than to do Sharons TAST. Thank you Sharon!!!!!Do hop on to her blog to see her beautiful works.
For the first week she has announced Fly stitch.You can see the tutorial HERE.Here in this tunic I have used fly stitch in two places laid close to each other

And these are my fly stitch attempts which i have earlier done.
Looking forward to the next stitch

Awesome Gifts From A Virtual Friend

2011-10-15T20:06:00.000+05:30

HI

When i signed up for F.R.I.E.N.D.S swap in Khristina's blog little did i know that I would ind such a lovely friend. I loved the thought of sending gifts to blogger whom I wasn't familiar with. I was assigned to Helena Fisher fondly called as Lena:-)
Lena is a wonderful blogger and her gifts are awesome!!!!!!!
When I opened the parcel.......oooh.......there were so many gifts, neatly wrapped and packed with utmost care and with a beautiful note mentioned the names of the gifts.....Thanks Lena:-)

A very thouhtful and Beautiful handmade card too

Here comes the array of amazing gifts she sent me
FLOWER PEN, FANCY RED EYEGLASS CASE WHICH SHE HAS CROCHETED AND A LOVELY HANDMADE ROUND CASE ..................BEAUTIFUL !!!!!!

For the Letter "R" in F.R.I.E.N.D.S she sent me these amazing gifts

RED COASTERS

RED PLANNER 2012

RED FELT FLOWER

RED TULIP TISSUE HOLDER

For the letter "I" she sent me these

ITEM-RED KEYCHAIN HOLDER....again handmade

INTERESTINE SILICONE WATCH

Now comes the best part.....Lena i love you for this!!!!!!!!

E-EMBROIDERY....GOD......she has sent me theeeseeeeeeeeeee........

A HUGE PACK OF COLOURFUL EMBROIDERY FLOSS AND A LOVELY PAIR OF EMBROIDERY SCISSORS

Next comes letter "N"

N-Needful.......A beautiful Tunisian crochet pouch.....she crocheted this too

For the letter "D"....

DUO OF LIP- BALM AND A COLOURFUL DISHCLOTH(TAWASHI)

Letter"S" had something special:-)

SOMETHING SWEET AND ORANGE

QUILTED ORNAMENT BALL(SPECIALLY FOR ME!!!!!!)

ORANGE BEAR ROM TENESSE!!!!!!!

Lena thank you so much.....It is awesome, amazing, wonderful, thoughtful................
Loved all the gifts........
Thank you Kristina for organizing this.....I know you took lot of trouble writing All the mails, making sure each one of us sent and rec'd the gifts!!!!!!!

I am so happy and gifted to find to wonderful friends....Khristina and Lena...
Hop on to their blogs to see their wonderful creations!!!!!

Crocheted Mobile Pouch

2011-09-05T10:57:00.000+05:30

Hi
Back with another pouch:-).....this time with a crocheted one though!!. . Vibha desperately tried to find a pouch in the market for her new smart phone, but was unlucky as the salesman said that it was a new model and the pouches was not available in the market yet. As she has very buttery hands, i was a little worried too.

So i finally decided to crochet it. As i was crocheting it,my husband suggested that i add a soft backing to it too. I lined the pouch with batting and soft cotton.
I did attach the velcro for the opening too..
I have used only single crochet for the body of the pouch and Double crochet for the flap.

Vibha loved it. Did you???

Until the next post.......
Happy stiching

Zippered Pencil pouch

2011-08-08T14:11:00.011+05:30

Hi
My sincere apologies to all my friends who have been supporting me and encouraging me in this blog world. I have been out of blogging for more than a year due to personal commitments. Two of my blogs friends did not ever give up on me. When ever we had a chance to mail or chat , they have been asking me if i was doing anything new. Thanks to them, i have started again:-)They are the wonderful talented bloggers NIMA and Lakshmi.

My daughter is off to the college and will not use those pouches which she guarded till her schooling. She feels it is very kiddish. I agree too!!!But what i don't disagree is the way she just drops those pens and pencils in her bag. It is all over her bag. I thought i will sew her a pouch to organize her stuff.

I have followed the tutorial of HAND BAG POUCH from Two Little Banshees.
Since i did not have thick fabric, i have used two layers of a single fabric to give the sturdiness
It just took not more than 15 minutes to complete it.Loved the look of it.

