Furlough/Shutdown Day 16. I don’t even understand anymore.
Last week while I was in Charlotte, my friend Rachel offered to give me an embroidery lesson this week if I was still furloughed. I am, so yesterday she did! We’ve actually been talking about doing this for at least a year or more — no time like the present, right?
My first split stitch
I’ve done plenty of stitching before dating back to childhood, but it’s always been exclusively cross stitch (like Emma’s stocking). With cross stitch, there’s only two stitches to learn — cross stitch and back stitch — and it’s done neatly on a grid where all you have to do is count the correct number of squares. No curves, no worries about keeping stitches even.
My first stem stitch
But embroidery is different. I’ve browsed through several books and blogs covering different techniques so I was pretty familiar with the theory, but I’d never actually sat down to try it myself! The first step was just learning how to transfer the pattern to the fabric, and it turns out there are several ways of doing that. Yesterday we used an iron-on pattern, which transfers ink to the fabric. It’s permanent, so you have to make sure to stitch well to cover the lines!
It also just feels different, since the fabric is so much thinner and softer than cross stitch cloth, which is pretty stiff. I finally figured out why one of my embroidery hoops has a “lip” on it — to better grip the fabric!
My first french knots (yellow) and chain stitch (purple)
We skipped back stitch since that’s the one stitch I was confident I could handle from my cross stitch knowledge, so the first one I learned was split stitch (on the flower stem). From there we moved to stem stitch (the outline of the leaf) and chain stitch (the purple flower petals). Chain stitch was the hardest one for me — my thread kept getting tangled, and at one point when I tried to fix an uneven thread, I just made the whole thing worse so I pulled it all out and started again.
Finally I learned french knots. I’ve done these a few times in cross stitch but they always looked wonky. But Rachel shared a tip and WOW — look at my awesome french knots!! I’m giddy with how nice they look.
More french knots and chain stitch, plus some back stitch (on the leaf veins)
Last night I finished the chain stitch around the flower and added some back stitch on the leaf veins. And voila! This is how my piece currently looks, and I’m excited to finish the flower soon. I just need some thread — since I’ve only done cross stitch kits in the past, and they always come with thread, the only thread I have right now will be needed for Emma’s stocking. But an excuse to hit up Joann’s is never a bad thing. What color should the middle be? Blue? Pink? Orange? The possibilities are endless!
Now that I feel a little more confident in my abilities, I’ve got a ton of ideas in my head of what to do next. Yes, MORE projects to add to my list! Just what I need…
