I know I’m guilty of primarily working in cross stitch and the standard needlepoint stitches, the tent or half-cross stitch.  I may bring out the lazy daisy or back stitch if I’m not working on gridded canvas or Aida cloth…

But there is a world of stitches out there!

Have you ever heard of the “Droit stitch” or the “Stepped Sheaf stitch”?  How about the exotic-sounding “Turkey”, “Egyptian” or “Romanian” stitches?

If you’d like to expand your stitching repertoire, the Stitchopedia website is the place to start your search.  They’ve got listings for all kinds of amazing-sounding hand-embroidery stitches.  Each stitch has a diagram as well as a text description of how to form the stitch.   They also have printable diagrams so you can print and save the stitch how-to.  Perfect if you don’t embroider in front of the computer!

image: Stock.xchg

Post from: Blisstree

All Those Embroidery Stitches…

Of course, if it was for a gift, I’d be tearing through it, but I enjoy the contemplative nature of hand embroidery.  I’m enjoying the process as much as I’ll enjoy the finished project… hopefully

I’m still working away on the borders right now:

One thing that I’ve noticed about my stitching habits, is that I tend to like to get the “structure” of the piece done before I get to the more decorative stitching.

Is it because I want to get the less interesting stuff out of the way first?

I’m not quite sure, but it’s something that I’ve done since I was a child, just learning to embroider.

So how do you like to structure your embroidery?  Do you like to get into the pattern right away, or do you like to get the borders and less interesting stuff out of the way first?

image: C Findlay-Harder

Post from: Blisstree

So What Do You Work On First?

Sequins are a great way to add some extra sparkle to your hand-sewn Christmas ornaments – and they’re really easy to sew on too.

I’ve created a step-by-step guide for hand-sewing sequins for you – but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see how I’m using them in my finished project

image: © C Findlay-Harder

Post from: Blisstree

how-to of the day – sewing sequins onto Christmas ornaments

As always, these are my own original patterns & designs and are not to be copied or reposted elsewhere without my permission.

Here are two more fun embroidered patterns – the first is a machine-embroidered gift card holder.  It’s a great way to play around with different stitches on your sewing machine, and make a cute Christmas gift for someone special!

 This one is for my hand-embroidery fans!  It’s a crazy quilt Christmas card that I created using little pieces of fabric, lace, ribbon, buttons and even a yo-yo.  It’s all finished with blanket and straight stitches, but you can get as fancy as you’d like with it!

 all images: © C Findlay-Harder

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More embroidered Christmas craft how-tos

Oh my goodness, I love these needlepoint shoes!  I don’t think it would be that hard to cover an existing pair of sandals this way… too much inspiration – not enough time!

Post from: Blisstree

needlepoint shoes?

A Joyful Abode has an easy to follow tutorial on how to embroider shisha mirrors.  What are shisha mirrors you ask?   They are little mirrors that are used to embellish clothing, textiles and home accessories – most commonly found in east Indian textiles.  Go check it out!

image source

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useful links – how to embroider shisha mirrors

His work is spectacular & detailed… and definitely breathes some fresh air into embroidery

Post from: Blisstree

inspirational link of the day:

I asked you to get some candy-colored felt, along with a heart-shaped cookie cutter (or other heart-shaped template) in my last post.

Use the cookie cutter as a template and trace around it – using a water-soluble fabric marker.

Cut out more hearts (you don’t have to – but they look so charming as a grouping)

Using a water-soluble fabric marker (non permanent) write out different Valentine’s day sayings.  It’s going to be easier to embroider if you go with something short.

Place the heart cut-outs onto tear-away stabilizer or heavy weight interfacing.  This makes it much easier to free-motion embroider.  Drop the feed dogs on your sewing machine and switch to a darning or free-motion foot.  You can also hand-embroider if you prefer.  I used plain, red sewing machine thread – I want the felt sweethearts to look like the candy ones.

Here’s how the hearts turned out after I trimmed the backing, snipped off the loose threads and used a damp cloth to remove the marker.

I’ll show you how to finish them tomorrow

Post from: Blisstree

how-to of the day: embroidered felt sweethearts

Clean, unfussy hoop frames.

They’re perfect for displaying embroidery without extra loops or hangers showing at the top.  I think they’d even work for displaying pieces of your favorite fabrics as well.

If you haven’t had a chance to read the Sublime Stitching blog – it’s definitely worth browsing through

Post from: Blisstree

hoop frames for hanging embroidery

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see who just came to live with me