Is there a half-finished project lurking in your studio? Maybe it’s time to reimagine how to complete that piece of artwork, time to look at it from a different perspective. Here’s an example. Five years ago I stitched this swatch of wool as a step-out for the Tasty Apple project in my book Joyful Stitching. Now I’m using it to jumpstart my next free-form embroidery project.
Tip O’the Day: Contrast is Your Friend
The leaf was already filled in with lazy daisy stitches in a variegated size 8 thread saving me some work. So I’ve filled in the remaining apple shape with lots of textural stitches like scattered seed stitches, needle weaving, and my favorite, grids of blanket stitches with French knots placed in the boxes.
Notice that dashed line around the leaf, stem, and apple? That’s a back stitch. I’ve embroidered the back stitch with a light green thread (Sprouts size 8). This thread not only outlines the shapes but is in high contrast with the background fabric. Contrast of color or value defines shapes and projects them from the background. So if you want something to show up, use colors that are in sharp contrast in color or value.
Now that I’ve shown you mine. Can you show me yours? I’d love to see what you’re working on in our reimagination series. Email me at laura at artfabrik.com.