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The Spoke Stitch
So now the spoke stitch you can kind of imagine just from looking at the sample how you might do it you're just making spokes I will admit that on this sample this one I did make little dots on my fabric because my hand is not that nerdy that I was able to get it space so evenly but there are ways teo you know these are a little bit more abstract these spokes churches but there are ways to start it where you can then get more even spacing so this one I started with two sides and then two other sides and then placed the other stitches evenly in between so if you're looking for something that is more exact I'll show you how I did it but you don't want to work side to side and then side decides you're making like a plus sign or across and then you're evenly dividing that space for the ones that are more abstract I was just like we this is fun I'm going toe put a bunch of folks in here so I'll show you the more abstract one first I'm going to switch colors though so you can really see we'r...
e living on and I should say to on the sample that I have here this is just a straight stitch instead of a backstretch I just kept going forward so this is you and you can see I did very the length on purpose but it is a little bit more difficult to get a very even stitch with the straits touch if you're doing something of this I prefer the backstage for that just because for me because you're moving backwards to gauge the size okay, so the spoke stitch is again straight stitch and you're just sharing a midpoint so one of the best ways to try and space it out if you're looking for something to be even is to go top to bottom inside to side and then fill in the space in between but all the stitches air meeting back to a common mid point and then you're creating a spoke from there so once you have that plus sign, you kind of divide the space a little bit evenly if you want something that's more uniform so this is the variation, not the street the spoke stitches a variation on the straight stitch uh but all right, so this one actually turned out fairly uniform and that was the method by starting top to bottom inside decide but you can also you could continue to fill something like this in until you get something that's a little bit more flour spoke stitches is one of the ways where you can make a pretty big impact with embroidery with a minimal effort meaning the straight stitches not it's not very difficult to get the hang of it and you'll see a lot of times like I have you know, these crazy denim jump suits from the seventies that my mom embroidered when I was a kid that have a lot of spoke stitch flowers and all that kind of stuff on him so spoke stitches awaited to take up a lot of space with a lot of color without a very difficult stitch ok, so here's the one that got I filled mine in a little bit more but there's lots of variations on this you could do different sides spokes you could do lots of different colors per spoke you could put a spokes touch on top of a bundle stitch, which would be a cute like little hey stock windmill I don't know looking thing I'll show you again how to start it here and then I'll come around and talk to so you understand if you want to create one that's more uniform so I like to start top and bottom and make a plus sign and I'm just gauging how far it's coming out if you wanted to do something exact, you could measure and make dots, but once you have the plus sign, then you have all these areas that you can split in half and then stitch across from and that will help you keep us somewhat uniform shape, okay, I'm gonna come around and see how you're doing okay you're already like mixing it up I can't have it e channel thes they're beautiful yeah, it is a really beautiful I like this I like how you buried then you put little straight stretches on total across that very working at this's beautiful that's really even and super nerdy. So for those of you who did the entered a cross stitch class to remember I was saying that like you'd fall on one side of the fence maybe of thinking like, one was your jam or the other is anyone finding that true, ok, what if you like both? Well, then you're like me then you're exceptional, but you know, the thing that you said in the beginning about, um doing it with the group rather than just reading it in a book on finding that that's the way I learned through a book on that it's really more interesting doing it with a group because everybody does it different and, you know, the creativity of the stitch kind of sneaks in yeah, where is in the book it's all very perfect and you want to do it that way and then if it doesn't come out that way, it's not good, but I'm the creativity of doing it and seeing that other how other people do it is, you know, really more exciting than the book we want more exciting that's, right? I'm a big proponent of that's how I learned was watching some in silence that selma and other the rosary of like hitting people with better known but still watching for me was what it's all about and that's why this class is so great because you'll be able to pause and go back and see, but I've outright cried when I've tried to learn stitches from a book and sometimes stitches that I know that maybe I forgot, nor I was taught and then I'm looking at a book and between the words not combining in a way that I had originally learned it or how I think about the stitch with images and then this perfect stitch I've started started to cry out of frustration like, I'm never going to get this, I'm never going to get this, and when it's part of what you do for a living, it's really becomes really pathetic really fast when you're like, I can't like it doesn't look like the book that it's wrong, and then, you know, you see other people doing it in a just a slightly different way and it's so interesting it's what makes it really interesting? Yeah, I agree I think doing it in a group is great doing in a place where you can actually watch someone do it and move through the stitches really helpful I don't think I would feel the same way about it if I had learned from a book I mean part of the magic and the interest for me was was actually spending time with my grandmothers and we'll do it whether or not it was under the stress of metric but yeah I don't think my interest level would have been this high and then to see what they were doing and what they did when mistakes happened or was it a mistake that they go with it how did they handle it okay so because I have a pretty good handle on the spokes touch okay? So one of them really nice things about embroidery is that unlike in cross stitch when you're dealing with a grid and the fabric has to be a very specific way if you're using a hoop with crossed it she went toe line up the lines of the grid upright and straight what you can do with embroidery is you can put the fabric in the hoop on a bias but actually looks supercool instead of it being square like this in the hoop it looks like a little triangle which is cute it's if you're doing a sampler or you're working with a sturdy fabric like denham or a cotton linen blend it's not going to impact the integrity of the fabric especially if you're doing something that's going to stay on a hoop or be framed if you're doing something drapey like silk air that's on a garment, obviously you want to follow. However, that fabric is draping, but for a purpose like this, it doesn't much matter. So to put a hoop on the bias, you're going to want to have the fabric in a diamond shape instead, and you're going to follow the same rules just trying to have the fabric, even on either side and then screwing it and keeping it taught. One of the advantages and also disadvantages of having it on the bias or having it straight with the weave of the fabric is that you can follow the weave of the fabric. So if part of your design, you want to do a diagonal straight stitch or backs, did you actually have the fabric on the bias to follow as you go along this way? If you're working on initials or monogram and you want the letters to be straight up and down, you're using a satin stitch or something that involves a lot more needlework. You can follow the weave of the fabric up and down, so it really depends on your project.
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Embroidery