TAST 2016 – Stitch 25 Twisted Chain Stitch and Rope Stitch

I have to say, I really enjoyed this stitch! Sharon was correct in that it took a little bit of getting used to, but once I was under way with the rhythm of the stitch, I really enjoyed it!

These two stitches are effectively the same stitch, the only difference being the distance you choose to put between the line and the second part of the chain stitch. With twisted chain stitch, you tend to put a larger distance between the start of the chain stitch, and the ‘loop’ section of the stitch, whereas in rope stitch, it is a closer together, and a lot more like traditional chain stitch. You will see below that I didn’t put a huge distance on my twisted chain stitch, and I probably could have put more definition into the stitch had I done so. Something I think would be quite effective, would be staggering the lengths of the distances you use, to create a bit of a ‘ladder’ up and down your line. Sometimes I am too conservative with how I approach things!

Here’s my attempt at twisted chain stitch.

And here’s my attempt at rope stitch. I was actually having so much fun with this that I couldn’t stop at one row, and added in an additional row! Hence the blue marks you can see – I used a water erasable pen to draw in the line. As long as I don’t iron it in before washing it out, it will be fine!

The important question – what did I learn? In hindsight, with the twisted chain stitch, you will get a more effective result if you enlarge the distance between the start of the chain stitch, and where you re-enter the fabric to complete the stitch. For me, that means I need to step out of my comfort zone a little more!

Secondly, I found that where I placed my left hand (which was the hand I was using to wrap the thread around the needle), is important. Not so much in the overall effect of the stitch, but more so in the development of rhythm as you go along your working line.

I seemed to have a better eye this week for getting the length of each chain stitch a little more even, but I do need to continue to work on that.

And whilst this stitch takes to curves well, I did find that in my rope stitch example, I struggled a little when turning rather tight corners. My best answer to this was to complete the previous stitch completely, and then start again.

How did you find this stitch? We’d love to see what you created with it! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! If you would like more details on how to stitch this stitch, or the TAST challenge itself, head over to Pintangle and have a look!