What Are You Stitching?

The world is filled with all creatures great and small. The ones we are most familiar with are the creatures of the land and the air, but what about the creatures in the sea? Ocean life is endlessly fascinating but isn’t as well represented in needlework as we think it should be. In order to inspire you and show you just how majestic sea creatures can be, here are a few examples:

Jill Hart

‘This is a project I did a little while ago. I took the photo after it was framed so the project is sitting behind glass. I was too scared to remove it in case I couldn’t get it back in again!’

It looks like a magnificent project, Jill. We love the design. Jellyfish are such a fascinating subject to stitch.

Kate Cooke

‘When I retired at the age of 61, I decided to take a course on machine embroidery. In my youth, I was taught by my mother to use her sewing machine and when my children were small, I took to my trusty machine to make clothes for them. But I had never tried anything other than construction sewing.’

‘The course involved hand stitching as well, which I soon found myself more attracted to than the machine aspect. I enhanced my newfound skills by using short online courses and books on stitching techniques.

I try to stitch every day and during one year I challenged myself to embroider one 6” hexie every week.

Since achieving that, I have made three fabric books, one embroidered journal and several small Hazel Blomkamp and Trish Burr designs. The octopus shown above, however, is my own design.’

It sounds like you have achieved some incredible things with your stitching, Kate. Your octopus is so lifelike. It’s a stunning piece of embroidery.

Kay Bartlett

‘My branch of the West Country Embroiderer’s in the UK had a 35th anniversary exhibition planned with a competition around the theme of ‘Coral’. I did a coloured Casalguidi piece designed to illustrate the deterioration of the coral reef. My son entitled it ‘Coral Grief’.’

‘I started with vibrant rich natural threads and ended up with a nasty black plastic thread. I was astounded when my piece won!’

Not astounding at all, Kay! Your piece is wonderful and well deserved its prize. Congratulations.

Do you love all of the creatures in the sea? Are you fascinated by the ocean and do you feel your needles twitch whenever you see a picture of an iridescent fish or an exquisite piece of coral? Or do you prefer stitching more familiar animals?

Whatever it is you like to stitch, we’d like to see it. Send us a picture of your work with some information about the project and your stitching journey to news@inspirationsstudios.com.