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

My very first embroidery

This was my very first embroidery. I knew three stitches: the split stitch, the satin stitch, and the french knot. (You can see that this was not a very neat or spectacular embroidery, but I figured that it would be fun to display.

Those three stitches are actually very useful, so I would advise to learn them first!

-Avamae

;D

Stitch sampler

I began teaching my friend Lauren how to embroider. We began, as I always think is best, with a stitch sampler:

Stitch Names (Top to bottom):

Coral Stitch

Satin Stitch

Split Stitch

Stem Stitch

French Knot
Blanket Stitch
Lazy Daisies

Chain Stitch

Back Stitch

Feather Stitch

Hopefully I can post also how to stitch these in the future.

The most complex stitch is probably the stem stitch or the feather stitch. The easiest would probably be the french knots, and the longest is definitely the satin stitch. All are enjoyable and useful to know how to embroider.

(Fun Fact: The blanket stitch serves two purposes: as the hem of a pillow or cushion, and as a cute border for embroidery!)

-Avamae (and Lauren)

:D

Sweet Shoppe

A few days ago I tried embroidering the inside - or outside - of a shop. ("Shoppe" is a fancy, old-fashioned way of saying "shop." It is pronounced the same way.) Also, since I love both eating and embroidery sweets, I decided it would be called the "Sweet Shoppe."

Here is the picture of what I created, so I could have an idea of what each thing is and where I would embroider it:

(I do not know why I added an apple, flowers, and a pumpkin, but I was running out of ideas.)

I finally finished the actual project with much difficulty and a few tweaks on the original.

Although I am disappointed I did not decide to do the pretty blue teapot atop the purple table, overall, it turned out fairly well. 

I mostly used the straight stitch, the split stitch, french knots, and one lazy daisy. (I won't go into detail about the placement of these stitches, as that would be extremely extensive and remarkably dull.)

Cute, bright, colorful embroideries like these can become lovely wall hangings or a thoughtful gift to a friend.

-Avamae

:)

Red embroidery flowers

I like this embroidery especially because of the unusual and vibrant petals. The leaves, however, are my favorite part of the embroidery. They seem airy and flexible, just like the spindly stems.

Every petal is made with a french knot with a tail, the stem with a stem stitch, and the leaves with an interesting variation of the stem stitch.

The first difficulty I faced while completing the project was repetition. It would look strange if four out of the five blossoms were facing a certain way, or if three out of the four leaves were light green and only one was dark.

Fortunately, it seemed to turn out very well, and I am very pleased that I decided to try embroidering a rather funny looking, half-circle shaped flower with a thin, spindly stem.

-Avamae