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The elements of Hardanger are the Klosters and the grid made of spaces and bars.
Klosters
The Klosters are four or five Satin stitches over four fabric threads.
A Kloster with four of the fabric threads cut at the numbers 1 through 4.
Chart of Satin stitches that form Klosters
Following the numbered steps as shown on the chart is a good way to make Satin stitches so that no sewing threads cross between Klosters.
Cutting the Outside Corners
If you have the working thread running from the outside corner of one Kloster to another Kloster's outside corner you may eventually cut that thread. So try to get in the habit of doing the Satin stitches as shown above.
The Grid
The fabric threads in the center of a design/shape are a number that can be divided by four, four threads can be cut and removed to make a space or left in place to be wrapped or woven into bars of the grid.
Bars and Spaces
I count Bars and spaces whenever I am stitching. The Klosters can be confusing because they can either be five Satin stitches or four. If they are side by side the first Kloster is five Satin stitches, then the next Klosters are four Satin stitches because they share the duty of enclosing the fabric threads. So by looking at the design chart and counting the first row of bars and spaces I know how many fabric threads are needed in the grid.
Shared Fabric Threads
If you examine the photo you will see that the top Kloster is on the same vertical fabric threads as the bottom Kloster. The Klosters face each other across the fabric as can be seen by following the pink thread or looking between the Klosters marked with the red one.
Each line on this chart represents a fabric thread.
This chart is the one used to make the picture above and it has the cutting lines shown in gray. Read about
cutting
by clicking on the underlined topic.
The Grid
The grid of bars is in the center of a Kloster design. Groups of four fabric threads are called bars. It does not matter if the bars are wrapped or unwrapped, woven or unwoven, whenever you say bars you are referring to four fabric threads that can be wrapped or unwrapped.
In this photo the fabric threads have been cut and removed creating the grid of bars.
The grid of bars is the essential design element of Hardanger. It is composed of spaces and bars. There are two ways to prepare bars for further embellishment, weaving or wrapping them. I do the weaving or wrapping in a
hoop
or a frame that has side straps so I do not create any distortions in the embroidery fabric, but this is technique that can be done in hand just as well.
Weaving the Bars
Some of the bars in this photo have been woven.
Weaving
To explain weaving I am using a pink thread in the photo above so that you can more easily see what I am doing.
I begin by weaving the tail of the thread under a few Klosters on the back of the embroidery then,
on the front of the fabric I bring the threaded needle up between the four fabric threads of the bar so that I will have two fabric threads on each side of the needle
I go over the two threads on the left of the needle
then under them,
and come back up between the four fabric threads,
then I go over the two fabric threads to the right of the needle,
then under them,
and then bring the needle up in the middle of the bar as shown in the photo above and continue in this fashion to weave the bar.
Count the number of weaves you did to fill the bar and then do approximately that number of weaves for each bar. This will prevent the fabric from being distorted and make the bars appear very even. That is all there is to weaving a bar. You keep repeating the over and under weaving until the bar is filled.
Diagonals
When you weave or wrap the bars you will find that doing them in diagonal lines will improve the final appearance of your work. It is better to follow a diagonal path as you work them because you always move forward with the working thread and do not have to pass the thread through overly tight spots to get the working thread into the correct place to do the work. And if you have a problem you know what you did and you can go back and undo only what is necessary to correct the mistake. An example of working on the diagonal can be seen by looking at the
Cutwork Heart
.
Diagonal Weaving of Bars
Usually you start to weave up from the lower right bar to the upper left bar.
Then you weave back down from the upper left to the lower right bar. At this point you will have to take the working thread under some Klosters on the back of the embroidery to get to the next diagonal.
Diagonal Wrapping of Bars
To wrap the bars and achieve what is pictured below you need a balanced tension among all the wraps of the bars.
By using the diagonal method you will get balanced tension and not have bars that look like the ones below.
Oops! Bars with Diagonal Wraps don't look like they were wrapped while you were watching "The Wizard of Oz".
How to Wrap Bars on the Diagonal
I started wrapping the bars at the front upper right corner of the grid shown in the photo below at 1. I used DMC #12 Ecru Perle Cotton to wrap the bars. And I am visualizing that I am standing at 1 and looking out to the intersection at 4.
Front Upper Right Corner of the Grid
To wrap the bars on a diagonal path bring the threaded needle up at 1,
go up behind the bar to its top,
then go down in front of the bar, these two steps are one wrap,
move left across the bar to do the next wrap. Remember do not overlap any wraps, they should lay next to each other with no space in between them, and they should not cross over each other,
Wrap the bar four times for the front of the bar and three times for the back of the bar. This will leave your working thread positioned for the diagonal step at 5 o'clock,
At 4 take the threaded needle diagonally under the intersection of bars from 5 o'clock to 11 o'clock and wrap the next bar 4-A by coming up to the left of the bar at 4 and going up over the front of the bar four times and across the back of it three times.
At A take the threaded needle to the back of your work and run it through the back of the Satin stitches to 2,
At 2 you will be going down this row to 3.
Start on the right side of the bar at 2 and wrap it by going across the front of the bar four times and then the back of the bar with three wraps,
At 3 take the thread under the intersection on a diagonal from 11 o'clock to 5 o'clock and wrap over the bar at 3-4 eight times and under it seven times,
Take your working thread diagonally under the intersection at 4 from 11 o'clock to 5 o'clock, wrap over the bar at 4-5 eight times and under the bar seven times,
Continue in this fashion. Remember to count your wraps, I did eight wraps on the full bars. The backside of the wrap is always one less so that you can take the working thread across the intersection of the bars on a diagonal.
Work your wraps in a way that allows you to draw the working thread under all the intersections on a diagonal.
Also, keep a wrap count and try to do the same number of wraps for each size bar.
Backside of Wrapped Bars
On the backside on the embroidery, I like to bring the working thread out of the back of the Satin stitches or Klosters between the second and third fabric thread of the bar, I don't split the perle threads of the Kloster and I have the thread positioned between the second and third fabric thread of the bar I will be wrapping. This position is really good for preventing a loose wrap at the start or end of the diagonal row, that has always been a problem for me and the tension on the thread running through the back of the Klosters prevents the loose wrap.
You can see this where there are threads emerging from the bar at the top of the photo?
Do you see the diagonals? They look like this \\ over the intersections on the back side of the embroidery. ©1999, Linda Fontenot, www.AmericanFolkArts.com
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