Ambrosia Stitches

About a year ago, I started work on a satin stitch project. It began very well: a striking palette (similar to the one pictured above) and a nice strong design that translates well into embroidery. I wrote a little about it in this post. Sadly, it was swiftly abandoned because it didn’t quite work out. The main reason for this was because I wasn’t sure how it the design would work. I have a habit of just “trying out” embroidery pieces to see if the concept will work. Why I do this, I do not know. It takes just as much effort and I decrease my chances of success. All of this meant I skimped on the preparatory work. When you are working horizontal rows of satin stitch, you need to be sure they are entirely in line with the warp and weft of the fabric. I thought I could get away with just sketching directly onto the material but I was slightly skew-whiff. Not by a lot, but just enough for it to be a problem.

I still loved the design and kept thinking about it. Last week I decided to give the concept another go. This time I was much more patient and thoughtful. I sketched out the entire design first and even coloured it in! I then used the sketch as the basis for the template I traced out. I even used an iron on transfer pen to mark the fabric. Go me!

I purposely decided not to transfer the horizontal lines. I felt I would achieve a much cleaner accurate line that worked with the weave of the fabric by carefully measuring them out and marking the fabric with a pencil.

I changed the original pattern a little. I wanted the writing to cut across the blue and white stripes. I worked the writing in back stitch to create extra contrast.

I started this piece as a little challenge to myself and I was so pleased to be able to finally finish off something I was happy with. Being contacted by someone asking to buy it was the icing on the cake!

I have since been taking a lot more time to just sit and sketch. I have been amazed how it has fired off even more project ideas than I normally have. I am really interested to see where this takes me next. I will always be happy to work on projects that are easy to bash out with out too much planning but certain things are worth the initial planning and effort.