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Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Strawberries in detached buttonhole

Tonight I picked up Examplar IV and worked on the right border. On this side, the strawberries are in a version of detached buttonhole stitch. Since the strawberries are in three colors and I didn't want to keep switching colors, I decided to do the darkest color for each strawberry. I'll go back later and add the next two colors (as in the top berry).

Most of the instructions I've found on the web for detached buttonhole are of the "away and back"variety, where it is worked left to right and right to left, as on this site. The technique taught by Catherine Theron for this sampler is a "left to right and return" version. This can be seen best in the bottom strawberry. The area is first surrounded by backstitch or double-running. The thread then comes up at the right side of the area and a long stitch goes across the area. The thread is taken to the back at the left side. The detached buttonhole then starts on the left side (coming up one thread down from the long stitch), with each buttonhole stitch going into the row above it and under the long right-to-left stitch. On the first row, each buttonhole stitch goes under one of the outline stitches and under the long stitch.

Does that make sense? If anybody wants a better description, a diagram, or step-by-step pictures, please add a comment and I'll try my best to explain it better!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Jeanne,

I came across your Blog during a search on Catherine Theron. A group of friends and I took Catherine's Examplar IV class in MN just two weeks ago. Great photo! I'll keep visiting your Blog for future hints, etc., as I slowly progress on the piece.......this is not to apply any pressure on you. :) Theresa