TAST Week Two Buttonhole Stitch

This is part of the continuing embroidery stitch challenge posed by Pin Tangle, this week being buttonhole stitch, or blanket stitch. In fact I disagree with her definition, which equates buttonhole exactly with blanket, gosh you'd never think embroidery of all things would be controversial, but blanket stitch travels one way, no twist at the top, to avoid uncomfortable edging on a blanket, while buttonhole travels the other way, with a twist at the top for reinforcement at the edge of the buttonhole. There are a number of variations on this, and probably a number of opinions, too, but this is what I learned in convent high school from our master embroiderer, teacher and amazing needlewoman Miss Harris, who probably had a first name, too,but we were never in those days, admitted into such intimate knowledge!

The original challenge is to learn, or enlarge on, a stitch each week for its own sake. But I was already under way with several large embroideries, so I've decide to incorporate Pin Tangle's challenge into my own, and use her stitch suggestions as part of the design I'm already embroiled in!

I show you part of the work off the hoop, for a bigger view



and on the hoop



showing it more taut and visible. Much more will be done to this area before I call it finished. But, as a believer in collaborative art, I'm grateful to Pin Tangle for the TAST challenge!