My Return To Embroidery After Decades

In recent weeks I have been slowly getting myself reaquainted with embroidery. When I was a teen I used to embroider quite a lot. I did cross-stitch, but also silk ribbon embroidery and more intricate stitching. I’d make bookmarks, padded book covers or coat hangers and cushion covers mainly.

That said, I didn’t really finish loads of projects in the end. Apparently my habit of starting projects and never finishing them started at a young age!

How I Learned To Embroider

Back in primary school, in Africa, we had needlework as a subject. Starting way back in the third year of school. Once a week, for an hour, the boys would leave the classroom and go to the workshop for woodwork and the girls would stay in class for needlework. I can’t speak for the boys, but most of us loved it. I would have enjoyed woodwork too, come to think of it.

It might not have been just the needlework we enjoyed, but the more relaxed time with our teachers was great too. They were generally more at ease during needlework time, revealing more of their true character and personality, and so everybody was more at ease during this time.

We’d sometimes have music playing in the background and could chat about all sorts while we stitched. Talking during lessons was not usually allowed, so this was more like play-time.

It was called needlework because we did all sorts: knitting, cross-stitch, embroidery, quilting and as we got older, sewing with machines too.

Now, decades later, I am returning to needlework. I have dabbled in knitting and crochet through the years, maybe even some cross-stitch, and I crocheted a blanket for my sister last year, but I’ve not done embroidery since high school.

Ambidexterity

Just to explain what you might see in the photos: I write, draw and paint primarily with my left hand, I rarely use my right hand for these activities, so it is slower and less precise. I do most other things with my right hand though, like using tools, opening lids, scrubbing things, etc. But I am also fully ambidextrous for some activities. Embroidery is one of them.

I will switch hands depending on where the threads and needle are more comfortable to work with. So in the photos you will see me holding the needle in both hands, as I switch regularly throughout a project, and will grab the phone with whichever hand is free.

My Embroidery Supplies

I have a huge selection of embroidery thread and needles, thanks to my Mum. She was clearing out her craft supplies, downsizing a bit, and passed all her thread and needles on to me.

We both have way too many hobbies, and cannot reasonably practice all of them, so we’ve both recently chosen which ones we want to focus on and which to give up on. So, since I chose embroidery as one of my keepers, I got all her supplies. All I was missing was a hoop to hold the fabric, not sure what happened to that important piece of equipment!

So I ordered a set of very colourful embroidery hoops. I’d only used wooden ones back in the day. Now we have these plastic ones, which I thought I’d avoid, but then I learned that they have a built-in mechanism that actually holds the fabric better while stitching. The two hoops kind of puzzle into each other which ends up holding tension better. I’m very happy with them.

My First Embroidery Project

My Dad gave me an apron before I moved to this new house, it’s black, has a lovely curved shape to it, easy to snap open and closed straps on the sides and it has a pocket! It’s perfect for protecting my clothes when I’m working on art projects. I also already had dedicated garden and kitchen aprons.

I love the idea of an art apron getting splashes of paint, glue and ink all over it so that after many years of creative projects, the apron is stained with a rainbow of colours and textures – the echoes of all the beautiful things made.

The fact that it’s bound to get messy with paints and inks over time, kind of gave me the freedom to use it as the backdrop for learning new embroidery stitches without worrying about how it will turn out. Freedom to make mistakes and let go of perfectionism.

So the plan is to just start anywhere and everywhere, pick a stitch to learn and give it a go. Any colours, however many threads, any shapes or patterns, just a collage of colours!

Learning Embroidery Stitches

I’m going to try to find the names of all the stitches I’ve used on the project this month, but some tutorials I watched didn’t mention the names. And for those that did, I of course didn’t write them down at the time. I think it would be nice to know the names for future reference though, so I’ll do some digging and see what I can recover.

Embroidered Rose & Hydrangea, Without A Hoop

Embroidering Abstract Shapes

If you know me at all, you’d not be surprised that this project features a mix of botanicals and abstract shapes. I was initially using a white coloured pencil to sketch shapes on the fabric, but with handling they’d rub off, so you’ll see I drew a spiral, but ended up embroidering random purple patches instead. The spiral was long gone at that point.

I don’t have a fabric pen or marker, so I have since switched to using a silver gel pen that shows up well on the black fabric and doesn’t rub off as easily.

This composition turned out pretty nicely, I think, and I like how these colours look together. There is still some space around these shapes to add more down the line. I like to leave some gaps for later so that I can maybe blend all the compositions with some sort of filler patterns that create connection or cohesion between them.

Various Embroidered Lazy Daisy Flowers

In this set of flowers, I used Lazy Daisy Stitch in a few different ways. You can also see the silver gel pen works really well against the black fabric.

Here I used Couching Stitch for the main stem, Fly Stitch for the flower stems and bunches of Lazy Daisy packed closely together for the pink flowers. Then I also used Lazy Daisy to create numerous petals for the very full red flowers. With French Knots in the middles.

These red ones remind me of Echinacea, so I want to go back and add some more with those downward hanging petals that are so common with Echinacea.

Embroidered Butterfly With Long & Short Stitch

I wanted to embroider a butterfly, but couldn’t find a tutorial with a butterfly I liked, so I found a photo online of a blue butterfly and sketched it out with my pen. I then used Long & Short Stitch to fill it in and Couching Stitch to outline the wings. I’m very happy with how the butterfly turned out.

I then learned the Bullion Knot to make the purple flower it’s perched on. These stitches are easy and fun to make, but I’ve since learned that I should use a needle that is the same thickness from its eye to its point, else it’s trickier to pull it through all those loops.

I later went back to the left side of this hoop and added some simple six-petal Lazy Daisy flowers below the pink ones. This stitch is so simple, but I find all these little flowers so cheerful and a great way to fill space.

Adding More Flowers & Some Unidentified Stitches

I tend to work with multiple hoops on the apron at one time. They each have their own composition evolving over time. After the yellow Lazy Daisies, I switched to the orange hoop and made some more Bullion blooms.

I once again used Chouching Stitch for the main stem, Fly Stitch for flower stems and much smaller Bullion Knots for the petals this time.

Hopping back over to the yellow hoop and made this bunch of purple flowers. I used Couching Stitch for the main stems again and Lazy Daisy for the leaves, but filled each one with a straight stitch too. The purple flowers are just Satin Stitch with a French Knot in the middle. I used varying shades of thread in combinations, so they’re all slightly different.

Back on the orange hoop, I added some Lavender flowers. I used Stem Stitch for the stems and possibly a hybrid of Long & Short Stitch and Leaf Stitch for the leaves, I’m unsure.

The purple blooms were a super fun stitch to make, but unfortunately I have no idea what it’s called. I’ve asked and am awaiting a response.

What do you think about this project? If you embroider too, when did you learn, how long have you been doing it? Do you prefer following patterns or do you like freestyle embroidery? What’s your favourite stitch? I’d love to hear from you.