Sunday, June 12, 2005
Spiders and webs
Spider webs,and spiders..........what is a crazy quilt without one?
They were added to Victorian crazy quilts as a symbol of good luck.
But,where do you place them?
I like to place my webs on a single plain fabric patch, and in a conspicuous spot.If your chosen patch is larger than you want your web to be,you could plan to lay your web in an embroidered vine or bush,just as you see them in Nature.
When stitching the web,use a good quality metallic thread;This will need to be couched,rather than stitched with, as metallic threads by their formation tend to unravel very easily.
Start by laying the spokes of the web: depending on whether it's a full circular type web or a corner(fan shape). see diagram for explanation.
Then using your fine metallic thread weave and couch it around the spokes in concentric circles;the web can then be dropped down for the spider to dangle from.
Remember that if you dangle the spider, the web is always to the tail end of the spider ,where their spinnerets are located under the abdomen.
Otherwise,position the spider on the web.
Now comes the fun part!
Choose two beads for the spider: I like a largeish black faceted bead for the abdomen,and a smaller bead for the head.If the spider is dangling from the web,stitch on the large abdomen bead first.,then the smaller one for the thorax/head.
Using a fly stitch come up close to centre of thorax,down behind the abdomen and UP beside the abdomen......the leg will bend around the body.
Stitch 4 legs each side of the body,with all coming from the thorax;the front legs can bend either up or down.
If you dont like the fly stitched legs,you can always try legs made of a couple of chain stitches,but you'll find that the number of legs need to be reduced--to fit them in.
They were added to Victorian crazy quilts as a symbol of good luck.
But,where do you place them?
I like to place my webs on a single plain fabric patch, and in a conspicuous spot.If your chosen patch is larger than you want your web to be,you could plan to lay your web in an embroidered vine or bush,just as you see them in Nature.
When stitching the web,use a good quality metallic thread;This will need to be couched,rather than stitched with, as metallic threads by their formation tend to unravel very easily.
Start by laying the spokes of the web: depending on whether it's a full circular type web or a corner(fan shape). see diagram for explanation.
Then using your fine metallic thread weave and couch it around the spokes in concentric circles;the web can then be dropped down for the spider to dangle from.
Remember that if you dangle the spider, the web is always to the tail end of the spider ,where their spinnerets are located under the abdomen.
Otherwise,position the spider on the web.
Now comes the fun part!
Choose two beads for the spider: I like a largeish black faceted bead for the abdomen,and a smaller bead for the head.If the spider is dangling from the web,stitch on the large abdomen bead first.,then the smaller one for the thorax/head.
Using a fly stitch come up close to centre of thorax,down behind the abdomen and UP beside the abdomen......the leg will bend around the body.
Stitch 4 legs each side of the body,with all coming from the thorax;the front legs can bend either up or down.
If you dont like the fly stitched legs,you can always try legs made of a couple of chain stitches,but you'll find that the number of legs need to be reduced--to fit them in.
# posted by Maureen @ Sunday, June 12, 2005 
