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Category: Embroidery

Sometimes You Have No Idea What to Embroider, then Three Busses Come at Once

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Or something like that.

In my last post about the Beyond TAST embroidery challenge, I mentioned that I was several challenges behind. The truth is, I had no idea what I wanted to do with any of them. Well, yesterday I came up with ideas for all three at once. Just like when I went to art school and I’d wait an hour for the bus and then three would drive past all at the same time. I really needed new glasses. (That’s a true story. I couldn’t see the bus route number until it was too late to signal for the bus 😛 )

The fabrics for my first two samplers are vintage handkerchiefs that I dyed navy blue and stitched to some background fabrics. They’re slightly wonky, but I’m not overly concerned about that. They’re very old and a bit out of shape anyway. Much like me, but without the “very” 😉

First up is the last one I thought of. A 1950’s inspired floral design for the laced and threaded stitches Beyond TAST challenge. I may use felt for the basic shape of each flower but I haven’t really decided yet.

Design for whipped and laced stitches embroidery sampler

Next up is the outline for the woven stitches challenge (I won’t be stitching the cloud).

I have a real fondness for wooden building blocks, and this sampler will feature some little block houses and a tree. I’m going to trace these onto the background fabrics using dressmaker’s carbon paper right before I start stitching. I think this one is going to be a great deal of fun to stitch.

Design for woven stitch embroidery sampler

The last sampler is a purchased design.

I’ve loved the Green Man design from Urban Threads since I first saw it a couple of years ago. I’ve worked an Urban Threads design in TAST before for my satin stitch sampler. If you buy the hand embroidery versions, they’re very inexpensive, and even though they’re not really designed for hand embroidery they are a lot of fun to stitch by hand.

I’m going to use this one for the “filling stitches” challenge, which is possibly insane.  Okay, probably. I have a vague idea about how I want to tackle it with colour and texture to create dimension, but I’ll probably change my mind thirteen times before I get to it!

Green man embroidery design

I think there are only one or two more Beyond TAST challenges left before it finishes at the end of the year but the Take a Stitch Tuesday stitch challenge is going to run again next year. Check out the TAST FAQ page over on Pintangle for more information, or have a look at all of my TAST and Beyond TAST samplers so far.

Sarah

Beyond TAST – Line Stitches

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Beyond TAST is up to season 8 but I’m catching up slowly! I’ve just finished season 5, line stitches.

Because I experimented a lot with all of the stitches when I did the Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge in 2015-2017, I sometimes like to narrow down what I’m going to do in my Beyond TAST embroidery samplers. For example, this season’s challenge was to explore line stitches. I chose to use wool threads on a woollen background. Specifically, some pieces of the old blanket I cut up and dyed a while ago.

I have a bad habit of almost always using a double thread when I embroider with wool, so my first sampler is a small selection of basic line stitches worked in a single thread, then a doubled thread. I made this for future reference, so I don’t stick to my current habit of “double up all the woollen threads”.

The threads I used are DMC Medici, Appleton Wool and DMC Floralia. Oh, and a local hand dyed wool (the orange), which I promptly lost to tag from (oops). The couched thread is Noro wool/silk something or other. It’s one of my favourite thick yarns for couching that I bought at the op shop (charity second hand shop) a few years ago. I’ve used it a lot in my Take a Stitch Tuesday samplers. I’ll be sad when it runs out.

Wool blanketing sampler with various line stitches worked in wool thread.

When I think of things with lines and stripes, the bands on rocks and stones are one of the first things that come to mind. Nope, not zebras, or candy canes! I made a Pinterest board of stripy rock research photos, and came up with the idea of making a sampler of stripy stones.

I usually limit myself to “ALL THE COLOURS!”, so I deliberately limited my colours to blue and brown, and only two pieces of wool blanket. I kind of cheated since one was pink, green, purple ochre and blue, but we won’t mention that 😉

First I stitched the pebbles down with silk sewing thread that matched the stones as much as possible. (I. E. Not very). Then I embroidered the stripes and outlines in stem stitch, and finally worked running stitch across the background in two colours to give the stones more depth and the background some texture. I worked a dark purply brown all over the background, then added a lighter brown in a couple of sections for more visual interest. I’m very pleased with the result.

Pebble sampler with wool thread on a wool background

You can’t see how three dimensional it is in the first photo so here’s one taken at an angle. You can see the lighter shade of brown I used in the background clearly in the bottom right hand corner. The running stitch really made the pebbles “pop”.

Dimensional wool blanket pebbles on a felt/wool blanket background.

I’m super happy with the results and may need to dye some more blanket pieces in lighter colours to expand my stash.

