Now that you have spent some time in hunter-gatherer mode, sampling as you compiled your new assortment of thread and yarn, let's look at some of the marks you can make with them.
Lines in Running Stitch can divide areas from one another, lead the eye forward, curl and swirl to bring up images of winds and skies or seas and moving water. The dip and rise of land or contour drawings can be conveyed with these simple stitches.
In a more complex line, the stitches should be quite close to one another, even touching or overlapping. A curving or spiraling shape will bend with more grace when the stitches almost intersect, giving a sinuous character to the lines.
Other Straight Stitch suggestions for making curling marks are Back Stitch and Outline Stitch, which are opposites of one another. Turn your fabric over and see where the Outline Stitches you made on the front of the fabric are Back Stitches on the reverse.
In Back Stitch it is easy to make a continuous line by having the stitches share the same entrance and exit points. This is useful when drawing shapes to be filled or making lines around something we should not miss in the story.
Backstitch is also a very strong stitch, if you are reinforcing or connecting two pieces of cloth. In the sample below, I have used some backstitched lines to strengthen the top of the cloth, but the stitches do not share the same entry/exit points as in the grid above. They are spaced so the lines resemble running stitch. Without heavy stitching, raw edges often curl or continue raveling, so the camouflaged Back Stitch is both utilitarian and decorative here.
In Outline Stitch a part of one stitch overlaps slightly a portion of the previous stitch, so that a line has an almost doubled feeling to it.
Outline Stitch also has the ability to make rough, choppy lines by moving them slightly out of alignment. The resulting marks are very painterly, much like a quickly drawn sketch. The lines can reinforce the movement of a line and give energy to the object or area being stitched. It is more like drawing with a needle than simply stitching.
In contrast, Straight Stitch marks made of different sizes and with more space between them may suggest awkwardness or indecision. If the thread is very heavy, however, the space between the stitches becomes a useful breathing space, where we can see the pinching of the chunky thread through the tiny hole in the fabric changing the shape of the mark from flat to oval with slightly pointed ends. There are several examples of chunky thread and torn strips of silk fabric in the wave below:
In the example below, the single curving line of Running Stitch skips and moves about, but a second line has been added to help to smooth out the curve. Though it seems abrupt in places, the doubling of the line maintains a gentle flow as the line escapes the yellow silk block.
In combination with appliqué, dyes, and rusted fabrics, this look at a stretch of the Appalachian Mountains has been stitched in straight stitches. The threads are a mix of over-dyed weaving threads in several different weights and textures, then stitched as tilted and curving lines and blocks to follow the contours of the land:
As an exercise, try making as many curving lines as you can with Running Stitch, Back Stitch, and Outline Stitch. Vary the threads as you work. Each of the three stitches has its own characteristics that can be explored and developed in your personal style.
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