Stitching Sunday: One-and-a-half book reviews

I have two new stitching books to share with you today. (And yes, I have completely discarded the New Year’s resolution to stop buying craft books. I lasted three months. Well, two. Okay, a few weeks. Say nothing.)

The first book is Stitched Blooms, by my blogging friend Carina Envoldsen-Harrison. Carina’s bright and beautiful blog, Carina's Craftblog, is a treasure trove of embroidery inspiration and tips, and her first book reflects her characteristic colourful style.

In fact, one of the things I love most about this book, besides the hundreds of lovely floral-themed motifs, is the segment on colour. A six-page ‘Color Stuff’ section explains basic theory, colour schemes, and even suggests some ‘colour exploration exercises’ for those of us stuck in colour ruts.

But for all this, I now share with you the first project I’ve completed from this book, using off-white candlewicking thread on off-white vintage French linen:

After completing my candlewicking snowflake kit, I had a good amount of the string-like cotton thread left over. I paired it with the vintage linen, which I cut into a small hand-towel size, and traced a little floral motif from the book onto the bottom corner.

I really love how easy and effective this simple pattern looks. I let the materials sing without colour – the linen is very tactile, a thick weave, and the cotton thread is very rustic. I’m pleased with the combination, especially with this folksy floral motif...perhaps a table runner next, with a lot more blossoms?

Stitched Blooms has a long list of fun and useful projects, all clearly explained and well photographed. Embroidered skirts, shirts and mittens, bags, decorated towels and blankets...the striking botanical art framed embroideries are next on my list. The Stitch Glossary is the best I’ve seen in an embroidery book – with, believe it or not, clear photographs demonstrating various stitches! How many times have I been left scratching my head trying to decipher unclear illustrations drawn without an actual needle or hand in mind...

Now, the title of this post is ‘One-and-a-half book reviews’. You’ve read one, so here’s the half review. May I introduce to you the exquisite Pansées et Violettes: au point de croix.

Half a review, because the book is in French - I don’t speak French, so I cannot possibly review the written content. But I do love pretty pictures, and this book has those in abundance!

You know a book is special when it has a ribbon binding it together...and inside are artistic, delicate cross-stitch designs all based on violets and pansies. Each photo is carefully staged with eccentric items, complementing the sketchy style of the cross stitching.

This is not your ordinary cross-stitch book. The images are haunting, half-completed designs meant to tease the imagination, conjure up memories of woodland spring...

There is something so magical about these patterns, so ethereal, I just sat in silence turning page after page of beautiful patterns. And because this is cross stitch, no language barriers will keep me from creating my own stitched keepsakes. These little blooms are close to my heart.

I have the first few violets starting to uncurl their petals in the garden, time to tend to those! Enjoy the rest of the weekend, and please link up any needle n’ thread projects below...

Chrissie x

An InLinkz Link-up

Stitching Sunday: Chocolate is always the answer

Greetings all, and happy Sunday! After a week of chaos and lethargy in equal measure, I am feeling more relaxed and recharged today. Got some big school-related meetings and events out of the way, so today I’m enjoying some quiet stitching time.

I’m working on a candlewicking project, which I have been documenting on the &Stitches blog these past few weeks. It is a snowflake cushion kit printed with water-soluble ink. You can read about it here.

Candlewicking is a historical technique that uses two-strand cotton string embroidered on cotton muslin fabric. The overall effect is very rustic, with a texture that gives the single-coloured work some depth.  

Now, using cotton string is not as pretty as smooth embroidery floss, and stitching onto rough muslin fabric is not as elegant as fine linen, but it is very easy to see the difference in the stitches. And with such crude materials, I find inconsistencies in stitches to be even more glaring, even with small spaces.

Like all stitchers, I strive for neat lines with uniform stitches. Normally I can stitch along quite evenly, on my own designs or in a freestyle manner – but this kit is printed with definite straight lines and patterns (I have discovered that I am not a fan of pre-printed kits. I’m a bit of a control freak, and I like dictating my lines and stitches, even when I’ve traced a pattern myself). I found that as I toodled along with my needle, my stitches would come up short to fit on the end of a line. This happened on the left side of the diamond, you can see the bottom stitch is shorter than the top.

I realised this would be a project where I would have to actually employ some brainpower, heaven forbid some sort of mathematical formula to calculate stitch length...but like so many problems in life, it simply took a tray of brownies to make everything better!

When cutting brownies or other tray-baked goodies, I start by cutting a line down the middle of the pan, then I cut the halves in half, and so on, until I have lovely, even little pieces of yumminess. I was doing this the other day when the light bulb lit in my head and I realised the same could be done with embroidery.  