I mentioned earlier that I had already experimented with line stitches a lot when I worked the 100 stitch TAST challenge in 2015 to 2017.

Some of my favourite line stitch samplers (You may want to grab a beverage and get comfy first):

Knotted Cable Chain, which I worked in a large range of threads from super skinny size 12 perle cotton to super thick Lopi knitting yarn. The same post has Portuguese border stitch and zig-zag coral stitch, which are also great line stitches.

Triangular feather stitch. This turned out to be a lot more versatile than I expected.

Raised chain stitches and reverse buttonhole bar are two very textural line stitches that I really enjoyed experimenting with.

Feathered up and down buttonhole (in the middle of this rather long post), is a wonderful stitch for natural elements like vines and cacti. It can be random enough to have a very organic feel to it.

Beaded oyster stitch. I added all sorts of beads and trinkets to this one. It can be a vert arty looking stitch, and very expressive. Alternating buttonhole stitch is also featured in this post. I enjoyed how graphic it can be when worked on striped fabric.

Pekinese stitch. I love how versatile this stitch is. It can be used as a filling as well as a line stitch. It can be worked in tiny threads for an antique look, or thick, soft cotton for a retro looking piece.

Shell and wave chain. I worked them in white sashiko thread on a vintage cotton serviette. I love the graphic quality of the white stitches on the dark background.

Magic chain. It was fun to play with both colour and thick and thin threads.

Fern stitch. Another lovely stitch for leaves and natural forms.

Buttonhole/blanket stitch. Check out those circles!

Half chevron stitch. I absolutely loved this stitch. I used it to make lines of stitching to form a landscape, using at as both line and filling in one go. It has a lovely movement to it, and is a great stitch for layering.

Stem stitch. How can you not love stem stitch? It’s just about the most versatile line stitch there is and makes an amazing filling stitch, especially dimensional when you use wool.

Satin stitch. Would you count satin stitch as a line stitch? I’m not sure, but you can embroider great lines with it, especially working it over a padding thread.

Feather stitch. I’m still very fond of my little embroidered underwater scene.

Cretan stitch. Worked in a variety of threads and thicknesses, cretan stitch has a lovely painterly, artistic quality to it.

The final two stitches, and the ones that completely have my heart and I could play with forever would have to be couching, and running stitch. Both are incredibly versatile and energetic.

I feel like I’ve linked to just about everything, but I promise I haven’t! The 2015 – 2017 Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST) challenge covered 100 stitches, and I think I ended up working 115 or so.

Next up in Beyond TAST: Exploring laced and threaded stitches. I think I have an idea for that…

Sarah

Beyond TAST Embroidery Samplers – Rice Stitch and Layering

The first thing I did after uploading the new version of the website was to get straight back to my Take a Stitch Tuesday samplers. (You can click on the photos for a closer look).

Rice stitch. We didn’t work rice stitch for the last TAST, so even though I’m working on Beyond TAST challenges now, I decided to work up a sampler to add to my stitch books.

Embroidered sampler with rice stitch on even weave fabric and wool blanket

I hated it.

At least, I hated everything I worked above the words. Then I decided to sew on a scrap of wool blanketing and work freehand and I loved it. It turns out that what I really didn’t like was the floppiness of the fabric as I’d washed out all the sizing when I dyed it. If I have any of this fabric left I’ll definitely starch it before stitching on it. I almost always wash my samplers after finishing them so it shouldn’t be a problem.

Speaking of washing, check out how much the orange crochet thread at the top bled! I definitely won’t be using that in embroidery again. I do love it though, I’ll just keep it for some single coloured crochet. Normally, I’d try washing it out but it doesn’t really bother me, what with the multi coloured background and the fact that not much will show once it’s mounted into a book. I didn’t really notice it until after I took the photo.

Next is my latest sampler for Beyond TAST. Exploring layered stitching.

I decided “layer all the things!” would be my premise so I gathered up strips of fabric (cut from previous TAST samplers), unspun wool scraps, and just about every type of thread I own. I even glued on some little plastic flowers. (E6000  glue is just as magic as I had been led to believe).

Embroidered sampler with layered stitching.

My theme started out as Australian plants and just grew from there. Pardon the pun 😉

I found one of the most interesting parts of this sampler was the layering of colours. I the flower bush, I had worked many shades of green and brown before sticking on the little plastic flowers. Once they were stuck on, they didn’t look like they belonged until I added lots of stitching in the flower colours to tie them in with the background shrubbery. If I were to try this again, I might even go as far as needle felting all sorts of things into the background. I had intended to here but after painting the calico, my embellisher probably would have just shredded it rather than incorporating any fibre into it.

