Wide Needlepoint Border in Free Sampler

This week we have the final border and the link for adding your name at the bottom of the sampler.

The main border has a three-row Tent Stitch pattern at top and bottom. A simple, narrow border like this can be used on its own, but it also provides a nice finishing touch and definition to open borders that have uneven edges and no compensation.
For this border you will need:

• metallic
• multi-color
• thin metallic in main color

This border goes across the entire width of the sampler; it spans both areas of shorter borders. Start it four threads below the chain link border.

Border

Begin by making three rows of Tent Stitch. The top and bottom rows should be in metallic with the middle row in the multi-color. The tops of the vertical lozenges touch the bottom of this border.

For the border use Fine (#8) metallic. For Blackwork to look good and for the shapes to have clear definition, threads should be about the width of a canvas thread.

Blackwork can be done in either Backstitch, below top, or Double Running Stitch, below bottom. I used Backstitch and completed one lozenge before starting the next. Double Running Stitch is made in two passes, shown by the two colors.

To stitch the filling, find the center of the line and begin with one of the vertical lozenges. Follow the pattern below and fill in the entire space with three lines of the tiles.

This is a typical Blackwork chart where the stitches are shown on the lines of the grid. Needlepoint diagrams, such as the stitch diagrams above, have straight stitches in the holes of the grid, as the stitches are on canvas. To convert this chart you will stitch in the holes with each square on the chart being one thread of needlepoint canvas. Because straight stitches on canvas must go over two threads to be stable, the straight sides will be two stitches long (2 stitches over 2 threads each). The diagonal stitches will go over one thread, i.e. one intersection each.

Repeat the three-line Tent Stitch sequence at the bottom of the border. The Tent Stitches should begin on the thread immediately under the bottom of the Blackwork.

Lettering

It’s traditional in samplers to provide information about who made the sampler. In the case of antique samplers this provides important information used to date the piece.

What you put in this line is up to you. The alphabet is seven stitches high. I used the Bungalow Alphabet pictured below.

You can also use these numbers designed to go with this alphabet.

Your choice of what goes in here depends on the length of things such as your name. Mine says “Janet Perry Made Me ’02”

You can also choose what thread to use. This will have an effect on how easily this line can be read. Because I used the multi-color and it has shades of several colors, the writing is hard to read. If I had picked the gold metallic, which is close in value to the canvas color, it would disappear into the canvas. The best choices if you want your name to be seen easily are medium or dark solid colors.

Come back next week for a new free project (we’ll be doing smaller ones for a bit.)