THANK YOU KATE FOR SUCH A EASY AND CUTE TUTORIAL

TAST 2010 BUTTONHOLE WHEEL CUP

2010-07-19T09:35:00.011+05:30

It is quite some time that i have blogged about needle work.
Last week Sharon of Pintangle has showed us to stitch BUTTONHOLE WHEEL STITCH

This is a center panel of a kurti for my daughter on which i have used 3
stitches of tast:
1. buttonhole wheel cup.
The center row is formed by this stitch. It forms a beautiful cup:-)

2.Buttonhole eyelet flower
Alternate rows are formed by this stitch

3.Buttonhole wheel stitch with daisy around

The fabric has pintucks which made it easier for me to place the flowers.
Do have a look at PINTANGLE to see further updates on tast
Will be back soon with a tutorial
Until then happy stitching:-)

HAT PINCUSHION

2010-05-13T10:47:00.005+05:30

hello
Atlast some creativity......Nima had crocheted a beautiful pincushion. I saw it, admired and moved on without realising that she was giving the pattern for us to try.:-)when i saw Ninu's,Andrea's and Julia's, i decided to join the run and NIMA was kind enough to send me the pattern immediately.The pattern is written by Nima and very easy to follow. We are asked to replicate the pattern and embellish it. I have used brown lace, small blue beads around the circumference and few COLD PORCELAIN flowers that i have crafted. Ninu has named her pin cushion as NIMA's pin cushion's COUSIN:-)....I guess mine is NEXT GEN:-). I loved this pin cushion, did u?I am sure many of you would love to try it out,go to NIMA'S BLOG, she is waiting to help you out. Have fun.........

PROUD MOM:-)

2010-05-05T14:59:00.006+05:30

Hello everybody
have been away from the blogging world for quite some time....been not keeping well for some time and chennai has turned into an oven. Couldn't motivate myself to do anything creative at all.I am sure you can understand my plight...............have been sulking all along .
Just when i thought that i needed something to pep me up, as usual my daughter is here to rescue me:-) . My fifteen year old decided to surprise me with her culinary skills( a first timer into the kitchen). She decided to prepare dinner for us last night and found an excellent recipe...."PANEER PILAF". I was banned from venturing into the kitchen when she was there. With a lot of apprehension i kept my cool and we waited for the much awaited DINNER.Patience paid off, the mouth watering dish was dished out, and she said "MOM.......HAPPY MOTHERS DAY"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I WAS OVERWHELMED...........she wouldnt stop with that , next came a beautiful ear stud too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I never realised till last night that my little one who would hold my hand and take those small tiny steps , who would be scared to do anything on her own is now a beautiful and confident teen.
I AM SO PROUD OF MY DAUGHTER

HAVE A LOOK AT THE DELICIOUS YUMMY PANNER PILAF AND THE ORIGINAL RECIPE IS HERE.
Nupur has hosted a wonderful blog and am sure everyone will be inspired to try out the recipes. Thank you Nupur for sharing all your recipes

TAST 2010:KNOTTED BUTTONHOLE STITCH

2010-04-04T15:21:00.005+05:30

HI
This week on TAST 2010Sharon has put up the instructions for KNOTTED BUTTON HOLE. I am very late in uploading the pictures. :-)
Here are the trials......
I saw the samples made by SHIRLEY IT IS AMAZING
SO IS SONIE'S
SUSAN'S samples are very beautiful.

TUTORIAL:PISTIL STITCH

2010-04-04T13:34:00.021+05:30

HI
Pistil stitch is also known as LAVANGAM stitch .It is a french knot with a long tail. This stitch is mostly used in dimensional embroidery or brazilian embroidery. this looks very pretty when used on floral designs.
1.Mark two points on the fabric as "A" and "B".The distance between the two points
decides as to how long the tail of the french knot will be.

