The Accidental Embroiderer

A new approach

I love working with applique – the combination of several different fabrics can give such interesting effects, and when you combine applique with embroidery, the result can be quite exciting.

My only problem with applique is all that heavy, stolid satin stitching that’s usually used to finish off the “join” between the applique, and the background fabric. That heavyweight outline can be OK if you’re working with a simple cartoon image, but if you have something a little more delicate and subtle, the thick border can really destroy the effect you’re looking for

So I’ve been playing around with ways of finishing off that rough applique edge, and recently have come up with what you might call a “natural frame”. It’s an embroidered motif that dodges around the rough edge of the applique, inside and outside, and spreads its pattern around the edge of the appliqueed fabric

Here’s one of the first ones that I did. It’s not perfect, but all the same it’s interesting. The two kinds of green pond weed frame the frog, and in doing so they distract the eye from the rough edge of the applique. They don’t disguise it entirely, but they do makes it look a little more natural

 

Frog among the pondweed, version 1

And here’s a version stitched by Cherri, where the vivid pattern of the background fabric adds even more drama to the little scene

 

A more dramatic version

I’m quite pleased with this approach and at the moment am engrossed with ways of applying this technique to other designs. More results will appear in the coming weeks!

A really big Easter design

I was going to post something different today and not another design from the extra-large series I've been doing - the ones that are sized 10 1/2 x 16 inches (272 x 408 mm). After all I posted a large design last week, so maybe it was time for something a bit different – I don’t want to bore readers with too much of the same thing! But then blog reader Jacqueline sent me a really lovely Easter card with a rabbit on it, and I suddenly realised that a nice, spring-like design with rabbits on it would be the most appropriate thing I could put up. And there in the collection of large designs was just the thing I needed!

Some Happy Easter rabbits and flowers

It’s stitched out by Cherri (for whom I’m doing these designs) and what with the flowers there too, perhaps it makes a nice welcome to spring

A happy and peaceful Easter holiday to all, and a happy springtime

Back to the big ones…

Back in February I posted the first of what was to be a series of VERY large embroideries, designed for the 10 ½ x 16 inch (272 x 408 mm) hoop. Well, that’s large for me, anyway, although I’m learning that there are even larger hoops out there

So here are two more as part of that same series, two birds in rather a similar, exotic style. They're stitched by Cherri and embellished with some background free-motion stitchery.

 

Two big, exotic birds

This is going to be a really impressive project when it’s finished. I’ve rather lost track of exactly how many things I’ve digitised for it, but I think at last count there were something like 16. That is going to be some big project!