What Are You Stitching?

For those of you who join us regularly for What Are You Stitching? you may have noticed that we love a theme and this week’s theme is ‘uniqueness’ as we’ve decided to share some of the more unique pieces from our WAYS files that celebrate the individuality of what can be created with needle and thread…

Juliette Martel

‘I wanted to make something special for my granddaughter, so I decided to embroider this cross for her confirmation. It is made of hundreds of little bullion stitches, possibly even thousands!’

‘A true labour of love and once assembled I trimmed the edge with little golden beads. It was a challenge to assemble it into a wearable cross, but where there is a will there is a way and the finished cross was much appreciated. Now onto making another one for her sister! Thank you for your wonderful magazine and inspiration.’

Juliette, that is a labour of love indeed! What a special gift for an incredibly special occasion. We look forward to seeing the next labour of love created with your needles and threads!

Susan Cuss

‘I wanted to share with you the beautiful Wrapping Cloth Blanket I made for my daughter. Last September I was so lucky to be able to travel to Australia for the first time and hand deliver it to her. She loved it!’

‘I began working on the wrapping cloth in 2013, while taking an online class with Karen Ruane of the UK. Karen taught us her techniques, but each participant made their own choices on fabrics, stitches, size and design. I used found materials from second-hand shops and friends, fabric from the public school graduation dress I sewed for my daughter, new cottons and a silk I purchased, plus donations of lace and trims from online friends.’

‘I included a bright and fun fabric that had many of my daughter’s favourite colours and called it the wild fabric!’

After 5 years of creating pieces for the cloth – in between other stitching projects – I pieced them together to make a blanket 45.5″ x 58.5″ (115cm x 150cm). I incorporated 97 pockets into my blanket. Some are tiny, some are layered on top of other pockets, and some are hidden. Each pocket is filled with my good wishes, pride in, and love for my daughter.’

‘Since we live so far apart as I live in Canada, she can carry a tangible reminder of my love with her, wherever she may go. She can wrap herself up in it on cold days and try to find all the pockets I created. It was stitched with memories, and bound with love, and I enjoyed every moment of creating it.’

Susan, what an incredible gift for your daughter! Not only is it the time and talent you poured into the blanket, but the thought behind it and the love contained within each pocket that makes it something to be treasured. And to think you were able to hand deliver it to her!

Tony Miller

‘At the stitching group I attend, our convener often insists that we must complete at least six stitches before we can leave and this has become a running joke.

We’re often asked with mock imperiousness whether we’ve done our six stitches and it got me to wonder if anything worthwhile could be done with so little.

I like to experiment, so I tried working with just six stitches and was soon convinced that it was possible to create simple images using mostly fly stitch and detached chain stitches.’

‘Knots would work too, though I hadn’t learnt them at the time. And I realised something else along the way – we often use two or more strands of cotton to give the stitches more impact but there’s no rule that says those strands must be the same colour. By threading contrasting colours or tonal variations onto the needle, more could be eked out of each stitch. The result was a fun and quick project and a gentle dig back at our convener.’

Tony, necessity really is the mother of invention! We love that when you felt the need to express yourself in just six simple stitches, you found a way of achieving it. From small beginnings come great things…

Have the results of your time with needle and thread created something truly unique? We’d love to see it! Email photos of what you’ve created along with a few details about your stitching journey to news@inspirationsstudios.com