Progress on Gazelle Embroidery

 

I just finished embroidering the details of this gazelle and his bird friend. Next I will stitch together some felt framing to go around it and will either turn it into a wall hanging or make it into a pillow.

 

Transferring Embroidery Design onto Felt

I have been experimenting with techniques on how to transfer a design onto wool felt. The first one I did was on white craft felt and since it was not quite so dense and a light color, I was able to hold it up to a window and trace the design onto it. 

 

Last month I made this dog ornament on blended wool felt and since it was small, I poked holes into the paper design, laid it on the felt, and then colored in the holes with a marker so I ended up with a dotted design. It worked pretty good, actually, but thought it would be too time consuming to do with my current design.

So I decided to try something new and trace the design onto tissue paper, pin it to my felt, and then embroider right through both tissue and felt. Two things I learned from this technique: One, I really enjoy the tactile experience of embroidering through felt. It's soft and soothing and peaceful even. The added tissue paper takes that feeling away. It's not smooth stitching and it's crinkly sounding! As subtle as it is, it takes away from my enjoyment.

 

The second thing I learned is this technique is much better suited to a simple design, not one with lots of stitching close together. Tearing the paper away was tricky, especially in tight spaces. In fact, there is some tissue that will live in this piece forever because I simply couldn't get it out! Even with my trusty tweezers and dental pick.

It does look nice though after all that effort, but I won't be doing it again this way. I just purchased some water soluble stabilizer that I will experiment with on my next project. Since I am using wool felt, I may need to pre-soak the felt to ensure it won't shrink later. I will do a couple of test runs first - perhaps the stabilizer will only need a little water spritzing to get it off. I do like the idea of printing the design onto the stabilizer rather than tracing the design. Such a time saver.

 

 

Any experienced embroiderists have any pearls of wisdom to share?!

Embroidered Ladybug for Ginny

I wanted to create something special for my friend Ginny who loves ladybugs and this is what I made. I'm so glad I researched what ladybugs look like close up because otherwise I would've drawn a simple red circle with black spots! They are far more interesting looking than that.

 

 

It had to be on a heart shaped leaf, of course, because this is a long time dear friend we're talking about!  I used chain and split stitches for the leaf veins and blanket stitched the edges together. Love, love, love the blended wool felt. It is about 7" in size. I love how it turned out and Ginny did, too!

 

 



Interview on Cat Lady Confidential

Today I was featured on a lovely blog called Cat Lady Confidential. I talk about my cat mosaics and embroidery, as well as the beautiful cats in my life, past and present. Read it here.  Thank you for the interview, CLC!

Me and Christopher

Happy 2017!

The end of 2016 found me learning embroidery and I am so looking forward to playing with this technique more and more this year! I have a few new books on embroidery techniques and creating softies that I've been pouring over and I can't wait to try some new fun stitches. I finished my first project of 2017 just yesterday but can't post it yet because it is a gift. I will post soon, hopefully.

My intention this year is to try other new art forms for me, such as building with clay, ceramics and carving stamps. Also, lots and lots of drawing in my sketchbook!  What are your creative plans for this year?

Red keeps me company in all my creative pursuits