I finished this spirally tree before the vertigo hit--just after my vacation. I had begun it a while back and enjoyed stitiching it.
I began with a stuffed shape and added the random embroidery. Looking at it now, it seems kind of vertigo induced!When I was stitching it I figured out an invisible way to start chain stitch. (this is all chain stitch in two strands, using two colors of DMC floss on white on white patterned fabric--totally ignoring the fabric pattern for my design.) What you do is use a long doubled strand of floss. Thread the two ends into the needle--this leaves a loop at the other end.
Enter your fabric where you wish the first stitch to begin. Come up one stitch length away, making sure to go through the loop end. This is the first chain stitch. Just continue with regular chain stitches with the doubled thread. The first stitch is only one thread, not two, but I don't think it shows enough to matter on this project. I eneded each thread by running the end into the stuffing, following along under chain stitches already made so the dark thread wouldn't show through the white fabric.
If this doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll make up some simple drawings that will hopefully clarify it.
