Ellen Squiggle

Although I’m not crazy about satin stitch, I signed up for a class with Libby Leman. She’s an excellent teacher, and I learned a lot. I tried to be a good student, and to do everything as she suggested. But, on my second tedious (and much less than perfect) practice circle, I began to consider alternatives. I was quite fed up with all the pivoting that perfect satin stitching requires, and I wondered “what would happen if I just did some wild stitching, without pivoting at all?”

While everyone else obediently practiced their circles, I gleefully began my experiment. I left the machine set up for satin stitching. However, when stitching, I turned the fabric every which way. At the same time, I adjusted the width all over the place. Here is the result:

Pretty cool, huh? I have since used this on several projects. On this work-in-progress, below, I used a very mild version of the technique, to simulate a couched and wiggly thread.

On my travel necklace, shown in progress below, I went full out, with red and black threads. A great effect, don’t you think?

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