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Exquisite stitches worked with silk

Cretan Stitch

This stitch forms a heavy braid with almost all the silk on the front of the fabric. Used for the model was Rose silk pearl #5 to show the stitch well, and 100% hand dyed silk unevenweave 30/36 fabric in Mulberry.

First
Decide where the braid is to be and bring the silk up through the fabric. Stay in the same row and pick up two or three threads in and two or three threads down. Make sure the silk stays under the needle. For this illustration I went over 10 threads.

Second
Continue working back and forth, maintaining the same row side to side, and picking up the same number of threads each time. I'm going over 10 threads from side to side, and picking up two threads over and two threads down.

Third
Make sure that you pass the silk under the needle each time.
Here you can see where I didn't maintain the exact same number of threads I picked up - the light rose stitches. Where the dark rose stitches are I was very careful and you can see the decided difference in the stitching.