BACKGROUNDS CD, Volume 1, Ruth Schmuff and Janice McGuire, self-published, 2008.
Updated March 26, 2019
I love Ruth’s many books of stitches. I like the first two so much that I even made a spreadsheet of all the stitches so I could find them easily. Now I page through them on my phone. But one of my favorites of hers is this CD of Tent Stitch patterns.
Now you might be thinking that there are plenty of backgrounds in the other books and you’d be right. But this CD presents 481 repeat patterns that are classified by the size of the repeat.
What I love about these is that they take advantage of one of my favorite background techniques, needlepoint damask. In this technique threads of contrasting texture, value, or color are stitched in a regular pattern to make the background.
Starting from one stitch repeats and going up to a 40 stitch pattern, Ruth and Janice have come up with all kinds of inventive patterns which are perfect for this technique. Each one is presented on a PDF page. Many of them substitute some of the Tent Stitches with Diagonal Gobelins, Mosaics, or Scotch Stitches, to create another type of pattern. If there is one of these alternate versions, it is presented on the same page.
Because the patterns are all done in Acrobat format, any computer can use it with Acrobat Reader. Each pattern has the repeat in height and width presented at the top of the page, making it easy to find a background to fit any space.
The patterns are great for using to solve the dyelot problem (example here), to create needlepoint damask (learn more here), or to enliven a mostly Tent Stitch piece.
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
Way to go Ruth and Janice-much success with your latest venture!