How to Adapt Needlepoint – Step 5

Step 5 – Choosing Motifs and Practice Stitching

Time to get specific. The basics are sketched out and now I have to decide what motifs to use.

I start by studying each motif, looking for ones that I have not yet adapted. I know there will be some repeats, but adding new ones from the different areas helps to set them apart.

For new motifs I like to do some practice stitching. I did a lot of this with the blue rug, showing you how I worked out most of them ahead of time. I’ve set limits on the amount of space I can use for the bands on this rug, so I need to play with the motifs and see how best to adapt each of them to 27 stitches or less. Some of the new motifs are tall, so I may have to use a combination of tall and then small motifs to make the bands look good. A lot to play with. I started with an easy one – the boxes with the large X inside it.

The photo on the left is the original motif. My first adaptation attempt is in the middle. I’m using the brick stitch horizontally over two threads to make it look like a woven rug. The X took up the whole box and was too thin. So I tried again making the stitches for the X go over 3 threads instead of two in the photo on the right. I also shortened it so that there is room for some of the background color around the edges of the square. This looks better.

This second motif reminds me of Irish Chain. In the photo in the center, I did the entire square using three straight stitches for each of the little squares that make up the motif. Again, I didn’t like the look of it.

I didn’t do a complete square for the second attempt. I just moved a few rows above the first attempt and tried part of the motif in Scotch Stitch. This is the photo to the right. I think the motif will stand out a little more this way, so I’ll us the Scotch Stitch on the rug and Horizontal Brick Stitch around it as background.

This gives you an idea of what I’m currently working on. This step takes some time – one to three weeks as a rule. In the next post, I’ll show you a few more motifs and a possible arrangement for the first vertical band.

How to Adapt Needlepoint – Step 4

Step 4 – Setting Goals for the Project

I try to set one or two goals that I want to accomplish while working on each rug. This helps me focus on one or two specific aspects of a piece so that I can learn more about each rug as I work on it. As a rule these goals come to me while I’m studying a rug, before I start analyzing motifs or start my practice stitching. I’m now getting ready to stitch my third rug. Here are the goals for each of them:

The red Zemmour rug –

Adapt a few simple motifs to needlepoint

Arrange them in an order that will give the look of a real Zemmour rug

Results – I am able to adapt these motifs without doing weeks of practice stitching. It comes to me easily and the result of this first rug was pleasing to the eye, had the correct colors for the type rug I was stitching, and also has the feel of an authentic Berber rug. So far, so good.

The blue Middle Atlas Rug –

Design and stitch a blue and brown rug for our bedroom that we will enjoy looking at every day for years to come (sometimes motivation is a good thing)

Create more complicated motifs using needlepoint stitches that others can recreate

Results – The colors were perfect for our home and I got wonderful comments from many, many people. Several motif bands were quite complicated and required a lot of practice stitching to get them to look correct. One motif was dropped because it was so complicated and just couldn’t be adapted to my satisfaction. I don’t want my designs to be so complicated that other stitchers can’t use my designs. This was an important step for me. I’ve always loved designs and rooms that have understated elegance. I need to keep this in mind as I design other projects.

The Anti Atlas Rug –

Create a better way to add motifs on top of a stitched area. I’ll work on this with the basketweave squares

Use 3 separate color schemes that can work together to create an authentic looking rug from the area.

(Another unspoken goal was to use only what I already had on hand – canvas and thread)

Results – The first goal was not met. I was very disappointed with this part of the rug. The long stitches in the stitched on motifs continued to slide and shift long after I finished a section and started on another one. Also getting the motifs stitched at all was difficult. Over all, the design of the rug, the layout, and colors used were good. I learned a lot of new motifs in this one and will use some of them in later projects. (And I only had to buy one skein of floss to complete the orange section. All the other threads and the canvas were found in my stash.)

High Atlas Rug -

Design a needlepoint rug that looks more like a woven rug – this will influence my stitch choices

Design motifs that can be “woven” into the rug as I stitch – this could prove interesting and fun

As I continue to work on all thing Moroccan, I’m trying to stretch my knowledge and my needlepoint adaptation skills. And in the back of my mind, a solution to top-stitching motifs onto a stitched background is always rolling around. I should also note that I don’t write these down, but they are always there when I plan and stitch on my rugs.

If there are any other designers reading along, do you set goals for your projects? I would love to hear about it!

How to Adapt Needlepoint – Step 3

Step 3 – Deciding What Colors To Use

The description of the rug I’ve selected says that browns, black, white, yellow, yellow/orange, and green were used to make it. I don’t see green in the photo, but I will probably use a little as an accent color. This gives me a good start on colors. I know orange isn’t my favorite (and many of  you said the same thing), so I won’t use orange on this.

Trio is from Brown Paper Packages. Since my LNS doesn’t carry Trio, I ordered 5 of the colors to play with and I’m confident it will work well for this project. It’s the same wool/silk combination (Silk & Ivory) that I used on the Blue Middle Atlas Rug. But Trio is standable, so I can use one or two strands at a time to work on 18 count. That will keep it easy to manage and will avoid any pilling.

