Awning Stripe Needlepoint

Monday’s column discussed awning stripes as a design trend for next year. Today’s column will look at the two kinds of awning stripes, even and uneven, and look at some ways to use uneven stripes in needlepoint.

Creating Even Stripes

It’s extremely easy to make an even stripe in needlepoint. Decide on how wide you want the stripe to be, and then mark your canvas into stripes that wide from one side to the other. There will be two colors alternating on the canvas, white and another color.

For the look of awning stripes, the stripes should be relatively wide enough to show off a stitch. If the colors are the same throughout, as in the pumpkin below top, it’s a stripe but not an awning stripe. The alternation should be like the watermelon, below bottom, white and a color. Although this stripe is narrow, it conveys that awning vibe.

Even awning stripes make great backgrounds, giving you plenty of space for stitches. Canvases you can buy today that have even awning stripe backgrounds include the stencil canvases from Two Sisters, below top, and &more’s popular sayings, below bottom. You will find plenty of other great canvases with these backgrounds.

Creating Uneven Stripes

Uneven stripes can be simple, like the one at the top of the article, or complex, like the one immediately above. There are two important pieces of information you need to chart your stripe: the number of colors, and the pattern of the stripes.

To get the number of colors, just count the colors in your sample. Don’t worry about matching them to threads right now. That comes when you plan your project. The maroon stripe has two colors, maroon And cream. The blue stripe has **: three blues, two aquas, grey, and white.

Finding the pattern of the stripe can be more difficult. Begin with the narrowest stripe, it’s 1 unit wide. All other stripes that width are also 1 unit wide.

Looking at the maroon stripe, you can see that the alternating maroon and cream narrow stripes are all the same width. There are 7 of them. Is the wide marron stripe the same width as the alternating stripesz? I think it’s a bit wider21 unit. That makes the full count for the steipe pattern 28. If you want wider narrow stripes, remember to adjust the width of the wide stripe so it stays even.

The blue stripe is harder. The single-wodth lines are the pairs of narrow navy lines on either side of the grey-ad white center os this stripe. The area betwwn these stripes look twice as wiude as the narrow steripe. Also 2 units wide are all the wite stripes. Now we can record what we have so fae:

1 navy
8 med blue
3 light blue
8 grey
2 white
8 grey
3 light blue
8 med blue
1 navy
2 med blue
1 navy
2 white
15 navy
2 white
1 med blue
1 navy
8 dark aqua
4 grey
8 light aqua
2 white
8 light aqua
4 grey
8 dark aqua
1 med blue
1 navy
2 white
15 navy
2 white

It seems complex but go slowly taking your time. As you fill in your chart, look for stripes that are equal to the stripes you’ve counted. It’s largely a process of what look right to you.

Using Uneven Stripes in Needlepoint

Uneven awning stripes make for bold, busy patterns. Because of this, I recommend using them in simpler designs. One idea I love is to fill triangular shapes with stripes, adding a big letter in a color that will show. Use several of these to make a banner.

Looking for something a bit smaller? Think about an awning stripe package ornament with a real ribbon bow. To do this, find a template for a three-sided box, i.e. one that’s open. Trace it onto your canvas. Stith your striped pattern on it. on it.

To finish, sew up the corners, folding the unstitched canvas to the inside. Cut a piece of styrofoam to fill the box and slip stitch a bottom backing fabric.

Now you have a box, add ribbons, bows, and hangers.