Sampler Roll - Playing with fabric and threads

 After finding the #52tagshannemade challenge I explored more of Anne Brooke's website and videos. One thing that caught my attention was her #sewforthesoul bobbin project 2020. I had already collected some slow stitch books and had drooled over these slow stitch kits. 

My first experiments with slow stitching happened after buying one of Lisa Mattock's patterns from a local quilting store. The pattern was for slow stitched Christmas decorations and I had great fun creating my piece of fabric over the course of 2020. My fabric ended up being cut into many hearts that were my Christmas decoration gift for 2020.

Moving in to 2021, and having the luxury of time to explore, I set about watching the videos so generously posted by Anne. Found myself some cotton batting and started to explore creating my own snippet roll/sampler. Such fun as I found small pieces of much loved fabrics, hunted through my thread collection and generally enjoyed just creating.

Sampler Roll Starting Snippets by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

I tried out old and new stitches, added lace and buttonhole covered rings, pieces of braid and some felting experiments. I went back to some experiments with hand colouring fabric and lace with Inktense colours. My batting is about 10 cm wide and the first section was about 75 cm in length. I Found this to be manageable and decided that I would work in sections that could be joined later. My later is when, hopefully, I have a timber bobbin to wind it around. Have asked my DH if he could turn a bobbin but am not sure when this might happen as he is busy with other things at the moment.

It is so much fun to be able to come back to sections and add extra detail when the mood strikes. There is no plan so it becomes a space where new stitches can be explored with different thread types - some successful and other less so.

My second section is still 10 cm wide but not quite as long. This one has more favourite fabrics and even a tiny-scape as I had so much fun creating my tiny-scape tag that I wanted to make more.

Sampler Roll Section 2 by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

I have explored chevron stitch, pekinese stitch, more french knots, running stitch and added a pocket to this too. My "the left-handed embroiderer's companion" by Yvette Stanton has been thumbed through and re-read as I try to work on stitches that I may have once learnt.

Silk threads, linen threads, perle thread and stranded cotton have all come out to be included. Stitching with silk floss has been a learning curve as it will snag on any small skin imperfection and in some of my stitching you can see that the end result of this is a fuzzy thread that may not be the look I was after.

Using Silk Floss - mishaps and all by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

This section is still a work in progress and will have bits and pieces added over time. That is part of the attraction to this type of creating - no end goal just exploring with needle, thread and fabrics over time.

Take look at some more images of my W.I.P.

What details would you add to a sampler roll? Do you have small snippets of favourite fabrics that would add to the memories triggered by looking back at your work later? Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts.

52 Tags Challenge - Tags 18, 19 & 20

 Things have been a little busy but I have found time to continue each week with the tag challenge. Three more tags have been created since my last post.

Tag 18 introduced the idea of paper piecing. This is also called EPP and is a quilting technique that I have not tried previously.  Anne challenged us to incorporate some tiny EPP hexagons into a tag. As with all of the challenges there were suggestions to follow and the invitation to interpret the challenge in any way that suits. This gave me the chance to try out some applique paper from Hugs n Kisses. This is a fusible paper that is 50% water soluble. It gave a good edge to my small hexagons but for this task I probably should have used removable paper pieces as my hexagon piece remained very firm. 

Tag 18 - Paper Piecing by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Once the hexagons were pieced I added them to a piece of wool fabric with lace. The last stage was to stitch lines of running stitch across the tag using different types and thicknesses of thread.

Tag 19 came next and the prompt was 'words'. Anne's challenge was to include words and a lift the flap onto your tag. This one took some time as I had some work commitments that took up a lot of the week. I also struggled with the idea of this one before going back to using cross stitch for part of my tag. 

Tag 19 - Words by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

The tiny words under the flap are stitch, create and make. Three ideas that resonate with me. I love stitching and making things. My tag also has has a background that I hand painted and some of the lace from previous tags. Not much of it left now.

Tag 20 was the next new embroidery stitch. The stitch Anne introduced was Pekinese stitch. I had never explored this stitch and liked that I was introduced to it by a left handed stitcher. So much easier than trying to reverse instructions for right handers. This was a great challenge in its simplicity and the chance to just explore a stitch with some lovely silk threads.

Tag 20 - Pekinese Stitch by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

All caught up and eagerly awaiting Tag 21. My tag set is growing into a great reference for future ideas.

Do you stitch? Please leave a comment sharing your ideas and thoughts.

52 Tags Challenge - Tags 16 & 17

 More video prompts for the creation of tags 16 and 17. Tag 16 was all about seed stitch and using negative space. Tag 17 was a great introduction to couching.

After watching the video prompt I decided to both have a play with wire shapes and using Inktense blocks to create the colour for my background. I tried rubbing the blocks straight onto a piece of calico and then brushed the fabric with diluted fabric medium. the colours mixed well but I could still see the marks of the Inktense blocks so I dropped another piece of calico over the top and this acted like a sponge soaking up the colour. This piece had the colour without the block strokes - just what I was after.

Next came playing with wire. I cut and shaped rather than folding the wire. Quite tricky to couch down.

Creating with wire by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Tweezers came in very handy as I needed to couch down each piece of wire so that I could then begin adding seed stitch all around the outside of each shape. In hindsight I should have made the stems slightly wider as it is a little difficult to see them on the tag. I also decided to add the piece to the tag with the leaf shapes hanging down.

Making Progress by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

The wire was only lightly couched in place so it moved a little while I was stitching my seed stitch. As you can see in the progress shots I gradually removed the wires as I went. After I had finished the seed stitching I decided not the stitch in the stems but I marked the fabric with a scorer and this mark has remained so far. 

Tag 16 by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

My seed stitch was done using some silk floss and DMC Light Effects thread that is treacherous to sew with as it is very easy to shred the metallic section off the core. DMC has some good tips for working with this thread on their website. I enjoyed creating this tag and loved having the chance to create negative space using couched wires.

Video 17 was an introduction to couching using rolled fabric and was interesting to try. Some of the designs I have seen online are amazing and show how each prompt can be taken in many different directions to create the finished tag.

Couching in Progress by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Anne suggested looking at all your tags to find a colour that you may not have used very much. I decided that greens would add to my collection nicely. The couching was easy to manage by following Anne's excellent instructions about using a hoop and it was great fun to roll up the fabric and then attach it to the background. I did slip in some more of my favourite silk topper, a piece of silk ribbon and a little splash of blue. I added a button and tied a sample of all the thread colours I used when couching down the fabric. 

Tag 17 by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

The video prompt for Tag 18 is also out. I am working on this one and will share when I have finished. Still enjoying this challenge and seeing my tag collection grow.

What do you create? Have you participated in an online sewing challenge? Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts.