For the past 10 Weeks as most of you may know I have taken on the challenge of learning to Embroider through resources I found online.  At the beginning of this journey I might have been a bit naive believing it would be a lot less time consuming and tedious than crocheting or knitting. When  I first started I imagined it wouldn’t take that long to create a simple picture. Boy was I wrong, along with finishing this semester I also managed to finish watching every episode of Gilmore Girls, most of those episodes spent mindlessly sticking my needle to my embroidery hoop.

At the start of my learning journey I Put Down the hook and picked up the needle.   something Ive been thing about doing for awhile. In my First blog I talk about my reasons for wanting to learn how to embroider and I share a fun fact about how my Grandma used to embroider along time ago. I also share how using Micheal’s coupons helped save me 45% off my haul of supplies to get started

After gathering my supplies I Got Started, learning 3 basic stitches from a video made by Lovecrafts, and worked on creating a Pinterest board filled with ambitious pictures I’d hope to one day emulate.

Later after learning the first 3 basic stitches from the Lovecrafts video, I learned the hard way about Always putting your needle away, that needle pricked me good.. After finding my needle I proceeded to finish learning  the 7 significantly harder stitches,making it an even 10 stitches. 

  After learning those 10 basic stitches I decided to conquer  A to Z using 4 out of the 10 stitches I now know. Using a Video from Wandering Threads embroidery  to guide me along the way. This is where I realized that Embroidery takes a lot longer than I expected, from start to finish The whole thing took about half a season of Gilmore Girls to create( about 7.5 hours).

 Lighting The cactus is where I write about my  struggle to transfer a Cactus picture I found on DMC onto a black canvas, a rookie mistake I won’t repeat twice. I also finally get a Needle threader that changed my life for about a week. I also premier my first  DIY learning video where I showcase my new threader in action. As an added bonus It also features my first cactus that took about 2 Gilmore Girls episodes(1.5 hours) to create.

After coming around the mountain of homework and midterms I start working on creating two more cacti and a mountain outline. This is where my floss becomes  so entangled because I attempt to use two colors at once causing me to get bored and frustrated abandoning my scenic cacti picture forever. 

After abandoning my Cacti I  take my head out of the clouds, and find a dreamy tutorial on creating puffy clouds using the Public Library Database,  a source I recommend to anyone trying to learn a new DIY skill, they even offer weekly classes for free. , so far my fluffy clouds are my favorite thing I’ve created.

Embroidery 101 takes us back to basics where I put  my new found Videography skills, and Windows movie editor to use, to teach you how to do 4 of the main stitches I’ve been using the most.

 To wrap up  my final learning project post I wanted to do something I’ve been dying to try, create a Time lapse video of my embroidery.   It also gives me the chance to finish one full picture to have since the cacti were a bust. To create the time lapse I used a logitech C922  streaming camera with a program I downloaded called VideoVelocity3 that records your video in time-lapse format. The program was easy to navigate and as an added bonus was free! After creating the video I used the Windows movie Editor to add music and the title before uploading  it to Youtube. 

As you can see I’ve come a long way from lopsided letters to fluffy clouds in the setting sky. While I still have a long way to go to become a master embroiderer, I’ve gained a lot of experience in a short amount of time.  I’m really glad I chose to learn how to embroider for this project, with all the motivational comments from my peers cheering me on it made it easier to continue on. I know as this class wraps up, I will continue learning more stitches and creating new pictures.

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For this Weeks blog I thought I would show you how to recreate the three main stitches I’ve been using for my embroidery projects so far. The Running Stitch, Back Stitch, and Chain Stitch. I’ve also added a bonus fourth stitch the Satin Stitch, so you can see how the puffy clouds from the previous blog post were created.

To Start embroidering you will need a piece of material, big enough to fit your embroidery hoop, a needle and Embroidery floss and what ever pattern you want to create. I would recommend learning a few basic stitches before jumping right into a pattern though.