2.Bring the needle out at "A"

3. Hold the thread with your left hand and the needle with the right, the thread should be taut

4.Wrap the thread around the needle twice or thrice as shown

5.Holding the thread with your left hand take the needle down at "B

6. Start pulling your needle downwards slowly
"
7. thus forms a beautiful pistil stitch

Try this stitch for daisies. Looks very pretty .
Time for me to upload the TAST 2010 stitch of this week. Hope you are enjoying these stitch tutorials.
Have fun and happy stitching:-)

TAST 2010 PORTUGESE BORDER STITCH

2010-03-26T17:58:00.004+05:30

Hi
this week on TAST 2010 SHARON has introduced us to a very beautiful stitch called the PORTUGESE BORDER STITCH. I have tried out 2 samplers, i liked the look of it:-)Initially i couldnt get the tension right but when i did get a feel of it , i liked it.This stitch is worked on a set of foundation stitches.

have a look at these samplers, one done on a bed linen.

2010-03-22T10:32:00.005+05:30

NIMA is celebrating her 100th post with a give away.An amazing craft blog , have a look.Click HERE to see her blog

PATTERN CHALLENGE

2010-03-20T14:11:00.025+05:30

PATTERN CHALLENGE:Alexander Blouse #6062

hi
I had joined PATTERN CHALLENGE some time back. U must have seen the logo in the side column but took a lot of time to start off. Well it has been a challenge to me right from the beginning:-). let me explain..........
Sarah of comeandseetheseitz.com had a tough time explaining to me as to how to put the logo in the side bar:-) and the rules.
The rules are:
1. MAKE OUR OWN GOALS......and mine are that i stitch one garment a month at least.
2.blog about it.....have started to
3.Grab the “Pattern Challenge” button and Join the Flickr group.
4 Blog about the finished garments
now let me continue with the story.....
I was full of enthusiasm to start off but wanted to stitch something very different so downloaded this pattern from burda.After this i thought that nothing could stop me now ,but i was wrong AGAIN :-(. I realized that i was not able to print the pattern because burda had some technical snag. Immediately wrote a mail to burda and the bug was fixed and i was successful in printing the pattern. The WOES did not end here......More to come:-)........I am not very conversant with the pattern sizes from U.S. and U.K. assumed that it is going to be the same and bought a beautiful black floral fabric , cut, and stitched........SUCCESSFUL...ASKED MY DAUGHTER TO WEAR IT BUT .......................NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO......SHE wouldn't......why???????????????/because she couldn't:-) it wasn't her size at all....hehe

I realized my folly and stitched this for her :-){her size}:-):-)

I have made a few changes though..... stitched up the back opening, added more gathering to the sleeve and maintained the opening through the peplum too. I would say its great for the summer

To know more on Pattern challenge please click on the logo

till then happy stitching

SILK PAINTING

2010-03-17T15:38:00.004+05:30

HI
I have been of late bitten by this silk painting bug, not able to resist the colours..........
i have done a water colour technique on the salwar and salt technique on the kameez.
have used white pure silk base materials for both .... The colours that are used are Pebeo seta silk

U LIKED IT??????????????????

my daughter did:-)

TAST 2010 Beaded Hedebo Edge

2010-03-17T15:15:00.006+05:30

hello everyone
This week on TAST Sharon introduced us to an edging BEADED HEDEBO EDGE. A lovely edging and as sharon rightly said , it can be used in many other ways. I have used it on a kurta for my daughter. The salwar is a blue batik one , and i thought this will look a little different. Have used it only on the front panel. Will put up the picture of the kameez when done ;-). I wanted to use this on the edge of a paisley pattern , but no time now......... may be next week :-)

Till then happy stitching

TAST 2010 KNOTTED LOOP STITCH

2010-03-10T10:47:00.012+05:30

HI
Sharon of PIN TANGLE has taught us this stitch. A lovely stitch but i need little more practice to get the right tension. I have tried out few variations

1. Here i have used the knotted loop stitch as a diamond edging,a mirror inside this may do justice to the stitch.

2.In this i have incorporated the same stitch in a circle and i think it looks good:-)

3. This can be used as a border or in crazy quilting

4. Another border could be embellished more

5. Another of my trials :-).....

6. This is the bed linen i have been working on for some time. I have planned to use this stitch on the leaves here

Annet,shirley, Ruth have also put up their pictures, do have a look and have fun.....
Happy stitching:-)

TAST 2010

2010-03-03T16:33:00.014+05:30

I am happy to tell you all that i have taken up TAST 2010 by Sharon boggon. TAST means take a stitch on tuesday. Each week she will teach us a stitch and we will have to explore the possibilities that the stitch holds.
this week it is DIAMOND STITCH

