What We’re Stitching 5

Mi Cas es Su Casa #1 by Laura Wasilowski

My classes at the Asociación Española de Patchwork festival  are complete. The Spanish quiltmakers are delightful and I had a wonderful time! Thank you to all who made my visit possible.

One thing I discovered during this trip is that the love of hand embroidery translates easily across languages and borders. We all love color and pattern and texture. It’s an artform for all!

What We’re Stitching 4

Now that their felt fabric pieces for the design are in place my students in the Mi Casa es Su Casa class at the Asociación Española de Patchwork Festival will begin to add decorative details with thread. I know it is sometimes difficult to make color decisions when adding hand embroidery. But remember, you can always remove the thread if you don’t like it!

One tip is to repeat colors throughout the piece. Here you see blue French knots added to the V shapes of the fly stitches around the roof top. The blue house and blue threads in the grass repeat that color. And I’ll be sure to add more blue to the design elsewhere as it progresses.

What We’re Stitching 3

My students in the Mi Casa es Su Casa class at the Asociación Española de Patchwork festival soon find that improvising a design is thrilling! And that free-cutting shapes or using found shapes makes the artwork uniquely their own.

As you follow along with my class, you see that I’m adding layer after layer of shapes like this blue felt house stitched to the ground with a blanket stitch. The blanket stitch is not only utilitarian but decorative too.

The next layer is the rooftop. I like the zigzag shape around the edge provided by the fly stitch. It’s another stitch that decorates as well as holds a fabric into place. There is much more embroidery to come but the foundation is made. Think of it as a canvas waiting to be painted with thread!