Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Le Chat - Part Two


I have an update to share on my Le Chat work-in-progress.  You may remember this kitty from my earlier post {here}.   Since that post, he has been outlined in gray floss and had all his features stitched.


Once I finish the bicycle basket, I think he will look very comfortable surrounded by these beautiful flowers.  

I stitched the flowers in Straight Stitch with French Knot centers.


For the kitty's collar, I used Stem Stitch for the pink outline and Satin Stitch for the jewels.  I really love his eyes - this is blending filament satin stitched:


Here are the floss colors I have used so far.  I am still wondering about the best color to use for the bicycle basket...


I will keep you updated on my progress with this project!

Monday, June 15, 2015

Whipped Blanket Stitch


I have a stitch from my 100 Stitches Plus list * to share. This is the Whipped Blanket Stitch.  

I have admired this as a decorative stitch,and wanted to learn how to do it.   I found the instructions in the book Embroidery Stitches by Mary Webb.  

The first step is to make a line of blanket stitch.  I used perle cotton floss - this is dmc color variations #3840.  Then I selected a nice contrasting color for the whipping - this blue is dmc #798.


The first step is to come up through the fabric on the right edge - just below the horizontal line of blanket stitching: 


Pull the floss all the way through:



 Then bring the needle around and slide it under the horizontal line of the blanket stitch - in between the two vertical lines of the stitch.  Don't pierce the fabric, just slide on top of it.


 Pull the floss all the way and this will create the first wrap or whip around the horizontal line:



Here is a better look at the whip:



Now, just like before, bring the needle around and slide it down between the next two vertical lines of stitching and under the horizontal line:



Pull the floss through:


and just continue doing those same steps all along the line of blanket stitching.


To finish mine, I just went back into the fabric when I reached the end of the vertical stitching lines: 


 Then I secured my floss on the underside:



This is an easy stitch to do and I am really looking forward to using this as a decorative edging.
I like the contrasting colors!  I also think it would look good with tone on tone or with a metallic floss for the whipping.


This stitch is in the Looped Stitches category.

* 100 Stitches Plus
 You may have noticed in my last post, the "100 Stitches Plus" title with a list of categorized stitches. I will be adding to this list as I continue to learn new stitches - you can read about how this all started and my plans to continue here .  
If you want to see any of the 100 Stitches Plus posts, you can click on the 100 Stitches Plus icon on the left side of this blog or follow the label link.






Friday, June 12, 2015

100 Stitches Plus




100 Stitches plus is a continuation of my 100 Stitches journey....

Click on the stitch name to see the corresponding post.   

     
Arrowhead Stitch


Back Stitch
Basket Filling Stitch
Blanket Stitch
Berry Stitch
Bokhara Couching 
Brick Stitch
Brick and Cross Filling Stitch
Bullion Stitch
Bunched Couching Stitch
Burden Stitch
Butterfly Chain Stitch
Buttonhole Insertion Stitch
Buttonhole Stitch
Buttonhole Stitch Bars 
Buttonhole Stitch with Picot



Cable Chain Stitch 
Cable Stitch
Chain Stitch
Chained Feather Stitch
Checkered Chain Stitch
Chevron Stitch
Closed Buttonhole Stitch
Closed Feather Stitch 
Coral Stitch
Couching
Cretan Stitch
Croatian Stitch
Cross Stitch
Crossed Blanket Stitch
Cup Stitch



Danish Knot
Diagonal Raised Band
Double Back Stitch
Double Buttonhole Stitch Bars
Double Cross Stitch
Double Hemstitch
Double Knot Stitch



Eyelet Holes
Ermine Stitch


Fancy Stitch
Feather Stitch
Fern Stitch

Fishbone Stitch
Flat Stitch
Fly Stitch
Four-sided Stitch
French Knot
French Knot Border Stitch



Gobelin Stitch
Guilloche Stitch



Heavy Chain Stitch
Hemstitch
Hemstitch with Coral Stitch Clusters
Herringbone Stitch
Holbein Stitch
Honeycomb Filling Stitch



Interlaced Band Stitch
Interlaced Hemstitch
Interlacing Stitch
Italian Hemstitch



Jacobean Couching



Knot Stitch Edging
Knotted Buttonhole Stitch
Knotted Cable Chain Stitch
Knotted Insertion Stitch
Knotted Stitch



Laced Blanket Stitch

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Happy Birthday



 In addition to embroidery patterns, I really enjoy designing graphics.  I like to use them in my own personal projects and they work well as clip art.  In fact, I have added a new clip art set to my Etsy shop! 
This is the Happy Birthday set filled with birthday themed elements.  They are perfect for making cards, scrapbook pages, gift tags etc.  



They are easy to use, easy to re-size and can be positioned and rotated.  Plus they are png format so they have a transparent background.  This makes them perfect for layering and printing or using digitally such as on digital pictures, your website or blog.

I already added two of the elements on my blog!  You can see on the left side bar, above and below my embroidery pattern list, I used the flower garlands.

I included six digital papers that match the elements of the clip art.



I have been having fun working with these elements, I made this sweet gift tag.  I used the blue polka dot paper, the oval frame {this frame has a white filled center so that you can write on it or add lettering - the frames also come with no filling in the center so that you can place them over other elements} and one of the polka dot flowers.  I really like the result:


I know I will be using this set a lot!

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

4th of July Embroidery


Isn't this combination of floss beautiful?! I used these three when I stitched up this heart full of stars from the 4th of July pattern:


This was such a quick and simple project!  It is a nice size too, here it is in my 6" hoop:



I used three different stitches for this project.  The outline is done in Stem Stitch, always a great choice of a stitch for a curved line.  The dots are French Knots and the stars are done in Roumanian Couching Stitch.  I like the Roumanian Couching Stitch to fill shapes, plus it really shows off the color variations in the floss:



I am not sure what I am going to do with this...


I have a dark denim tote bag that it would look good on:




The floss I used was dmc perle cotton color variations.  Here are the numbers:


I am transferring some more motifs from this pattern, I will be back to share those projects soon!