Hiii, do you have any tips for drafting out embroidery patterns? I've got one in mind, but drafting it out and color picking is so nerve-wracking!!
[Hi!!!! this got kinda really long so I'm gonna crop it under a read more. And I honestly don't have any real training/instruction in fiber arts so this is just how I do things, and probably others do them very differently!]
Haha so my fandom embroideries are VERY different from my non-fandom personal pieces in this respect. For non-fandom things i just kind of throw myself in like WAHOO FREEFORM LETS GO and go for a kind of messy colorful approach that ends up as things like this:
Versus my fandom stuff is way more structured and designed to fill space, be very precise, etc. So for those I do go in with a digital mock up of the design I make in photoshop, that I then color in, and then as my last step translate to thread colors.
For my Dragon Age series. this has been because I'm specifically trying to mimic the stained-glass style of art you see in parts of the game like the dialogue wheels, some icons, windows, etc. The icons in particular were really easy to copy into embroidery because they already come in handy circles:
This is mostly because I have desperately wanted to pick up stained glass work as a hobby for like 6 years now. As in once every 3-6 months I put everything I'd need to start doing it into an online shopping cart and look at the price total and then sadly close the window because I just don't actually have any space I could do it in (I live in a 2bed apartment so i have no garage or yard or anywhere it wouldn't make everything else a mess or be a hazard). The day after one of those events I impulse bought and completed a floral embroidery kit from the craft store and kinda was like... ok, well, I did this once how hard can it be to use this medium to mimic the hobby I wish I could be doing? Plus, it's only like 60 cents per color! I can afford that! So I took the first design I wanted to do, the romance icon, and basically redrew it sloppily in photoshop, then freehand-copied the design onto fabric and stitched it the next day:
I learned a lot from this piece and changed my approach a little. Here you can see I tried shading in the parallel direction to my thread, which looked messy and added texture, so now I shade horizontally to my thread direction instead.
But it gave me a basic approach for turning the Tarot cards or DA Keep tiles (or any other art!) into embroidery patterns, which I couldn't copy as directly into this really smooth stained-glass style. There's a basic process I follow when doing these conversions that generally follows the same order, which I'll go through below.
STEP 1: SHAPES
The first thing I do is pick the shape of my display frame which is usually a circle, but could be an oval or rectangle too, since I hang the finished pieces on my wall to have nice way to show them off. I like to fill the whole space so knowing the size and shape of what I want the finished project to look like is a good goal for me. Since I am doing fandom pieces I want to be recognizable, I do stick pretty close to the "original" character design/art, but you can absolutely change as much as you want and freehand draw your own interpretation instead. If you're doing original art just substitute the below composition notes with "sketch out roughly what you want it to look like". I personally do my pattern drafting digitally as I find it easier, but you can do this part by hand too.
First, I keep the reference image I'm working off of open next to me while I work, and draw in the shape of my frame (here, a circle). If I'm adding in the little border to be fancy, I add a second inner circle. I keep these as their own top layer so I always know I'm working within the final "frame" and don't spend time designing any section that will fall outside it. Then I will take copies of the reference image and knock the layers down to 25-50% opacity, and start moving them around underneath the 'frame' layer until I like the way their positioning looks as a composition. Sometimes elements of a card I want to include don't all fit in, so I'll chop the section out and add an additional layer to throw in (like the background circle things in the Hermit design below). Or I'll just freehand things like adding much bigger diamonds behind Solas in my Hierophant design because I did NOT want to do 1000 tiny ones. Then once I'm satisfied with the general composition, I'll use the plain ol circular brush tool to trace out the major shapes of each element. I try to keep in mind that I can't go too small, and curvy lines are more difficult to fill in than straight ones. I usually do a rough messy version first, make it mostly transparent, and then a cleaner and more precise one over that.
