kerrykatiecakes

First of all, my apologies for missing a week of the challenge - I have been under the weather a bit and am just getting back into spending some time on the computer and stitching again. Nice to be back though! This week's challenge is an old favourite - half circles of detached chain (lazy daisy) stitches. I thought it would be fun to see what everyone comes up with using this much loved stitch. Thanks for your patience and for continuing to play along!

This week's Build a Seam Challenge is a lesser used stitch called the Basque Stitch. It creates a series of loops and is good on curved seams and interesting when done with varigated thread. There are good diagrams and instructions available in Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary which are very helpful if this stitch is unfamiliar to you. You are also likely to find instructions in any good stitch book you may have at your disposal. The Build a Seam Challenge is open to anyone who would like to take part. My only request is that you share a picture of what you come up with. Please leave a comment with a link to your photo so we can all enjoy your creation. The purpose of the challenge is to try to stretch our comfort zones a bit as far as seam treatments go by trying new stitches, etc. Each week I will post a new stitch or a basic framework for a seam and it is up to everyone to see what they can add in the way of stitches, beads, baubles, etc. to come up with a seam treatment th...

I finished up my seam treatment for last week's herringbone and cretan stitch combination. As you can see, I only added some detached chain (lazy daisy) stitches and a few french knots. I like the way this one turned out though. I used the Japanese silk buttonhole thread I received from Hideko for this seam - it is such a joy to stitch with!

Here is the seam for this week's challenge. This time it is a double row of Cretan Stitch. If you click on the picture, you can enlarge it for a better look. Looking at mine now, I wish I had spaced them a bit further apart in order to create more nooks and crannys to add other elements. So, that is something to keep in mind when you do yours. I hope this week's seam challenge is enjoyable for everyone taking part and I'll look forward to seeing what you come up with. Have fun!

Well, I haven't posted for a couple weeks on how I have finished up the Build a Seam Challenges, so I thought it was about time. With last week's Laced Stitch I simply added silver spacer beads sewn on with little seed beads. I kept thinking I'd make another pass and add something else... And I thought the spacer beads were too heavy for this stitch... Then I decided to take the advice my buddy Leslie keeps giving me and knock the Inner Critic off my shoulder and leave it as is. So, here it is! lol

For week 17 of the Build a Seam Challenge I have chosen a Laced Stitch. If you click on the picture you should be able to enlarge it and get a clear view of how it is put together. You start with two rows of tiny vertical stitches done in pairs directly above one another. Then you take your needle and thread through the stitches as seen in the picture. The shape can vary slightly according to how you keep your tension on the thread. I have left the last couple stitches unlaced so you can see the little vertical stitches more clearly. For anyone just dropping in for the first time, the Build a Seam challenge is open for anyone to try. You can start with this seam or go back and play catch up - totally up to you. The idea is to stretch ourselves a bit and get away from doing the same two or three stitches on our crazy quilting seam treatments all the time. So each week I post a stitch or a starting off place and everyone can challenge themselves to add whatever they like to it in ...

This week is the Sheaf Stitch. It is made up of three parallel vertical straight stitches. You then come up near the center of the middle vertical stitch, take your thread around all three stitches and go back down in the center again from the other side. It is easier to look at than to read about so here are some examples. Here is a blog that has excellent instructions and photos. As well, Sharon B's Week 28 of the Take a Stitch Challenge featured the Sheaf Stitch. I think this week will be easier to work with than last week's stitch - have fun!

Nancy has put some of her Build a Seam Challenge samples into an album . They are great! My favourite is the circles with the roses!

This week's stitch for the Build a Seam challenge is Chequered Chain Stitch, which I found in one of my old embroidery books. It is basically a regular chain stitch but with a couple differences. For this one you thread your needle with two threads of different colours at the same time, as seen below. Now, the other difference is that when making the loops, you are going to pass one colour under the needle point and let the other colour lie on top. Below you can see where the needle is above the grey thread and under the orange thread. Pull through both threads and you end up with a grey loop. Work the next loop with the other colour under the needle point. In my example now I'm showing the needle above the orange thread and under the grey thread. Pull both threads through and I end up with an orange loop. Keep alternating until you reach the end of your seam. You will be able to get a better look at the pictures if you click on them to make them larger. Hope you like this on...

Here is the first BAS Challenge for the New Year and it is a bit different, not a stitch at all this time! For Week 14 I would like to use buttons as a starting point. We all accumulate so many lovely buttons and I am wondering what we can come up with to incorporate them into seam treatments. I am thinking this one above will end up being a beaded swap, but who knows? What will you come up with?

Here is the first Build a Seam Challenge of the New Year! I have to admit that if this stitch has a name I don't know what it is but it looks like a broken herringbone to me so I guess that's what I'll call it. There are two rows of stitches mirroring each other - herringbone like stitches that don't meet at the seam line. The second row of stitching exactly mirrors it below so that you end up with these little boxes. If anyone knows the name of this stitch I would appreciate learning it.

