Editorial
Some stitches are known by various names, such as detached chain stitch which is more commonly called lazy-daisy, and Pekin knot, which may also be called Chinese knot, forbidden knot and blind knot. One of my least favourite stitches of all time (because I used to find it so difficult to do) was bullion stitch - which possibly has more names than any other stitch ... (if you know a stitch that has even more aliases, write and let me know). The bullion sampler (page 26 of the magazine), by Australian embroiderer Effie Mitrofanis, finally made me get to grips with bullion and I can now create some lovely effects - thank you, Effie! So I can now do: bullion knot; bullion stitch; caterpillar stitch; grub stitch; grub knot; Porto Rico rose; coil stitch; worm stitch; knot stitch; and post stitch - basically the same stitch with ten different names.
I'm delighted with my newly acquired skill with bullion stitch (or whatever you prefer to call it) as it will be perfect for creating ringlets when I have a go at recreating my own Granny in stumpwork (page 18) - and I'm sure you'll find lots of ways to use other stitches from projects in this issue.
Maybe you could explore some stitches with Chinese names when you enter our 2008 embroidery competition. The theme, 'Glimpses of China', offers an enormous choice of ideas and STITCH readers are such a talented lot, we can't wait to see what you come up with. There are some great prizes to be won - so what are you waiting for? Get stitching!
Kathy Troup
Editor
STITCH with the Embroiderers' Guild, PO Box 42B (Editor), East Molesey, Surrey KT8 9BB, UK
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