After gathering my materials, I knew I would have to start with the basics. I was itching to begin stitching!
I referenced the following Youtube video to learn my first few stitches. LoveCraft’s (2019) soft, therapeutic voice may put you to sleep (like me), but it’s well worth the watch!
This is what I produced while following along with the video!
I learned a lot from this initial jaunt into embroidery. First of all, a thin fabric (such as this ratty old cotton t-shirt) is extremely challenging to work with because it doesn’t stay taut. With every tug on the thread, the fabric would pinch and scrunch together, causing the thread to not lay flat.
Secondly, if you are right handed, it is best to not have the metal screw on the embroidery hoop resting on the right. As the photo below shows, the working end of the thread would droop over to the right, looping around the screw, and getting stuck each time I was pulling the thread back through the fabric.
Third, marking the general shape or line of your stitch with a pencil or “air erasable marker” (LoveCrafts, 2019) would be extremely helpful to create straight shapes. As you can see, my stitches are almost straight and parallel to each other, but that is the price I paid this time around for just eyeballing my lines. This also goes for my “flowers” and what I will call a “cactus”.
In conclusion, I think my top three favourite stitches thus far are the chain stitch, french knot, and the lazy daisy stitch! I’m looking forward to trying these stitches again, and learning more!
Photos by Juli O. (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
4 Comments
These look great already Juli! I breifly tried out embroidery this past summer, and I agree that getting the thread looped on the metal part of the hoop is a very frustrating part of the process.
I just purchased embroidery materials so I am very excited to learn alongside and from you. These posts are coming at the perfect time for me! What is an air erasable marker? Sounds interesting!
Your stitches look amazing Juli! Im so excited to see where you take them on your embroidery adventures!