Tuesday, January 16, 2007

A rose by any other name...

Well it has been a long time since I have done the Rose Challenge. I've been thinking that it needs to be monthly instead of weekly because of Take A Stitch Tuesday. It would just be too much to add learning how to stitch a new rose every week also. So my rose for January will be the Melanie Rose
(It's been so many years since this was published that you might have to Google search for instructions on how to make it.*Mar2023)

Here are my results! I think it is a more advanced SRE rose but don't let that stop you from trying it out. It uses basic stitches but the looseness and amount of twisting is something you need to play around with to get this rose just right. Don't be discouraged if you flop when you first try it out, keep going continue to practice learning from each one you try. As you do this you will be learning it and once you learn it, it will become easy to you and the rose will be mastered.

On #1 the stem stitching was twisted a little oddly and the first part was a little odd too. #2 I made the stem stitching too loose and it was overly loopy and looked a little disproportionate. #3 was better but I made the first section with the straight stitches and ribbon stitches too tight compared to the looseness of the stem stitches. #4 I love! I made the ribbon stitches looser and the stem stitching I tried to keep just right and keep re-twisting the ribbon as I went.

Here are some tips that helped me:
  1. Keep practicing learning from each one as you go. Think up your own tips for yourself as you go.
  2. You may need to re-twist the ribbon during stem stitching (counter-clockwise)
***Update 20 Feb. 2007***
Here is a finished motif using the Melanie Rose! I put a foundation of feather stitches and then added lazy daisy leaves and Melanie roses.
Click on the photo to see it larger.

No comments: