Cable Stitch
The cable is a great stitch for showing all sorts of texture.
Page 1. Sample piece using a variety of bobbin threads. Presser foot on and feed dogs up. Used a second bobbin where the tension was loosened.
Fabric – unbleached cotton
Stabilizer - felt
I used a variety of bobbin threads, top threads, and stitches.
1. thick yellow rayon hand embroidery thread for the top 2 rows – the first was a straight stitch and for the 2nd row, a curving/swinging stitch. I used different top threads. The first one was a variegated green cotton thread and the 2nd was a variegated 100% rayon from Thread Studio called Indian Splendor.
2. variegated silk cord from Treenway Silks with curving/swinging stitch and a zig-zag stitch with changes in lengths and widths of stitch. The top thread was Aurifil 100% cotton – colour violet.
3. red cotton pearl size 8 using straight stitch, zig-zag stitch an overlay straight stitch, and an automatic flower pattern – varying the stitch length. The top thread was Wonderfil metallic gold col. 8858. This showed a nice twinkle on top!!!
4. tried a heavy knitting yarn which did not work ….. the thread was more of a spun thread and just pulled apart!!! (did not leave in place!!!)
5. silk ribbon (made sure to press before winding on the bobbin). Did straight stitch, zig-zag stitches changing the widths and then an automatic stitch. The top thread was a variegated orange blue red 100% rayon. The top stitch did not always catch along the rise of the bottom thread on the bottom row.
6. variegated knitting yarn using straight stitch, zig-zag (top thread showed and the zigs and zags were not as pronounced as on the back side of the piece), two automatic stitches. The top thread was Aurifil 100% cotton violet in colour (4225 2LB – size 40).
7. yellow 8/2 silk thread from Treenway using two automatic stitches changing the length for the first example. The top thread is the same as #6
8. green embroidery floss using 4 automatic stitches changing the lengths throughout the stitching. Top thread is the same as #6.
Page 2 – Cable stitch with free embroidery and no embroidery frame.
Fabric – unbleached cotton
stabilizer – felt
A variety of bobbin threads and the same top thread (Aurifil 100% cotton – violet 4225 2LB – size 40)
1. fine silk cord from Treenway – variegated red to red violet
2. Watercolour by Caron – 100% cotton – 1 strand – variegated LCOU8 725
3. hand dyed boucle like silk thread - pale mauve/pink
4. orange pearl cotton size 8 (DMC) using the zig zag stitch
5. emerald green pearl cotton size 8 (Anchor)
6. off white silk boucle thread
7. turquoise heavy knitting acrylic thread.
8. the other two squiggles on the left – have no idea what the thread is – could be on of the boucle silk threads.
Page 3 – Northern lights!!!! Fun to do!!!!
fabric – transfer painted cotton polyester – yellow orange with with a hint of blue violet.
Stabilizer – felt
extra additions. red orange eyelash knitting yarn to represent northern lights, piece of violet silk fusion (silk paper) to represent a range of mountains, piece of blue green orange red fusion along the bottom of the piece. These were all held in place by quilters 505 spray.
Threads. Sky - Caron Watercolour (same as the previous sample); top thread 100% polyester yellow colour 850
bottom half of piece – Left – variegated light blue to light green silk boucle like thread; top thread green grey 1005 polyester and a variegated multicoloured cotton thread (violet, red, blue, beige); middle – orange pearl cotton size 3 with orange top thread; red pearl cotton size 5 with a navy blue top thread; lime green pearl cotton size 8 with a top thread of a 100% rayon variegated thread black green; shade of blue 100% silk boucle thread with a light blue top thread.
Page 4 – The Grid!!!!
All of the following “grid” pieces are stitched on unbleached cotton with a stabilizer of felt. This was a great group of stitchings to get used to the cable stitch!!! I use a lot of variegated threads top and bottom!!!
Page 5
Thread – bobbin – silk fine cord from Treenway – variegated red to red violet: top thread - Aurifil 100% cotton #2460 IGE red violet.
