Take a Stitch Tuesday week 10: Couching Stitch. Couching on a Couch. So I made it to week 10! That is longer than the “no sweets” challenge of 2018 lasted….3 weeks.

Week 10 celebrated couching. I had couched herringbone and other long stitches, but this week’s project was my first regular old ordinary couching stitch. Since metallic thread is notoriously difficult to use I thought couching could be an easy way to add sparkle and shine without the pain of actually passing that brittle floss through the fabric.

And it worked! At least for the swirl running across the panel anyway. This is a gold satin section running through the center of the table runner. The full runner is over 8 feet long and 3 to 4 inches wide, with random holiday print panels sewn alternating narrow-to-wide, wide-to-narrow. Most prints have 2-3 panels, gold satin is represented once! So this design needed to be special…or at least shiny. The metallic swirl through the width of the panel was easy and fun. Couching stitches are sewn about every 1/4 inch.

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TAST Stitch 9: Couching Stitch – Full Table Runner Panel

Then I thought things could get fun. The debate was between beetles and butterflies. I thought beetles would be a fun red accent, my 8 year old thinks everything should have butterflies (or rainbows and unicorns). We compromised on dragonflies….well, 2 out of 3 ended up in that category. 🙂

Left to right, green dragonfly and red dragonfly. Couched bodies made from DMC Cotton Perle #5. The red dragonfly uses variegated thread. Wings are sewn from DMC metallic stranded floss with stem stitch for the outline and feather stitch for the interior. The heads are couched with metallic and satin floss over the cotton perle.

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TAST Stitch 9: Couching Stitch – Green Dragonfly
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TAST Stitch 9: Couching Stitch – Red Dragonfly

The last “dragonfly” cracks me up. Pinterest fail? Or smashed mosquito? LOL. I realized early on that the wings were not really making it, so I thought adding the legs might work….fail! Even the disappearing ink on this insect is taking its time. The ink on the others disappeared so quickly I barely was able to get the last stitches in before it was completely gone. For this one, it has been 3 days and the ink is slowly, every so slowly beginning to fade. Oh well, adds to the “smashed” guts look. I even thought of unpicking this guy, but it makes me laugh so much I think he is here to stay!

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TAST Stitch 9: Couching Stitch – Smashed Mosquito Fail