Next up, I’m working on exploring line stitches. I’ll probably end up with two or three 8 inch samplers as there are a few different things I’d like to record.

Sarah

A Machine Stitch and Hand Embroidery Sampler

There are an almost infinite number of places to look for inspiration when it comes to designing hand embroidery and with the invention of the internet, we’ve never had access to more.

This machine sewn and hand embroidered sampler was inspired by an article written by Rebecca Ringquist, on Weallsew.com in 2015

The premise: pick a few stitches from your sewing machine. See what hand embroidery they inspire. I chose not only to replicate the stitches by hand, but also see what stitches might work with them if they were used together. I  worked on an old worn out and slightly stained piece of vintage hand work, as I did with my found embroidery pieces in my previous post.

Modern hand and machine embroidery on a vintage tray cloth.

The completed sampler shows the eight machine stitches I chose and all the stitch variations they inspired.

Modern hand and machine embroidery on a vintage tray cloth.

At the top of this photo you can see the machine stitch with asterisks were worked  short and long, woven and eventually morphed into eyelets. The diamond stitch became several fancy borders before turning into a traditional triangular filling stitch.

Modern hand and machine embroidery on a vintage tray cloth.

I also used the triangular filling stitch on the crossed petals on the right, along with woven detached picots, satin, fly chain and back stitch.

Modern hand and machine embroidery on a vintage tray cloth.

I repeated the zig-zag stitch with different threads before trying it on several different shapes. The diamond border on the centre right became a small motif, border and large area of back stitched trellis. Back stitched trellis and the triangular filling stitch have become firm favourites of mine, along with eyelets. I’d happily embroider them everywhere!

On the left you can see a machine stitched variation of feather stitch. I found that working it in feather stitch made it a bit sloppy unless worked very small, and my favourite two versions are those on the right.

Modern hand and machine embroidery on a vintage tray cloth.

Finally, the leaf stitch was worked in both sizes offered by my sewing machine. I worked it in variations including detached chain and chain stitch, back stitch and fly stitch.

To finish off the sampler, I threaded knitting wool along the crocheted edge to frame it.

I highly recommend both working on old, worn embroidery and making a sampler inspired by machine stitches. Even if your machine has only the most basic of zig-zags you could work a sampler with all sorts of variations by changing the length and width of your machine stitches and then seeing how many hand stitches they inspire. You can come up with some unexpected new hand stitches, and may even be inspired to use hand and machine stitching together.

If you do choose to stitch one, I’d love to see it! I’m tempted to go and work one with just zig-zag to see what I can come up with…

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Embroidered Samplers on Found Embroidery

I am an avid collector of vintage embroideries, especially ones with interesting floral designs. Finished ones, unworked ones, worn out and stained ones, if the price is right they come home with me, usually from our local op shop/charity thrift store for fifty cents to a few dollars.

Spectacular pieces go into my collection of pieces to use as they are, but I use the others as pieces of fabric to stitch on. Here are my two most recent pieces.

I loved the rose on this placemat but the stitching was quite worn, and it had a couple of cream coloured paint splotches that I didn’t notice until after I washed out the stains!

Running stitch on found embroidery.

I took some scrap threads and doubled them up to about the thickness of six strand floss and worked running stitch across the background to make the rose “pop” out from the background. I’m a big fan of running stitch! I tried to offset each row of stitching but didn’t worry if stitches were a little wonky. I also removed the crocheted lace edging so I can dye it and use it for something else.

This piece will end up becoming part of another project. At the moment I think I’ll use it as part of a cover for one of my stitch sampler books, but who knows?

Another damaged doily became this very simple modern eyelet sampler. Orange and green are my favourite colours but no amount of soaking would remove all of the rust and ink stains from this little mat. I decided I could either cover them or cut them out. Why not both?

I used scraps of various orange and green threads and worked round eyelets in the centre, a flower at each end, and leaves on the top and bottom. (Click the photo to see a larger version).

Since the stitching holding the crocheted edging was quite worn, I worked running stitch with dark brown through the holes, which frames the finished piece nicely, I think. I’d never worked eyelets before so this little fifty cent doily was both educational and fun to make. It’s small enough to fit in with my other samplers so it will probably get bound into one of my fabric books for future reference. I’m definitely going to stitch a lot more of the flowers like the orange and brown one on the right!

Instructions for working eyelets can be found here on the French Knots vintage embroidery website. I experimented with a few different stitches around the leaf shapes after working the satin stitch over the edge. Most are finished off with back stitch to tidy them up, but a couple have tiny satin stitch and rounds of chain and blanket stitch as decorative finished around the outside.

I have another sampler worked on found embroidery to show you tomorrow, so please come back then. I’m quite excited by the way it turned out!

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