Updated July 23, 2019
While there are many needlepoint canvases that have skies, I tend to shy away from them for a very simple reason. I prefer the sky when it is interesting, with many broken clouds.
I like the look of scraps of clouds and the many shades of white and blue you find in these skies. But stitching it? No way. It would be far too difficult to get those larger areas of color in a suitably random way.
I found this stunning color of variegated Mandarin Floss (M921) and on the card it looked to me just like those broken skies I love. In this thread there are two shades of white and two of blue.
There are other threads with this lovely combination of colors. The more blue in the thread and the less with, the fewer clouds in your sky.
I decided to combine the Mandarin Floss with a textured stitch (Nobuko) to stitch the sky of this ABS lighthouse.
It worked out exactly as I had hoped, the colors combine to make irregular clouds with slightly shaded blue skies. For some this sky might be a bit bold for a background, but Love the way it sets off the red lighthouse.
Next time you want to make a cloudy sky reach for this thread and watch the magic!
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
This looks like it would also work for the edge of a sea – right where the rollers break.
I think it would, but if I was doing the sea, I’d probably try to control the color a bit more, by grouping whites with whites along the edge. And, for me because I’m lousy at counting, I’d have to be careful about the stitch.
Keep Stitching,
Janet