(you can see parts of the rough one on the left and the fully 'cleaned up' on the right for the Hierophant design)
Now: depending on what you are doing next with the pattern, this might be where you stop and start coloring. If you are planning to freehand your design or just trace it onto fabric (or even print it onto fabric here), there's no need to do more than this kind of lineart! However, if you are working digitally and want to create a scalable vector so you can print it at different sizes, you can use the pen tool in photoshop to trace your design and make a "work path" of the lineart. However, another note: THIS PART IS VERY FRUSTRATING AND TEDIOUS BECAUSE THE PEN TOOL WAS CREATED BY THE DEVIL TO TORMENT US. It is so so so easy to accidentally delete a line or even the whole path and not notice later on. Ask me how I know 😭 Anyway I'm not going to include a pen tool tutorial because I don't even know how to use it well and have to google or watch videos every other time I try to use it. But if you can muddle through it gets you some really clean lines that eventually look like this:
With the work path selected, you can select the brush tool/size/color and use the "stroke path" option to create lineart of the vector. Then you can save this as a transparent png file for use at different sizes and for printing and it looks so nice and clean! one of the big benefits to this is that you get really fine lines that are easier to be precise with stitching on. This is extra perfect if you are printing the design directly onto your fabric (which you can do with an at-home inkjet printer for designs under 8inches wide, as long as you stick a piece of stabilizer on the back of your fabric and cut it down to printer sheet size--this is what I do and can make another post about that process if people want haha), or if you are printing onto transfer paper like you can buy at craft stores.
This is where I end the lineart for my designs. After I have this, I move on to the next phase, which is...
STEP 2: COLOR
For interpreting my designs into thread, I start by thinking of it as flat colors first. You can't "shade" as easily with threads as you can with things like paint or brushes in digital art (though you can A Little, which I will get into), so to start color planning I pick the "main" color each section will be in the piece.
For the existing icons this was simple--I kept the same sections as the original designs, so for each I just color picked or eyeballed the color in photoshop and colored it in (but you could do this on paper with pencils, markers, whatever as well--they don't need to match your threads exactly and usually won't, it's just to give you an easy reference to follow as you go). For the tarot cards which were more complicated in coloration, I just did my best and went with what looked good next to each other, even if it was a little off the original art. It will be off more later anyway when you have to pick threads so don't stress it too much honestly. I will often make layers with different color options and turn them on/off for direct comparison to try to determine what I think looks best as well, like below where I was debating between more blue/desaturated for the background or brighter colors.
I do wanna note I have regrets about the color selection, shapes, or shading in EVERY SINGLE ONE of my finished pieces. But no one else ever comments or probably even notices! One aspect of this hobby is just learning to be satisfied with what you've made and using what you learned to get closer to your preferences next time. I'm only going back and redoing some of my designs' colors because I want to make it easier for others to choose on the patterns I sell, more than I care for just for myself. Also since I'm doing this lineart/stained glass looking approach where I go over the distinct shapes with black thread at the end, it means I get these clear delineations between sections you might not necessarily have in your own pieces, and that's ok.
Ok right. Now while shading/coloring in detail is hard with thread, you CAN make whats essentially dithered gradients. "Dithering" in the concept of art means using 2 (or more) colors to give the impression of a third color, or to gently scale between the existing binary rather than a hard line. Think of it like blocky pixel art or gameboy game images. If you're doing needlepainting, you use really small stitches close together to get this effect, which translates to "smaller pixes"--if you look at the jellyfish in my first photos that's a very messy casual version of that. If you want a better example, I recommend looking at @ammocharis 's pieces like these in her pinned post, which are truly amazing! I simply do not have the patience myself 😂 For my stained glass style, I work only in very long straight stitches, so I can only shade in one direction and have to be a little more precise with it.
So for shading, I think about in each section which direction my threads might go. Then perpendicular to that direction I pick which side will be the light one and which the darker one. Sometimes I color this in on my pattern mockup, but sometimes I don't! Or I'll only do it for certain sections to make sure I don't forget. Like for my Tower design I only colored it as flats, and waited until I selected threads to decide how the shading would go. I am currently working on a smaller, simplified version of my Hierophant design and I did add shading digitally for that one just for fun. But it's not as important as having the flat color version you can use to quick-reference how you want your design to go while you're stitching. You might also notice I don't actually color my gold--I just throw in a stock image of gold foil for that layer so I can't confuse it with any of my yellow thread sections.
