Background ideas: The ‘Grass’ Stitches

When the book Landscape Stitches came out several years ago, I got (and still get) great ideas for stitches. one of my favorites was a Tent Stitch variation that appeared in the grass section. It’s the background in this cat canvas from Art Needlepoint and was stitched in Vineyard Silk.

I’ve done some other variations on this theme and all are diagrammed below. I really love these three stitches. They make fantastic backgrounds. Because they are Tent Stitch variations you can use them on even the smallest pieces. They make excellent backgrounds for focal points that are mostly Tent, but they also play well with textured stitches. They are easy to compensate and don’t have a strong direction so they will work for intricate designs and designs with any orientation. And, as you can see in the kitty above, they are easy to use when changing colors.

The first one I did is Little Shoppe Grass, below.

Then I alternated the posotion of the stitches in the skipped rows, making Messy Grass, below.

Finally, I took Messy Grass and changed the direction of the stitches in the skipped thread rows, making Bluegrass, below.