One of the marvelous things about embroidery is that it can be as serious as you want it to be… or as whimsical.
It can be a Magnum Opus. Or it can be all Fun and Games!
I’m of the opinion that it should occasionally be all fun and games. Otherwise, we might take it too seriously. It might lose its ability to charm us.
And in fact, it might do the opposite of what it does so well: it might end up being a stress producer rather than a stress reducer.
And we wouldn’t want that!
Here’s a project that’s mostly fun and games, except for One Little Detail – one little moderately-wrong decision on my part, which I’ll share with you below.
This is a part of a series of three designs that you’ll see here on Needle ‘n Thread a little later this summer, called Summer Wheels. I mentioned it briefly when we were talking about color the other day.
This particular design in the set is a happy camper. It’s cheerful and fun! It’s one of those designs that is as fun as you want to make it, since there’s a lot of scope for color and whimsy.
For the project, I pulled a very random color palette of colors that worked with the pink check in the photo above. You’ll see why that’s important when I finish the project.
My intention was just to have a bit of fun stitching this design. And it is fun! Except…
Except…
Good Golly! That ground fabric!
The ground fabric we choose for our projects can really make or break the project – and it most certainly can have a profound effect on the enjoyment we get out of stitching.
In this case, I think I’ll be happy with it in the long run as I think it will finish ok, but in the meantime, it’s not the most pleasant fabric to embroider on.
You see, I wanted something very sturdy and tough, and I wanted a natural-colored ground, and so I chose the sturdiest, toughest natural-colored fabric I had on hand.
It happened to be a completely raw linen canvas – the kind you’d use if you were an artist and you prepared your own canvases.
It’s rough and tough, and it’s oh-so-sturdy.
It’s also a pain in the Royal Patoogi to stitch on.
Note to self: moderate all future desires for ridiculously sturdy fabric.
Still, the design is fun to embroider. In fact, it’s completely Fun and Games – no stress!
I’m more or less choosing stitches and colors randomly, although I had a general idea of the main colors for the design.
There are moments when I feel as if I’m going overboard with the saccharine-sweet-ice-cream-parlor-candy-shop look, but hey! We all need something a little sweet now and then!
So there’s a sneak peek of an upcoming project. I’m pushing ahead on this particular project right now because I want to have the whole thing finished and constructed by the end of the week. I’ll be out of town next week and this project is hopefully going with me in finished form.
I have a friend who has asked for this and the other Summer Wheels designs to be transferred onto towel sets. Is this something you’d be interested in? The other designs involve a vintage bike and a wheelbarrow at this point, and they all three sport a kind of hand-drawn doodle look. They’ll be available later as a downloadable design set with basic stitch instructions and instructions for finishing the constructed item I’m making with this design.
If you’d be interested in them as a ready-to-stitch towel set as well, let me know. The nice thing about the ready-to-stitch towel sets is that they really are stress-free stitching! No transfer involved, no finishing involved. Just the fun part – stitching!
If you have thoughts on that, feel free to chime in below!