Another thread I’m playing with is Splendor by Rainbow Gallery. This is a strandable silk thread. I know silk is used in many of the rugs I’ve been studying. I am going to buy 4-5 colors that I can use as accent colors for some of the motifs. I have a very pale yellow that will work, but I need to get a green and at least two more shades of brown to make parts of the motifs a little more visible.

The Trio for the entire project won’t be here until next week, but I can show you what I have on hand. The skein across the top will be the background for the rug – the major color. I didn’t want anything really orange and this will work well, I think. It’s called Peanut Butter. On the left are the other Trio colors. The darkest brown is from my blue rug. I ordered the same color in Trio, as the Silk & Ivory will be too thick for this project. The lightest color of Splendor is a light beige. The only color that isn’t in this photo is off-white. I should have grabbed some of that from the Silk & Ivory to include in the photo, but forgot.

It’s easy to see that this project will not have any vibrant colors. I’ve chosen a more neutral set of colors. Something a little different from what I’ve stitched before. We’ll see how this goes.

How to Adapt Needlepoint – Step 2

Step 2 – What size will it be and what kind of canvas will it be stitched on?

I want to keep this to a manageable size. I don’t want to be stitching on this for the rest of the year.

Looking at the top and bottom bands, there is a row of “boxes” with a large X in each one. So I started with that.

If I made each one 1.5” square, then I could do the whole rug based on that. The bands across the top, bottom, sides, and bands that cross up and down and across will all be 1.5” wide – that’s 27 stitches if I use 18 count canvas.

There are 9 boxes across the bottom with 3 boxes under each section where you have the large yellow and black areas. So I plan to make the yellow and black sections 4.5” wide and 4” tall. I did a quick drawing on graph paper and colored in the yellow and black sections, and not much else. I wanted to get an idea of how it would look and the approximate size of the rug on 18 count.

I know for sure that the X band will be 13.5” tall (9 squares that are 1.5″ square). The length of this quick rendering is 21” long. I know that’s not quite accurate for several reasons.

I forgot to make the black section twice as wide as the yellow. This will add about a half inch or more to the length.

I haven’t played with the black and white sections yet, so I don’t know how many stitches I need to plan for. There are four of these sections above and below the yellow bands. And there are small bands that look like zigzags above and below the yellow. That will add another few stitches. When that’s worked out, it should be about 23 inches long. I won’t be stitching the rug for a few weeks, so this could all change.

Now Step 2 is more or less complete. This is always a rough estimate of size. As I do my practice stitching later in the development stage, this will become more exact.

How to Adapt Needlepoint – Step 1

Step 1 – Decide what you are going to adapt.

The last area I’m going to study is the High Atlas Mountains. I’ve looked at and read quite a few books on Moroccan and Berber rugs. I’ve picked out four rugs that I really like and that are different from the others I have already worked on. The following are 3 of those rugs for you to look at.

I’ve saved this area for last because the designs are more complicated and I wanted lots of practice with the motifs before I had to put them into this more stylized type of rug.

The one that I’m going to work on is the one on the left above.

I love the bottom right rug as well. I’m thinking a few pillows based on that one in the future. We’ll see.

I like the colors and the arrangement of the various motifs in the one I’ve selected to work on. There are solid colored areas, and many motifs. Studying the motifs on this particular rug, there isn’t a defined order. They aren’t stitched in neat little bands. This will be a challenge (though I’ll probably establish my own pattern as I stitch it).

So Step 1 is complete. It’s also the easiest of the steps. Stay tuned on Wed. for Step 2.

About the High Atlas

The last part of the Atlas Mountains is the High Atlas.

The High Atlas in central Morocco rises in the west at the Atlantic coast and stretches in an eastern direction to the Moroccan-Algerian border.

The oldest portion of the range is in the west, near the coast. Its high point is the Jbel Toubkal at a height of 13, 600 ft. The mountain consists of Jurassic and Cretaceous formations notched by deep erosion-carved valleys.

The central part of the High Atlas is a solid chalk mass reaching an altitude of 8200 ft. The contrasting landscapes remind visitors of the Colorado, with its high plateaux, its gorges and box canyons, and its peaks sometimes splintered by erosion. Several peaks in this area exceed 13,000 ft.

The eastern part of the High Atlas forms vast plateaux at high altitude with altitudes of 10,000 to 13,000 ft. The altitude falls towards the east where the mountains join the pre-Saharan zone.

This massif became an internationally famous paleontological site after the discovery of the bones of the completely unknown ancestor of the dinosaurs, This dinosaur is also named Tazoudasaurus, after the name of the village of  Tazouda where it was discovered.

A New Moroccan Rug – With Questions

While I was stitching the Anti Atlas Rug, I was also thinking ahead to the next project. The last area to explore is the High Atlas in the center of Morocco. My website shows four rugs from this area, but this one is what I will be using as my inspiration.