To Create the video I used the webcam on my Laptop to record the video. I then used the windows movie editor to add a filter, the Title screen, text box and background music. The movie editor was really easy to navigate, the only down side is that it doesn’t allow for more than one text box.

For this week’s blog, I was feeling a bit bored with my Cactuses and the thought of picking it wasn’t bringing me inspiration. So Instead I decided to check out the learning source I shared in the Slack resources for EDTC300. The Public Library has a whole online database dedicated to DIY, to access the database all you need is a library card and your pin. After logging in it takes you to a website called Creativebug, where there is a whole database of different projects to choose from. After choosing a project it gives you all the information you could possibly need including lists of materials, videos, photos, and comments questions by other people who have created the project and the average time it takes to complete the project. Some of the projects they have on the website are fairly new and have a weekly video, that you can do live each week that it comes out. Each weekly video continues building on what they taught the previous week. After a bit of browsing I came across a video on creating textured clouds, taught by an embroider goddess Lauren who sells and creates her own patterns.

within the first 4 minutes of the video I learned so much. One being the correct type of needle to use when using full floss called a tapestry needle which is a lot larger than an ordinary embroidery needle that I have been using.

After free handing some clouds onto my fabric, the video instructed me to create Chain stitches across the bottom of the cloud, after a quick refresher on how to do this stitch (which was included in the video) it was fairly easy to accomplish.

After chaining the bottom of a couple of my clouds I moved onto the next step which is filling in the clouds , as you can see from my picture its fairly simple.

Starting in the middle of the cloud you angle your stitch diagonally and do simple satin stitches all the way across following the contours of the cloud, when finished one side you start in the middle again and work your way to the other side. 

This video was refreshing to try and really got my creativity sparked again. I am now filling in the background as well. I will definitely be trying out a few more projects from the library data base especially because its free, I give the whole experience 4 out of 4 clouds!

(when she comes)

Well first off I have some sad news, I broke my needle threader.. I don’t think it was made to take the full thickness of the embroidery floss. I attempted to pull the floss through the threader and proceeded to rip the wire right off instead, and bent the needle in the process as well.  At least it was well used for the couple of weeks I had it. 

This week I continued embroidering my piece from last week, I got a little distracted this week with midterms and an essay looming over my head but I managed to get a few more cactus stitched along with the starting of the mountains. I attempted to go off the book this week and attempted to use not one but two needles at once with two different colors to accomplish making a two toned cactus.  

However, using two threads became extra difficult because they kept getting tangled together creating a huge mess on the back half and I ended up wasting so much thread. 
But the outcome of the two toned cactus made the headache of a mess worth it.

My third cactus was fairly easy. I used the running stitch to outline to give it a different texture, not sure if i’m done with it yet thought I might add to it still at a later date. 

Lastly I’ve been working on the mountains! Hence the song lyrics that are inevitably stuck in your head after reading the title of this blog. However I don’t think that I am a huge fan of these particular mountains that I’ve stitched so far. I think it might be the middle one mostly, I might redo it, so I can manage to make the peaks more defined. Hopefully by next week I have the whole picture finished!

For my next project I browsed multiple pictures till I found one that appealed to me. Lately I’ve been feeling cactus’s and I found the perfect picture of mountains cactus’s and the moon and stars and it was free! You can check out the full picture Here. After printing out the pattern I attempted to follow the instructions that came with the picture but failed terribly, I think using black fabric made it extra difficult. Essentially there is two options one is easy if you have the material that being Transfer paper, you trace the pattern onto the transfer paper and then push it onto the fabric and then trace it again pushing down leaving a pattern to follow. The other is printing out the pattern and then using a Light source being it to trace the pattern. Since I don’t live anywhere near a craft store and have 0 access to transfer paper I attempted using a flashlight to see the pattern, It didn’t work… I then tried to use the backdrop of the TV, it also wasn’t a great light source, I ended up tracing the printed pattern with red pen and then stood on a chair in my kitchen holding it up to the fluorescent lighting to get a faint outline.

