What Are You Stitching?

Thérèse Desjardins

‘Since I restarted embroidery two years ago with the Brodeuses du St-Laurent (BSL) of Quebec City, Canada, I wanted to try blackwork embroidery and was inspired by one of  Elizabeth Almond’s embroideries.’

‘I therefore found out, by writing to her, the original picture that she herself was inspired by.’

‘I did some research on the Thaï colours and design of their costumes. I copied the picture on a ‘stick and stitch’ sheet on my printer and laid it down on cotton and polyester fabric, weaved evenly, and sewed the contours with a fine black silk thread to obtain a copy of the design and removed the ‘stick and stitch paper’ by washing it before starting to embroider the blackwork stitch inner spaces.’

‘This is the final result. It’s now hanging on my wall after a year, on-and-off, to complete. The entire process was wonderful!’

Thérèse, your blackwork is superb! You’ve done a wonderful job working from the original image and replicating the design with your beautiful stitches.

Jane Masenas

‘Looking forward to daily journaling in a colourful embroidered journal.’

‘The cover was fun to embroider and now I will use the notebook to record project plans, best ideas, and favourite stitches.’

Jane, we love that you have a stitched journal for all things stitching. Very apt! We can’t wait to see the results of your project plans.

Sandra Golbert

‘My ‘Goldfish’ was the first time I have tried goldwork embroidery. The design is my own, and I embroidered it on green silk.’

‘I’m sure I broke many of the traditional goldwork ‘rules’… but I do like my finished fish!’

‘Among my many vintage papers, I re-discovered some Valentine’s Day cards that I believe might have been saved by my great-grandmother.’

‘I embroidered a ‘mat’ and added a few stumpwork flowers (my first foray into that). It was shown in Lexington, MA for an exhibition in an historical house.

Thank you for your wonderful newsletter. I love receiving it and enjoying all the fabulous work. I always design my own projects, but I do find 'Inspirations'... pun intended.’

These are two incredible projects, Sandra! Your fish is truly beautiful, we love how you have captured the movement and fine edges of its fins with the placement of the thread. We also love that you thought of such a creative way to incorporate the vintage cards into your stitched piece!

Have you stitched a project from an image? Do you have a journal for your stitching plans? Or have incorporated family memorabilia into your projects?

Whatever you are stitching, we’d love to see it! Email photos of what you’ve created with needle and thread along with a few details about your stitching journey to news@inspirationsstudios.com