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!

What We’re Stitching 2

I love working with felt! It is so easy to stitch into and never frays. I’m hoping my students in Mi Casa es Su Casa class at the Asociación Española de Patchwork festival enjoy it too. Follow along and you’ll see one of the methods I’m showing them for creating their own designs.

The cloud is stitched to the background fabric and now I’ve added a grassy knoll. The green felt is stitched with a variegated size 8 thread called Lime Frappe. Blanket stitches are placed across the base of the knoll and I’m peppering the rest of the fabric with the scattered seed stitch.

I’m also adding a few French knots to the knoll to cheer it up.

I can’t wait to see what my students create with their kits of felt fabrics!