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After Tracing the pattern I used the printed instructions that came with the pattern to figure out what stitches I need to know! Luckily it’s all the beginner stitches I learned in the previous Blogs! The instructions say to use black and yellow floss, But since I chose to do it on black fabric I figured I could choose multiple colors of green and grey. The first cactus I created took about 1.5 hours. I’m hoping to finish the Whole picture for the next week!

For this week I thought i would show you what I  finally bought, a needle threader!! It’s the most useful tool you could have. I picked mine up at Micheals for about $4 and it was worth every dollar. I created a video with my Samsung phone and then edited it by removing background music and adding pre-loaded music options with the video editor pre-loaded onto the phone, i then uploaded it to YouTube and then Embedded it into this blog so you can see how it works. The Video editor on my phone gives me options to add a filter, remove the background noise and add music and ended up being pretty easy to use. I do wish that I had a stand or something so I could easily film myself actually stitching but I flip my fabric back and forth so much trying to make sure I put the needle in the right spot that I can’t get a good angle where one would actually be able to see what I’m doing. The other thing I wish either YouTube Editor or my phones editor had was a speed up/ slow down option but maybe there’s a different video app for that. If anyone has any suggestions I’d gladly take them!

Well I don’t want to admit it, but I didn’t learn from my previous mistake.. I swore I put my needle away yet somehow i’m missing one from my pack and cant seem to find it. Fingers crossed Its not sitting somewhere waiting to stab me.

 After learning all 10 stitches in the previous blog I figured  I would now conquer the basics of the alphabet. After browsing a couple of videos and websites on how to do lettering the first 4 stitches I learned earlier seem to be the most popular. I chose Wandering Threads Embroidery to guide me on my path for learning basic lettering. She uses the same 4 stitches  along with a few tips and tricks and photos for easy following.

For the first row of the alphabet A to E I used the Back Stitch, and then for letters F to M I used the Running Stitch. While it is neat to see your stitches become something other than a line, I hope eventually it gets quicker. After about 40 minutes I’ve accomplished stitching lets A to M.

 I’ve also realized with longer Floss tangles and knots become an issue, when not careful pushing/ pulling the floss through the fabric. 

N to V was Created using the Split Stitch and Required twice as much time as the first two rows. I began taking my embroidery with me everywhere to get in a few stitches here and there so I could finish the whole alphabet this week.

W to Z and the EDTC300 hashtag were created using the final stitch on her blog called the Stem Stitch. The stem stitch was probably one of the most difficult stitches to keep straight but became my most favorite. It almost looks like a twisted rope and is the easiest to see.

The whole thing took about half a season of Gilmore Girls to create, so about 7.5 hours. I assume a more intricate picture might take even more time.

Next week I plan on learning how to transfer patterns onto fabric and hopefully start an actual picture!

By the title of my blog you might know where I’m going with this, but for everyone’s safety put your needles away when your not using them! Maybe even buy a cute little needle case or pin cushion. Don’t be like me and unknowingly grab your couch blanket ( blanket for being warm and cozy on your couch) finding the needle you used before as it stabs into your hand, and then in a state of shock throw the blank and needle away from you. Losing the needle you didn’t know was lost once again.

After finding the needle and struggling to re-thread  it yet again.. I started the second half of the video from the previous Blog.

As I began to watch the other half of the video, I start slowly realizing the second half of the video is getting significantly harder. I’ll probably have to get familiarized with them again, once I actually start a real project. but least I will hopefully have the basics down. 

The Chain Stitch: a bit more complicated and involved a bit more skill, but was essentially a stitch involving weaving the needle underneath your stitch before creating another stitch.

