Last week, I made a post showing my needlework bucket list for the year: 𝟸. 𝙻𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚗 𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚞𝚙 𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚒𝚝. You can check here for my complete bucket list.
Gio Gix
Embroidery is a craft where fabrics are designed using threads and a needle. It can be used to add letters and pictures to a fabric. I fell in love with the art on Pinterest where I would see pictures of Converse high-tops, jeans, T-shirts, and tote bags designed with embroidery. They looked cute and unique that I promised myself that this year, I’d actually learn it and make designs on my clothing and other personal items. It was number two on my list and I started with it.
I should have learnt the basic stitches first of all, but after watching so many tutorials, my fingers, itching to start, found a tutorial and went ahead to try a sunflower on one of my skirts. And it was at night! Well, it came out so pretty and neat for a first try that everyone was impressed. The petals were not perfect but the leaves looked perfect. I put on the skirt, displaying it for my sister and my friends to see. I couldn’t wait to try all the designs I had in mind. I even went ahead to embroider a daisy as well.
After trying out both flowers on the skirt, I watched more embroidery videos before settling on a tutorial I was going to follow to learn the basic embroidery stitches. Then, I got an old cloth and tried out those stitches on it.I learnt Running stitch, Back stitch, Split stitch, Stem stitch, Chain stitch, Straight stitch, French Knot, Lazy Daisy, Blanket stitch, Woven Wheel stitch, Fishbone stitch, Satin stitch, and Bullion Knot. I already knew how to do a Running stitch and a Back stitch from sewing, others like the Satin stitch and the Straight stitch were easy, but the French Knot was not easy at all. I already encountered difficulty when I embroidered the daisy on my skirt. I had to cut the thread and start agin twice and it still didn’t come out very well. This time, I kept at it till I perfected it.
The Woven Wheel stitch was pretty easy but the thread on my needle wasn’t long enough to finish going round and although I was supposed to go round till I covered the straight stitches, I just ended it there because I was l already tired.
Having learnt the basic stitches, the next day, I took out my denim skirt and proceeded to embroider daisies across the top of the back. I’d had that idea since I started seeing the pretty embroidery designs on the internet and I was finally doing it. In embroidery, we usually draw out the outline of what we want to embroider before we begin stitching. I made a mistake with the first two that I did because the markings I made were not going to be completely covered with the stitches. It wasn’t that bad though because the skirt was a similar shade of blue as the pen that I used. Phew!
I ended up mostly doing a different kind of daisy from the one I did on my other skirt and it turned out prettier!
Looking at how good my skirt looked, I couldn’t stop there. I went on to brighten my plain-looking tote bag by scattering a number of pink and purple roses on the front. I used just the Woven Wheel stitch for that. I couldn’t help but be proud of myself by the time I did the last stitch. How did I do, guys?
While learning the stitches, I found a page on YouTube that had tutorials of some awesome designs, some of which used to leave me in awe whenever I saw them on the internet. I’ll put the link to a couple of them below. They seemed uncomplicated unlike how I thought they would be — like the 3d hair designs. I’ll be trying some of them and would make sure to show you guys the result. Soon!
My goal was to learn embroidery and liven up some items with it. With the stitches I’ve learnt and all the tutorials I’ve watched, I can say that I’ve learnt how to do embroidery, and with what I’ve done on my skirts and bag, I’m pleased with myself for setting a goal and having attained it. I do not intend to stop here though. Embroidery has become a new obsession that I can bet it’s something I’d find myself doing with every opportunity I have. And it’s for life!
Working on this goal taught me that things are not always as serious or as complicated as they seem. I was shocked with the first flower that I did because I didn’t expect it to be that easy. Well, that’s life for you! You never know how something is until you try it. So try that activity you’ve been meaning to or have interest in or have been keeping off for the longest time. It could just end up being something that would stay with you forever like mine would. So here’s to me saying cheers to seeing something nice, taking it on and getting it done!
All images are mine, unless stated otherwise.
