Last year I stumbled upon Jenny Hart's Sublime Stitching and I was instantly hooked! The Silly Birds, featured in her book Embroidered Effects, were the very first things that I embroidered. I finished them up and then lost them for about a year. A couple of weeks ago I was cleaning out a few bags that I use to carry around projects and there they were! And just in time for Spring!
I have a confession to make: I can't draw. My drawing skills stopped progressing in the first grade, so when I started out embroidering, I was worried that my lack of drawing skills would transfer over. With this in mind, I chose a light and cheap muslin to try out my first embroidery thinking that it would really just be practice and whatever resulted would most likely be thrown out.
To my surprise, my first attempt at embroidery wasn't disastrous! And now I'm kicking myself for not using a thicker fabric because you can see the stitches on the back through the fabric!
It's not perfect but I love it anyway. Aren't their expressions hilarious?
Embroidered Effects includes a bunch of iron-on patterns that are really easy to work with. You cut out the pattern and then, you guessed it, iron it face-down onto the fabric. Then you embroider over the lines. There is also this neato pen that you can use to trace your own drawings and then iron them on to fabric. I've done this method for a few projects and it works just as well!
Anyone have any good ways to finish off the back of embroidery projects? I've been weaving string through the excess fabric and tying a knot to secure, but it doesn't look so pretty and sometimes the fabric sticks out from the back. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
I love these guys! Nice work.
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