And these are my trials

1. a simple diamond stitch

2. i have wrapped a contrast colour thread here

3.used daisy stitches to embellish

4. Here i have used individual stitches to form a diamond

5. I have used this stitch in a center block of my bed linen

how did you all like it????????
sonie,Sarah and Doreen have also done some beautiful samples. please do have a look at them.......it may inspire you to do more:-)

If you are interested please have a look at TAST 2010

TUTORIAL: RIBBED WHEEL STITCH

2010-03-03T10:45:00.023+05:30

RIBBED WHEEL STITCH

This stitch is also called as a spider wheel stitch since it gives an appearance of a spider web and the ribs of it are raised.
A wonderful and yet a simple stitch which can be worked out very easily

1. Draw an even or odd number of foundation straight stitches as i have shown

2. Bring the needle out at 1 and go down at 2, like wise make other 3 to 4, 5 to 6, 7 to 8.
3. Now bring out the needle at the center of the wheel

4. Go over the stitch 2 keeping the thread always to the left of the needle

5. Now bring the needle under the same stitch and also below the stitch 8 or whip the first stitch as shown

6. Now take the needle under the stitch 8 , go over it and wrap the thread on it and go below it to the next stitch that is stitch 3

7.Having whipped this stitch go down under the next stitch and whip it.
WHIPPING IS WRAPPING THE THREAD ON THE STITCH i.e., GO BELOW A STITCH ,COME UP ON THE SAME STITCH ANS AGAIN GO BELOW IT

this way keep whipping till you complete the imaginary circle

Is it not a very easy stitch to follow??!!

This is a kurti/ tunic i have embroidered for my daughter using this stitch as well as braided chain stitch. I am sure u can find many ways to incorporate this stitch in your clothing

Happy stitching and have fun:-)

TUTORIAL

2010-02-15T10:51:00.029+05:30

FLY STITCH

Fly stitch is also called as a "Y" stitch. It is formed by a simple "V" shaped loop held down by a straight stitch which gives an appearance as"Y"

Let us see how to work this stitch:

knot the thread and bring the needle at "A", go down at "B" and come up at "c" as shown having the working thread under the needle.
Now take the needle down at "D" to form a "Y" shape.

A very simple and an easy stitch.

Fly stitch can be worked both horizontally or vertically.

There are many variations of Fly stitch namely
1. PLAITED FLY

Plaited fly can be worked by simply overlapping each fly stitch as shown:
Bring the needle up at "A" , go down at "B", come up at "C", at tie it down at "D", now bring up the needle for the next stitch at "E" , go down at "F", , up at "G" and tie the stitch down at "H", and work the next set of stitches
2. REVERSE FLY

For the reversed fly , work the first fly stitch as earlier now after tying down at "D" come up at "E", go down at "F', and up at "G" again and tie down this stitch at "H". A series of such stitches can form a nice pattern

3. TWISTED FLY
This is a variation of the fly stitch where the variation is only in the last straight stitch:

Bring the needle up at "A", go down at "B" forming a loop. Keep the loop above the needle.now take the needle and pull the thread the loop and anchor the thread as earlier
4. CLOSED FLY
When the fly stitches are packed closely they form closed fly, can be used in the formation of leaves
I have used the fly stitch as a "V" stitch here

SUPPORT

2010-02-01T17:33:00.005+05:30

Lyn from Bluebird Quilts is planning to make a quilt using 9 patch blocks for her friend Illene and her daughter who are going through a tough time due to ill health and she is trying to put together the quilt patches with the support of caring fellow bloggers.If you want to participate by making a patch or just blogging about it please visit LYN

TUTORIAL :Feather stitch

2010-01-28T09:50:00.025+05:30

Feather stitch is a very easy stitch, It is mostly used for foliage and stems.
This stitch is worked from top to bottom and alternatively between right and left. An easy and a beautiful stitch by itself -can be embellished by adding beads, knots, sequins, and other stitches too.
1. Knot your thread and bring the needle out at A.

