What Are you Stitching?

Sometimes, we simply want to immerse ourselves in the beauty of the pattern. Non-figurative needlework has been popular for many centuries and remains so today. We don’t always have to embroider a flower or a bird in order to create beauty. Here are a few projects from our readers to show just how gorgeous embroidered patterns can be:

Michelle

‘I wanted to share a project I recently completed for my daughter who requested another ‘doily thing’ to put on her side table in her lounge room. I showed her the cover of the Inspirations Issue #107 featuring Caterina by Maria Rita Faleri and told her I wanted to make this. Her response was ‘Yes please! I love it!’’

‘As her table was bigger than the original design, I adapted it accordingly. I must say, I’m very pleased with the result.’

We bet your daughter was too, Michelle! It’s always nice to get an enthusiastic response when putting forward a suggestion to stitch a project for someone, and no doubt your clever ideas for alternative colourways and size adaptation were well received as well.

Jean Croft

‘Your past features on Hardanger encouraged me to search for some of my pieces. I always thought white on white was a bit boring. Living in North Queensland, Australia, tropical colours are definitely the go!’

‘I’ve been stitching up a storm as, while still working, my night and weekend commitments have stopped dramatically due to Covid-19 restrictions, and I’ve returned to all my UFOs and started new projects as well.’

Who says Hardanger always has to be white on white, Jean? Tropical colours work absolutely brilliantly! Well done, we love it.

Laura Jaeger

‘When I was young, I was introduced to cross stitching at summer camp. When I turned 30, a friend gave me a gift bag with Janice Love’s Basics and Beyond Hardanger book, some fabric, threads, and a large Hardanger needle. I was instantly entranced and began teaching myself the art of Hardanger.’

‘Now, nearly 10 years later, I am proud to say I’ve just designed my very first large-scale Hardanger project – a tablecloth fitted for our dining room table.

Overall, I think it took me about 1,000 hours to complete, from researching patterns and testing them, planning size and fit for the table, and then stitching and cutting.

An oversized canvas bag became my constant commute companion, as each morning I had 50 minutes on the train with the tablecloth half in the bag on my lap as I worked what I could before pulling into Grand Central Terminal in New York City.’

‘This Hardanger project has been my way of meditating during this turbulent and upsetting year. I am so grateful to have been introduced to embroidery and hope to be able to share my passion with others, learning together as we better our skills (and learn new ones!).’

Wow Laura, thank you for sharing your amazing story and congratulations on your fantastic heirloom piece. You should be incredibly proud of your achievement; the end result is absolutely stunning.

Do you love working with patterns? Does your eye get drawn to the neat geometry of non-figurative shapes? Or do you prefer your embroidery subjects to have eyes, petals or clouds?

Whatever it is you love to embroider, we’d love to see it. Send us a photograph of your work with a bit of information about the project and your personal stitching journey to news@inspirationsstudios.com.