LilyCompass I: Embroidery Ruby - Pointed Wave Pattern

(Just had to put in a reference to Dorothy's slippers)

LilyCompass I: Embroidery Ruby
Novel Effect:  Pointed Wave Pattern

Pour yourself a cuppa and pull up a chair - this is such a FUN effect.

When I first began embroidery, I found that doing "effect" techniques to be frustrating. The first effect was I attempted was Flax-Leaf effect in Bouquet from Japan.  I hated working it because the design did not emerge in the last stages of working in the threads.  At the time, I didn't understand the importance of making sure the gridline spacing are precisely measured ad executed.  Hiogi Fan taught me this lesson and since that time I have grown to really love way the precision of the design creates wonderful depth and texture.

In Pointed Wave pattern, the design looks really complicated and difficult but it has turned out to be a joy to stitch:

Foundation -- Midori silk #161 in 1.5 or 24 suga flat.

The grid is worked in #1 twisted JEC #1 Dark Green Beetle Wings Japan Plus SM #2730.  Twist the #1 metallic in the needle, just like making a sinking thread.  Substitution - #1 gold.

Use a fine 90-60-30 degree ruler.  Lay the straight edge of the ruler adjacent to the center line using the 30 degree angle.  Laying the tw gold along side the longest line to get the correct angle.  Use this first laid thread as your starting point and lay the rest of the gridlines in this layer 5 mm appart.

Using the 60 degree angle, lay the first of second layer of gridlines.  Use this as your guideline and place in the rest of the lines 5 mm apart.  Check to make sure the 60 degree angle remains consistent as each additional twisted gold is put in.

Couch down the intersections using a long couching stitch of the JEC #1 Dark Green Beetle Wings Japan Plus SM #2730.  My directions call for using couching thread but I like the #1. 1:2 tw of foundation color could also work well.

Now, for the really fun part.  Filling stitches -- Use a 2:1 twist of Midori #175 and #1 beatle metallic. Twist as described in the gold foundation.  Below is a chart that shows how to work the design with hints below.

Hints -- I measured out then placed my "up" and "down" stitches (#1 & 2) at about 1/3 the length of guideline with in the diamond.  This stitch did not pierce the guideline but rather came up just under it.  The couching stitch is also placed 1/3 of the distance between the points of the diamonds.

For the partial diamonds, use your best judgment and compensate with the filler stitches.

Friday: LilyCompass I - Embroidery Emerald
Monday: LilyCompass I - Embroidery Saphire

Christa, Lilystitch
www.lilystitch.blogspot.com and www.lilystitch.com