Thursday, August 21, 2008

Playing with Chickenscratch


I had a gingham patch on my Tea Therapy block so I decided to play around with Chickenscratch. I have seen examples of chickenscratch around the net over the past several years and always wanted to give a try. I should have used the same thread for the o's as I did for the crosses but that's what experimenting is for, right?

It turns out that I even had an example of chickenscratch in my vintage linens collection and didn't know it.



I love how these simple stitches can transform the whole look of a piece of gingham. The actual gingham on this piece is red and white but all the stitching makes the pillow cover appear a soft pink.

Linda B of Chloe's Place has an entire Flickr set of Chickenscratch examples to delight your eye. I love this one where she applied chickenscratch to a piece of denim...

And I love this little house that she credits to Margaret J in the Quilts of Unity...

Amy of Angry Chicken runs a regular apron challenge called Tie One On whose theme for August is Gingham. Needless to say, there has been much chickenscratch discussion as a result. Aprons are due by September 1 so you can check back on the Tie One On site then to see pics of all the aprons that are entered. There is bound to be a lot of chickenscratch...

Photo courtesy of Angry Chicken

Mary Corbet of Needle 'N' Thread has a post on chickenscratch and Feeling Stitchy also has a good post on chickenscratch as well as many others which I don't have time to mention...Now that I've tried a bit of it, I can see where it would be fun to sit and play around with it for a while.

Here's some good basic instructions if you want to try it. Now don't count your chickens before they scratch...

6 comments:

MeganH said...

LOVE your vintage linen piece!!

allie aller said...

I do too...that pillow is exquisite.
There is something so innocent about the chicken scratch. I love how there is so much "something" from so very little, if you know what I mean. Very sweet.

Lisa Boni said...

I remember my Aunt doing some of this type of embroidery on some little gingham dress she smocked for my cousins and me. I never knew what it was called though!

That pillow is just gorgeous!

Lisa Boni said...

p.s. I meant to mention that your Tea Therapy block is so fun and imaginative! So much to see on it!

Debra Dixon said...

It's a lovely pattern done in large amount--very lacelike. Like the others have said, "Love that pillow!"

JoWynn Johns said...

Delightful post!

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