I had a great suggestion that the Beaded Feather Stitch would make a good Week 12 for the Build a Seam Challenge so I'm making it official! Here are two variations of it from previous posts and you can find a tutorial on how to do it a couple posts back too. This will give us something to work on during the holiday season, before the next one in the new year. Seems appropriate to be using beads for a bit of glitz and glamour during the holidays!

Sorry for the awful picture but here is my sample for the Week 11 Build a Seam challenge. I took the Buttonhole Pyramid stitch and then mirrored it underneath, leaving a space of about a quarter of an inch between the rows. Each peak of the pyramids was topped with a french knot and three detached chain stitches. Then in the center between the peaks went silver spacer beads attached with a seed bead. On either side of the spacers are more detached chain stitches. The quality of the picture is awful but hopefully if you click on the picture to enlarge it you can see the details.

Well, here's a surprise - I'm early instead of late this week! Here is this week's seam - a pyramid buttonhole stitch, called so because the stitches go and and down in a pyramid shape obviously. Other than that it is just your regular buttonhole stitch. You might notice that mine is above the seam line and wonder why. It is because I will be doing a second row under the seam line mirroring it and then using the space in between for further stitches or embellishments. So, have fun - I'm looking forward to seeing the results!

Sorry to be late but here is this week's Build a Seam. As you can see it is a long and short buttonhole stitch or at least that is what I'm calling it - lol. It is a basic buttonhole or blanket stitch with the stitches being alternatively longer and shorter in height. I hope you have fun with this one. I am so impressed with all the creative seams that are being done in this Build a Seam challenge! I'm learning a lot and am continually inspired by the samples I am seeing. For the basic buttonhole stitch, if you are not familiar with it or need a refresher, check out this page on Sharon B's stitch dictionary: http://tinyurl.com/28qy4v As a last note in this post, here is the sample I came up with on Week 8. It is pretty simple but it did what I wanted in the space it was in so I'm happy!

Here are my seams for this week. They are the seams I did on Bonnie's block in the Sampler Round Robin I'm in. This is the first one - using Chevron Stitch as a base I added french knots and detached chain stitch (lazy daisy). Here is the second seam treatment I did. This block had a wonderful green textured fabric with raised maple leaves so I decided to add these green maple leaf beads to one side of the chevron stitch. They are plastic but I really like them - they have a lovely shine to them. On the other side of the Chevron Stitch I added semi circles of straight stitches each one ending with a french knot.

Here is the 4th week version of Build a Seam. This time it is the Chevron Stitch. The picture leaves a bit to be desired but I think if you click on it and enlarge it, you will be able to see it okay. For an explanation of how the Chevron Stitch is done, you can refer to Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary at: http://inaminuteago.com/stitchdict/stitch/chevron.html I hope you enjoyed last week - here is the seam Rita did for Week 3. Have fun with Week 4 and the Chevron stitch! Don't forget to send me your pictures so I can share them!

Well, this is what I came up with for the first week of the Build a Seam - not at all happy with it! I managed to stump myself with those circles though so just managing something was a minor success. I dug for these flower beads in a huge bin of loose beads in the bead store Gerry took me to in Spokane so it was good I used them before I managed to lose them. I really liked them. The picture is awful - dd borrowed the camera and brought it back with a dead battery Sunday night so had to scan this. I would love pictures of what anyone else came up with!

For week 2 of the Build a Seam, I chose something really simple for the framework - a good old cretan stitch. Too simple maybe but it leaves an enormous amount of room for adding on, right? This is one of my favourites and I felt like I needed something easy after those circles from last week - I managed to stump myself with them! lol A diagram for cretan stitch is available in Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary at: http://inaminuteago.com/stitchdict/stitch/cretan.html or for a video tuturial see this site at Needle'nThread: http://www.needlenthread.com/2006/12/cretan-stitch-video-tutorial.html

Briefly, here is an explanation of Build a Seam. Every Sunday I'm going to post a picture of the basic bare bones of a seam treatment, and we have a week to decide on and complete whatever other stitches and embellishments are needed to make it a complete - and gorgeous! - seam treatment. I am looking forward to training myself to see beyond the basic herringbone or cretan stitch I like to fall back on, and to learn to make more passes across the seam adding more stitches, beads. SRE, etc. This is all happening on the Crazy Quilting International Novice site and I am going to post it here as well in case anyone else would like to play along. If you would like to share please post a comment with a link to your blog or wherever we can find the picture. I would love to post some pictures of finished seams here. Thanks! This is the framework for week one - an intertwining row of scallops or half circles done in chain stitch. I think there is some room here to work! I hope someone else ...