amitymamaThe Attachment Parenting Community

BonaDea

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I'm trying to hand embordier (gosh I'll have to learn to spell that... I think I may be a quilter 'cause I can spell it) a sig on a quilt. LOL it is not very pretty but it is almost done.

Any basic advice you'd like to share?

Ideally, I'm thinking I'd like to do a redwork embrodiered quilt!! EEEKS.

Thanks a bunch.

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~~~~Jenn, Jerick & Julia ~~~~

Surfer Girl

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I've been doing hand embroidery and crewel since I was 5, learned from my grandmother.
You should probably do some practice stitches on a piece of fabric similar to what you will be embroidering. I use 2 strands of floss usually. Here's a site with some easy to follow stitches-I don't have alot of bookmarked sites since I know the stitches by heart long before the internet came into my life lol
http://www.heritageshoppe.com/herita.../stitches.html

The stem stitch makes the best signatures, IMHO.

Redwork is neat-my grandma has some penny square quilts that I covet. Use designs that don't have a ton of detail so it won't get lost being done all in one color. The outline stitch can be used for all of it. Oh and if you are so inclined a hoop makes things easier while you are still new to the stitches-I don't use one anymore but my grandmother does-maybe it's personal preference?

Hmm does this help? Ask me anything.

BonaDea

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ahh that would explain why my 6 strands looks really bulky ... but I was just going for it and it is a quilt for me to use and abuse so it gets random things that I like to try kwim.

cool! That's what I was doing but then I got lost at some point and did more of a running stich before I figured it out

penny squares? what's that?

I've never had any luck in the post with using hoops so if I can't do it without I'll give it up. but that's just me.

Very helpful!!!

Next question:
How to you start and stop/hide the knot.
I check the link I didn't find it there.

Oh, yeah I'm thinking of a ABC type redwork as a sampler and learninging tool for the kiddos. LOL and 'cause I know my ABC's.

Thank you for takeing the time to respond!

Surfer Girl

iTrader: 1 / 100%

Penny squares are just squares of muslin that could be bought for a penny apiece back in the late 1800s-a special treat to buy do redwork or blackwork on, and when they had enough squares completed, they'd sew them into a quilt. My great grandmother did these with her mother.

I don't use knots at all-you don't want bumps behind your work. I just start the needle from the back and pull all the thread through until there is an inch or so left and I anchor that under my index finger of the hand that doesn't hold the needle. After a few stitches I let go. When I get to the end of my work I cut all but an inch off at the back, When you are finished the whole piece you can go back and weave all the loose ends together to clean it up. Or weave them into the stitches from the back so you can barely tell which is the front and which is the back. But my own mom just leaves it alone lol so that's a personal preference too.

The good thing about embroidery is that it's easy to take out and do over if you mess up!

But hey, I applaud you for doing something new-and I'm glad if I can help at all. My kids won't let me sew these days so I've been really MIA from this board out of shame...

BonaDea

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Give it another 6 months to a year and you'll have more time or at least that was my experience. When they hit 2 & 4 all of a sudden I got to quilt again.

Surfer Girl

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You promise? lol

anise

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Rock on, thank you for that link. I posted about hand embroidery a while ago and didn't get much response. This looks really fabulous. Thank you!

Here are a few more pages that I've collected:

http://www.vertetsable.com/bigfive.htm

and

http://webstitch.designwest.com/needle_stitch.html

I haven't had a chance to try out any embroidery yet, so let me know if you try any of these sites and how they work for you