I haven't done much embroidery lately, there was a long break over Christmas as I was so exhausted by the time I'd finished my last seasonal craft fair. There was a lot of work that had to go into creating enough stock and keeping everything going in the online shop and I felt almost like I couldn't look at another Stitchscape and couldn't sleep without feeling guilty at something I should have done or hadn't had enough time to get to.
But slowly the urge to stitch has come back to me, helped greatly by having to make up samples and examples for the workshops I've got booked up for this year. Being made to play with my fabric stash (no great hardship) and come up with new ideas has fuelled the stitching bug again and this morning I finished off this 20cm embroidery, started as an example piece to demonstrate with at the Ardingly Quilt Show this year.
Funnily enough, the batik fabrics in this piece were bought at last year's show by The Mother, to give to me for my birthday, as part of a big bundle pack stuffed with the most delicious green themed batik fabrics! I'd been looking at it ever since opening the wrapping but hadn't had time to do anything with it. There are more lovely pieces to use which no doubt I will be dipping into again soon!
There wasn't a huge inspiration behind this piece as it was a last minute, late evening, thought flash that I hadn't got any prepared pieces to demonstrate with on the following day. I ended up with two hoops ready to go - this green hills one (an easy layout to use), and an autumnal trees piece which I haven't started stitching yet.
What's nice about following your fingers rather than your head with these pieces, and having literally no inspiration, is that whatever it turns out like is a fantastic surprise. There's no pre-meditated vision to follow and try to re-create so there is no pressure and you can have tons of fun along the way. I've been taking this one into work with me during the week and working on it whilst on the bus.
I started by working the hills, following the lines of the strongest batik reliefs in the lowest mountain and either edging them with stem stitch or filling them with satin stitch. The fabric edge is a couched embroidery floss folded in half.
The middle hill is my absolute favourite as it has so many colours within that one piece that reminds me of sunshine and cloud shadows and summer holidays walking along the dales. There weren't so many definitive lines in this fabric piece so the centre has been filled with rows of running stitch and then a perpendicular whip stitch worked vertically across the top (one of my go to techniques for mountains/hills/fields). The more obvious lines at the sides has been worked with whip stitch over back stitch to create a solid line, using a single strand of thread to keep it delicate. This fabric layer has been edged with bullion knots.
The tallest peak has also had a couple of stitch techniques applied to it. Initially the leaf batik shapes were edged with back stitch and then roughly worked around with french knots to fill in the larger gaps between these shapes and to give it a more rocky or bush-filled appearance which is also enhanced with the continuation of french knots to edge the fabric layer.
The fabrics behind the peaks have been worked very simply, seed stitch and french knot edging (green/grey spot fabric), back stitch following the printed lines and couched embroidery thread to the top (grey stripe) and long straight stitches roughly following the texture lines in the, almost plain, natural print, edged with bullion knots.
There's so much going on in the foreground that the top of the piece really needed to have less to balance it out and create some airy breathing space.
The bottom layer has it all going on. It's a fabric that I've used several times before, in the Gold Rush and All The Glitters Stitchscapes to name two, and I love how it goes that extra mile to add sunshine and texture and just a bit of glitz into my 'Scapes. It's a Japanese print fabric with the gold print design really lifting the green colours underneath, perfect for adding metallic golden threads to.
I started by working back stitch in a single strand of the metallic floss (terribly temperamental stuff to work with!) following the printed lines - and running stitch where the print lent itself.
I really like the section of the print photographed above, where little patches of plant life were already 'drawn' onto the fabric. I've lifted these out of the print by adding a rather zesty green over the gold with straight stitches, and underlined them with a slightly darker green stem stitch.
The fancy trimming reminds me of a stone fence and, although rather chunky, lends itself well to this piece, breaking up the layers and adding a place of focus to the piece. I've tried to embed this back in by putting my bullion knot reed flowers over the top and it does sit much better now. The bullions themselves have been worked in two different shades of the lime green to make it slightly more interesting.
Of course, the most noticeable parts of this Stitchscape are the really cute floral sequins which glint different colours depending on the angle, sometimes green or yellow or blue. They have been secured down with a bead at their centre, and surrounded by golden beads that are placed over gold spots in the printed design. Combined with the metallic thread its a magical , sparkling layer!
I've decided to frame this one in the hoop, the largest piece I've done this with so far! Very chuffed with how this has turned out.
The stitch run down for this piece is as follows; back stitch, running stitch, straight stitch, couching, beading, bullion knots, french knots, whip stitch (over running and back stitches), fly stitch, satin stitch, stem stitch and seed stitch. Most of these are the very basics of embroidery stitching but depending on the use of colour, and weight of line, can be made to look absolutely amazing and super effective! You don't need to use the most complicated stitches to create something beautiful.
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