A pattern made
of separate lines.
Start with horizontal running stitches.
Then bring in the vertical lines.
Each row has its own starting face. The empty intervals carry thread on the back.
Now change the first interval of row 5 from front to back. Which marks will move?
Read the starts, not the shapes
Number the horizontal rows from top to bottom, and the columns from left to right. Read every row from left to right; read every column from top to bottom. The starting faces for this original sampler are:
- Rows 1–9
- Front · Front · Back · Back · Front · Front · Back · Back · Front
- Columns 1–9
- Front · Back · Front · Front · Back · Front · Back · Back · Front
Row 5 originally shows intervals 1, 3, 5 and 7. Starting it on the back shows 2, 4, 6 and 8 instead. Nothing about that choice changes a neighbouring row or a vertical pass.
The corners you see are meetings of separate runs. Do not follow the outline of a square as though it were a single stitch path. On cloth, complete one direction before the other, as demonstrated in Angela’s hitomezashi tutorial. The colours here only distinguish the two directions.