Embroidery - again

I signed up for another embroidery course. Two actually - this time courses that are a bit more straight forward. Craftsy were having a sale, you see, and I just HAD to take advantage of it. Design It, Stitch It: Hand Embroidery is the first course. I signed up for the Mastered course a few months back and while it is very good (high quality with great lessons and helpful people) it is a little less about the stitches than I was hoping for. So far Design It, Stitch It: Hand Embroidery is hitting the spot. It is giving me the tools I was looking for - the stitches, from basic to advanced, and the inspiration to keep going with needle and thread. Once I have finished it I will go back to Mastered and finish what I was doing there. 

I have actually been so inspired that I can't stop myself from embroidering. I started practising stitches just for fun on scrap bits of fabric. It turns out that these scraps are called doodle cloths which I think is a great name. It really is just like doodling - shutting your mind off and randomly drawing with thread on fabric.

Stupendous Stitching: Adventures in Surface Design is the second course I signed up for. It is all sewing machine related and encourages you to try out all the decorative stitches you have on your sewing machine. Unfortunately I have a sewing machine that only does straight stitch, zigzag and buttonholes. You can't even change the stitch width or length. And I hate it! It grunts and snorts and rumbles and rattles - even after I have put in a new needle. It has to go. So, come Christmas, I am hoping to get a sparkly new machine, one that does a few decorative stitches. That is when the course comes in to play. Definitely something to look forward to.

And one final piece of embroidery is my stumpwork butterfly. I started it about a year ago and only just got around to finishing it. I'm not totally happy with the stitch work but as it was my first butterfly I'm sure it will get better over time.