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I’m Addicted to Dropcloth Samplers

January 30, 2018 Embroidery

I have an admission to make. Even though I have embroidered more than 120 original “investigative” samplers in the last few years, sometimes I love nothing more than working on a pre-printed sampler so I don’t have to design anything, and I often get to try something I never would have thought of myself.

My favourite pre-printed samplers are Dropcloth Samplers by Rebecca Ringquist. You may have seen my previous post about her book, Embroidery Workshops, in which I showed my finished sampler that comes with the book. Well, I just finished my fourth Dropcloth sampler, Paisley.

Yes, that’s right, my fourth.

I’ve also embroidered Red Stripe (note that not all my stripes are red. I’m such a rebel),

and the Original sampler

and I have the Sequel sampler all ironed and ready to hoop.

I love how densely stitched the red stripe and paisley samplers are, and every one people embroider are completely different. I love having guidelines and still have the freedom to choose my own threads and change things up if I feel like it (which is why my hoop on the Original Sampler is a bit wild). Check out the hashtag #dropclothsamplers on Instagram for lots of inspirational photos and to see other people’s versions of Dropcloth samplers.

If you’re new to embroidery, or looking for a project that’s a bit out of the ordinary Rebecca also has some classes on Creativebug, including the Original Embroidery Sampler, the Advanced Embroidery Sampler (aka The Sequel Sampler), Embroidery Transfer Techniques , Layered Floral Embroidery (I’m going to try this soon), Embroidered Heirloom Napkins , Embroidered Kids Pillow , Embroidered Photo Ornament and the Embroidered Embellished Skirt. You don’t need to buy any of her samplers to do any of the workshops. All you need is fabric, thread and a hoop.

For a limited time you can get a 14-day free trial to Creativebug and save 60% at Joann Fabric and Craft Stores.

Now I just have to decide whether to take another look at the layered floral embroidery class or start my sequel sampler. Hmm…

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This post contains affiliate links to Creativebug. The links to Dropcloth Samplers on Etsy are not affiliate links. Rest assured, I only link to products and services I enjoy, and believe my visitors might like too.

TAST Catch Up 5 out of 5. I Did It!

January 29, 2018 Embroidery

Welcome to my very last post about the TAST 2015-2017 challenge! Today I feature two non-TAST stitches and revisit two old favourites.

I didn’t think a collection of embroidery samplers would be complete without Cross stitch, so I worked two. One sort of freestyle on plain cotton and one on evenweave fabric.

Cross stitch is a great stitch to “sketch” with so I started with some scribbly and textural samples (top left and top centre). Then I tried various fillings and seam/border treatments in a range of different threads. I drew a lot of these first with a water erasable marker. I usually use Hemline water erasable markers because they’re easier to find locally but I prefer the Clover Chacopen Water Soluble Marker as the Hemline markers smudge a lot and get all over my hands when I’m drawing. They’re fine once they dry though.

For my evenweave cross stitch sampler I used a scrap piece of linen I found at the op shop (charity thrift store). The patterns are from an Ondori embroidery book from the 1970’s. I used six strands of embroidery floss and crewel wool for the most part, although the sky is some vintage knobbly knitting yarn couched down with cross stitches worked in floss. I’m afraid I have no idea what count this linen is as I’ve never been much of a cross stitcher. I do love working small motifs here and there with waste canvas though.

Revisiting stitch 8: Chain stitch

Since I’m going to use my collection of TAST samplers for future reference, I decided I had to record using chain stitch as a filling. I used 3 strands of embroidery floss throughout (I think. I might have used 4, although I didn’t want to pick at it with a pin to try and count the strands).

The yellow in the flower centre is variegated, as is the centre of the paisley. For the other sections I worked darker outlines, then a medium shade, and finally lighter towards the middle. Chain stitch as a filling is remarkably fast to stitch and is a great way to fill in large, simple shapes like these. This is one of my favourite samplers, even though it’s one of the simplest.

I came across canvaswork stitch while browsing videos on YouTube (that’s a link to the video, BTW). As you can see, I tried it in lots of different threads, and found that something smooth works the best. It would probably be a lot neater worked on an evenweave fabric or canvas (duh) rather than my quilting cotton, but hey, I’m a rebel. I really loved playing with all the different colour combinations on this one.

Revisiting stitch 10: Running stitch

My many investigations into running stitch simply would not be complete without a little sashiko. (see week 10, running stitch, revisiting running stitch, and this post from August last year for more running stitch samplers. I love running stitch).

