Freestyle Stitching

You may have noticed that I've recently added embroidery to my arsenal of crafts (does that make it a craftsenal?). I'm really enjoying learning the stitches and playing with the pretty thread so I came up with this fun little project. You will have to excuse the photos. I actually had no intention on blogging about this. It has, however, proven to be a lot more popular than pretty much anything I've ever posted on social media, so I thought you might like to hear a little more about it.

Long story short, I was looking for a project that allowed me to practice the stitches without requiring to much thought. I wanted to be able to just pick it up and start stitching, without worrying about colours, patterns or any of those other pesky details that sometimes get in the way of having fun.

For this piece, I used a 6'' hoop. I found it to be a good size as it was large enough to not be fiddly, but small enough for me to actually finish without losing interest (yes, occasionally I do finish a project).

I hooped some scrap quilting cotton, grabbed some threads (in this instance I used Aurifil 28wt because it was handy) and was ready to go. 

The first step was to lay down a few outlines. I really just stitched randomly to separate the piece into more manageable sections.

Create some sections

Then I just started filling in the areas. I jumped around based on what I felt like stitching. My only rule was no unpicking (unless it was a full blown error).

Start filling in each section.

Sometimes I would select a colour that complimented the previous, other times I would just use whatever I picked up. It was all very random...and surprisingly relaxing.

Just keep stitching

Eventually I could visualise what which would work well in the remaining spaces.

Progressing nicely

Finally, I ended up with this little beauty.

Freestyle Stitching Complete

I'm actually quite surprised at the reaction to this piece on social media. While I think she's lovely, I honestly wasn't expecting the wonderful comments I've been receiving (Thank You, by the way). I hope you've enjoyed reading a little more about this project. I can't wait to start the next one.