Inspiration: My own mind!
Materials
- A huge box of embroidery floss in a variety of colors (that belonged to a favorite aunt)
- Small, pointed, sharp thread scissors
- Fabric scissors to cut fabric, optional
- Embroidery needles
- Needle threaders, optional
- Hoops of various sizes, 8" for this project (a gift for which I'm grateful)
- Squares of various solid color cotton fabrics I got for free, cut to 10" x 10" or 12" x 12"
- A long, thin loop turner, optional (not pictured here)
- A container for the project and supplies (not pictured)
- Pencil, pen, chalk, or colored pencil to transfer the pattern (not pictured)
- A pattern (shown below)
- Paper cutter or paper scissors--do not use fabric scissors on paper or they will get dull faster
Step 1: Gather supplies.
PatternI used clip-art to make a suggestion of a pattern I can adapt as I embroider.
Embroidery Floss
I used only black floss, as the fabric is reminiscent of a night-sky.
Hoop
Choose your hoop size so you know how large to cut your fabric square. I had ~10" fabric squares and chose a 9" hoop because that gives me an 8" square for the piecework.. I put a rubber band on the inner hoop to help with traction and that kept better tension on the fabric.
Needle
The needle needs to be large enough to make threading it easy enough, but I think mine's too large and makes holes in the fabric that allow the knots to pass through, unless I double knot the end of the floss. I didn't knot my work in the back; this time, I anchored the thread by running it through the back of some previous work, sometimes a second time in the opposite direction, if I didn't have at least 1" of thread anchored.
Fabric Scissors, Thread Scissors, and Paper Scissors or Paper Cutter
You may need fabric scissors to cut the fabric. It's easier to have dedicated scissors, but if you're not worried about your edges being rough, it may not matter. Don't use fabric scissors on paper if you do have a separate pair, or they dull faster.
The thread scissors need to be sharp enough to easily snip the thread and small and pointed enough to snip a stitch if you have to remove some of your work.
You will also need paper scissors or a paper cutter to trim your pattern.
Loop Turner, optional
I used this to re-knot some trimmed work where the knots spontaneously came undone. It can also help with anchoring the final ends of your work.
Fabric
I've since learned there's cloth that's specifically woven to make such projects easier, called Aida weave. This fabric is a plain calico and worked well.
I washed, ironed, and cut several squares of various dark sky colors, and ultimately chose a gold-glittered purple and black cloudy fabric.
Container
I have a small box that fits everything including my current project. This makes it easy to tidy up without putting everything away.
Writing Utensil
The pattern transfer link (below) discusses several options and how to choose them. I used a white charcoal pencil; I need a softer, off-white color to show on dark fabrics, but so it won't be such a stark contrast if it isn't all hidden by the thread. It was difficult to transfer the fine detail -- next time I need to tape the pattern and fabric to the window so I can pause to sharpen the pencil more often.
Step 2: Transfer the pattern and prepare the hoop and fabric.
There are several methods for transferring a pattern.
I held my paper and fabric to a window on a sunny day and used a white charcoal pencil as discussed under Writing Utensil. Step 3: Choose thread colors.
I chose only black for the bats, to contrast with the off-black fabric. I plan to leave the central large bat shape empty to represent the cave from which they are escaping.
Step 4: Begin stitching.
I'm using a variety of stitches, mostly Back Stitch and Running Stitch, and making up the technique as I go.Step 5: Keep the back tidy and anchor threads.
The reverse shows how I anchored my threads in existing work. I attempted to keep the threads on the back hidden from the front, so when I lay this over batting, they won't show through the background fabric.Step 6: Finish stitching.
Step 7: Design the piecework pattern.
My mom has leftover scraps, pre-cut squares and triangles, that she won't use, so I can select from those for free.I used a giant sheet of graph paper, from a pad I also picked up for free, and drew grid lines every 2" -- the approximate width of a sewn square. Using her rotary cutter, mat, and ruler, I used another sheet to cut 2" squares and cut half of those into "half-squares", so called to differentiate these triangles by those called "quarter-squares." I laid those out until I had a design approximating a swarm of bats.
This is a pillow that will be 16"x16", or four 4x4 blocks each measuring 8"x8".
I used another sheet of graph paper, and transferred the scaled design to that -- I can two four pairs of blocks from that and rotate them about the design; the center space will have the embroidery piece appliqued.
Step 8: Determine the pieces needed.
I transferred the design to a grid-dotted notebook (not to scale) for
easier reference, and made notes about what number of each shape of
piece I will need in what hues and tones.I sorted through her thousands of scraps and hundreds of fabrics first by color, then separated each hue (here, dark blues, greys, blacks, and purples) roughly by shade and tone. I tried to select unique fabrics for each piece, but in some cases used a striped piece cut vertically and the same one cut on the diagonal; in other cases used the reverse of a fabric if it looked enough like a true print.
There are 88 total pieces in this pattern, and at least 80 unique fabrics for this face. This is not including the backing that I will quilt the face to, or the background for the embroidery, which I will applique in the center of the piecework, or the back of the pillow itself, which will be one large piece.
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