Trying Out The Hessian

The girls are back at school this week, so at last, there’s an opportunity to start work on the new hessian.

The first piece I’ve used, is the 7.5oz hessian. This has a very large hole and irregular weave. After I’d painted in some design guides, I ended up hemming the edges because it was already starting to fray.

Then I tried stitching it for a couple of hours.

I soon found that tent stitch didn’t work at all well. I think the size and unevenness of the weave made it pull up in a rather unpleasing way.

I unpicked it and instead, I started using some random running stitches to try and give it a bit more structure. That works reasonably well on the background, and I then tried randomly tent stitching into the vertical running stitch lines, which also felt quite effective.

I’m not sure yet though how to approach the tree itself. It needs more thought and probably some experimentation. The canvas is very light-weight, but will need a lot of stitching over – it seems to cry out for texture. I might even go into town and see if the knitting shop has any wool that might lend itself.

On the plus side, working with such big holes makes fast progress, so although it’s a big piece, if I can decide how to work it, it shouldn’t take too long.

But…

This morning, I had the uncontrollable urge to tent stitch something – well it’s been a week!

So, I took out the 10oz hessian, and had a go at putting a design together.

I decided to hem it straight away, before I got into the sewing; this stuff really frays badly and as I can’t easily put it in a frame, I thought I’d give it a sporting chance and roll up the edges.

So, this is what I came up with.

I had a look in the box of colours and chose an assortment of paler colours to try out with this.

I might change my mind when I get into the sewing, but I’m a bit tired of blues and purples at the moment.

I’ve got quite a few things to do today, (must buy more eggs for pancakes) – but hopefully I’ll get on with it this evening