On to the stitching

On to the stitching

It is time to do some stitching on my visor cover. Stitching on felt is something I really enjoy. It feels nice to stitch on felt, It has texture even when it is smooth. You can feel the needle pass through the thickness of it.

I had people at my guild comment that the actual piece looked a lot more vibrant than it did on the screen. I fiddled with the colour a bit so I hope it looks a little better this time. It looks very bright on my screen. The crazy thing is it is sitting on the black, top of my laptop. I am getting some serious light bounce off the black.

I picked out some threads I think go with the colours. I need to find a “greener” green something in the middle I think but that requires digging in the mostly unpacked studio so it will have to wait.

 

I am a slow stitcher. I know I am not alone in this. There’s a whole movement called slow stitch. It suits me, stitching when I have a bit of time but with no deadline in sight.

I started with the turquoise green on the forest green part of the leaf. I thought it looked like a nice contrast even if it was still green. then I forgot to take a picture of just that stitching or rather I was probably intending to take a picture of just the stitching and forgot what I was doing.  So you get to see the contrasting orange I picked for the next part too. It’s a deep orange leaning towards burnt orange.

I did the first part in rice stitch. It’s fun to do but harder than you think to make it look random.

I tried an uneven long stitch for this part and didn’t like it. It was messy but not messy enough to seem like I did it on purpose just unpractised. Of course it was but we don’t want to advertise that too much, so I removed it.

The other nice thing about stitching on felt is when you take out stitches, it doesn’t show like it would on muslin or cotton fabric. I decided to do something else with the dark orange and a lighter orange for the cross stitching. I am not sure it is busy enough. I will leave it for now. I am also not sure it was worth changing oranges either.

Now I am onto wonder woman. I am hoping to stop it from looking like wonder woman and more like a flower with the stitching. However, I started with the “cape”. I am using the lighter orange. I am adding X’s as I liked the way they looked on the leaf. I tried looking online for open background or filler stitches but I am calling it the wrong thing, I think. Everything that Google gave me, were stitches to completely cover a space. I know I have seen them before. Does anyone know the right term?

That’s as far as I am. Well maybe a bit farther as I am writing a bit ahead as I will be busy baking for the Thanksgiving Day farmers market. In Canada, we celebrate earlier than our American friends and this year is earlier than usual on October 9th. with any luck, I will have a little time to do some stitching.

18 thoughts on “On to the stitching

  1. I love your stitching Ann. Wonderful choice of floss colour, and your felt design lends itself to where you place your stitches. Beautiful.

  2. Great start on the stitching Ann. I love the contrasting colors that you are using. In my Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches by Mary Thomas, there are three sections on filling stitches: Open Filling Stitches, Solid Filling Stitches and Detached Filling Stitches. There are 35 different stitches in the open filling section, I think those are the ones you want. I have had this paper back book for many years and it is worth the investment as it’s easy to look up stitches and has a vast array of choices.

    1. Thanks Ruth, I’ve ordered the book form the library. I may end up buying it. I tried searching open work fill stitch and the only thing I got that was open was seed or rice stitch.

  3. The colours are really “shouty” Ann and looking good. You could try looking at Mary Corbet’s Needle and Thread website. She has got lots of videos on how to do many many stitches. Try this link:
    https://www.needlenthread.com/videos
    There is a list of types on the left hand side of the page which may help .
    Happy Stitching!
    Ann

  4. I agree Ann, felt makes a wonderful base for stitching in to. It’s nice to have a “slow stitch” project you can pick up and put down, as and when you get the time or inclination. This is looking great and it sounds like you will have lots more choice of stitches once you’ve researched Ruth and Ann’s suggestions.

    1. Thanks Karen. slow stitch is great. Its relaxing. and unpicking doesn’t show. 😉 I’ve already ordered the book form my library. Online is amazingly helpful but a book is more cozy somehow.

  5. The contrasting stitching look super Ann. It looks like you will shortly have an encyclopaedia of stitches at your fingertips. Looking forward with interest.

    Enjoy Thanksgiving.

  6. Love your choice of vibrant colours which will brighten your car journeys, and your contrasting fill stitches are looking fab. 

    I too love stitching into felt….it is smooth, textural, the needle passes through easily whilst hiding threads is a doddle! 

    My suggestion for further stitches would have been Sarah @ Rocksea….but you are already on the case. If only she did her own commercially printed books (probably 4 volumes!), rather than an E book. I much prefer to have a book in my hands but I can’t face self-printing 600+ pages 🫤

    1. Thanks Antje, it is so tactile. I prefer an in hand book too. 600 pages is a lot of paler and ink and then having to put the all in sleeves or binding them.

  7. I won’t lie, I thought your visor didn’t really need added stitching, until I saw you get on with it. Looks amazing! We all need some slow stitching in our lives 🙂 

    1. Thanks Leonor. Yes I wasn’t sure it needed stitching, I tend to be a less is more kind of maker. But usually, as hard as it can be, if I do keep going I am happier with the finished piece.

We'd love to hear your thoughts!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d