Irregular shapes in Christmas ornaments can give lots of opportunities for pretty backgrounds. Take this Kathy Schenkel ornament for example. Looks as if it would fit into a square, doesn’t it? If you look again or measure it. That silver area sticking up from the top changes everything. It keeps the ornament from fitting nicely into square or round ornament frames.
Instead of giving it a narrow margin, I chose to turn the design into a rounded=top rectangle and drew the outline freehand. This gives lots of space for more background at the top. To fill it, I used Trellis Tent below, using an off-white vintage thread, Pavane.
This stitch creates little blocks of four Tent Stitches that alternate directions. Each block has two parallel lines of two Backstitches or Tent/Reverse Tent Stitches.
I stitched this in diagonal rows in either directions.
I thought it would be slow going, but it’s a fast stitch.
One last note, the diagram looks far more open than the stitch is.
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
Leave a Reply