Year of Stitch: January Update

This year-long embroidery challenge is going so much better than I anticipated!

Like, I knew it was going to be a good time. I just can’t believe how much I’ve learned, and we haven’t even finished our first sampler.

Here’s my progress so far. I have to say, it makes me feel super fancy that you can’t see my lines this way. That happened completely on accident, however. I’m a big fan of the blue marker, don’t get me wrong, but I have been dying to find an easy, quality way to transfer a design from a printer to my fabric. I have a lot of digital design experience and much less drawing by hand.

I found a few options and decided on PrintWorks Vanishing Fabric Transfers (not an affiliate link, just what I used). I like it (so far, haven’t attempted to wash it out yet), but I messed up and did not mirror the image before I printed it. Rather than waste the transfer, I ironed it to the wrong side of my linen (that I got from ScrapsKC!). It’s light and thin enough that the dark lines come through to the front. Worst-case scenario, I hold it up to a light or flip it over to bring the needle to the front. I get the bonus of hiding the transfer on the back, if it so happens it does not completely wash out.

Here’s what it looks like (Enjoy my messy back! I’m over the effort to make it look nice when I’m just going to sew it in Cask of Amontillado style). Again, so proud of this accident. It turned into a better situation than it would be if everything went perfectly according to plan.

This first project is a sampler of straight stitches. Let me also say how thrilled I am for a sampler that isn’t straight lines that ends up in a drawer forever. I will hang this on my wall with pride.

My favorite stitch so far is a new one to me: the whipped back stitch. It looks almost cord-like, which is fantastic for curves. You also have the option to stitch it with two colors, which I did with my base red and a lighter red. It’s subtle, but I think it looks amazing.

This project has inspired me to create two other embroidery projects outside of the challenge, but we know how I get… Stay tuned for those or at least further samplers!