Today's stitch is the Slide Stitch. There are so many ways to play with this one. Let's start with the base concept.
It combines an oblique and a diagonal stitch. The above diagram illustrates how easy it is to flip directions as necessary. It looks great either way. As mentioned last week, I like to combine related color values in the same thread. Depending on the animal, there may be an occasion to add a metallic. A great example is a bird wing.
The next version doesn't skip a row and adds an angle.
You can also skip a row with this pattern. If you don't skip a row, I strongly suggest you alternate thread weights. The diagram on the right illustrates that concept. Use a lightweight thread for the gray lines and a heavier thread for the colored lines. Feel free to add metallics for the single stitches.
These stitch diagrams, along with all other #whimsicalwednesday and #smallspacesunday stitch diagrams, can also be found on a Pinterest board here.
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If you like what you see on this blog, want to learn some very creative decorative stitches, and how to put them all together, whimsicalstitch.com sells stitch guides for seasonal Melissa Shirley designs. 27 guides are currently available and more are in the pipeline.
Enjoy!