So I eyed the centre of the line – which mind you isn’t consistent with the spokes of the snowflake jutting out from the centre – and stuck my needle through to mark it.

Then I judged half of this line and started backstitching. The results were far more equal than the top side...

...just not as tasty as an even brownie square. But at least this will make quicker work of this cushion.

I’m sure the non-stitchers are looking at this and saying, “I don’t see much of a difference, they’re all such tiny stitches.” But you embroiderers will know what I mean. You know I’ll sleep better at night...hee hee!

Hmmm, I should keep embroidering...but I feel a little peckish now. Chocolate, anyone?

Link up your stitching projects below!

Chrissie x

An InLinkz Link-up

Stitching Sunday: Slow and steady

To counter the maniacal pace of my crochet this week, I stitched whatever I fancied, whenever I fancied, and didn’t worry about finishing anything. It was lovely.

I’m at the piping stage of the sewing machine cover. This is the trickiest bit for me after the tiny patchwork at the beginning. I’ve only done piping one other time, and it was under the watchful eye of a seamstress friend, and I was basically doing as I was told!

I’m pleased with the results of my first attempts at piping solo. Don't look too closely - I still haven't sewn on the side panels that will even up the piping line. I used the pink fabric that I will use for the lining of this cover, fabric that was leftover from my Happy Spring Quilt.

It should come together quite swiftly now, just ironing on some interfacing and sewing all the parts together. Then it’s on to another practical sewing project, here’s a little peek at the materials involved:

I’m pleased to say that Sam has his eggs and ham, all ready to serve up to picky eaters:

The stitches have ranged from long-and-short stitch, stem stitch, back and split. Then I did the black markings in the ham with a scatterbrained hodge-podge of them all! I wanted thicker, scribbly looking lines, like the illustration in the book, and I found sticking to just stem stitch was too neat and orderly, so I simply stabbed away until I got the look I wanted. You don’t always have to follow the rules!

In other stitching news, yesterday Bunny and I discovered the latest pattern from wee little stitches – Elsa and Anna from Frozen!

We downloaded it faster than you can say “Do you wanna build a snowman?”, and Bunny started practicing her cross stitch on a scrap of fabric, because she herself wants to make this sweetly sentimental cross stitch for her and Little Flower! I'm going to buy her some Aida fabric tomorrow so she can get started.

So I set Sam aside – he’s waited this long, a few more days won’t bother him – and I started this awesome dragonfly kit I’ve had in my stash a little while:

I know, I know, I’ve only ever cross stitched this tiny rose, but I couldn’t resist the sparkly thread and peacock colours! I dipped my toe into the cross-stitch waters, and like so many other crafts I enjoy, I proceeded to dive in head first!

And it’s so fun to have a craft to share with Bunny that we can do side-by-side, and chatting as we go along. Slow and steady, calming for both of us.

Happy crafting! Please share your stitching below!

Chrissie x

Stitching Sunday: Cross stitch love

This week I finished my very first cross stitch project

Golly, how much did I love the thread organiser? Where have you been all my life, you lovely hole-punched card?

You may remember that I bought this lovely little kit at The Knitting & Stitching Show, and I started working on it with the help of my lovely friend. I’m happy to report that I really enjoyed cross stitching, the repetitive nature of the stitches was rather relaxing. And figuring out what colours to stitch where wasn’t as tricky as I thought.

Here is a close-up of my work – I’m going to need some advice for certain tricky areas. Some crosses – like the sandy one on the far right – weren’t centered, like something made the thread bend up a bit. What’s up with that?

And different shades of floss behaved differently. The deep red colour seemed quite thin – I’d like my ‘x’ to fill the fabric more, I really don’t care for lots of space around the stitch – while the palest pink seemed so fluffy that the stitches tended to look a bit crowded and messy to me. But I always used two strands of floss, so not sure how to deal with this...

I also found it challenging to make a neat 'x' when all four corners were already occupied with other stitches. I think I need a coaching session...

But hey, onward and upward, as I really would like to do more cross stitch. Now that I finished my little test kit, I can justify buying this lovely book:

*sigh* It's just so pretty...I’ll tell you more about it once I try a pattern or two!

I know there are a gazillion ways to display cross stitch...trinket boxes and cushions and bags, oh my! But I was keen to get my first piece on my new little Wall of Stitching. Alas, the fabric was too narrow on the vertical sides to fit in the smallest hoop I had (I think it’s a 3-inch hoop), and just like last Sunday’s post, I had to figure out how to fit my work into the hoop.

