And Superhuman Eyesight
Tonight, Tricia’s Trellis Stitch Directions
The other thing visitors to the Crafts Center often say to me is, “you must have really good eyes.” Umm, no, actually. My eyesight is so poor that whenever I order new glasses the technician delicately suggests I go for the ultralight lenses “so they won’t look so thick.” I think my glasses correct my vision to almost - but not quite - 20/20.
Many people use magnifying lenses to work on the jacket. Good light plus my almost-coke-bottle glasses work fine for me. One thing I wonder, though, and seems to me true, can you train your eyes like your other muscles? When I first tried this work I had more of a hard time than I’m having now, after several months of practice. Can your eyes get used to seeing fine work like your arms can get used to picking up heavy bundles?
Colleen asked in the comments why I scheduled the Symposium to conflict with Rosh Hashanah. Not on purpose, but not completely unaware either. We had to schedule around other events at Plimoth, staying aware of (and avoiding) high visitation periods, and try to take advantage of hotel availability. We also tried hard to avoid known needlework events at other museums. Plus early autumn is a very pleasant time of year to visit Plymouth. I know we’re going to lose potential attendees because of the holiday and because we’re scheduled opposite a conference on furnishing fabrics at (I think) Colonial Williamsburg that same weekend. Sorry. ETA: The dates have been changed. The Symposium no longer conflicts with Rosh Hashanah. Please note the NEW dates are 24-27 September. jmh
Tags: Crafts Center, Stitches, symposium, trellis stitch
July 15th, 2008 at 12:00 am
I definitely think you can train your eyes. I’ve been working on a counted reproduction 17th century sampler and it’s all stitched over 3 threads, as seems to be the general case of samplers from that period. My eyes are so trained to work over 2 threads that getting them used to working over 3 has been a challenge. They are getting used to it a bit more.
I think you get more used to working on the jacket, too, with good light. I started a second butterfly with GST for the wings. At first I was working with my light and magnifier, but this afternoon and evening I was able to work in good light with no magnification. I think after a bit of work they’re getting used to the scale a bit more.
And yes, I get asked the same questions all the time, too. The patience one comes up even more often with demonstrating lace making. Another is that must be so hard because they see all of the bobbins (or don’t know the stitches, etc). Really, the stitches and the lace become much easier with good directions (Tricia’s are great and the Plaited Braid stitches I got today look like they’re great too) and a bit of practice.
(Okay, this is me saying buttonhole stitch isn’t that hard with a willingness to try and a bit of practice. Please come and stitch with us!)
Robbin
July 15th, 2008 at 10:02 am
You definitely can train your eyes. With the first Japanese embroidery piece I did on black fabric, I found it almost impossible to see the needle coming up from the back. The next time I did a piece on black, though, I had no trouble at all spotting the needle.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Oh, yes. I think you can train your eyes, too! Switch to whitework - all white threads on a fine linen, in a tiny design - after working on heavier linens in color, and you tend to think you’ve lost your ability to see detail. But after working a bit, you get used to it again.
I have a question about the trellis sitch. I just noticed this when looking at Tricia’s directions - she goes up under the stitch before (whether the backstitch edge or the bar between stitches in each line), yet I’ve always gone down. The thread wraps the opposite direction for the back and forth movement…. In looking it up, I noticed that Erica Wilson’s embroidery book - which had the best trellis stitch directions I’ve come across before seeing Tricia’s - also has the needle going down. Is there a real difference? I suppose, given the opposite direction of wrapping the working thread, the stitch would come out the same way? So, when the needle goes up (as in Tricia’s directions) do you pull the working thread up away from you as you tighten the stitch, or do you pull it down towards you? I would guess it’s the latter…?
Just curious. I filmed a trellis stitch video last week, but I worked the stitch with the needle going down rather than up.
July 16th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Mary,
I’d love to hear Tricia’s opinion, but I think on a lot of these stitches it doesn’t really matter whether you go up or down as long as you get good tension on the stitches (and with trellis stitch, leave enough thread between knots to get between them to work the next stitch). I have found being left handed that I work many of my stitches ‘upside down’ simply because it makes manipulating things easier. That’s definitely how I worked all of my Ceylon stitch — away from me and not towards me. Also, working on the slate frames on the jacket, especially with the big pieces, you work at whatever angle lets your arms reach the area where you work and work the stitch in the correct direction. It’s not unlikely that you’re working sideways sometimes. The big thing is to pull away from the stitch and I think that would be the same on trellis stitch as well.
July 16th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
You can definitely train your eyes, but also, being incredibly near-sighted is an advantage because you can focus at a shorter focal range without straining your eyes. It’s actually one of the reasons I’m hesitant about LASIK, although I suppose I could always get a magnifying glass….
July 17th, 2008 at 11:45 am
I hope the symposium will be structured so that those of us observing the holiday can get to those parts of it that do not conflict, i.e. registration for individual events or days.
July 17th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
As another person who will be impacted by this conflict, I would like to second Linda’s suggestion. The best thing would be to avoid scheduling major events during the important religous observances of any faith. If that isn’t possible to avoid the conflict, I hope something can be done to minimize the consequences of the situation.
Carolyn H.