I mentioned the other week that I was finally going to give hand embroidery a try. I’ve been cross stitching for somewhere around 25 years now, but I have always vehemently avoided hand embroidery. I thought it was to cutesy, too country, and not at all something I would ever want to do. Truthfully, I still feel that way just a little bit, but I now also see the beauty in hand embroidery.

Hand Embroidery Sampler – Flat Stitches

I’ve finished up the first section of the sampler from Craftsy’s Design It, Stitch It: Hand Embroidery. The class is taught by Jessica Marquez, the author of Stitched Gifts. She goes through the stitches slowly, explaining them clearly and demonstrating them for the camera. The first section covers flat stitches like the running stitch, back stitch and stem stitch.

Close-up of my flat stitches

My stitches look okay… But I’m so used to the precision involved in cross stitch that the variations and slightly wobbliness bother me. I know that I will get better at making the stitches the same size with practice (I did play with stitch size in a couple of the rows to see how it would make things look), but the “homespun-ness” is part of this type of embroidery, I suppose.

I did learn a couple of things:

1. If you print your pattern with a laser printer, you can use an iron to transfer the pattern. There is no need for a heat transfer pencil.
2. I really don’t like using a hoop… I do nearly all of my stitching in hand, including hardanger. (Yes, I like to live dangerously! 😉 )
3. Picking your own colours is hard. 🙁

Anyway! Onward to the next lesson and loop stitches. I so love the lazy daisy. :/