Spiders

There are at least two different ways to work this motif. You can weave a flat Spider or a raised Spider. You can cut the embroidery fabric away as is done in Hardanger leaving some fabric thread to wrap, or you can leave the fabric uncut, add the necessary perle threads to make the spokes and then make the Spider. You could add petals to the Spider as shown below.

Raised Spider This raised spider was created over fabric with cotton floss. The fabric threads are not cut to make this motif. The spokes are created in the same manner as discussed below. This spider was wound and wound until its reached the Satin stitches. It created a dome by packing in the whorls around the spider to the Satin stitched edges. This entire motif has been cut away from the ground fabric and added over Blackwork as a lozenge. This is like an Elizabethean slip that the English liked to use. The fabric threads were not cut under the spider.

Flat Spider with Petals This flat spider has petals added to its edges. The spider or the flat circle in the center of the design was woven half way to the Satin stitches and then the petals were added. The same color fabric is under this motif but if you look closely you can see they are not the threads the flower was made upon.

Cutting Diagram for the Spider
Each line represents a fabric thread. The gray lines across the fabric threads are to be cut and removed.

Cutting Diagram with some of the fabric threads cut and removed, some fabric thread left, and cotton perle spokes added.

Flat Spider

I like to make the spokes cross at the center of the spokes. It forms a neat little cross in the center of the spider as can be seen in the photo above. Its really cool to make the cross in the same directions as any Cross Stitches you have on your emboridery. That cross would be the green lines in the diagram above and below.

How to Make a Flat Spider

Perle cotton #8 is used for this design. The spider is placed inside the Kloster design.  You can try this same spider without cutting the fabric threads.

Two sets of three diagonal Straight stitches (light green lines) are added across the design. These fabric threads and perle threads are called spokes because we are making a spider or round motif.  I like to go up two fabric threads into the corner intersection of the Satin stitches to place these diagonal stitches or spokes.

Making the Spider

Bring the threaded needle up at the left side of the group of four uncut fabric threads or spoke at the center of the design at 1, use a really long thread, 36 inches, and then park half its length. Remember to keep the working thread outside these wraps, and going counter clockwise around the spider spokes then go over and under the spoke at 1, these steps are one wrap around the bar, move left to the next spoke at 2 and go under, over, under that spoke, Remember do not overlap any wraps, they look best when they lay next to each other with no space in between them, and they don't cross over each other, To do the flat spider, each part of the whorl is done by wrapping over and under one spoke, taking the working thread to the next spoke and wrapping over and under that spoke. You keep doing these steps around and around the spokes until the spider is the size you want it be. I have a little chant to keep this straight in my head, over one spoke, under two spokes, over one, under two. See if it works for you. a finer point, keep the working thread outside the wraps.

In the photo above, do you see how I went under, over and under one spoke, taking the working thread to the next spoke and wrapping that spoke? Do you see the loose thread has gone under two bars or spokes, the one I wrapped and the next one over? The previous wraps are too loose in this photo, that happened when I let go of everything to take the picture. You need to snug the wraps around the bars. Otherwise you might get tangled and your spider will be uneven. There is another thread under all the spokes, that is the parked thread, it can be wrapped with the bar and will pull right out when you are ready to use it. And if it does not pull out, just thread it through the wraps on the back of the bar to get it in the position you would like to start. Please see the topic needle parking .

Raised Spider

The spokes can be wrapped in a reversed manner by wrapping over them creating a raised or dome shaped Spider. By this I mean that instead of going under two spokes and then over one spoke that you take the thread over two spokes and then under one spoke.

For the raised Spider

• bring one end of the thread to the top of the fabric at 1 in the diagram above, remember to keep the working thread outside these wraps, and going counter clockwise around the spider spokes,

1. wrap over, under, over the spoke at 1, and

2. take the working thread to the next spoke at step 2, a diagonal spoke in this instance, and wrap over, under, then over that spoke,

3. take the working thread to the next spoke and wrap over, under and over that spoke,

4. continue in this manner around the spider until it is as large as you want it. I say to myself over two spokes, under one, over two, under one.

You will need to go around and around the spokes many times to get the spider to create a dome. The spider literally needs to be packed right up to the Satin stitches in the border until a dome forms. ©2002 Linda Fontenot, www.AmericanFolkArts.com