Category Archives: embroidery

What We’re Stitching 3

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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!

Stitching for Spain: Travel Plans?

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Let’s say you’re just too busy to travel to Spain to take my Improvisational Hand Embroidery on Wool class. What do you do? You could check out one of my free tutorials or add my book Free-Form Hand Embroidery on Wool book to your library.

Free-Form Hand Embroidery has these 5 embroidery designs for you to play with. Chapters include the types of fabric, thread, and needles to use; how to transfer the patterns for each project to the wool; and, step-by-step directions to guide you through the stitch process for each design. Helpful embroidery stitch diagrams are included too.

And don’t forget this bonus project in the book: how to make an etui or small sewing kit.

Illustrated with colorful details, this book is ideal for those who want to explore the world of free-form embroidery and stitching just for the pleasure of it.

So join me in Spain (sort of) and create a free-form project on wool today!

Stitching for Spain: Mi Casa

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I’m back in the saddle again! One of the classes I’m teaching for Asociación Española de Patchwork in March is called Mi Casa es Su Casa. We are creating tiny homes using colorful felt fabrics with lots of hand embroidery.

Which means I have to make up lots of thread kits for my students. The kit of thread contains my hand-dyed size 8 pearl cotton threads like these as well as an array of felt fabric colors.

I’m placing a sampler of each thread colorway onto thread rings for my students’ kits. This counting of threads and attaching them on the rings is best done in front of a television screen while watching an engrossing movie.

True, I’ve been watching a lot of TV lately but I am looking forward to what the students create with the threads. It will be worth it!