Candy Stripe Saddle Stitch?

[Martyn]

Candy stripe saddle stitch, is it really cheesy or really cool, I cant decide?

I tried a test piece with black and white thread today and I dont know if it's just the novelty factor, but I cant stop looking at it, but I dont know if it's because I think it's cool, or cheesy. What do you think?

Front (click to zoom)

Back (click to zoom)

....on a side note, I've started putting a cast in my stitching and it's dramatically improved the lay of the stitches on the back, but it's had a negative effect on the front. The front isn't as curvy any more. Has anyone else noted that putting a cast in changes the front of the stitch as well as the back? Or am I doing something different?

Cheers,

Martyn.

Edited March 12, 2016 by Martyn

[billybopp]

Hmmm. It's not a style that would work for anything, but in certain applications it could look awesome! Picture a Christmas bag or ornament using red and white, for example.

Good job!

Bill

[Tugadude]

Regarding casting, it all depends upon the whole process. Simply casting affects the stitch, but LH and RH priority does too. What side is the grain side on when you stitch? Are the holes angling down towards you or away? Which needle goes in first, which needle is in front when you cross? It all matters.

Edited March 12, 2016 by Tugadude

[Martyn]

Regarding casting, it all depends upon the whole process. Simply casting affects the stitch, but LH and RH priority does too. What side is the grain side on when you stitch? Are the holes angling down towards you or away? Which needle goes in first, which needle is in front when you cross? It all matters.

Yeah, I'm still trying to get to grips with all this. I know that if you change one or more of these things, then 'something' changes on the stitch. What I'm trying to do, is get to the point where I can control it. In the above example, I'm stitching with the face/grain on the right (though it is two bits glued flesh to flesh in reality), first needle goes in from the left (flesh). The holes are angled up and away from me and I'm stitching towards me, so I'm crossing the needles underneath and on the right/grain.

All good so far, I'm getting a nice, curvy, eye-shaped stitch on the grain, but it's a bit flat and a bit inconsistent on the flesh.

So I throw in a single cast on the left, going under. The stitch on the flesh side dramatically improves, to the point where it's actually better than the grain side (see picks above). The only thing I've changed, is to cast the loop. The back gets a lot better, but the front gets worse. I've tried reversing the whole lot to make the back (now the prettier side) into the front, but I'm right handed and I find doing everything the other way round, quite awkward, particularly crossing the needles with my left hand. Overall I'm not unhappy. I mean I think the stitching above looks OK. But I'm just wondering is there is a way to make it better? Is there something I could change or do differently? Do others notice a deterioration in the face side stitch when they cast a loop on the back? Or have I got to the point now where I just need to point thousands of hours in for the consistency?

Thanks,

Martyn.

Edited March 12, 2016 by Martyn

[Tugadude]

As an experiment, try RH needle first, cross with the LH needle behind. Make sure the LH needle goes in the bottom of the hole and then cast the thread on the right side, the one you started from. This is the way I stitch mostly and I get a nice angle on both sides.

[TinkerTailor]

One thing the alternating thread color does is prove without a doubt that it is hand saddle stitched. Machines can not do this.

[Martyn]

I still cant decide if it's cool or cheesy. I tried it with black and dark brown thinking that a more subtle contrast might work well, but my dark brown thread is almost black and the effect was lost. I'm thinking a mid-brown and tan might look good?

One problem is how to start and finish it? Backstitching causes two contrasting stitches to sit in the same holes and it looks odd. Any tips?

[Tugadude]

I wouldn't say cheesy, but be careful about overdoing it, I would say. Still, it is interesting and perhaps might lend itself to being a "signature" touch.

Instead of backstitching, just stop and melt the ends if it isn't a high stress area. If it is, maybe loop around the edge twice and then tuck the ends in.

[Martyn]

I wouldn't say cheesy, but be careful about overdoing it, I would say. Still, it is interesting and perhaps might lend itself to being a "signature" touch.

I like the signature touch idea. I just did a few more rows. the middle is plain cream, but the top and bottom are a mix of dark brown and black. It's really hard to tell. You pretty much have to be in direct sunlight to spot it.

Front...

Back....

As an experiment, try RH needle first, cross with the LH needle behind. Make sure the LH needle goes in the bottom of the hole and then cast the thread on the right side, the one you started from. This is the way I stitch mostly and I get a nice angle on both sides.

I tried your suggestion. In the above pics the bottom two rows are done as I have been doing, first needle from the left, crossing on the right, making the cast on the left. On the top row, I switched it all round. It took me 4x longer to stitch as it feels unfamiliar and I have to think about what I'm doing. I'm not sure if it looks better or not ...or if the differences are just down to my lack of consistency and mediocre skill. I dont think I see enough of a difference to make the switch to be honest. Part of the issue is that I've been practising stitching with an awl. I'm right hand dominant so I'm using the awl from the right and then as I remove the awl, following it with the first needle from the left. I've used a chisel to make the holes in the above, but for consistency, still use the same technique - only instead of going in with the awl first, I open the hole up with my right hand needle and then follow it out with the first needle from the left. This means I'm changing very little when alternating between using a chisel and an awl.

I suppose I could make the hole with the awl, pull it out and then go in with the first needle from the right also, but it feels like adding an extra step. I would do it if it made a difference to my stitching though. But I'm not seeing much. What do you think?

Cheers,

Martyn.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Martyn

[Tugadude]

I disagree that your stitching is mediocre, it is above average I'd say. Some stitches seem pulled tighter than others, that affects the look also. Did you tap the line of stitching down?

BTW, funny how the white row seems like bigger stitches...