Mabel's Hardanger -- now closed, see new thread

[LadyS]

for the stitching for the bookcover and for the metaphor.

Ditto!

[tiffstitch]

Thanks for your great instructions as well, and I think it is an apt metaphor. This cover will certainly be an heirloom. Gorgeous finish.

[XandraS]

It looks beautiful Mabel, a wonderful and inspired finish

[Mabel Figworthy]

Yes, I am really enjoying Tree Of Stitches, but I was getting withdrawal symptoms so I needed to do a quick bit of Hardanger .

Someone asked me whether you could do Hardanger on afghan fabric -- Carole, I think it may have been you? Anyway, I found two squares of 18ct afghan fabric in my stash and got some #3 perle and designed a few simple squares to experiment with. They share the central "snowflake", then have different speciality stitches and filling stitches and a choice of two borders (or as in the first I did, no border). I'll be doing four (because my square of fabric has four smaller squares in it) and here is the first:



I used #8 as the thinner thread; you could use #5 for the bars, which would be quicker but perhaps a little too thick.

All in all it works quite well, and has rather a pleasing chunky feel about it; it would make quite a nice bedspread I think!

[Nachstenliebe]

Very pretty! It looks very classy
Faith

[rcperryls]

Thank you Mabel. It was me and that looks lovely. I have really been eager to try some. I may decide to do this and as much as I loved the idea of linen, what I really want is to do new
stitches. I think I might put that on hold and give this a try. I was getting ready to order some afghan fabric because of my newest addiction to HAED designs. Think I am going for dragons. and now I will also order one for these. Do you think that most of your designs will transfer? As I get closer to doing this, I will definitely be consulting you. First I have to decide if I will do my "usual" Charles Craft Alphabet afghan fabric (it is a very good quality) or try something different. Anne Cloth is also good, not as heavy and a bit more difficult to work with, I find. there are lots of options though, so I need to do some searching. Is there a good book or reference that I could get on Hardanger also? I know that you provide instructions and I'm not too worried about learning the stitches as long as I can deal with the fabric.

Carole

[Mabel Figworthy]

Carole, most designs that are charted for DMC perles should transfer, although they may look a little difference because the "balance" between the thicker and thinner thread will be different. Anything with speciality threads you would have to experiment a little to find the required thicknesses.

Another thing to bear in mind is that if your afghan has lines woven into it (as on my picture), you will have to make sure that none of the cut areas are on those lines as I don't think that would work.

If you like 18ct but it doesn't necessarily have to be an afghan, you could use Zweigart's Davosa fabric; I've used that and it is really nice to use (or if you are willing to go to 20ct, Bellana comes in sparkly varieties too ). Whatever fabric you use, make sure the weave is not too loose; it's a bit difficult to define what exactly is "too loose", but basically the Kloster blocks should sit quite snugly on the fabric without moving about too much.

If you like the afghans with 5" squares on them, like the one I've used here, then all the Round Dozen designs would be just the right size for that, and of course the two Afghan Squares I'm doing at the moment are, too.

Reference book -- I think Mary Hickmott's Easing Into Hardanger is probably the clearest introduction, and quite affordable (£4.49 from Sew & So). And if there are things you'd like to discuss or ask about, just drop me a line .

[rcperryls]

One of the reasons that I like Charles Craft fabric is because it is "tighter" weave than the Anne cloth I have used. I will let you know when I get the fabric and then we will move on from there. I like the idea of an afghan because 1)I hate framing because it is expensive and I don't have any wall space and 2)I think this will make a lovely spread. I am very excited about this possibility because I have been so entranced by your designs (buttering up the designer ) since I joined the forum.

Carole

[Mabel Figworthy]

Thanks for the butter

I just checked and actually what I am using appears to be Anne cloth -- it's 18ct, has 5" squares and the lines between the squares are the same as on pictures I can find of Anne cloth. So I can tell you now that Anne cloth will work

[rcperryls]

good. 123 Stitch has a lot of afghan fabric so I will probably order from there. The reason I tended away from the Anne Cloth was because of the much larger patterns I was doing and it is more difficult to stitch across the lines between th squares on Anne cloth than on Charles Craft. With the Hardanger I wouldn't think that would be nearly the same kind of problem.
Am I right?

Carole

[Mabel Figworthy]

Well, as I said you wouldn't want the cut areas to be on top of one of the lines, so it depends on the size of project you want to stitch. The 5" squares are about 90 threads, so anything with a stitch count up to about 85 should be OK; I've got a fair number of designs that size but most of them are more than 90 stitches, so for that you would either need an afghan with bigger squares, or afghan fabric without any lines at all (if something like that exists). HTH!

[karen4bells]

That is stunning Mabel and definitely something to think about doing in the future--thanks so much for showing us how it stitches up on the afghan fabric! Very elegant and another new idea to consider trying out! Thank you Carole for asking about it!!

[rcperryls]

Charles Craft Alphabet Afghan, 18 ct, (which I use mostly) has 90 stitches in each square around the edges (adding to 26 squares) with 10 stitches in the lines between them which can be stitched over with care, but would probably be very difficult for the cut areas. The center has no lines at all. Which is why it is my first choice usually. I don't know if there are any with no lines at all. But if there are squares with 85 stitches, they would work nicely in the border areas and then the rest would just depend on placement. I am going to look and see what else is around. This is looking more possible all the time. I don't have much DMC perle but am not averse to increasing my stash and any other suggestions you have about threads will be great. I am looking at this as an experiment I guess, but then so was my first afghan. My project (other than black xstiches on LOTR), I think, will be searching for the book, the afghan and looking on your website for potential designs. the one you just did is great and already I am thinking about it in a few different shades for a border.

Carole

[Raine]

The Bible cover and afghan sample are both beautiful.

Mabel, is there a tradition of stitched Bible covers in your part of the world? I have quite a collection of Bibles and stitching a cover could be very meaningful for me.

[Mabel Figworthy]

Raine, I'm not sure there is what you'd call a tradition, although I know of several people who made a cover (or had one made) for the Bible that was used at their wedding or baptism. This one is six years late but better late than never!

[rcperryls]

Well, I just ordered "Easing into Hardanger" from Amazon. Very reasonable. the used copy and shipping was just under $10.00 and since its from US vendor should be here very soon.

Carole

[rcperryls]

one more question, please, Mabel and then I will be able to start a SAL on this, hopefully, sooner rather than later. I found this afghan cloth 18 ct Abby cloth by Zwigart at 123 stitch. It looks similar to the Charles Craft (I am getting one of those for sure) alphabet afghan, but I'm not sure what they mean by a diamond grid pattern. Do you know what that is? If not, I may just order it and if it doesn't work for the hardanger it might for the HAED and if not, I could return it and start over.

Thank you.
Carole

[Mabel Figworthy]

Sorry, I'm not sure what they mean there -- could you contact them and ask them? I've found most needlework shops to be very helpful.

[rcperryls]

yes, I will and when I finally get myself started you will be the first to know.
thank you. I love the design you came up with. It will be fun and interesting to see if this will work.

Carole

[rcperryls]

FYI, there is a diamond pattern throughout the middle section of that Abby cloth. She was very nice at 123 Stitch and went and checked on it. She couldn't think of any other afghan similar to the alphabet afghan, so I ordered 2 of those. When it comes and my book comes, I will be "talking" to you.

Carole