This time I decided to fray the edges a bit and tack it onto some pretty French linen from a fat quarter purchased a while back. I repeated the simple linen ribbon bow to hide the screw.

Hmmm. Very granny-ish. But granny chic or granny ick? 

I hung it on the other end of the wall, given that both stitched pieces feature squares of fabric stitched onto a base fabric.

This might be just slightly on the wrong side of twee for my taste. I’m going to consider carefully what else goes on the wall. I think one of Delilah’s black silhouettes would balance it well. I also am mulling over something decidedly silly...

Please share your needle ‘n thread love below!

Chrissie x

Stitching Sunday: Hassle-free French knots!

Welcome to Stitching Sunday! It is a thundery, rainy day today, perfect for stitching in your pyjamas with a hot cup of tea by your side...

Within the first half hour of The Knitting & Stitching Show I learned an embroidery tip that has since saved me time and saved my nerves. Would you like to see?

Get your needle and floss ready, you might want to follow along step by step.

First, wrap the floss twice around the needle

Then pull the wrap higher up the needle, giving you lots of room to insert the needle into the fabric

Needle back through, very close to where it came up

Now anchor that thread! Pull the floss down taut to the fabric before you push the needle through any further, and keep it anchored to the side of the hoop as you pull the needle through the back

This little step - simply anchoring the thread with your thumb at the edge of the hoop - makes a huge difference to the process! 

It may help if you set the hoop down on the edge of a table while you’re getting used to this technique, so you have one hand free to pull the needle, the other hand keeping the thread taut.

As you pull, you can gently let loose the thread, at which point the knot should already be secure on the fabric

Keep pulling through and suddenly you’ll have a cute little dimple of a French knot on your fabric.

hello cutie!

Try a few of these, it gets easier with practice – which I had plenty of when I made the organza flowers...

Dare I say I actually like making French knots now? Words I never thought I’d say...

What’s on your hoop this weekend? Link up and show us!

Chrissie x

P.S. A big hello to my new followers, I’m so happy to have you here! 

Stitching Sunday: More about fillings and threads

I’m pausing my beehive project so I can answer some questions I’ve had since last Sunday...

Many of you were interested in the long and short stitching last week, so I’ll illustrate this technique a bit more. I’m going to use the Green Eggs & Ham piece I’ve been working on, as I’m using long and short stitch for the letters.

I decided to do an experiment and try one leg of the ‘H’ with two strands of floss, and the other leg with one strand. The results are interesting.

I could only work on this in the evening (tiny, detailed stitching with young children buzzing around was next to impossible this week!), so I used my daylight embroidery lamp and made the best of it. The fabric is white, but in the photos it looks beige. Never mind, as long as I can illustrate the stitches I’m not too fussed.

As I explained a bit in my last Stitching Sundays post, generally the technique starts with staggered stitches in the first row. I chose to work from the top down, but you could work up from the bottom if you prefer. Start in the centre of the area to be stitched and work out toward the sides – this is because sometimes a row tends to start leaning in one direction, and if you’re working one side to another, you can end up with a leaning row of stitches. Start with a straight line in the middle, and either side will stay straight. Does this make sense?

Anyway, for the next row and subsequent rows, it is key to bring the needle through the threads of the previous row. If you come up between threads, you’re more likely to encounter gaps or holes in your finished work. Splitting threads can be challenging at first, so have a bit of patience and very quickly it becomes second nature!

I’ve used two strands of thread here, and it gives the letters a rougher texture. But for the other side I used just one strand – see if you notice the smoother appearance in the first rows:

Much of a muchness, really, it all depends on the look you are after.

A black outline stitch will sort out those rough edges!

For my purposes, I think I’ll go with the one-strand floss. The letters are rather small, and I prefer the smoother finish of one strand. 

However, I used two strands of yellow to fill in Sam-I-Am, because I wanted a much bolder, almost furry texture to match his outline.

Give it a go with your next filling project and let me know how it works for you!

Next up: tangled and knotted thread. I’ve had some queries about avoiding tangles while stitching.

More than once I’ve been stitching along quite happily only to discover my threads have formed a messy jumble on the back of my work. Frustrating. And some stitchers find it difficult to even get started with more than one strand of floss, because the threads become twisted.

I have three habits that have helped me steer clear of knots and tangles. First, separate the threads:

No matter how many strands you are using, you should pull each strand, one at a time, from the main skein of floss.

Allow the floss to bunch up below the thread you're pulling - it will easily fall back into place once the thread is freed.

Then lay the strands evenly together

Second tip: condition your thread. I have used Thread Heaven for a few months, and I like the smoothness it gives to the strands of floss.

