So I love to do sewing projects, and although I do own a machine, space and time limitations since moving out have dictated that I work on thing s that can be easily put away when not actively being worked on. I have therefore taken a dive back into the world of embroidery and cross stitch.
Cross stitch presents no problem for me, I have a fairly large collection of untapped kits and projects that need to be finished. It was basically the first skill I acquired in my crafting journey because it is my mother’s preferred mode of work.
Embroidery on the other hand has been my own special project. Growing up I read plenty of historical fiction and fantasy where it was a fine skill practiced by ladies and their dainty stitches were the marvel of all. For many years that was pretty much all I knew, tinier is better and it led to some interesting projects as a kid. Later on I finally acquired some modern sampler kits and actually learned what the heck I was doing. That plus YouTube and not actually having been forced to sit interminable hours of my childhood looking longingly at the outdoors while told to sit still and mind my embroidery led me to the somewhat mistaken conclusion that I could, upon acquiring an ebook of Harry Potter themed embroidery patterns progress from the page to the fabric without issue.
I should have known better. The samplers I had done were all printed, and while I have cut my share of clothing patterns that is a much different skill from transferring an intricate image directly onto fabric.
Had I had the good sense to purchase the physical form of the book, it would have been accompanied by pattern transfers for each of the included patterns, but alas I was impatient and so the eBook it was. Not that the transfers would have helped all that much as I was working with a modified version of the patterns, resized to fit my existing embroidery hoops that live in the appropriate places on the feature wall.
I started with the smaller of the two hoops, a 4” for which I had selected the mischief managed banner and a few adjusted footsteps to fit the larger pattern into the hoop. I printed out the adjusted pattern ( sorry, I’m not making these available as they are not my original designs) and attempted to transfer it as I would for paper, using a light table and a pencil. I would not recommend.
Then I switched it up and did some DIY transfer paper- read I scribbled really hard on the back of the page with a pencil- and trace over the paper from the front. This sort of worked for about 30 seconds, but the graphite was just not showing up on the fabric. Of course I didn’t know this until I had finished tracing it, at which point I really wanted to start the project, and if you tilted it in the right light you could kinda see the impression of the pencil so I carried forward. Also do not recommend. I made it work but still not a plan.
So from there I started on the first pattern, the mischief managed banner. I think the real trick is don’t try to embroidery in a familiar and memorable font without clear guidance, but we got there in the end. I started by couching in the outline of the banner. Then I outlined it again in a backstitch before tackling the words.
Left to my own devices I think I would have chosen a different stitch for the lettering, but I was still stubbornly following the directions in the book (despite chucking the first 14 steps out the window, I don’t know why I do this to myself)
Finally I came back in with the satin stitch to finish out the feet, and despite its early difficulties I think it turned out pretty well.
After tacking down the edges it was mounted the the feature wall, and there it stays. Keep an eye out for the next design I’m hoping to tackle from this book, an outline of Hogwarts. Hopefully the lessons from this round will make that a bit easier!
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