Be sure you have the right kind of hook. If you look closely, some of them have the very end of the hook curving in slightly, reducing the chance it will catch.
I have seen extant work done on a fine silk ground, and I have to wonder if they were doing chain stitch with a needle rather than a tambour hook. Also I wonder how it would work with a threaded awl, kind of like the way a chain-stitch sewing machine works. You poke the needle & thread through the fabric and use a hook in the other hand to chain it, but the hook itself never actually goes through the fabric. Only the needle goes through. I think you could make your own awl using a sewing machine needle set into a tambour handle. Or an Exacto point vise handle, whatever it takes to hold the needle. It would work for embroidery but not beads. -Carol > It seems to work better using tightly twisted threads but I > still keep getting caught in tiny threads from the fabric. Is not > catching the background fabric just part of the technique that takes time > to perfect? _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
