Or how this piece evolved.
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| Scribble Leftover Embroidery |
If you read my blog you may have read this post or this one. When
working on a project I will cut off a working length of floss and then separate
each strand and combine the number of strands I want to use – usually 2 or
three (floss normally has six strands). I then slip the unused strands through
the hole on the thread bobbin.
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| Cut floss on bobbin hole |
This works fine until I am finished with that color on that
project. I’ve tried putting these leftover threads on carbone rings but I wound
up with several rings hanging around and the thread not being used.
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| Leftover floss on carbone ring |
I then
considered leaving the extra threads looped on the bobbin and just wrapped
around it. That was okay until I finally got around to putting all of my (well
most of it) floss on bobbins and storing them in plastic boxes. Organization
here I come! Oh happy day! But the extra thread didn’t work well in the boxes
so it was back to the drawing board.
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| Cut floss wrapped around bobbin |
Then it came to me! Use it up! Of course! But how? If you’ve seen
any of my embroidery work you probably know I love to use scribbles. They are
the perfect use it up solution! I can happily mix colors and since it is all
abstract I can pretty much do whatever I want on them. It would also be a good
way to see how colors work together – or don’t. And these would be the perfect
spot to use up all of my “I don’t know what brand or color number this thread
is” floss. Or I can try out or practice stitches on them. Or I can do all of
the above.
So that’s how this piece got started.
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| Working embroidery scribble |
First I grabbed a piece of fabric and a marker and scribbled. I
used a hoop I planned to use for framing to be sure the scribble would fit
inside.
Then I did a backstitch and a Rose’s illegal backstitch following
the lines of the scribble with black floss. I had thread left over from the
butterfly vest project which I’m almost finished with. (I’m just adding some
glow-in-the-dark thread, a few sequins and some beads and then I’ll be ready to
line it.)
So I started with that thread and one of the inside sections of the
scribble working an uneven running stitch (I’m not too good at keeping my
stitches even – lol). When I ran out of one thread I started another. I decided
to stick with just straight stitches on this scribble. Once that section was
full of running stitches
I went to another section and did an almost satin
stitch leaving gaps in between each row. (I drew addition lines with my blue
marking pen just for guidance.)
Next I went to the smaller inside section and
started using a scattered seed stitch changing colors as I went. I noticed the
effect I was getting with the different combinations of color. I will
definitely use this technique in other projects!
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| Seed scatter stitch |
While I was working on this someone mentioned the scribble looked
like and onion and an eggplant. So I decided to use a concentration of purple
for the rest of the scribble to enhance the “eggplant look”. I did dip into my
collection of unknown threads for this part.
I needed another type of straight
stitch to use and I wanted to use something I had not done before. I thought
about my long desire to learn the short and long stitch. I’ve checked it out
before but for some reason the directions in my stitch books just didn’t clue
me in (it was more my lack of really concentrating on the instructions that
jammed me up). So I picked up my favorite book, The left-handed embroiderer’s
companion by Yvette Stanton, (she has it for right handed people also).
Flipped to the page for the stitch and saw what to do. Mainly because she used
a different color for each row and she shows several rows being done.
Wonderful! I started out at the top narrow end and worked a few rows. I was
delighted! This is definitely going to be one of my favorite filler stitches. I
was so happy with it I had a hard time putting it down after working for
fifteen minutes (this was one of my fifteen minutes a day projects).
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Gap in the stitching
(click on image to see it better) |
Due to the
irregular shape of the scribble I had to do some fiddling with it and probably
should have started in the middle of each row and work my way to each side but
this wasn’t aimed for perfection, this was a learning work. I did wind up with
a few noticeable gaps but it was easy enough to go back and fill them in.
Towards the end I decided to try switching to another shade of purple and then
a third one. That worked out fairly well also. This was definitely a worthwhile
project not only for using up leftover thread but also for trying something
different.
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| Changing shades of purple on eggplant |
Oh and one more thing. Here’s a picture of the back of my work.
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| Back of embroidery work |
Now I don’t often show the back since I’m not a stickler for no knots or that
the back should be as nice as the front. I don’t use the juicy fat knots I was
taught as a child but I do knot my thread with a simple overhand knot pulled
tight and clipped close to the knot. And I do knot at the end also. But anyway
notice on the back of this piece the double line of black running stitches?
This was caused by my “illegal backstitch”. And I like the look of it so I took
a photo just to have it to remind myself that I would like to try that look on
one of my scribbles rather than a solid black one.
You may need to click on the photo to enlarge it in order to see the details.
Happy creative stitching with leftovers!
Rose
