So this month's prompt is to combine two or more stitches in one piece. I have always had a good time trying to get two stitches to work together in a piece, whether it be a beaded bead or a rope or an object. Combining stitches was one of my favorite chapters in Carol Wilcox Wells' book Creative Bead Weaving when I first started; I was fascinated by how she melded right angle weave and peyote, or transitioned from peyote to herringbone, and it became one of my favorite beginnings when designing something myself. I especially love layering one stitch on top of another - say, right angle weave as a base with netting as a layer over the top, which is what I did with my Trellis Necklaces. (Tutorial here.)
Transitioning from one spiral to another as I did with Triple Twist, also makes me happy. I like how each spiral stitch is made differently from another, yet blend visually when combined in one piece. (Tutorial here.)
Another piece that strikes me always when I think of combining stitches is Sabine Lippert's Bokhara bracelet, a gorgeous combination of peyote stitch with an overlaying layer of fringe that has always made me swoon. SO PRETTY, people!!! (You can find Bokhara here.)
An ingenious and beautiful piece of work which marries prismatic right angle weave and Pondo stitch, is the Goosebumps bracelet pattern designed by Heather Collin. This one amazes me in lots of ways... Pondo is so lovely, and PRAW is so much fun - not to mention Heather's fabulous use of color! (You can find her tutorial here.)
Cynthia Newcomer Daniel has used modified right angle weave and lacy netting to great effect with Moroccan Melodies, creating a structurally sturdy yet visually fragile piece. This bracelet is full of paradox and pleases my nerdy brain no end. (You can find Cynthia's bracelet here.)
Freeform beadwork is also a wonderful way to combine stitches, you can use ANY of them together and just have a blast. One of my favorites is to combine peyote and right angle weave - you can go back and forth without a trouble in the world. But I have run across freeform in herringbone and even St. Petersburg stitches before as well - if nothing else, you can put the St. Pete's on top of the other stitches for a fern like effect. Right angle weave on top of bead embroidery is one I like, too - I did that in my Reflections necklace.
It really doesn't have to be complicated when combining stitches - one easy way would be to make a rope of one stitch and then beaded beads using another. My Meld necklace is a combination of so many stitches I don't think I could remember them all! The rope is a version of Trellis, and the beaded beads are by various different designers including Cynthia, Callie Mitchell and Heather.
My original idea was to combine herringbone and hubble stitch - I wanted to do a herringbone base rope and do hubble on top, but I couldn't figure out my connections to make it happen smoothly - if you decide to try this, please do show the results!! If you aren't familiar with hubble stitch yet, please let me point you to Melanie de Miguel's Let's Hubble and Hubble Stitch II books. FUUUUUUUN!!!
So, grab two stitches you adore and smack them together and see what happens!! If you're part of my Facebook group, I will be posting a coupon code for half off of either my Trellis or Triple Twist if either of them intrigue you. :) I would love it if you would come and post your combinations in the group if you're on Facebook, it's always fun to see what others come up with. I will definitely post my results both in the group and here on the blog when I come up with March's prompt. Happy beading!
