A Wee Acorn

Very very wee. But larger than the head of a pin.

Testing proceeds apace, trying out different filling stitched and border designs. So far I've discovered that while I can stitch a long straight line freehand, I cannot be trusted to make consistent triangles, diamonds, or other geometric shapes. I make darling acorns, though.

This is all the heavier embroidery (quadrupled thread) meant for skirt trim, and probably for sleeve cuffs, too. Satin stitch loses the least definition, from a distance, but chain stitch is infinitely faster. Split stitch is out of the running, mostly because I Don't Love It. My main quibble with satin stitch is that if there's the slightest variation in stitch angle, the effect is diminished...but then again, it's a little sad to use stitches that don't show off the sheen of reeled silk to best effect.

Step one: mark intervals and stitch diagonals.

I do like the diamonds-and-dots pattern on the top border here, but as previously noted, I can't be trusted with consistent angles. So I came up with a better (and more efficient!) way to make the same pattern, starting with actually marking the diamond intervals.

Step two: opposite diagonals.

Without the dots, they look very much like big cross-stitches—which is exactly what they are.

Step three: dots and tacks.

The last step here is adding the French knots (I've no clue when those started appearing in embroidery, but it was almost certainly after the late 12th century. More than likely, isolated dots like this would have been seed pearls or other beads stitched on, but I'm not rich, so French knots are the inexpensive, visually-similar substitute) and tacking down the centers of the Xs. Those long stitches worry me, with the potential for getting snagged or frayed, so a tiny horizontal stitch at the center should help anchor them a bit better.

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