Here's a close up where you can kind of see what I mean by the "dithered" effect between colors--some are more obvious (like the red on the far left or middle orange) and others pretty subtle (dark grey to dark red on the wolf face):
Now, while I use single layers of satin stitches for this, and just alternate thread colors increasing/decreasing as I go, you can accomplish the same thing with short overlapping stitches like with needlepainting, or with clusters of french knots, or whatever else. But in GENERAL you are going to be able to trick people into seeing gradients out of dithering best when you are using the same type of stitch for that whole area. So if I was using multiple stitch types like having french knots, daisy chains, ladder stitching or whatever else for some sections, I would keep those to contrasting areas/colors. A fantastic example of using different layered types of stitching to create more intricate color/texture in an embroidery would be these incredible tarot card depictions by @hattedhedgehog, which I like even better than my own embroideries. Here's his take on the Tower card as well for comparison to mine (I'm so in love with it!!!).
But anyway, at this phase, your design is actually still digital--the above is just to explain how it translates later in the process. The next step is...
STEP 3: THREAD SELECTION
I will admit here I am not great at this part. I am constantly second guessing my thread colors, and can spend over an entire hour in the thread aisle at the craft store agonizing over choices. Really, I think this is just one of those things that takes practice and you get better at it over time. What I have had the best luck with is actually printing out a reference photo of my design/the original artwork and taking it with me. If you already have threads you can do this part at home too, but DMC alone has over 500 colors and I definitely don't even own half that so I like to torture myself by looking at them all together on the thread racks. Plus Anchor and Artiste and whatever other brands there are out there. One approach is to just sit there and pick out what you want for each section and line it all up together on top of your printout. Or in the case of my Tower I laid a bunch of options out on top of my template in the hoop to guess how they'd look in the frame.
For me since I am also doing this dither shading thing, I also need 2-3 colors per sections depending on its size. Sometimes it's easy and the threads have a color just a little darker or lighter right next to them in the numerical lineup! Other times, there is no good match, or it looks too far away to shade nicely, or I want one to be a warmer or cooler tone than the other... which means a lot of standing and fretting to myself over it. I actually take a lot of photos at this stage because it can be easier to see how they will look in the end from a photo than in person to me? Idk why. Plus then after they get scrambled in my bag I remember wtf order I meant for them to go in later. But as long as you're not preventing other customers from shopping themselves, you can spend as long as you want staring at thread in the embroidery aisle and they won't kick you out unless it's closing time, so take your time.
Now, IN THEORY, you can sort of combine steps 2 and 3 by color-selecting from your threads and using that to color in the design. However I have tried this and it led to mixed success because the photoshop eyedropper brush simply isn't actually that exact (in my experience, it desaturates compared to what we actually see). And because then you have to have the threads on hand while you're coloring... which means you might buy ones you don't end up using if you don't like them. So I prefer to just use this as a refinement step where I pick threads based on the design colors, then will re-color the design a second time to match those threads more closely to be sure I like the effect.
I've even used this as a tool when I needed to adjust my color choices mid-project, by digitally coloring over over my WIP:
Or here's a design (but I haven't posted the finished piece yet bc it's a gift so shhh) I made with certain color tones initially, but after buying thread I re-did the color mockup to be more vibrant, because I liked those threads better in the store:
Once you have your thread, you can make yourself a little reference chart with the colors you intend noted on the sections you want them, like below:
(note: i didn't end up sticking to these colors because I ended up dying my own thread for several sections. And then forgot I made this entirely and picked new ones because I put the project down for a year between design and stitching. Sigh).
Or for my Solas pattern I did this in a really detailed way, which i am sorry but i have redacted because... i have it for sale now and don't wanna just give that away haha. But if you buy the pattern from my shop this is one of the files you'd get with it, for ease of reference. I do also include a text-only list of them as well.
Now I don't go to this much trouble for all my designs, just the ones I put up for sale (or plan to). You can also just make a text list of your color plans if you want. Though for fun I also have been using my scrap thread to make these little "color palette" keyrings for my finished pieces, so if I ever remake them or update their patterns I will know what the original colors were, plus I can compare what i used to other threads if I wanna change part of the design up. This step is absolutely not necessary and I'm just doing it because I'm selling the patterns now, but they are kinda fun to look at.
And don't forget.. if you start a section in a certain color and decide you don't like it, you can just cut the threads and pull them out! I did that with my original hierophant piece actually. I had an entirely different color for one row of diamonds i thought just clashed way too much with the others, so I used photoshop to paint over it with some alternate options until I found one I liked better. Then I cut away all the old threads and put in the new color. It can be a little harder to fill a piece the second time since the fabric will have stretched out a little, but as long as you're using a good stabilizer it usually doesn't move too much.