If you’d like to learn more about Sashiko stitching, I recommend the Creativebug class, Sashiko Sewing with Lisa Solomon for beginner embroiderers, or for more experienced stitchers, The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook. Lisa makes drawing the designs on the fabric look so easy that I’m itching to try more designs from the book.

And that completes my collection of samplers for the 2015-2017 TAST embroidery challenge! Now that I’ve ironed them all, and shown them all off, I just need to bind them into fabric books and they’ll be ready to peruse any time I need them. After I embroider a few covers.
😉

If you’d like to see more, click on the “TAST challenge” tag under this post, or come back in a couple of days for the beginning of my “Beyond TAST” adventure!

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This post contains affiliate links to Amazon.com and Creativebug, (where you can get a 2 week free trial and 60% off coupon for Joann’s for a limited time).

TAST Catch Up 4 out of 5

January 28, 2018 Embroidery 1 Comment

Welcome to part four of my, “Oh crap, I forgot to blog about all these TAST samplers” catch up series.

Revisiting stitch 86: Knotted cable chain

I only worked a couple of lines of knotted cable chain when the stitch was first announced, so I took an opportunity to go back and work it the way I had originally intended. I used every type of blue thread I had to work an ever decreasing square spiral, starting with the thickest threads and working towards the thinnest. I also worked the chain much closer to the “knot” than I did the first time. I much prefer it worked this way. I think every type of thread looks great, and it has a great texture that I was missing the first time. I filled in the spaces with a spiral of yellow running stitch because a little contrast always looks nice.

Revisiting stitch 45: Portuguese border stitch.

I really like Portuguese border stitch, so when I saw this video on YouTube, I knew I wanted to try embroidering it in a flower shape. I used a range of threads, working one, two, or three lines of the whipped part of the stitch to fill (or not), the petal shapes. For one leaf and part of the border, I added beads to the stitches that form the ladder part of the stitch and left just enough space to work the whipped section at either side.

I’m glad I revisited this stitch as it’s gone from “that’s pretty”, to be one of my all time favourites.

Leaf stitch is not a TAST stitch, however, when I saw this video on YouTube, I knew I had to try it. I found that it looks best in smooth threads. I’d love to try it with a thread similar to the one in the video. The colour changes are a lot more fun than any threads I had at the time. Have you noticed that I like flowers just a little bit yet?

Stitch 95: Zig-zag coral stitch.

I had an absolute blast with zig-zag coral stitch. I did little more than try out a load of different threads and a little bit of couching, but it looked great in anything I tried. I particularly like the way crewel wool turns the knot of the coral stitch into a little loop. (The peach line on the left, 8th row from the bottom if you don’t count the border).

Come back tomorrow for my final TAST 100 stitches instalment!

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TAST Catch Up 3 out of 5

January 27, 2018 Embroidery

Welcome to part three of my “I can’t believe I finished the TAST 100 stitch embroidery challenge” catch up series. I accidentally published two posts yesterday (oops), but never mind, I have a feeling there will be a lot more embroidery going on around here to tell you about!

Braid stitch wasn’t a TAST stitch as far as I can remember. I tried it with a few different threads and I’m really not a fan. I just couldn’t get it to look nice, no matter what I did.

Stitch 99: Woven chain bar

Once again, I tried this stitch in an assortment of threads. It didn’t work well in wool because of the crimp or bounciness of the thread. Cotton lays nice and flat, however and looks pretty good. I’d reserve this for graphic elements worked in straight lines. Ever shortening rows stacked on top of each other for a roof, for example, or perhaps a single row for a window box.

Woven chain bar and braid stitch worked in a variety of threads on quilting cotton.

Rosette of thorns is another non-TAST stitch. I had to try it because I love pretty much all variations of blanket stitch. I tried lots of different threads, from my finest perle cotton to thick knitting wool/silk mix. I love how useful this stitch is. It makes great grass and flower stems, eyelashes and geometric borders. It also works well in straight lines, spirals and curves. I think my favourite, however, is the top of the border where I alternated which side of the line the stitches were formed. Worked vertically in green it would make an amazing fern-like plant.

Embroidered motifs and border treatments worked in rosette of thorns stitch.

Stitch 80 revisited: Double whipped chain stitch.

