Kit’s Stitchbook

I had the bad cold going around, and I slept every spare minute I could. I’m on the mend, and my needle is in hand.

I’m finally starting something I’ve wanted to do since I discovered how much I love stitching: I’m starting an embroidery stitch book.

I don’t feel that I know any embroidery stitch well, and I thought sitting down and really focusing on them would help me see what they could do.

It took me a while to find a program to follow, but I eventually settled on The Floss Box Little Book of Embroidery Volume 1 (here). Different stitches and how to use them.

But it’s more than that – it encourages the beginner to see these stitches as self-expression and as a practice. I love the idea that this could be a journal with needle and thread as much as a study of basic stitches.

So with that introduction, I began! First, by marking out 2-inch squares for each of the ten stitches:

This is muslin cut to 12 inches by 18 inches and folded in half. I used a water soluble marker to separate the areas. I’ll not embroider through two pieces of fabric; I’m thinking I’ll use the other side for Volume 2.

The first stitch is the back stitch. One thing I really want to see is how all of these stitches look in different weights. So each square will include 1, 2, 4, and 6 thread weights. There are suggestions in the book about trying different patterns, and I’ve started some already. More to come!

I used light pink thread here because it was already cut. I can see it doesn’t show up well in the photo. I’ll use darker threads in the future.

Another thing I learned: it’s really hard to get a consistent stitch size. I’m sure that will come with practice. It’s just not as easy as it looks.

I’m pleased so far – mostly that I simply started a project that has been sitting in the back of my mind for so long. Really looking forward to this thread adventure, as the book calls it.