Saturday 15 March 2014

My first Embroidery Project


I had so much fun making this cute little picture! For ages I have been wanting to have a go at embroidery. 



I acquired this brilliant little leaflet from a neighbour of my Mother last year on a visit up North (look at the price!) and it seemed to tie in with my existing wish to make a start with some stitchery! Ever since on the design of Kirsty Neale's first book 'Hoop-la!' and seen just how versatile an embroidery hoop can be, I have been fired with a need to make and frame an item within that simple circle of wood.

I began with a rather scribbly sketch on a piece of paper which I roughly transferred to a piece of neutral linen I had bought on an Abakahn spree on my trip up North. I only had a 2b pencil but a washable marker would have been much better. I was just suddenly so excited to begin I was winging it quite a bit! Then I started stitching.


I stitched the fox first. I like to throw myself in at the deep end so to speak! Using a simple backstitch to outline the shape, I then filled in with satin and scatter stitches, working to create the shape of the nose and make the tail look suitably bushy! I love his little black forelegs! His nose got a bit large but I'm not complaining for a first effort.


After stitching the lines on the tree trunk using stem stitch, I outlined the grass and filled it with different coloured running stitches. I used seed stitch to fill the leaves in on the tree and created the curved shape of the sun using shades of yellow and orange in different stitches to give it a sampler style. One of my favourite elements of this piece literally grew as I went along. These cute little agaric toadstools just seemed the right thing to add. Peering out from behind the tree trunk and flower stems, you have to look for them but its an 'aww' moment when you see them!


The flowers were created from an explosion of different stitches I wanted to try. lazy daisy being one, bullion knots were another (these are what make up the bush which my chirpy and exotic bird perches on. Not all the stitches have names as far as I am aware. The further I went, the more confident I became with how to create the shapes and colours I wanted.

Like I said at the start of this post, I really had fun with this and enjoyed every last stitch. Embroidery is for me a wonderfully creative medium in which to express some of my more artistic ideas. Whilst I have never been the world's best sketch artist, the slow speed of embroidery and option to pull back and reposition a stitch when it doesn't sit quite right, give me the confidence to embellish and decorate with a true sense of freedom.

This first piece will be hanging on my craft room wall but I think that next I would like to make an embroidered item for a particular purpose. Maybe a cushion cover or cloth of some kind. I like the idea of making some new heirlooms...