I worked a few different lines of whipped double (or double whipped) chain stitch back when it was first announced, but I had a lot more variations and threads to try out. When I came across this great fabric in my stash, I knew they’d go perfectly together. I tried just about every thread I have in both wools and cotton, whipped triple rows, spaced rows apart, whipped the centres and the edges and whipped in both directions to make cross stitches up the centre. This would be a tricky stitch to work in circles, but it’s a great one for border treatments and seams.

Whipped double chain stitch worked in a variety of threads.

Stitch 38: Revisiting cloud filling stitch.

I recorded cloud filling back in August 2016 but didn’t experiment with it at all. In this sampler, I tried lots of different ways of spacing the ground stitches the yarn is woven through, as well as lots of different yarns. In the pale pink area I started more spread out on the left and gradually made the vertical rows of stitches closer together, which gives a lovely sense of movement and perspective.

Cloud filling embroidered in a variety of threads.

I then used cloud stitch to embroider most of this little picture.

Sunny day tree scene worked in cloud stitch.

I’m particularly fond of the beaded section in the sun. After working the cloud stitch, I stitched a gold bead into each diamond shape.

Beaded quarter sun worked in cloud stitch

Well that’s it for part three of my five part TAST catch up. See you tomorrow for more!

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TAST Catch Up 2 out of 5

January 26, 2018 Embroidery

Welcome to part 2 of my TAST catch up series, where I’m showing off the last of my samplers for TAST 2015-2017

Stitch 98: Triple Chain

For my triple chain stitch sampler I used a range of cottons and wools on quilting cotton. Triple chain is a very graphic stitch so I used it to embroider some 1960’s mod style flowers on appliquéd wool felt. Changing the angle of the stitches that stick out either side can change the look quite dramatically. My favourite is the green “bamboo” worked in variegated green floss. I also wove some little grass bits with just one repeat of triple chain.

My final assessment of triple chain stitch is that it’s great for dramatic looking borders, graphic flowers and stalks of bamboo.

Three flowers worked in triple chain stitch on quilting cotton using a variety of different threads.

Stitch 63 revisited: Triangular feather stitch

I didn’t do much with it, the first time I worked triangular feather stitch, so I decided to try it again. I chose to experiment with border treatments, layering and working circles.

For the border treatments I worked the stitch on alternating sides and tried different ways of combining two rows while also changing the lengths of the feathered part of the stitch. I quickly realised that this is one of those “chameleon” stitches that looks great no matter what you do with it.

Triangular feather stitch embroidery sampler showing borders and layering.

Stitch 97: Feather and chain stitch

At first I thought feather and chain stitch was a bit boring, just feather stitch with a loop. But I wanted to see what I could do with it that might push it a bit beyond that. I decided to work just on border treatments combining feather and chain and other basic stitches to create something that might look good on a crazy quilt (even though I don’t sew crazy quilts). My favourite ended up being the pink flower bud border on the right. I worked two rows of feather and chain facing outwards, butted up against each other. Then added pink french knots to the feathers “stalks”, and a darker pink detached chain in the diamonds formed by the zig-zag part of the feather and chain stitch. (You can click the photo for a closer look). I’m still undecided about the red row with woven chain. It’s tick season here at the moment and they look a little buggy to me…

Feather and chain stitch borders embroidered on bright blue even-weave fabric.

Stitch 37 revisited: Triangular buttonhole stitch

Triangular buttonhole is another stitch I didn’t explore much the first time I worked it, only having added beads. This time I sketched out some motifs to try, and different ways to combine rows to make border treatments. I also worked a row with the triangles on alternate sides. I really like all of these experiments but I think the row with triangles alternating on the top and bottom is my favourite.

Motifs and border treatments worked in triangular buttonhole stitch.

Stitch 100: Drizzle stitch

Drizzle stitch is one of those “helper” stitches that really don’t work well on their own. I struggled a bit with deciding what to do with it, but then I found a scrap of Barbie doll fabric in my stash and this idea was born. Barbie just isn’t my thing, plus the top of her head was missing so I gave her a makeover.

In this sampler the drizzle stitch is worked as the foliage for the flowers in the window box, the outer layer of Barbie’s hair (her fringe is bullion stitch), the seaweed in the fish bowl, the petals of the top and bottom flowers and the centre of the middle flower. I added a bead to some of the drizzle stitches. I think it worked great for all these purposes and might use it in the future if I work something really textural.

Embroidered sampler with drizzle stitch details

Well that’s it for part two of my five part TAST catch up! Check back tomorrow for part three.

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