Sal kantha - dhaneer sheesh border

I have filled the space between the two 'paichano' borders with an interesting filling stitch called 'dhaneer sheesh'. I don't know about others but for me this one is an interesting filling stitch which seems simple but it's quite difficult to get the movement correct.

Dhaneer sheesh is a filling stitch where equal length of kantha stitches are stitched in rows to form an arrowhead .The speciality of this particular filling is the stitches have either forward or backward movement in each row, interesting,huh?

                                                   

This filling can either be worked as an isolated group of stitches to form one arrowhead or rows of kantha stitches to form an arrowhead band.I prefer to work in continuous group if the border is straight but here since it's a curved one I chose to work individual arrowheads closely to form a band with 2 strands of black floss.

                                               

    

I wanted the arrowheads on both sides to face up so I started working this band from the lower part close to the wheel,completed the border on one side and then started again at the bottom to complete the second side.When I reached the tip I just arranged the stitches at an angle on both sides to get the pointed effect at the tip.Have you noticed a weird gap at the bottom of the band ? I'll have to think how to fill that gap,any suggestions?

                                                 

                                               dhaneer sheesh with 5 kantha stitches

To work an isolated dhaneer sheesh just work it like we did for kantha filling stitch but keep the stitches either forward or backward to the previous one.

                                         

                                                 dhaneer sheesh with 7 kantha stitches

                                  (click on the image to view the placement of the stitches)

To work a band work a row of kantha stitches from right to left ,continue working a second row of stitches from left to right by placing the stitches slightly forward or backward and continue these steps until you complete the pattern.

Now that the band is filled I have some concerns about my choice of the green shade for the birds..I tried this filling with other colors too but it didn't look as good as this..

But I'm not going to change it until I fill the triangles and the dots ,will see how it looks after that...what do you think? Feel free to leave your suggestions in the comment box.

See y'all next Wednesday with an update.

Happy stitching!

Anita.

Sal kantha – wheel and borders

I have finished the wheel at the bottom of the design and changed the kantha border lines to paichano border lines because the filling stitch inside the border lines looked a lot better with paichano stitch in my test sampler..more about that next week.

                                                    

The spokes of the wheel is done with paichano stitch using 2 strands of yellow embroidery floss shd # 289.The dots are stitched with kantha filling stitch using 2 strands of black embroidery floss.I have filled the outer black ring area (refer the pattern) of the wheel with 'jod'. A 'jod' is nothing but 2 or more rows of aligned kantha stitches.I have filled the area with 3 rows of kantha stitches but if you are working on a larger pattern then you could work more rows. Next I filled the inner black ring and the empty circle with kantha stitches using 2 strands of black embroidery floss. I chose to fill the inner circle too because I find it too small for another color change but you can do that if you'd want to.

I have also worked a circle of paichano using 2 strands of yellow floss shd # 289 between the two black rings of the wheel.

                                        

The borders are now done with paichano stitch.We have already stitched the borders with kantha stitches.Now all you have to do is whip the kantha stitches using 2 strands of black floss and make it into a paichano.

See y'all next Wednesday with another interesting filling stitch.Please feel free to leave if you have any queries or suggestions in the comment box below.

Happy stitching!

Anita.

Sal kantha - crown flower, dot, birds and stem

Time just flies..I can't believe that we are very close to our kantha sal finish line..In just a couple of weeks we will be there :)

The dot above the crown flower is filled with 'kantha filling stitch using 2 strands of red shd # 047.                                                    

The crown flower is filled with 'kantha booti variation' using 2 strands of black and green shd # 239.To work 'kantha booti variation' start stitching from the outer edge of the petal with 2 strands of black just like we did for the kantha booti until you reach the 'v' like slit in the petal and fasten off the black thread.Continue filling the petal from where you'd left earlier with 2 strands of green.                                  

Next I moved on to the stem and birds(!) at the bottom of the pattern.The tear drop shape inside the calyx like thing between the birds(!) is filled with 'kantha filling stitch' using 2 strands of shd # 926.The base of the stem and calyx is filled with kantha stitches using 2 strands of green shd # 269.The outline of the birds are done with paichano using 2 strands of green shd # 239.The beak is completed with 'kantha filling stitch' using red shd # 047.The bands inside the body of the bird is worked with 'bejod' using red shd # 047. A 'bejod' is nothing but rows of non-aligned 'kantha' stitches.

I want to try two different sizes for the bird-eye and see which one looks better for me..will let you all know next week.

See y'all next Wednesday with an update ..

Happy stitching!

Anita.