OK! Week 1 into my embroidery journey and I am reminded that it is not as easy as it looks. I was extremely humbled this week.
I sat down with my embroidery material with the goal in mind that I wanted to learn how to start an embroidery from the very beginning as well as a good amount of basic of stitches. Being a very visual learner I thought YouTube would be the perfect place to start. I learned very quickly that there was a whole world of resources for beginners like me on YouTube – it was truly a task to find which one I wanted to watch.
I Heart Stitch Art – Website Logo
One video by I Heart Stitch Art (Sarah) particularly stood out as the title of the video literally had everything I wanted to learn in the title “Embroidery for beginners – Stitches, knots, needle threading & More”. This video was awesome! From it I learnt how to load my hoop and properly separate my thread and thread it through my needle as well as the following stitches:
Back Stitch
Running Stitch
Stem Stitch
Chain Stitch (I struggled with this one.. hence the title of my post)
French Knot
Lazy Daisy (OK, I reaalllly struggled with this – picture proof below)
Satin Stitch
Basic Stitch-work
This video was great in terms of instruction but it also broke each step down into ‘Chapters’, making it extremely convenient to find the time where the stitch you needed more practice with was.
I wasn’t just glad to have stumbled upon this video because of Sarah’s great instruction but, low and behold, she also has an Etsy Shop, Blog, and Instagram where she has more free resources (SCORE!).
This week proved to me that embroidery is definitely “in” right now just by the amount of resources available – I don’t think I will have any shortage as my journey continues!
What to Expect Next Week
More of the same will be coming next week while I try out some more complex stitch work and maybe try to find some more resources to assist me in the ones I struggled with this week!
This project couldn’t have come at a better time, well actually, better timing really would have been around April 2022 (you will learn why soon) – but I am not one to complain… so anyways, I am glad it is here now! During the pandemic when we were all spending waaay too much time at home, my roommate gifted myself and the other girls in our house an embroidery kit. Ok, you could be thinking either “Wow what a great gift idea!” or “Is that really a gift if you have to do it yourself?” – well she had done so in hopes we would do it together to pass time, which we did exactly that, so the end result wasn’t really our focus.
Anyways, this kit was incredibly fun. Was I good at it? No not overly. Did I complete it on my own? Also no, I think it took 4 of us to finish this very basic piece. The point is that despite it not being perfect and not doing it from scratch, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I spent the time where I wasn’t confused about what I was doing, thinking about my late grandmother who always gifted handmade things. Those gifts were so special and now that she is no longer with us, even more so.
Fast forward 1.5 years to this spring, May 2022, my brother and sister-in-law welcomed the most beautiful little girl into our family. Now, I was thinking about gift ideas and just stumbled across the thought that our grandma would have made something incredible for her, so I thought I should continue on this tradition. Knowing I am not near as creative nor as talented as her, and keeping in mind I had only done one beginners embroidery kit over a year ago (which took me an embarrassingly long time to complete), I ordered a custom pattern off of Etsy to do an embroidery pattern for my niece. This pattern has been printed out and sitting on my desk since May 2022 – so, here comes the reason why this project is perfect, I am FINALLY going to learn how to do this pattern and complete it in hopes it can be her Christmas present!
Let’s talk about my game plan (sorry about the sport lingo, I was a student athlete, remember?), since the only embroidery I have ever done was 1.5 years ago and I had 3 friends helping me – I simply don’t remember anything I had once learned so we are starting from scratch and we are going to learn from only online resources! WOOHOO!
OK, back to the game plan, since I was feeling extra motivated when I first got this pattern I had already purchased the materials I thought needed but to refresh my mind I did a fast Google Search for “What you need to start embroidering?”.
I had everything at home except the fabric pen but figured I would need more colours of floss and more fabric as I am going to need a lot of practice – so I put in an order from Michaels.Now that the materials are taken care of, I am going to spend the rest of my journey from now until Christmas learning different stitches (starting with the basic and working my way up), how to incorporate the stitches into a piece, how to transfer a paper pattern to fabric and completing mini projects along the way.
Here are a few pictures of my Grandma Val’s work – both cross stitching and embroidery.
Hello! If you stumbled along my page you probably already have a good idea of two things – 1. My name is Alli, and 2. I am a future educator, if you guessed either of those things you are correct… but there is more!
So yes, my name is Alli and I am currently enrolled in my Bachelor of Education After Degree at the University of Regina. Where I currently reside, in Regina which is on Treaty 4 Land. I completed my Bachelors of Commerce in Accounting this past spring at the University of Calgary and jumped right in to my after degree. During my entire first degree I thought something was off, and I just knew it wasn’t the right fit. I would listen to my friends’ experiences with their education classes or internships and I envied them, their experiences, and their future careers – so I pivoted *cue Ross Geller*
David Schwimmer in the famous PIVOT scene from Friends
Having lived in Calgary for the past five years and having the rockies at my fingertips had really fostered my love for the outdoors – something I hope I am able to inspire in my future students! When I am not in class or working I love to spend my time curled up with a good book or doing something active – again, two things I hope to bring forward to my classroom! I spent many years being a student athlete – in both high school and post secondary, and not having much down time has helped me appreciate the time I get to do things I love, with people I love more than ever.
As technology continues to grow in importance in this generation, I find myself using Instagram for my everyday life as well as a learning resource to supplement the DIY ideas I find on Pinterest. While I was working in corporate Calgary I was an avid LinkedIn user, I still find it to be a great source for news and to stay in touch with our economy!
While we are moving out of our “Zoom Era”, I am seeing an increased level of technology use in our face-to-face world/school as well! I love participating in Menti’s or a Tophat quiz during class as they are a fun and low-pressure way of encouraging participation. As much as I was ready for the in person interaction, I did appreciate the convenience technology provided over the last two crazy years! It opened our eyes to a new way of learning and though we no longer rely on it I believe it will still be crucial as we move forward and am excited to see how my cooperating teachers use it in their classrooms!
… I also heard that math teachers are quite active on Twitter, naturally, being a math lover I had to join that world too.
Now that you have a little bit of a background on who I am – I can’t wait to dive into this chapter together!
