Finished sampler with pulled-work border

My recent work trip to Virginia went well. Beautiful weather, relatively short flights, and well- defined working days left me with time in the evenings to embroider in my hotel room with no distractions. As a result, I finished the trellis, pulled-work border on my little sampler. Having never done pulled thread work before, my attempt wasn't without mishaps. For example, I finished pulling the first line of threads, secured them and cut them, only to discover the next morning that I had only pulled up to the inside edge of the vertical border. It was a little harrowing unweaving the secured threads, pulling six more and re-securing them, but I had just enough thread. After that, I pulled from each direction before securing any threads at the corners. The trellis work was challenging as well. The directions I was following weren't detailed, so I wasn't sure if the working thread stayed to the outside or the inside of the loop that hugged the groups of fabric threads. I worked it both ways and didn't see much difference, but finally decided that the working thread stays to the outside. After I finished the entire inside border, the stitching became easier and easier, until the last two sides flew by. I very much enjoyed the repetitive stitch, but I will admit to hating the pulling and securing of the threads. It probably wouldn't have been so bad on a lower stitch-count linen, but on 32 count, it was hard on the eyes. Still, I love the result and look forward to working this technique again.

 

 

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