Bonjour and welcome! 😊 I've been chasing a squirrel this week. Read on to find out more.
Spiral Challenge
One of my favourite embroidery artist and teacher is Mirjam Gielen of Mirjam Textiles. I've been following her on Instagram for years. She has taught a couple of workshops with TextileArtist.org and I'm also a member of her Patreon. She's having a Spiral Challenge for her Patreon members, so I've watched her videos and stitched up a few spirals.
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| Four embroidered spirals |
For my first spiral, I drew a simple shape on the fabric with a FriXion pen. It was a spiral with curves within it, like an ammonite stone or a snail's shell. I wanted to make those marks within the curve and used bullion knots and cast-on stitches. Some of my stitches are better than others but outlining the spiral with a chain stitch makes it look better.
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My first spiral, outlined with chain stitch and the curves in
bullion knots and cast-on stitches |
The second spiral was created with two layers of herringbone stitches. I used a variegated perle cotton of green and yellow. I really enjoyed this one, once I got the hang of the stitch.
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| Herringbone stitch to make another spiral |
The third spiral was made using the blanket stitch and outlined with a chain stitch. I love the blanket stitch once I get it started. The problem with a blanket stitch in a curved pattern is that it tends to draw in. That's why adding a contour of chain stitch is great - you can use the chain stitch to tack the blanket stitch in place.
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| Adding the chain stitch |
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| Blanket stitch |
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Blanket stitched spiral with chain stitch edging
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My final many-spoked spiral was stitched with a back stitch in different colours of #12 perle cotton. I added two rows of French knots to jazz it up.
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| Back stitched spirals with French knots |
What I learned
- I really enjoyed playing with the different stitches to make the spirals.
- I don't often embroider in a hoop, but I found it necessary to use the hoop to get a good tension.
- My stitches are ok - and I know that if I really wanted to get much better, that I would need to practice these shapes several times.
- Although I enjoyed making them, I just don't have the patience to keep stitching the spirals over and over because I'm easily bored!
- Lucky for me, I've learned to work to my strengths. When I embroider, it's usually to add texture to a piece - so that the imperfections don't really matter.
Related links
Linking parties
Free Motion Mavericks
Welcome to week 559 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was a very productive week! Thanks for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting.
Deb from A Scrappy Quilter got two quilts quilted and finished! The first one was a pieced quilt top made of scrappy triangles. Deb quilted around each of the
pyramids to accentuate them.
Deb's second quilt, 2000 Colors, started off as a green quilt. Deb put it aside - it was too green! Then she got a stash of "near postage stamp blocks" and the second quilt was created!
Gwyned Trefethen has started FMQ the background of her
Broken Hearts quilt with spirals.
Donnalee quilted another
runner for her guild's upcoming show and sale. It was originally quilted as you go but Donnalee added serpentine quilting to finish it off.
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| Donated runner gets additional serpentine quilting by Donnalee |
It's now your turn! 😎
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