2. Now take the needle in down at B and come up at C keeping the working thread under the needle to form a "V".

Now imagine another set of parallel lines to work your next stitch
3.Now bring down the needle at D and again form a "V" at E

4. Now move on to the other side and form a "V" by bringing the needle down at F and up at G

this way you can work the required length

We can incorporate beads and daisy stitch to enhance the look as shown

Double feather stitch is working 2 stitches on easy side

This stitch can be used in ribbon embroidery too

try to use the woven stitch and feather stitch in a design with ribbons. gives amazing results

happy stitching

KAMAL KADAI AND MIRROR WORK

2010-01-24T11:50:00.016+05:30

hi
We are all students and teachers at some point of time in our life as we all constantly learn and teach to many knowingly or unknowingly.My student life in needle work started at home under the able tutelage of my mother and my little knowledge of tailoring comes from elder sister. Of late her interests are in embroidery. She has embroidered a few kameez.I loved the color combination and the stitches incorporated.
Let me share it with you all:-) (surprise to her!!!!!!!!!!).Is there a better way to wish her on her wedding anniversary,(which happens to be this week) than a VIRTUAL wish!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY INDU

CLOSEUP OF MIRROR WORK

KAMALKADAI WORK

CLOSE UP OF KAMAL KADAI WORK

MIRROR WORK

WOVEN STITCH

2010-01-17T12:18:00.040+05:30

Time for the next stitch:-). I have tried to incorporate the same stitch with both thread and satin ribbon.Lets explore a woven rose :
I thought of this stitch as it is a little similar to the algerian stitch which we have already seen.

1. Mark a circle and divide it into five parts spaced equally.

2.Make 5 straight stitches from the numbered points to the center as shown. This step is similar to the one which is shown in Algerian stitch.
3.Bring the needle out at any point in between the foundation at the centre.
4.Now we have to start weaving the thread around the spokes alternating, that is if you take the needle above one spoke , you must take it under the next one.Ignore the frayed edges:-)

5. So alternating go above and below the spokes as shown
6. This is how it looks when finished

Now the same procedure can be followed to make a similar flower with ribbons.These flowers are best done with silk ribbons, but i did not find one here, so settled down to do it with satin ribbons which is easily available in the market. It is suggested that we use a chenille needle but i could find only a tapestry needle, managed with it:-(
Here the foundations spokes can be laid with a matching thread and the weaving to be done with the ribbon following the same procedure.
Twist the ribbon to get a good twirl

These are the ribbons and the needle that i have used

If you do not know how knot with ribbon, this is the first step
1.Take a small length of ribbon,insert it through the needle eye, pull a small length trough
2.Insert the needle again into the small length and pull

3.Pull back to form a knot near the needle eye.

4.There may be many methods to do this but i found this one very easy.
My daughter tried this and this is her sample
Try both of these in your wearables, looks very pretty

happy stitching

2010-01-11T10:07:00.012+05:30

Its already a week or so since i posted my first post, time for the next one.........Time flies:-)
well, this ia a kalamkari patch which i have attached to a Kurti, i think it its looking good but i did not have a matching motif to be sewn for the sleeves. hmmmm
then sat down to do a similar motif in aari work because i dont know kalamakri:-(
I think the result turned out to be good as well. what do u think????????????

Now coming to a stitch this week, i think i will be posting it in a day or two. Do come by and have a look.

This is a picture of the Algerian stitch that i had posted last week. you can use it in this way too!!!!
Any guesses as to where i would be using these patches????????????
Keep guessing and have fun too

2010-01-06T19:46:00.015+05:30

hello everybody

As i had said earlier, in this post i will be giving a tutorial for a stitch and the stitch is Algerian stitch .I hope you find this useful. Though it looks very simple you can incorporate this stitch in your designs very beautifully.

Algerian eye stitch is also called as a Star stitch, mostly used in counted thread embroidery,but i use it in free style too.

Place your piece of fabric in a embroidery hoop,and the fabric should be taut. Mark the numbers as shown in figure1. In this diagram the stitches are numbered and not the needle entries.Always come up at the numbered spot and go down at the center as shown in figure 2.
This will create an eye at the center.
Now it is up to to your imagination to try and incorporate this simple yet beautiful stitch:-)

WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR

2009-12-31T14:18:00.008+05:30

hello everybody
this is a new start for a very new year.i am looking forward to do so many art works this year....................hmmm hope too:-)
i am posting a few pics of my needle works.have a look and let me know your comments. from the coming week of january i will be dicussing about one stitch a week .
If u have any particular stitch in mind please let me know.
This blog will not be restricted to needle work alone, as the name suggests i will be discussing many art forms.For now enjoy these pictures