This is a tiny pot of a wax-like substance. You pull the threads through it, then pull the floss through your fingers to remove any excess conditioner and create a static charge between the threads. The conditioner reduces the friction between the fabric and the floss – threads flow easily through fabric and lay nicely.

This isn’t a necessity, but if you are having trouble with frequent tangles, I would recommend giving it a try. I think I bought my Thread Heaven from www.sewandso.co.uk for £3.50, but feel free to Google away...

Finally, the most obvious tip is to check your work every few stitches. I usually peek at the back of my work for the first few stitches, as that’s when I often neglect to pull the floss through completely and end up with tangles. If you get in the habit, then you’ll catch any little problems before they become big problems!

That’s enough from me today, thank you for visiting, and a warm welcome to my latest followers. Please do visit the links below each week, these lovely embroiderers are working on such beautiful projects!

Chrissie x

Stitching Sunday: Transferring designs

Good day to you, fellow stitchers! I hope you’ve decided on a design to embroider (I’ve narrowed mine down to three...no two! Two. For now). Today I’ll give a little overview about preparing your project and starting to stitch. In the coming weeks I’ll offer updates on my progress with various projects, share tips and troubles, and then what to do with these lovely little stitches when they’re done!

So I have a design, but how do I transfer it to my fabric? Some books, like Little Stitches by Aneela Hoey, provide iron-on transfers, the easiest way to put the design on fabric. Little Stitches has all of the illustrations in the back of the book plus separate sheets of iron-on transfers. Fabulous.

I used this girl reading a book to make a cushion for Bunny, my bookworm.

Most designs, however, will need to be traced to get to fabric. If you’re using a white or light material, perhaps you can simply put the fabric on top of the design and trace it – I like to trace with a very fine-tipped marker pen, but you can use fabric pencils or any other writing instrument you’re confident you can cover completely with your stitching.

The design above is from Carina’s Craftblog, a great resource for embroidery, and she offers beautiful, colourful patterns.

Or you can trace the design onto tracing paper, which will free it from a book, then put your fabric over the tracing paper. I did this with Sam-I-Am:

Just an example, my tracing isn't that wonky!

Tracing is easiest with a light source behind the paper, making the design shine clearly through the fabric. Tape the paper to the window, then tape your fabric on top and trace. Advantage: Very cheap option; Disadvantage: Sore arms after a few minutes!

After doing enough embroidery to know that I wanted to continue with this craft, I decided to invest in a light box for more detailed designs.

There are many on the market, so I chose a mid-priced one at about £30. Here is the fabric on the light box as I transferred my “hive sweet hive” design for a hexie project:

I didn't trace the bees - I'll add them freehand at the end

You can draw lines or use tiny dots – either is fine as long as you know you’ll be covering it with stitches.

Now get that pattern into a hoop and start stitching! Make the fabric drum-tight in the hoop – tighten the screw a bit, pull the fabric evenly around, tighten the screw some more, pull the fabric, etc. then use a screwdriver to really get the hoop secure (it really does make a difference as you stitch!).

Unwind enough thread to reach from your fingertip to your elbow – more than this and you risk tangling the threads as you pull them through the fabric. I usually use two strands of floss for embroidery, though I often add one-stranded elements or even all six strands in a design. A valuable tip is to pull out one strand at a time from the bunch, no matter how many strands you are using, then line up the strands together. The thread will lie so much flatter and neater on your work this way.  

Tie a knot in your floss, then it’s between you and your conscience whether you leave the knot on the back of your work or make a waste knot:

Put the knot on the front of your piece, then make two tiny stitches along the design line and cut away the knot. The stitches will anchor the thread, and you then go back and do your embroidery over these stitches.

I have done this a few times, mainly for gifts, but for most projects I confess I just tie a knot, pull the thread up through the back and get on with it! As I get more proficient with embroidery I might become a stickler about not having any knots in my work, but for the moment, I’m just happy to get even a few minutes before bed to do a few stitches, so I’m not fussed!

The easiest stitches to outline a design is the back stitch and the stem stitch. I’ll get stitching and talk more about outlines next Sunday. I plan to give some details of stitches as we encounter them, but I also will share my favourite web sites for embroidery tutorials. Today I recommend:

Mary Corbet’s Needle N’ Thread: This woman knows it all and teaches it better than anyone! A must for embroidery enthusiasts at any level. Her tutorials are second only to having your mother or grandmother by your side.

Now I’m going to go trace the sheep and tree for the bookends I showed last week. And I’ll be hopping round Blogland to see what you’re up to – link up your blog below!

Happy stitching!

Chrissie x