Originally posted 2010-11-15 07:04:03. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Needlepoint by Kelly Clark
Rittenhouse Needlepoint in Philly cane up with this clever idea for making color blends or for dealing with dye lot changes. They call it checkerboarding and the idea is to stitch alternationg stitches in each of the two colors.
They say
At first you may not enjoy the look of checkerboard-ing but give it time and distance and it grows on you. It’s a great way to develop a color that you can’t find, to transition between areas or between DYE LOTS.
You can do it with any square stitch, although the blended effect is better with smaller stitches.
The smaller the squares, the more your eye will blend them into a new color, as in the pictures above. The top one is a close-up of the sample, while the bottom is the same sample reduced. See how the colors blend?
Are you looking for and easy patterned background? Checkerboarding in two similar colors or in two contrasting textures makes a great background. Kelly Clark used two colors of hand-dyed cotton to make this lovely background for her snowman (you can get a stitch guide for it as well).
So try checkerboarding — it’s a clever ideas.