The Lazy Daisy Stitch: involved me pricking myself more than once and creating the most sloppy looking half flower, but it requires less tension apparently compared to the other stitches, and like I said in the previous blog I tend to strangle my yarn so that could be why.

The Fly Stitch:  I really enjoyed this one, It makes little V shapes and is good for filling in plants!

The Satin Stitch: Is used to fill in spaces with color, and was also super easy to figure out and one that I’ll probably use a lot.  

The French Knot Stitch: Pretty simply, and just requires wrapping the thread around the needle and going back through. Great for adding Texture and creating little rose bud type stitches.

The  last and final Stitch from the video the Long and Short was by far my least favorite, It’s so tedious and at the moment makes no sense to me, as to why you would want to use it when compared to Satin stitch since they are both used to fill in spaces.

Keep coming back for more updates, Next week I plan to attempt the Alphabet!

 After assembling my supplies I began a “quick” search on Pinterest. Which in reality if you never used Pinterest means that for what innocently started as quick search on How to Embroider, Embroidery for beginners turned into a few hours of mindlessly looking and then eventually pinning pretty pictures of other peoples embroidery as inspiration. I’ve linked my Pinterest Board as well to this blog, so if your also interested in embroidery you can check out the pretty work other people have created along with  actual helpful links I’ve managed to pin as well. 

After a bit of research, I am now able to successfully put the fabric into the loop, and have learned that the string used to do embroidery is called Floss not string. Also that floss is made up of multiple strands of floss and some stitches require you to pull said floss apart into smaller strands of floss. Also when it’s suggests to get a threader for your needle GET ONE. It took me 5 minutes to get my floss into the needle and I had to pull my floss apart into a half section just to get it through the hole.
Instead of my usual jumping in without reading the instructions I figured I would actually take the time to watch videos and learn a few basic’s.

After watching the about half of the video I tried out the first three stitches. So far the video seems easy to follow along with and simplifies things so even with my left-handed backwardness I felt like I could follow along.

The three stitches I learned:

Running stitch: a line that has small gaps in between stitches

Back Stitch: Which is very similar to running stitch but is solid and most commonly used for outlines. 

Split stitch: Essentially the same as the back stitch but you push the needle through the previously stitched section giving it a continuous look compared to the back stitch. also usually a thicker floss is easier for doing this stitch.

What I wish I would have known before starting: Make sure your floss is long but not too long, I pulled it off the needle SOO many times.. It has gotten easier to put back on thought.. Still, next time i’m at Michaels I will be getting a threader to make my life easier.

Welcome to my Blog ,

Its all about my attempt to learn how to Embroider.

For the past few months I’ve been thinking about learning how to Embroider I think i was inspired by seeing those girls selling their inappropriately funny embroidered pieces in the Riddle Center in December. Last winter I attempted to learning how to crochet and knit. Both skills I learned how to do, but not great. I think this is largely due to my left handed backwardness.Every time I tried, I strangled my yarn, and my loops got to small. I had a hard time poking the stick back through easily enough and then with crocheting the same thing. But then with crocheting, there’s that whole messy thing of counting your loops or stitches and that was always something I couldn’t figure out how to do. Essentially if you want a really lumpy toque or large square i’m your girl. 

With no previous knowledge of embroidery I decided a quick Google Search on what I needed to get started was the best place to start. After getting my list of supplies I headed to the local craft store Michael’s to pick up the required materials involved in the embroidery process! Luckily for me Michael’s just happened to have a 45%off coupon that had one day left before it expired. So I got my bag of supplies plus a few extra bits that I probably didn’t need yet. By the end of this class I hope to have completed at least one full picture and feel competent in the stitches required to create such things.

A random fun fact!

After talking to my dad on the phone today, I found out that he had learned to embroider when he was a child from my grandma apparently doesn’t remember much. But he also told me that my grandma used to embroidered all the time, and he has one my grandmas pieces hanging up in their house. So hopefully I’ll be genetically disposed to be great at embroidering.