Sample Sale: Lots of Felt Flowers!

I stitched a LOT of samples for my new 40-page Flexible Flowers sewing pattern...

 
... there were just so many different project variations I wanted to include (that's not even all of them, either!).

I always hold onto my project samples until a new pattern is launched and I'm 100% happy with all the photos I've taken. Sometimes I feel a bit sad about not keeping them all, but I'd rapidly run out of space if I did that! (My flat is already overrrun with felt as it is, haha).

Soooo now the Flexible Flowers pattern is finished and in my shops, it's time to find new homes for all of this felt floral goodness. Click here to visit my sample sale and see what's available!

(Please note that my shop is currently set up just to accept orders from within the UK, but if you live elsewhere and are happy to wait for your parcel through any COVID-19-related delays please do get in touch).

Black Lives Matter: Free Embroidery Pattern

Words are nothing without actions, but my loudest voice is through my crafting so I've stitched this: 

  
It's not much but it feels better than being silent. I know a lot of us use crafting to support and share what's important to us, so I hope people will find this pattern useful. 

Click here to download the Black Lives Matter pattern. 

The pattern is designed to fit in a 6 inch embroidery hoop. If you just want to stitch the central heart it will be framed nicely in a 5 inch hoop.

This pattern is for personal and fundraising use only. 

Feel free to share the pattern online and to print and distribute copies among your friends, students, local community, etc., but please don't sell the pattern in any form or claim my design as your own. 

You're very welcome to sell items you make with this design as long as 100% of the profit goes to the charity / civil rights organisation / etc. that you're raising funds for. 

If you download the pattern please consider donating to Black Lives Matter or another anti-racist organisation. If you can't afford to make a donation sign a petition, share resources online, diversify your social media feeds, and talk to your friends and family about how we can speak up and act to support Black people and fight racism in all its forms.

How I stitched my version: 

I stitched this pattern in a 7 inch hoop, using four out of the six strands from a skein of stranded black embroidery thread (floss).



I mainly used backstitch, sewing smaller stitches along the curves to create smooth lines.

I stitched three overlapping stitches for each star and two overlapping stitches for each X. 

I used French knots for the dots, winding my thread two, three, or four times around the needle to make different sizes (though honestly my French knots are so hit and miss they usually end up different sizes anyway!). I'd recommend sewing the French knots in the centre of the flowers before you sew the flower petals, to make the knots easier to stitch.

If you’re stitching on white or other pale fabric, adding an extra layer of white fabric, felt, or quilt wadding underneath your chosen fabric will help stop your dark travelling threads showing through from the back.