I’m not ready to start stitching yet. I’ll start next month but in the meantime there are many questions to answer and decisions to be made.

The first questions are for you, the reader.

Would you like me to blog about the process I go through to create this next Berber rug?

Do you want to learn how I set my goals, how I plan the layout, how I determine what motifs and stitches to use?

I’ve already started the process, but if you’re interested, I’ll start posting next week and show you how it’s done.

Anti Atlas Rug Finale

I started this rug a little over 6 weeks ago. I finished the last stitches last night. The last pattern square below was a fun little challenge. I decided to make the motif using stitches done horizontally, rather than the usual vertically over 2 threads. I wanted the “hook” stitches going in the same direction as the arms of the motif. Then I went around the entire motif with a darker brown – each stitch over 1 thread. This gives a sort of three-dimensional look which I like. The challenge was to figure out how to do the background, without overpowering the motif itself. The original has a small border around it, so I did that in the very pale yellow. Then I decided to use the lightest of the greens to do a background. I decided to fill in the center part first and then have a larger border around that. I think it looks good – filling in the center gives an octagon look, which is very Moroccan. So here it is.

Anne commented about the basketweave squares for this set after the last post. Each of the basketweave square took a full skein of floss. I didn’t have 3 skeins of the green I wanted to use, so I stitched the green squares with Anchor #8 perle cotton. I thought the #8 perle would be easier to stitch with and would look great. For some reason it looks like a lightly overdyed color. That’s probably the light is being reflected off the thread in a different way than the floss. Looking at the completed rug and studying it’s overall design and effect, I think the basketweave squares done in floss look much better.  Here’s the finished rug.

My thoughts on this rug -

1. Overall, I think it all works well together. The original rugs from this area have lots of color, even changing the color of the basketweave squares within a set. This rug has the look and feel of the original rugs of the area.

2. I learned a lot of new patterns and a few more motifs while stitching this rug. I know I’ll incorporate some of them into my original designs that I’ll be creating next year.

3. I still don’t know the best way to do the motifs that are stitched on top of the solid color areas. Even though I tried hard to make the add-on motifs neat and straight, some of them don’t look good to me. Adding them to the perle cotton squares was more difficult that on the floss squares.

4. Using the overdye threads for the first of the outer borders of each section helps to tie all the colors for each set together. Traditionally, the first border uses about 4 colors from the rug and those colors are alternated around the entire rug. I decided to do that differently and like the look it creates.

5. Orange is not my color, but I love the final result of that set. 

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this rug as well. What didn’t you like? What worked well overall? What didn’t work overall? These rugs are learning experiences for me – trying to learn about Berber rugs that are made today, and have been made for hundreds of years. The study will continue with the High Atlas rugs. Look for more information at that project, starting next week.

And thank you all for joining me on this journey through Morocco.

Anti Atlas Rug – Progress #10

Before I started this rug, I had already decided on which 9 patterns to use for the pattern squares. Then along comes the new rugs that Alia posted online and on Kantara Crafts. One motif pattern on the new Anti Atlas rugs really caught my eye.

I had to do this one! So I started Friday night and was able to quickly finish it last night. Here’s my adaptation.

This one is definitely my favorite of all the patterns used in this rug!  And here’s the whole rug so far.

Now I have only two squares to do and the rest of the outer borders. I’ll have it done by the end of the week. Then I’ll do several of the squares on 18 ct. canvas to see how they look in different colors. I also need determine how much thread would be needed for the rug on 18 ct. canvas. And I need to work on more of the stitch diagrams for a stitch guide. The fun never stops.

My 5 skeins of Trio arrived yesterday. I’ll play with that too, to see how much I will need for the High Atlas Rug which will start in July. Lots of activity here at Thread Medley!

Terry Dryden’s Flower Diamonds Done!

What a fun project to work on! Beautiful colors and luscious threads. And don’t forget all the beads that Terry included as well.

This project used a lot of threads I’ve never used before so I made some discoveries along the way. There were four kinds of silk including ribbons. The ribbons were new to me and were used to make the flowers down the center of the piece. I love flowers but I’ve discovered I’m not good with real flowers or silk flowers. The silk ones are fun to play with, but I need more practice on them. I love that Terry gave me so many different threads to play with. Some of the flowers combined ribbons with other threads to add more dimension to them. The centers were done with french knots in several different threads and lots of beads, some a single color and some combinations of different beads.

The close up shows a few more details. The central flowers are done with buttonhole stitch – one layer on the right and two layers on the left. The centers were done differently. The multi-color flowers are done with a thread that varies as you stitch, fat at some places, thin in other places. That was fun to stitch with. You never know what look you’re going to get. And Terry included more than enough thread and beads to complete the project. I have lots left over and will have to think about something special I could create and use all those luscious threads. In the meantime, I’ll need to get this made into a neck roll pillow to display it properly. Thank you Terry for a wonderful design. 

Be sure to check out Terry Dryden’s webpage in the Blogroll on the right.