Thursday 4 September 2014

Be Kind to Yourself: Free Embroidery Pattern

UPDATE: my "Remember to be KIND to yourself" embroidery pattern is now available as a printable PDF pattern over on my Patreon. 

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Remember that new project I started a couple of days ago? Here's how it turned out:


It's a sweet reminder to be kind to yourself - to take time to look after yourself as well as others, to prioritise your health and happiness as well as your chores and deadlines, to not push yourself too hard or set yourself impossible goals or judge yourself by impossible standards. 

Want to stitch one of your own, or as a gift for a friend? You'll find the pattern at the bottom of this post.


The design fits nicely in a five inch embroidery hoop for framing, but I'd recommend using a six inch hoop when stitching it to give yourself more room to work. 


I chose pink and turquoise thread as they're so pretty together and look lovely against the pale backing fabric (Cotton & Steel's XOXO in Ghost, which looks grey in some lights and almost brown in others).

The pattern is mostly stitched with backstitch, using three strands of six-strand embroidery thread (floss) and slowly sewing small stitches along all the curves. The small turquoise lines radiating from the circle are each sewn with one stitch. I added these last, stitching mine freehand as they were a last-minute addition to the pattern!


Here's a snap of the back:


As the fabric is so pale I took care not to carry my threads across the back of the work, giving a neat (ish!) finish. When sewing those final radiating single stitches, I stitched into/under the pink circle of stitching so the thread follows the circle round between the single stitches instead of stretching in straight lines from stitch to stitch.


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7 comments:

Unknown said...

How cute!!
I really need to get into this, just need time...
love the colours too Kx

Jane said...

What do you do with the finished ones?

Christine M said...

That is such a sweet stitchery. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Kay said...

Thank you. I have printed this out and put it on my must sew pile. x

Bugs and Fishes said...

Thanks guys, if you stitch this do let me know! :)

Jane - you can frame the design "in the hoop" (there are tutorials online for how to do this, then you can just add a loop of ribbon to hang the hoop on the wall) or you could embroider it onto anything you fancy... or maybe use the embroidered fabric to sew something like a coin purse?

Raphaele said...

What a super darling project, thanks. I was looking for some inspiring quotes for my wall, this is it. And also I love the fabric you picked!

Bugs and Fishes said...

I hope you'll have fun stitching this, Raphaele! x