Laid Technique and Couching

Laid Technique

Draw horizontal lines across your pattern. Take a length of sadi, hold across top line and kink with scissors tips to mark length required.

Cut sadi according to this length. Thread straw needle with Art Silk (waxing first). Bring needle up through reverse side of fabric at the left side of line.

Pick up sadi with needlepoint, then pass needle and art silks through the central tube of sadi (the needle and thread pass through the sadi as if the sadi were a long bead). Bring needle down at the right hand side of line so the sadi lies flat on the surface of the fabric. Take needle and thread through to the wrong side. NOTE: The sadi itself does not pull through the fabric! Bring needle up again at left side of next line, slightly below the laid length of sadi. You may wish to alternate lines of sadi with lines of art silk. If so, your next stitch is simply a long stitch with the art silk.

Bead Techniques

Sadi may be cut into lengths & stitched down as one would stitch down a bead. You can make the sadi stand up from the fabric in loops by using a longer length of sadi and a shorter stitch with art silk thread.

Couching

Position and lay sadi thread in place on the right side of fabric. Thread crewel needle with art silk or metal thread (depending on desired effect). Take small stitches over the sadi, at right angles to the direction of the sadi. Couching stitches must be firm enough to hold the sadi in place, but not so firm as to kink the sadi and may either slip between coils or sit on top.