I've not had a terribly creative year thus far. It's time to do something about that. I've got a plan that should see me taking on a creative task each day for the rest of the week that will result in something that I hope will be fun. After that I'd like to see if I can maintain that. It might not be something very big - and it might not be a craft as such. Perhaps a photograph beyond the happy-snap variety or something creative in the kitchen. Perhaps even a blog post - my output this year has been somewhat low.
Today's part of the project is a letter embroidered on card, a shade wonky as I worked from scratch without a template. I've been making cards and other objects this way for a while. Although I read craft books/blogs for inspiration I often deviate from patterns and instructions or just plain old make it up as I go. That's how I learnt this craft, the technique is not revolutionary but I arrived at my current method through trial and error and expect to keep refining it. Here's the back and a quick technique run-down to give you an idea how I did it.
I started by ruling a vague size and position, from there on in this was entirely freehand withut so much as a straight edge. It was nice to do as I generally lack confidence in my ability to draw and draft things - even simple things. It's not absolutely perfect but I think I like it that way...
Initially I thought that I'd use a couple more colours I'd picked out (a lovely turquoise and bold orange) to add a flower motif but ultimately decided that'd make it too busy in the context of the project I have in mind.
I punched the holes out with an awl - when I first started making embroidered cards I used a needle. That's a good way to hurt your fingers. I had to punch from behind - I prefer to punch from the side I'm going to sew on to keep things tidy but this particular project didn't lend itself to that as I was avoiding the use of any kind of template which is really necessary for that.
Even-ish spacing is nice but there are certain points - corners and points along a curve - which are going mandate positioning. I punched those first and then worked out how many holes needed to go in the spaces between these.
The stitching is a sort of modified backstitch done with a fine tapestry needle - it's efficient with thread while getting the look I'm after. I started off with a doubled over thread and rather than knotting brought the first stitch down through the doubled over end to secure it.
If working on a card I need to keep the back as flat as possible, and then I use a piece of masking tape to catch all the ends (you only need one as you can unstick and restick it repeatedly) however that wasn't an issue here so I just knotted the ends.
