#embroidery process

[summerfoxcrafts]

Turning a photo into an embroidery. It didn't come out perfectly - I'm still a new embroiderer and encountered some things I didn't expect, but overall I'm reasonably pleased with how it came out and the lessons I learned from trying it.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Thank you all for the likes reblogs and comments - I’ve loved reading your responses to the finished piece so I thought I’d show you the piece as it was in progress so you can see the full process I went through to make it happen!

Starting with - a reference picture!

I made a outline drawing from the reference picture (I did this one while I was at the cricket here you can see it in progress) 😎

Then I use a light box to transfer the outline onto my fabric. I like to embroider on a fairly fine but medium weight linen - it holds together well but has distinct holes so you don’t end up ripping through threads as you work!

Once the outline is drawn I started outlining areas with back stitch before beginning to infill with a single colour. Below you can see my progress on Oliver’s arm - I tend to change colours as I’m working to stop me getting annoyed or bored - hence the white and black and not of grey you can see having been done.

I have several different sized hoops, but this small one is my favourite as I like the tension I can get on the fabric!

I did find sewing with white on white frustrating so the shirt sleeve got left for a bit - that’s the beauty of embroidery like this though - you can move around and do different sections depending on your mood!

I really enjoyed being able to play with texture as well - I chose to use satin stitch on the sleeves and ground - using different angles to create depth.

While the flesh of Oliver’s arm and hand and Ryan’s hand I went with a more textured look using ‘random’ stitch placement. This gave me the texture and the ability to build up the shading in more detail than satin stitch would’ve allowed - giving me the more painterly look I was after.

I’ve included a picture of the back of the work so you can see is similar to the front - I live looking at the back of pieces!!

Once some of you helped me decide on the text - I added that - it’s my handwriting for this one - I wrote on paper first then transferred it the same way I did the outline of the arms!

Then I just carried on stitching, and stitching, and stitching! Sometimes at the cricket (good light!!) and sometimes at home - I brought a 6000k white light lightbulb for one of my lamps so I could continue seeing in the evenings when it got dark!

When finally finished I washed the embroidery - in Luke warm water with a tiny amount of washing up liquid- to remove the grease and sweat that would’ve transferred from my hands onto the fabric and threads - this needs removing before mounting as it will start to discolour the fabric over time!

And then I mounted the final piece so it looks like this!! - this was the first time I tried mounting anything myself and it’s not perfect (the ‘yeah’ is a bit wonky) but I’m happy with it 😎

Hopefully this is interesting! I’ve just started my second piece - the sister piece to this one and I’ll share pictures as I go - starting tomorrow with my terrible sketch!

[kirikiri1]

This is how Mort got stitched! If you like process posts, check out my Instagram (@andnomoreshallwepart), where I post lots of these and there's a giveaway going AND where you can commission your own @hellofromthehallowoods hoop by donating to a charity :)

[syoemei]

a small mushroom tends to his field...

[spacestealer]

My dramatic posing and some beadwork process of making my ouija brooch~ 👁 I really enjoyed to work on it, I also like the color and the way how this brooch looks like on shirts. Not sure what aesthetic it is though. Half witchy, half magic academia maybe?

My store | Instagram

[firesidetextiles]

Filmed a bit of a backstitch on a selkie print. Embroidery feels like coloring with texture, it’s so soothing.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Embroidery project update

Haven’t done one of these in a little while as moving house really eats into ones sewing time - who knew 😂

Anyway - I’ve managed to spend about 15 hours sewing since the last embroidery update and I’ve got Bucks tattooed bands in place and I’ve started the base colour until for Maddies sleeve - I’m very excited to build the texture and shading into this sleeve the burnt oranges are going to be great to work with!

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Embroidery project update!

I’ve embroidered the text and the outline of Maddie’s sleeve!

So the black dotted outline around the edge is there to help me keep things square - so that I don’t over stretch the fabric while it’s in the frame!

The next thing to do is outline all the skin areas - this will be a bit different from the sleeve outline because I don’t want the same sort of edge - skin is a little less defined - so I will use a running stitch like the black dotted line that will be more easily absorbed into the proper stitching!

With that done it will be time to start infilling - that’s when it starts to look like progress is slow!!