Embroidery Idiot

That’s me!  I’ve only hand-sewed just a small number of items in my lifetime, mostly buttons on my husband’s shirts and the binding on my first quilt (it took only one quilt for me to switch to machine binding!). 

Being under the weather lately and mostly confined to the bed or couch, I was going through sewing withdrawal.  So I pulled out a magazine from 2012 called Make It Yourself (published by Better Homes & Gardens), which had an embroidery pattern in it that I’d earmarked to make for my beautiful blond middle daughter…someday.  It only took a day to stitch, but what a difference a day can make in my embroidery know-how!

For example, notice how chunky the stitches are in the hair? 

When I got to the nose, the thread was too thick and made the nose look just like a brown blob.  That’s when I remembered that embroidery thread can be divided into strands.  I tried and I tried, but the thread kept breaking apart into small fluffy sections.  It took about five tries (I’m not always a fast learner) but that’s when I realized that I was using craft thread that I bought for the kids, not embroidery thread.  I was also able to note, thanks to an informative night about thread at my local guild meeting, that craft thread has a very “short staple.”  Thank goodness I had some actual embroidery thread on hand to finish the project.  I used three strands for the rest of it.

I quickly relearned how to do French knots and learned the “lazy daisy” stitch from the instructions in the magazine.  The pattern is called “A Mother’s Blessing” and is by none other than Sarah Wright, aka Sarah Jane! 

My daughter really loves it and wants me to turn it into a small pillow, whereas I envisioned a picture hanging on the wall in her room.  Now we just have to come to an agreement so it can be done with.

Thanks for visiting!