Home Sweet Home

This is the very first pattern I ever completed, given to me by my friend. I used the running stitch, the french knot, the back stitch, and the split stitch for the borders. I then used the satin stitch, split stitch, french knot, back stitch, and the straight stitch for the pictures inside the boxes.

Patterns are really fun and easy to do, much less difficult than drawing your own design. Here is a close-up:

-Avamae

Purple Flower Blouse

I recently embroidered and sewed my very first piece of clothing - a blouse! Here is a close-up of the flower and vines:

I used an old shirt for the pattern, cut out the front and back in an attractive fabric, and popped the front into an embroidery hoop. I used the long-and-short stitch for the petals after outlining them in the stem stitch, embroidering french knots in the center of the blossom. 

After completing the flower, I drew vines onto the fabric directly with a fabric pencil and used green floss for the stem stitch.

I must admit, sewing is not exactly my forte, so I asked and received help. The only drawback of this blouse was that you can feel the thread beneath. To avoid this, you could cut out a rectangle, embroider the flower or desired design onto it, and sew the material onto the front of the shirt.

(Another way is to sew a soft, similar colored fabric onto the other side of the front so that the knots will not bother you.)

This is a fun project that adds to your wardrobe! You could even take a solid colored shirt and embroider directly onto it.

-Avamae

Painted Bouqet

Another one of my hobbies is painting. Most of this is watercolor, but some of it is pastel and crayon. 

This was really fun and easy to do! For the dots, use a Q-tip and dip lightly into some watercolor. To make smaller dots, use the side of the Q-tip.

-Avamae