More Needleweaving

I've been asked to show how I set up each petal (see last post), so here it is:

You put in the safety pin, and then come up in the base of the petal, and take the thread up and around the pin (not around the full 'bite' of fabric, as you need a point at the end).

You then go down again at the point where you came up, and come up again slightly inside the petal area (ie in the middle bottom).

From there you just go over the outside thread and then under it, coming up in the middle each time. You do not go back through the fabric again until the end. Just keep going from side to side - under from one side, up in the middle, over the other side and under it, up in the middle etc.

When you get to the end (ie the petal is 'full'), take out the pin and gently ease the stitches to a point at the end, put a twist in the petal if you wish, and sew the tip down through the fabric.

I was originally shown this as a way of making long, strap-like leaves for a crocus flower.

And there is a free-standing version (ie not anchored at the tip), where you do three threads and work from the outside to the base of the petal, and then take out the pin.