When I started embroidering, I swore it was going to be a low-cost hobby. After all you only need some material, floss, needle, and a hoop, right?
Oh, but there are so many other things one could also “need.”
I’ve been a DMC floss girl my whole life, but today, I branch out to perle cotton. These are from Dropcloth Samplers. I also got some yarn-type stuff that will be great for couching.
I can’t wait to use it. Stay tuned.
I like to make some mark in one corner of my flat sheets so that I don’t have to try the sheet in a few directions in order to make length and width match the bed.
I went all out with this monogram, part of a download that includes four different treatments of the alphabet.
I learned that it’s tough to keep those outer lines straight. I think in the original they are straight stitches, but I switched them to backstitch because I thought straight stitches would catch on things in an active-use object. I also switched the French knots to figure-eight knots, as I prefer them.
Sometimes this color combo doesn’t work for me, but I like how it turned out this time.
The downside of fancy sheet monograms is that the back is very visible—it’s different if things are in a hoop. Maybe in the future, I could cut a square or circle to cover the back and tack it down so only back stitch or running stitch show. But maybe this is just fine.
I have completed my second Dropcloth sampler. This builds on the original Dropcloth Sampler that I completed in 2021. I bought a three-pack, so there is one more sampler to go.
I love a lot of things about this sampler. Let’s dive in.
Battlement filling! So amazing! I want to start making my own designs so that I can use a ton of battlement filling! You can also see a bit of cloud filling on the right. Cloud filling looks complex, but it’s really just seed stitches arranged in a grid and then weaving through those stitches.
Plaid filling! Also a not-complex stitch that pops. Buttonhole filling was also fun, and I like those two colors.
More filling stitches that are not complex. The hardest part of brick and cross would be getting the columns straight. Backstitch trellis is also in that category, but looks great when done. I also love how couched filling turned out. This is not surprising, given my love for couching.
Here’s what I’m quite proud of. Aside from the fun of filling the hoop with figure eight knots, I also took the time to stitch the screw at the top of the hoop. Sometimes, I’m in the mood to do those small details and sometimes I just want to get ‘er done.
Here’s the back, for those who like to see what’s up.
I really enjoyed this sampler, which was a showcase of chain stitches. Chain stitch is the best! I also used my new pink and purple color palette, which was quite pleasing.
From outside to inside: chain, figure eight knots, laced chain, and my new favorite, whipped double chain stitch. For the whipped double, you put two rows of chain next to each other and them whip the inside chains together. Whipping isn’t just for backstitch!
Here is the back side, for those who like backs.
I’ve finished! I like that dark orange.
Stitches used: Stem for the outline. Open Fishbone alternating with Leaf for the petals. Pistil for the pistils along with a bit of satin stitch. The stem is Whipped Backstitch, the leaves are Raised Fishbone, and the bud is Bud stitch.
And it’s a late finish for the first sampler of the year.
This was a nice way to show off stitches.
The stitches are:
Pink: sheaf; Orange: mountmellick, and a blanket stitch to even things out; Yellow: love chain; Green: feather; Blue: herringbone. The clouds are basket weave (the tiny cloud) and cross bar filling trellis (the other two). All of the outlining is couching.
I really loved that basket weave cloud. I was less enamored of the crossbar filling trellis, and you can see that eventually I did not care about my lines being straight.
I also experimented with a shimmery white thread to outline the colors of the rainbow and on the clouds. It will be the first and last time I use such a thing. I didn’t like the synthetic feeling of the thread and it was a massive pain to work with. I used normal DMC floss to pin it in place.
Here’s the back. You can see the wiry bits of the shimmery thread and where they got tangled.
I think I did a great job with colors on this one! This is also the last of Matt’s old sheets to be used for embroidery.
It is finally finished! While I wish I would have stuck to one color of orange for the sun’s rays; overall, I’m very pleased at how this sampler turned out.
This sampler used these stitches:
Backstitch chain took a lot longer than I wanted it to and ate up a lot of thread. I also kept losing the wave pattern and had to go in and put extra undulations so keep the waves going. About twelve rows in, I went back and looked at Shannon’s picture and she did not use nearly as many lines as I did. I think I was shoving them together.
I did five layers of padded satin stitch. I’m not sure that it looks very different than if I had done three layers, but I did get a lot of nice practice on my satin stitch.
My favorite was the half interlaced cross bar. Shannon modified it from a different stitch. I like how it fills the space and also looks woven in a cool way.
We have already begun the 2023 Year of Stitch! I’m excited to see what this year brings.
Here’s the back view of this sampler I’m not done with. The waves are still to be done. This view gives a great insight into my five layers of padded satin stitch.
You might see something like this when I’m done.
This was a very fun sampler. I fell behind due to baby blanket construction and general holiday preparations, but here it is. Sadly, I photographed it without natural light, so the white looks a little yellow. Imagine that it’s old dress shirt white.
The stitches this time are:
This time, the idea was to practice on Aida cloth and then do the same stitches on normal cloth. I really liked the Dutch stitch on Aida—the repeating squares are super trippy. It was harder to pull of on normal fabric.
The big winner for me this time was threaded chain stitch. So easy to do and provides such a dramatic effect.
A backside, for those of you who like to see them.
There is one more sampler for 2022!
My coworker Sarah is due in February, so there is a baby shower on Thursday. I made this little blanket for the new parents.
I think this is the first baby blanket I have hand monogrammed and I’m quite pleased at both the chain stitch and how swoopy the C is. I did not draw the C, but I grabbed it from one of the alphabets I had squirreled away.
The theme of the party was Space Dinosaur Cowboy and I was trying for all three things, but JoAnn’s was not connecting me with any cowboy stuff. But I did like the stars and then the not-at-all concerned dinosaurs hanging out in the snow.
I ended up making the bias binding. When I do that, I always make extra because it’s a really mood killer to come up a few inches short of bias binding. (How do I know? Because I’ve done it.) But then what to do with the extra bias binding? I had the idea to poke two holes in the plain brown wrapping and make a bow with it.