You can also just make test swatches on spare fabric to test before you add them to your real piece. I wish I'd done this for some color transitions that didn't end up looking the way I wanted, but I am simply too lazy most of the time. My exception is usually for metallic, satin, or sparkly threads, because I want to know how they feel while embroidering. But if you're really worried about a certain color or shade it's a good thing to remember you can just do.
SO yep, that's my general process for drafting patterns. I start with the shapes/design, then do my flat color version, then I pick my threads. Makes it sound easy and short when phrased like that :) But I can honestly spend 8-10 hours just on making the lineart and coloring it in. If I was better at art, probably this would be less, but I'm working with what I've got (not much) 😂 I think all aspects of this are also something that gets easier over time, but it will probably never look as bad as you worry when you start out. I think all my pieces look awkward and rough right up until I do the finishing steps and move them to the display frame sometimes.
I hope this was helpful and answered your questions!! Feel free to post/share your WIPs to ask for feedback or advice ever too :) I've only ever had people in the embroidery community on tumblr be encouraging and helpful to me, and I'm happy to answer any questions myself when I can or if parts of this were confusing
hi calico dearest <3 you and ej asked about the same wip so I gave some different things about it when I responded to her ask here
this one must go below a cut, as with many of my ideas
nsfw, guy/honey are getting freaky, bondage, humiliation, degradation, heavy d/s, gags, impact play, edging, cbt, some intense kink but also light-hearted?
This one is a DOOZY. But the very basic gist is that Guy thought it was hilarious one (1) time to say when Honey tied him up, they were putting him in silly jail and somehow it stuck. He made a sign that says silly jail and it's like a jester in a stockade or something.
This fic would be a (pre-negotiated, practice kink safely, etc) scene where Guy bothers Honey while they're trying to work and in retaliation, Honey trusses Guy up in very beautiful and intricate shibari and suspends him from their bedroom ceiling and leaves him there with a gag while Honey continues working. There will probably be some impact play and edging and maybe even CBT in there and Guy is 100% into it. Something something battle bots, snap me like a twig, right? Anyway, my intended tone is for the build up and aftercare to be really lighthearted and fun with Guy being sassy and cute but for the actual scene to be humiliation/degradation with Guy crying and snot running down his face. I think Honey should be mean to him as a treat (for me).
[Starts shaking at a speed which could shatter glass] hi hi hi PLEASE. Tell me about The Branches Bear Fruit Until They Bow To The Ground
(I say, as if one of the guys in it isn't one of my own ocs)
babe, you keep asking me about fics you already know all the information for 😭 i promise i am not keeping any extra info from you
for those who don't know, this fic takes place prior to In Hushed Whispers and features calico's oc Fen'an. he and his sister have come to join the inquisition and yuo gets him into his bed immediately. it is another fic that is mostly smut. fen'an makes a cameo in the main fic where he has a threesome with yuo and dorian
Mac hi hi!! I also have brain damage (dygenesis of corpus callosum), it causes me chronic pain with symptoms similar to MS (have been checked for it and I don't have it), memory issues, balance problems, poor motor coordination etc. I've also been feeling a bit alone with mine so seeing your posting about it a bit of a balm sometimes :]
hiii calico!!! i have in broad concept sorta the opposite situation in that my brain damage is almost certainly caused by my chronic pain (lupus). my stuff might be demyelinating, i’m not able to get more specific tests & research is kinda like “well probably but we don’t have a specific name for this” as far as i can tell.
i really appreciated seeing your tags on one of my previous brain damage posts!! made me feel a lot less alone :)
tbh i’m still super overwhelmed even though i’ve had these symptoms for 5-8 months (5 months today for the involuntary movements, woo!) & i’m having a hard time finding like. anything about adapting etc that isn’t geared towards caregivers of people with dementia & super ableist. like do i just write everything down forever orrrr lol
anyway i would love to talk more & hopefully help us both feel less lonely <333
33 with Gavin/Freelancer? (I am so predictable requesting them but. listen) or any other pairing tht strikes ur fancy!!
