Thursday 31 July 2014

Skill Development: Adventures in Embroidery

As someone who sews stuff for a living (as well as for fun, of course!) one of the things I've been thinking about is "professional development", aka "wouldn't it be great if I learnt how to sew more and different kinds of things!"

There are lots of areas where I'd like to broaden my skills, but the one I'm starting with is embroidery. This is something I really enjoy and I'd love to design more embroidery patterns, but at the moment my skills are pretty basic and I stitch almost everything in backstitch. You can sew some pretty nice things just with backstitch, but I'd love to have a lot more stitches in my repertoire.

So, I'll be working my way through some stitch guides...


... trying out lots of fancy and new-to-me stitches, and maybe stitching up some samplers in the process? We shall see :)

I'm also planning on starting an assortment of embroidery projects from some of the crafty books in my collection (and hopefully finishing them, too, instead of just adding to my large collection of WIPs!). It'll be nice to try out some patterns from some of the books I've reviewed over the years and great to get some practice using different stitches etc.

Love embroidery and have a book, blog or other resource to recommend? Please do let me know in the comments xxx

8 comments:

Katy said...

I don't have any particular recommendations, but it's nice to see other people exploring freehand embroidery!

I make hand embroidered text art and even though I've been embroidering for years, I'm always finding (or concocting) new stitches. I can't wait to see what you create...

Unknown said...

I have been delving into the world of embroidery a lot more lately and I really enjoy the variety of stitches. As someone who exclusively cross stitched for years, it's a little overwhelming. I did a Dropcloth sampler and absolutely loved trying out all the different stitches. I am considering getting more (and maybe even doing the sampler of the month club)

I am excited to see what you start doing with these embroidery skills you're honing.

Unknown said...

What fun! I really look forward to what you get up to, no doubt once you learn the basics you'll put your creative spin on it and make amazing things! I'm a bit partial to the &Stitches gang (ahem), and Carina's book is awesome for photo tutorials and inspirational design...Chrissie x

Bugs and Fishes said...

Katy - Thanks! :)

Rebecca - Yes, there's so much to explore, isn't there? I do love the idea of making a stitch sampler, just to try out / get the feel for working with some new stitches. And thank you! x

Chrissie - Thank you! :) I will definitely be doing some stitching from Carina's lovely book.

Lily said...

Expanding my skills and knowledge about different (preferably ALL existing stitches/techniques) was one of the first things I did, when I picked up embroidery in 2011. It is easy with all the web resources, particularly thanks to Mary Corbet's NeedlenThread site. That's a well of video tutorials and inspiration. Highly recommended to visit and learn :))

Bugs and Fishes said...

Thanks for the recommendation, Lily! :)

AverageJaneCrafter said...

Ditto on all the above recommendations. I also like Sharon B/Pintangle (took a great online embroidery class from her) and Jessica from Minature Rhino. She has a new-ish book called "Stitched Gifts" (I think that's right ...) that's beautiful, and she has a basic embroidery class on Craftsy that looks great, too.

My favorite embroidery book of all time is Creative Embroidery by Jaquline Enthoven. You'll have to find it used on amazon or eBay or at a thrift store, but it is fantastic. The introduction alone should be required reading for all stitchers. She has a great philosophy on embroidery, and I just love her personality. There are a ton of stitches in the book, with great diagrams. I highly recommend adding it to your library.

Enjoy!

Bugs and Fishes said...

Thank you! I have Jessica's book and am really looking forward to stitching something from it :)