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After Gerlind had finished embroidering the motifs of the Easter tea cloth “Bunnies between Daisies”, she looked for a suitable edge finish. She wanted to use the 2 short-2 long stitches of the daisy blossoms.

So she embroidered a few sample stitches. A single row of such stitches would have looked lost around the relatively large cloth.

Two rows of opposing and interlocking stitches were too massive (horizontal thread withdrawing 4:1:4:1:4).

Then she came up with the idea of ​​adding another row of small points to this border. To do this, she placed one stitch over 6 threads in height between two short stitches over 4 threads and two long stitches over 8 threads.

The result was amazing. The little “tufts of grass” fit perfectly into the Easter bunny meadow.

With stitches around the corner point over 4 fabric threads in height, the corner design also developed easily.

The eight different but similar openwork patterns (Openwork Pattern Samplers) for filling the surface of the bunny outlines make the embroidery varied and make the motifs appear light and airy.

The result: an all-round successful and magnificent-looking embroidery that will decorate any Easter table in a cheerful and festive way.

After pictures of the finished embroidery of the Horizontal Bird Border were shown in a first post and details of some motifs were shown in the following post, this post deals with details of the remaining elements.

The tulip, which lies slanting to the left, has a limet grid in the middle (thread withdrawing 3:1) and Diagonal Cross Filling stitches as a filling pattern (coton à broder No. 20).

The tulip, lying slanting to the right, has an openwork grid in the middle section (thread withdrawing 2:2) and “Diagonal Cross Filling – French variation/”half” as a filling pattern (coton à broder No. 20) – Openwork Pattern Samplers, pages 32, 33)

The sides of both tulips are designed the same. Satin stitch bars (coton à broder No. 20) are worked as a simple withdrawn thread pattern (thread withdrawing 3:1 once vertically and once horizontally).

The belly of the bird looking to the right receives a special Limet thread withdrawing – namely 3:1 vertically and 2:1 horizontally.

This means that the stitches in the “Narrow Pearl Pattern” Satin stitch pattern do not become too wide (Wickelstiche, page 43)

The wing also has such a thread withdrawing, but this time 2:1 vertically and 3:1 horizontally)

and a modification of filling pattern 578 (without rows of Four-Sided stitches in between) (coton à broder No. 20).

The belly of the bird looking to the left receives a Limet thread-withdrawing 3:1

and the Satin stitch pattern “Diagonal step over one plot” (Wickelstiche, page 22) (coton à broder No. 20).

The wing also receives a thread withdrawing of 3:1

and the Satin stitch pattern “Narrow Honeycomb Pattern” (Wickelstiche, page 87) (coton à broder No. 20).

The two tulips running diagonally

receive an openwork thread withdrawing 2:2. The thread grid is secured with Cable stitches (coton à broder No. 30).

The tulips on one side receive the needle-weaving stitch pattern “135” (Openwork Needleweaving Patterns, page 71) (coton à broder No. 20)

The tulips on the other side receive the needle-weaving stitch pattern “37” (Openwork Needleweaving Patterns, page 22) (coton à broder No. 20).

The belly of the next bird looking to the left receives an openwork thread withdrawing 2:2.

The thread grid is secured with Cable stitches (coton à broder No. 30).

A pattern of needle-weaving stitches with spiders (Openwork Pattern Samplers, pages 72, 73) is embroidered.

The wing of this bird also receives an openwork grid (2:2), into which the needle-weaving stitch pattern “1” (Openwork Needleweaving Patterns, page 4) (coton à broder No. 20) is worked.

The bird’s legs remain free. The cut edges of the withdrawn threads are covered with Chain stitches.

The belly of the bird looking to the right receives a thread withdrawing 2:1 and the pattern “Houndstooth” (Limerosen I, page 40) (coton à broder No. 25).

Here too, the raw edges are covered with Chain stitches.

The wing of this bird receives a horizontal thread withdrawing 2:3.

The filling pattern 562 is worked with coton à broder No. 20.

The small remaining tulips

receive a pattern of Wave stitches in the continuous area. The narrow areas of the divided tulips are filled with Satin, Blanket and Knot stitches.

The pattern of the “Horizontal Bird Border ” offers many possibilities in addition to being used as a continuous long band. You can take individual motifs or put together smaller or larger groups.

Here are a few details of the embroidery of the horizontal bird border, this time starting with the center motif – the big heart. Satin stitch bars (coton à broder No. 20) and parts of the warped suare eyelet (Limetrosen I, page 44; coton à broder No. 25) are embroidered into a Limet grid (thread withdrawing 3:1).

Actually the order of the patterns doesn’t matter. However, if you embroider the square eyelet parts first, you can embroider all sections of the Satin stitch bars in one row.

Even unwashed, this pattern has a special effect,

washed and ironed, the square eyelet parts stand out strikingly.

The side tulips also receive a Limet grid (thread withdarwing 3:1) and Diagonal Cross stitches (coton à broder No. 20) as a filling pattern.

Now bird and tulip motifs alternate, although the motifs can also be placed in a different order, as a shorter section of border or as an individual element. The same border with a different motif as the center can be seen in picture 13 of my blog readers’ embroidery from 2020.

The roosters have an openwork grid of threads in their belly area (thread withdawing 2:2)

and in the wing area a Lime grid (thread withdrawing 3:1). The belly of the left-sided rooster bird receives a row of Cable stitches alternating with a row of Rose stitches,

that of the right-hand side has one row of Cable stitches alternating with two rows of Rose stitches.

The wing of the right rooster is filled with a Satin stitch herringbone pattern (coton à broder No.20).

I originally wanted to embroider the wing of the left rooster with the square eyelet pattern “Plumage” (Limetrosen I, page 15),

but then I chose the more striking “Scales” pattern (Limetrosen I, Seite 68).

The following tulip has a Limet grid in the middle part (thread withdrawing 3:1)

and the filling pattern 579, once vertically with the tips upwards

and the other time embroidered with the tips pointing downwards.

The side parts are embroidered once with a simple withdrawn thread pattern (thread withdrawing 3:1 vertically) with Honeycomb Darning stitches (coton à broder No. 20),

the counterpart receives a 2:1 thread withdrawing and Cable stitches as pattern (coton à broder No. 20).

The next pair of birds receives a Limet grid in the belly area (thread withdrawing 3:1).

The bird looking to the right receives a checkerboard pattern made of Satin stitch bars and Röserich stitches similar to Röserich pattern 467 (The most beautiful Röserich Filling Patterns, page 23)

the bird looking to the right receives filling pattern 473.

Both wings receive a Limet grid (thread withdrawing 3:1).

To match the pattern of the bird’s belly, but adapted to the much smaller area, the Röserich pattern 453 A2 (The most beautiful Röserich Filling Patterns, page 8) is used.

The bird opposite also has a pattern on its wing that matches the bird’s belly –

namely a Rose stitch variant.

Details about the thread withdrawing and the selected filling patterns for the remaining motifs will follow in the next blog post.

Like many other embroiderers, I have a box of unfinished embroidery. Once started, more interesting or important pieces came along. Therefore, completion was postponed to a later date. As you get older, you feel the need to finish the pieces you start.
This is what happened to me with a border design that I started embroidering 2017 – the “Horizontal Bird Border”.

Now the 19 large and a few small motifs are embroidered with a wide variety of filling patterns. I would like to share the results with my blog readers. However, the finished band, which is 2.44 m long, cannot be photographed in its entirety.
The section provides a first insight.

The detailed photos show the entire band continuously from left to right.

Details about the thread withdrawing and the chosen filling patterns will follow in the next blog post.