33: saccharine
hi calico! thank u for sending me a prompt 💜 i think this might be an instance of taking it a little too literally
💜
"Gav," they call out into the house, not looking up from the contents of the saucepan. "Darling, light of my life, apple of my eye, treasure--"
The rush of wind that accompanies a rift cuts them off, and they laugh a little as familiar arms loop around them from behind. "What do you need me to do?"
They snort. "Can't I say extremely saccharine things to my beloved boyfriend without an ulterior motive?"
"I suppose you can," he concedes, "but you definitely aren't. What is it?"
Casting a brief glance back at his knowing little grin, they return their eyes to their project, one hand at the ready with a whisk. "Can you make a bowl of cold water? I'd meant to just let it sit, but the timing's wrong."
And maybe, just maybe, they could chill it themself, but this is time-sensitive, and it's water, so it's better if he does it. Gavin pulls away, and after a moment they hear the sink running. Another moment later, they feel the familiar flare of Gavin's magic, just the slightest touch. If he didn't want them to, they'd never feel it at all; this is part of something they'd asked him to do to get a handle on different people's auras, to get used to feeling magic around them.
Gavin's is like the brush of fabric against newly-shaved skin, silky and smooth and often fleeting. (Not for them, though, they think, with a deserved trace of smugness.)
"Will this do?" he asks, returning to them with a glass bowl of water that steams a little when it comes near the stove.
"Wonderfully, thank you," they say, leaning up to kiss his cheek distractedly. The second he puts the bowl down they transfer the pan into it, the hissing drowning out every other sound for the ten seconds the sauce needs to quench.
When they pull it out, the caramel sauce in the pan has settled to a perfect warm brown, and they grin triumphantly, turning the stove off. "All set. If you want this on your ice cream, get it out before it's too cold to pour."
He doesn't comply right away, and they glance over their shoulder again at him to find him doing that birdlike little head-tilt he does at particularly human things. "I wouldn't have thought that was how you made it," he says aloud.
"It's just really hot sugar," they say, realizing a second too late they've left a massive innuendo window open. It really pays to be more careful about your wording, living with this man.
Sure enough, the "suits you well, then," comes right on cue, and they scrunch their nose up and go back to stirring. They don't even try to fight back the fondness. He'd said once, quiet against their ear in the sleepy moments before full blackness, that their happiness felt like bubbles to him, shimmering and beautiful and popping soft against his skin when it's directed at him, and denying him that isn't worth even the pretense of exasperation.
Gavin returns from the freezer with the open ice cream container, and when they turn to face him, he grins, that slow, spreading one they've come to love. "You have a little something," he says softly, reaching out. "Just... there."
Sleepy so I am sending u stupid thoughts but . I would bet MONEY that geordi has bought a pair of Mario boxers and cutie laughs abt them anytime he wears them to his chagrin
ohhhhh my fucking god like yeah absolutely
geordi being defensive over them when cutie sees them for the first time bc they like giggle a little bit and geordis like what! 🤨 and theyre like u have mario on ur ass hehehe and geordis like yeah🤨 and theyre like its cute! :-) and hes like cute -_- i think theyre Cool and cutie is just giggling in the corner
maybe later theyre cooking together and cutie starts laughing out of nowhere and hes like ?? and theyre like u have mario on ur ass rn and hes like is this how its going to be with my mario boxers? and they grab his ass (of course) and kiss him and assure him that they love him AND his mario boxers
Hi I'm doing an image ID of ur kisses post (love it btw), could you tell me genders and pronouns of your respective listeners? (Ex. Angel is a woman, uses she/her, etc) I don't want to misgender them in my ID on accident :]
AKSNFGN AWWW THATS SO SWEET
For ease of use I usually label all my listeners as non-binary but fem! presenting so I don’t have to worry about it, but if you’re asking I’ll take that opportunity to add all my headcanon listeners names and pronouns then lol (thank you omg this is so cool)
Angel: Colleen, female (she/her)
Baaabe: Faye, female (she/her)
Sweetheart: Patricia “Tish”, fem! (She/them)
Darlin’: Tatum, fem! (They/she)
Cutie: Mika, female (she/her)
Lovely: Alexandria, female (she/her)
Freelancer: Danielle “Danny”, fem! (She/they)
Starlight: Celestia, female (she/her)
Sunshine: Rose, fem! (She/they)
Not all of these guys are in the kiss post but these are the listeners I draw the most!
