Nancy L. Haydon

We often spend many hours stitching designs that reflect our need to create designs in many shades of colour. This brings depth to the designs we produce. It also means that we have to use many different coloured threads, parking our needles and changing colours frequently. Variegated threads have recently brought a new dimension to stitching; they produce a shifting pattern of colours that complement each other to create distinctive shading.

These threads can be used to produce stunning cross stitch designs that could not be done if ordinary threads had been used. They consist of a length of stranded cotton, dyed with more than one colour. The shades of this colour change from dark to light throughout the length of the thread. This means that you can work through a range of coloured threads without even having to thread your needle with a different coloured thread.

As you work, the colours of the stitches develop, and there are many ways that you can incorporate variegated threads into your stitching projects. These threads are available in many different colour themes which will suit a wide range of needs.

Experimentation is a good way to decide how best to use these threads. It is impossible to guess exactly how a variegated thread will look in its stitched form just by looking at the skein. You may therefore find it helpful to try some stitches on some spare fabric to get used to the way the colour separates and mixes together to create different effects. There are many possibilities of creating attractive effects.

One choice is to work one whole stitch at a time, which will produce a gradual change of colour as you work across the fabric. This can give a striped appearance to your work, and working your stitches horizontally can give the impression of a flowing river, perhaps, whereas vertical stripes can enhance the design of a rainstorm. A mottled look can be gained by separating the usual two strands, and then regrouping them so that the bottom of one thread is next to the top end of the other. By mixing up the threads in this way, you will avoid a striped look to your design, and the colours will appear more random. To achieve more subtle changes of colour, you can choose to mix one strand of variegated thread and one strand of a normal stranded colour.

You can go for an interesting effect by working separate cross stitches in a diagonal direction giving the effect of a correspondingly diagonal line. Another experiment you can try is to start stitching from a central point, and work your cross stitches around the first stitch in a spiral shape. This creates a design that gives additional depth to your design. If you would like to bring more gradual colour changes to your stitching, try working whole cross stitches in clusters of the same colour, blending them together over large areas of the fabric. Try working a row of half stitches with variegated thread, and then working back along the same row to complete the stitches. This gives a random, shimmering look to the colouring of your stitching.

I have discovered a helpful tip to get a good changeover between colour shades. This involves reversing the direction of your second length of cotton, so that you start stitching with the colour that that you finished the previous length with. Cutting off small amounts of thread to avoid starting off with unwanted colour can help you to achieve a good finished effect too.

One of the best uses of variegated threads I have found is when I am stitching a small card or bookmark. The design is created very quickly, and the extra colours are a bonus to the design that may otherwise just contain solid blocks of colour.

I hope I have convinced you to try using variegated threads if you have not already done so. Start with a couple of skeins and introduce yourself to them gradually and, like me, you may become addicted to using them.

See these threads on the websites of Anchor www.coatscrafts.co.uk 

DMC www.dmc.com or Madeira www.groves-banks.com