The cover for my needlebook (or, as some may call it, a "hussif") is coming along. I've almost finished embroidering the back of it, and then will only have one more panel. Then I can add the inside layer, embroider the book spines, and start on the little inside accessory spaces.

The whole project is developing according to practically no plan at all, so I don't actually guarantee the finished product! I have an idea in my head of what I want it to look like, so hopefully it will turn out the way I want it to. It's nothing fancy. It started as a road trip project, and I've posted a couple updates, here and here, along the way.

So, here is a photo of the front and back, side by side:



The space between the two panels is about three quarters of an inch. This will serve as a spine, into which I will stitch another "page" in the book, and then I'll cover the spine with some decorative stitches. The left side in this photo will be the back.



Here's a close-up of a good bit of the back panel, and you can see that some of the stitching is not yet complete. For example, I still have to fill in a few of the flowers, add leaves, etc.



This little section is made up of a variety of stitches. The bold blue line is Portuguese knotted stem stitch. On the outside of this, in light blue forming the little pointed outline, is a fly stitch border. Inside the "wave" are a few rows of open buttonhole, and then a stem stitch filled area (in green), and the center of the motif is filled with lazy daisies with French knot centers. On the right side under the tip of the wave is a ribbed spider web wheel, surrounded by chain stitch, with some feather stitching filling in.



Here's another close up of a part of the back panel. The waves or swishes are stem stitch, used as filling. There's a little cluster of French knots filling in down at the base of the photo, and some seeding can be seen above the dark green chain stitch band.

I've been using a variety of threads in the whole thing: regular stranded DMC, variegated DMC, Caron Collection Waterlilies (overdyed silk) and Watercolors (overdyed cotton), DMC Perle #5, Eterna silks - twists and minitwists, some (but not much) Soie d'Alger, and some YLI silk ribbon.



Towards the bottom of this photo, the green band with the blue isolated chain stitches, is a length of YLI ribbon, which I stitched down and then worked the isolated chain stitches over. Directly above that line is a whipped stem stitch, which began with a coral-colored stem stitch, whipped with green. Directly above this is a blue band of heavy chain stitch. Directly above this, I couched some yellow DMC Perle #3 with some pink Perle #5, in a kind of bricking pattern. Some of the stitches have been joggled about a bit, due to carelessness in holding the project (I'm working in-hand, as opposed to on a hoop or frame).

Above the couched line is a buttonhole line in pink, topped with purple French knots, and floating above all that is a random selection of leaves worked in fishbone stitch. The leaves adorn the purple flower, which is made up of two layers of lazy daisy in dark purple and light, and which hasn't been filled in the center yet.

The "V" directly above this is worked in cretan stitch, edged with stem stitch in purple on the bottom of the band, and chain stitch on the top of the band. Another spider web wheel surrounded by buttonhole stitch is worked inside the "V."



This is a close-up of stem stitch used as filling. You can also see, in the distance in a variegated pink / yellow silk, a flower worked in bullion stitch.



And, a final shot, this is back to the front panel, looking at my favorite part of it. I prefer the front panel. I think I got carried away on the back panel, so that things look a bit too thick for me there. The front has a crisp look to it, despite the crowded areas, whereas the back seems to jumble together a bit too much. Still, I'm having fun working on it. I've got a commissioned project, though, that's demanding my attention now and probably into March, so I'll just be snatching a few stitches here and there on this one, as time allows. It may be a while before the project is completed! But I won't relegate it to the deep interiors of the closet just yet!

Again, all these are pretty much what I would call "basic" embroidery stitches (although the bullion stitch takes a little practice), and you can find video tutorials for most of the stitches in the Video Library of Stitches Index.

Labels: beginner embroidery, Hand embroidery stitches, needlecase, wip

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This embroidery project started out as something to kill time on a road trip, but as I keep stitching, it becomes more and more addicting! My plan is to turn the whole thing into a large needle / sewing book, with space for scissors, a magnet strip, threads, and, of course, plenty of needles! I thought I’d show you my progress on the front cover…

… and eventually, I’ll share the back cover, too, which will be entirely hand-embroidered in crazy patterns as well.

Basically, as I explained earlier, my plan was just to stitch whatever stitches came to mind, using whatever threads I happened to pull out of my stash. I modified the plan only a little bit, by attempting to balance some of the colors in the larger areas. I also picked out a line I didn’t like (the puffy couching) and replaced it with a running stitch whipped with ribbon. You can see the puffy couching in this post, where I gave my last update.

Here’s a photo of the front cover, finished. You can click on the image for a close up.



So that’s what I’ve been occupying my evenings with while on vacation, although I have managed to finish and mail one embroidered Christmas present, and, in the next three days (working mostly in the wee hours, so I don’t get caught red-handed!), I have high hopes of starting and finishing a little bird as another gift. I might even be able to get it framed before Christmas! We’ll see! I’ll be sure to snap some photos before I give it away.

Back to the needle ‘n thread…

Labels: Hand embroidery stitches, needlecase, sampler, wip

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It's a busy time of year for hand embroiderers, as many work on preparing Christmas gifts and decorations - along with all the other holiday prep that goes on between now and Christmas (3 weeks from today, I might add!)

Sharon Bogan has a couple posts on her site, Inaminuteago, about Christmas preparations - specifically card making and ornament making. And in fact, these are the things that I've been mulling over lately - specifically, embroidered Christmas cards. I've got some scraps of card-making supplies around, and I even have a handy-dandy pricker for fine holes in paper stock. I'm pretty sure my stash includes some metallics that will do for the embroidery. I should be able to drum up some Christmas cards before the season is completely over!

And speaking of over, the weekend is exactly that. Unfortunately, for me, it was an off-schedule sort of weekend. We had to take a road trip, so, with a six hour ride in front of me early Saturday morning, it occurred to me that I should be able to take something productive along. Stitching in the car is generally out of the question for me - I practically always have to stitch on a frame, and my projects generally require good light and exceptional precision, not to mention the use of gold for couching and all that stuff. Not exactly the kind of stuff you can open up and spread out in the car!

But as the prospect of the drive overcame me on Saturday, I figured I could manage something - so I foraged through the scrap bin and came up with a long strip of red wool felt.

I grabbed my "class bag," which contains a good stash of disorganized thread that I use specifically for embroidery class.

And we set out.

The first thing I did with my wool felt was block out four panels on it, using a greeting card envelope. Between the four (with two on each side) I left about a one-inch strip. Think book cover. The one inch strip would be the spine.

Then I pulled a micro marker out of my bag, and scrolled off a bit of a basic design, just to get the thing going.

Then I stitched! My method was really simple: reach into the bag, pull out some thread. Using whatever stitch that comes to mind, stitch! And so that's what I did.

I didn't get that far - I figured with a six hour drive I should've been able to finish the front of a panel - but things never happen the way we expect. The finished product will have two panels stitched, and then I'll fold the outside panels under the embroidered ones, put a light cardboard insert between them and stitch them closed, and then add an inside felt page, with flanel squares - to make an extra-large needlebook.

There's quite a ways to go on the embellishment on the front. It's a bit too standard right now to be "interesting," and I'd like to play a bit with texture and shading here and there on it.

I'll let you know how it goes! and I'll give you a run-down on the stitches used once I finish the front. Here's the progress so far:

Labels: beginner embroidery, Hand embroidery stitches, needlecase, sampler, wip

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