This is such a great thread to work with and one of my favourite colours!!!
Page 6
Thread - bobbin - acrylic knitting yarn – variegated pink, violet, yellow; top thread – 100% rayon – variegated – blues, reds, oranges and browns!! The top thread definitely shows up on this piece which makes for very interesting marks. Very easy to stitch.
Page 7
Thread – bobbin – hand dyed silk boucle like thread – variegated pale green to pale turquoise; top thread – Aurifil – 100% cotton 40/2 weight, colour 5020 2LD – tint of yellow green. Again this was an easy thread to use in the bobbin for the cable stitch.
Page 8
Thread – bobbin – pale blue silk ribbon; top threads - rayons, Aurifil cottons, silk, polyester embroidery, Wonderfil metallic. Colours ranged from pale blue, royal blue, blue violet, red violet, red, orange, red orange, chocolate brown, variegated blue/turquoise, pink. ( I did keep track of which thread backed which square!!!)
This was a very difficult piece to complete. A bobbin ribbon winding would not last one square. The silk thread was easily shredded by the needle (this did not happen when I tested silk thread on my sample at the beginning of this chapter). I am not sure why this happened unless I was too confident and starting stitching too quickly!!! The bobbin I was using had little or no tension. And I changed the needle. Problems often occurred on the stitching curves!!!! Also I pressed the ribbon and made sure I didn’t twist the ribbon when winding it onto the bobbin! Possibly the problem lay in using free embroidery. The original sample had the feed dogs up and presser foot on.
Page 9
I chose to stitch these three maple seeds for the next two projects.
Page 10. This is not one or my favourites. I thought my idea was good. I wanted the front seed pod wings to be lighter in colour and the one at the back, the darkest. It was not as effective as I wanted. Maybe the threads I chose were too course and bumpy!!
Fabric – transfer painted cotton polyester using mixed yellow and blue paints. I have no green paint. The actual piece is more yellow green than the photograph above.
Stabilizer – tear away
Threads – bobbin – 100% silk boucle-like threads hand dyed (all of these threads have been in my stash for decades). The colours used were dark wine red, medium wine red, pink, light medium green (variegated) and medium green/turquoise. Top thread – 100% rayon Thread Studio – variegated reds and greens!!
Page 11. Now I like this one …..The course and bumpy threads work so much better in this rendition of the maple seeds!!! The colour of the fabric is vibrant and an eye catcher!!!
Fabric – transfer painted bridal satin
Stabilizer – tear away
Threads – bobbin – fine cord silk thread – variegated colours from red to red violet (same as used in one of the grids – page 5), 4 boucle like silk threads – colours used were chartreuse (yellow green), shade of blue, lighter tone of the blue, light tone of violet.
I would have preferred a bit more pattern to stitch around. I really liked the knobbly effect of the threads.
Page 12 - 3 dried up okras.
These were green and smooth when I first got them. The ridges just asked for cable stitch.
Page 13. Drawing of above
Cross section of an okra.
Page 14. My interpretation of the okras. I really liked this piece. I feel the background granite stitches drew all the elements together.
Fabric - transfer painted bridal satin using blues and yellow. I cut out five cross sections and scattered them. Then continued to iron the transfer paper to leave behind negative spaces.
Stabilizer – tear away
Threads and stitches –
the okra – cable stitch – bobbin - shiny viscose rayon (Hanna Sunakret) – dark green; top thread – 100% polyester embroidery thread 120D/2 – colour # 323 shiny beige gold. The stems – bobbin – #5 perle cotton brown; top thread – 100% rayon Thread Studio – cradle mountain. The top threads came through to give a further dimension to the stitching.
Cross sections – outside edge of the cross section – whip stitch (tension 8); vermicelli filling (top tension 3) in the rest!!! top thread – 100% rayon – Thread studio – variegated – Cradle Mountain; bobbin thread – 100% rayon – Thread Studio – variegated - Iron bark.
tear drop spaces – moss stitch – top thread – monofilament – 100% polyester Sulky invisible - colour – smoke (this thread was removed after the bobbin thread had been stabilized with misty fuse and a small piece of unbleached cotton on the back); bobbin thread – 100% rayon – thread Studio – variegated Carnivale. (the top tension was set at 8) – this made very nice loops on the top and added a sparkle of bright colour!!!!
