What else can we do with Nubuko? You can enlarge it by making the stitches go over 4 and 2 canvas thread intersections instead of over 3 and 1. Then, of course, you can do some of the small stitches in another thread, as above. And on and on.

Nubuko Enlarged

SLANTY BARGELLO - Another great background stitch. I really love this one!

2 strands Wildflowers

Slanty Bargello

As usual, let's see what else we can do with this great pattern. Diagonal stitches can usually be expanded or contracted, so try this.

The rows done with Watercolors have been shortened to an "over 2" stitch as in diagram below:

 2 strands Impressions with 1 ply Watercolors for narrow row

 Slanty Bargello variation

 

 Or we could do as we did with Slanted 3's and occasionally insert a row of tent or cross stitches after a row of the slanted stitches. Here's how that would look.

Slanty Bargello with Tent or crosses

RIC RAC - Another favorite diagonal stitch for good canvas coverage.

This pattern can be done all in one color or you could insert a row of a different thread every third or fourth row. You could reduce the stitch to over 2 intersections for small spaces, or you could expand it to over 4 for quicker coverage. You get the idea by now!

Ric Rac with metallic used every fourth row

Okay...now we've seen a few good background stitches to use when you need to REALLY cover the canvas well.

At a later date we'll come back and show you some straight stitches that are good for backgrounds and then, perhaps, go on to some open work favorites. Stay tuned for Part II to follow in June.

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