GBCW, more on Butterfly

  

                   First post on GBCW, we worked little bit on Butterfly center portion ( thorax and abdomen)  and wings. Moving on, i shall try to complete working Butterfly.

            

                Work  ' Closed Buttonhole '  on all four wings with light blue ( shade no 1089 ) using 2 strands of thread. 

Wings of Butterfly

                 
                     Firm ' French knot ' worked in between each square on lower wings with orange color ( shade no 326 ) using 2 strands of thread and 2 warps.

Butterfly

French knots on Butterfly wings

             
                       Outer part of wings outlined with ' Stem stitch '  with shade no 189 using single strand.

Outlining Butterfly wing

         
                    After working first line of stem stitch with shade no 189, again work second line of stem stitch with blue color ( shade no 1089 ) using single strand.

Second outline, Butterfly wing

                         Work ' Satin stitch '  on head of Butterfly with shade no 1089 using 2 strands of thread.

Satin stitch on Butterfly head

                   For antenna of Butterfly ' stem stitch ' is worked with orange ( shade no 326 ) using 2 strands of thread.  Eyes of Butterfly worked with ' french knots ' just below antenna with shade no 401 ( Grey), 2 strands of thread.

              Now for upper wings of  Butterfly work ' cross stitch ' with shade no 326 ( orange ), 2 strands of thread, worked only on two alternate rows.

Finished Butterfly

                 Happy stitching !!!  Next post on upper flower ' Tulip '

French knot

                   French knot, most of us know how to work french knot. Yet i am sharing this post with some tips and tricks to get a perfect knot. French knot can be worked firmly i.e, getting firm knots and also bit free ( loose) knots also. Observe below picture, center circle worked with red color and also two heart shapes are firm knots, where as to its right and left side triangles are freely worked knots. Both knots has its own charm and can be worked according to one's requirement or pattern requirement.

French knot flower

                      Simple method to work french knot, observe below collage. Here i have worked with two strands of thread. Bring thread out, place needle below thread as shown in picture, wrap thread firmly (not too tight) two or three times as shown, holding thread firmly with left hand pierce needle close to the point where you started, and positioning of needle should be 90 degree (vertical) while pulling back thread. By holding needle vertically, you get perfect knot with small dent in center presenting the effect of bud.

French Knot

                     In same way lets work free french knots and not firm as above. Bring thread out as shown below. Wrap loosely , two or three wraps.

French knot

                   

             Holding one end of thread with left hand, pierce needle closely where you started. 

Tip: Here while pulling down needle towards backside of fabric, keep needle slant towards yourself with an angle of 35 degree and other end of thread exactly opposite to needle, by this way the loops formed will fall to one side and knot holding loops will fall opposite side.

French knot

French knot

  

                  Tips: To vary with size of knot, to get bigger or smaller knot, instead wrapping too many times to get bigger knot or don't warp few times to get smaller knot. Always warp two or three times not more than that. Instead of increasing number of warps play with number of strands .

                 Observe below picture, here is small exercise where french knot is worked with 2 strands to 6 strands of thread and simple comparison is shown. 

French knot comparison

               French worked in pink color are firm knots and where as knots worked with green color is freely worked. As mentioned in picture, first one is worked with 2s of thread both firm and loose knot, it goes so on till 6 strands of thread.

French Knot

                Observing above exercise and applying on a pattern in above picture, here tip of pattern is worked with single strand of thread and gradually number of strands increases as the pattern goes down.  So to achieve perfect French Knot warp two or three times while playing with number of strands.