Background – lines of granite stitch – top thread – 100% rayon – thread Studio – Cradle Mountain (same thread as used for the vermicelli). bobbin – 100% polyester embroidery thread colour # 502 – shiny light green.
Page 15. Rhododendron flower from my garden.
Page 16. Drawing of the above rhododendron with just two of the flowers and a few leaves around the outside.
Page 17. My first interpretation. This piece finally came together after much thought and lots of stitching. Great variety of threads, stitches, and patterns.
Fabric – piece of hand dyed felt in blues, reds, and violets.
Stabilizer – tear away
Threads – the flowers – Cable stitch – Bobbin threads - chose silk ribbons to define the flower petals. Treenway silk ribbons – J45 – dark wine red for the two pistils; J47 – light pink for the upper flower; J43 – dark pink for the lower flower. (Had lots of trouble with the needle shredding the silk!!!). Still using the cable stitch inside the flowers - light coloured flower – used pink boucle like silk thread and for the dark flower used multicoloured red to red violet fine cord. At this point, I did not like the colour contrast …. they were too stark. So I added rows of straight stitching in between the cabled rows using lighter coloured threads for the dark flower - Aurifil – 100% cotton – 12 weight – pale pink and shocking pink; and darker coloured threads for the light flower – Aurifil 100% cotton – 12 weight - dark violet and bright red violet. Top thread – 100% polyester Guttermann colour 440 – dark red violet.
The stamens - Cable stitch – Bobbin - pale green boucle like silk thread; top thread – 100% polyester embroidery thread colour #502 – very pale shiny green. On top of this stitching, I straight stitched using Korean 100% rayon thread – colour # 2002 – shiny yellow green. (again I wanted more contrast so added the top thread!!)
The leaves – Cable stitched the leaf outlines and the centre veins – bobbin thread – blue/green boucle like silk thread. Top thread 100% polyester embroidery thread – lime green shiny colour #502. Then outlined all the leaf stitches again with a top stitch using a rayon yellow green thread # Korean thread colour #2002. Inside the leaves used top thread – 100% rayon Thread studio – royal shiraz – variegated violet, red violet, lime green, green. Bobbin thread was the polyester embroidery thread colour #502 - shiny yellow green. Stitches used – vermicelli – whip stitch, feather stitch, and regular tension stitches.
Background – granite stitches – 100% cotton thread – variegated red, blue, pale yellow.
Page 18 . My second interpretation of the rhododendron flower!!! I took the cutout of the flower outline and placed it on top of a piece of partially transfer painted cotton polyester and continued to iron with piece with the transfer paper on top. I then started to machine embroider all those neat stitches I have just somewhat mastered.
Fabric - transfer painted cotton polyester using a blue and orange colours.
Stabilizer – tear away
Threads and stitches – cable stitch around the motif using bright orange Pearl cotton #8 in the bobbin. Top thread – 100% cotton Tubino – orange in colour. Bottom flower shape – top thread - orange as above: bottom thread – 100 % rayon – Thread Studio – variegated Carnival. Used whipped, feather, and moss stitch. Top tension was 8 and bottom tension was reduced. Top flower shape – wandering granite stitch which spread into the bottom flower – top thread – variegated Carnival and orange in bobbin – normal tensions (threads as above). Cable stitch – bobbin thread – blue 100% silk like boucle; top thread – 100% cotton – shade of blue. Over stitched one of the blue cable stitched objects with Aurifil 100% cotton 12 weight – colour yellow orange.
Background – vermicelli – top thread – Blue as above; bobbin – orange as above.
This piece was fun to do. I did not spend as much time on this on as I did on previous pieces. Also, I note, I still need quite a bit of more practice with the verimicelli stitch.
