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For my final design, I went with the burlap as my base fabric, and began stitching my outline for the flowers and vase. Once complete, I will cut it out in a small square and put it on the front of the light pink cardstock. If I can find alternative ways to stitch on the cardstock as I discussed in the video, I will stitch around the border of it as well.

see Final video for more details

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This is a close-up of the design I sketched out for the card I will be creating. I wanted to do a floral vase design similar to the one I saw from the toolkit I got from Hobby Lobby. However, this is the first time I fully created my own design and chose the colors and stitches myself - instead of following a step by step guide or pre-drawn embroidery design.

see Final video for more details

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I finished the inner flower petal using the french knot design and I love it!

At first, I started working on it and continued to mess up with the knot going all the way through the fabric to the other side. I got frustrated and wanted to do a completely different design because I felt like I wasn't in my state of flow that I felt like I had been experiencing previously. However, I realized that the whole point of the state of flow is the subconscious element of it, and not being able to force it. I realized that I also am not going to be in that state every time I am working on this skill or am trying to be creative, but part of creativity is the challenging aspect of it. Being creative includes challenging yourself at a level that you can still accomplish whatever task it is you are trying to do, while really stretching yourself - and that is what I ended up doing and I love the way it turned out!!

I will definitely be using this design in my final product.

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Update: Ended up practicing the cluster design on my practice fabric piece! I think it looks a lot better in person, but I really like it! I think it will be a really good touch and design element for the middle of a flower design.

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The next stitch I want to learn is the french knot. According to my book, it is useful as "decorative dots, filling flower centers, leaves, plants, and eyes." It looks like a simple knot, but in addition to following the guide on the book I had to find a tutorial on YouTube to help guide me through it with better visuals. I used the fabric from the embroidery leaves design since it is better than the original linen I used as my "blueprint" (see first couple of posts). I am excited to try it out on the actual floral design!

The first couple of attempts on the other fabric did not turn out well because of the wider gaps in the material, but it worked much better with this linen. I had some trouble at the beginning with the bottom row of dots and could not get the needle through, however, I started getting the hang of it. I think it will also look better really close and clustered together, so I am going to design it that way on my floral piece.

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First flower almost complete!

So I ended up not being able to conquer doing the Long & Short stitch around the blue thread, so I just stitched over it. It was a little more difficult, but I think it looks a lot cleaner. I also think the color looks better in person, and am excited to see what it looks like during the day in the sunlight (I am working on this at night).

Also, I was starting to get stressed from thinking I had a lot more to do if I wanted to complete this whole design, but then I realized these are all goals I am putting on myself and I should be taking this opportunity to learn, challenge myself, and have fun, not stress about getting something perfectly complete. I think that is the perfectionist in me, but I remind myself that my end goal is not to be a professional sewer or own an embroidery shop, rather I want to just continue to build upon and strengthen my skills. Also, my end goal is a fun Mother's Day present for my mom, and I know she will appreciate the work and effort I put into it a lot more than the final product!

Because of this, I decided to use this floral design as that opportunity to practice my skills - so instead of doing the satin stitch six more times on a bunch of different petals, I will work on other stitches within the design and then use whatever I find most interesting, enjoyable, and challenging to use in my Mother's Day gift. I think this will be more useful in terms of my time and enjoyment.

I am excited to see how this turns out, though!

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I completed the first "level" of the petals, and so far I am really liking how it is looking. I also finally got down a specific knot that helps with not wasting any thread and actually stitching in the knot through the design (although you can't see it once it's complete). So that is definitely a win!

I also penciled in the outline of the blue threads I will be adding to give an extra dimension to the next layer of petals. I am going to try and do the Long and Short Stitches around them, but it may not end up working out that way.

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I am working on my next floral design! This first part includes working on a Long and Short Stitch, which is a specific satin stitch that helps when shading is desired or to add more depth to a design. I think it looks a lot better in person, but I want to continue executing it so that it gives more of a shading effect and adds dimension to the petals.

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I completed my first full design!!

As I reflect on this, I am proud of myself for taking the journey to work on it and finish it! I also am proud of the finished product, although not perfect, I actually like seeing the imperfections because I think it shows the journey I took to complete it. I really enjoy the way the satin stitch looks especially when it comes to the floral aspect of it. I do want to try and perfect the outline of the leaves and will continue to work on that.

Next, I plan on working on another floral design with more stitches to help work on my techniques for other stitches I plan on using in my final product. I have decided I want to create some sort of floral design for my mom for mother's day.

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Almost finished with my embroidery leaves design!!

I am really enjoying how it is turning out so far, however I had some difficulty with the sections where I had to work in smaller areas (i.e. where the aqua green leaves are "behind" the blue ones). I was getting a little too lax when working on those parts, so I went back to using the parallel lines method I learned when doing the satin stitch - and it is helping a lot.

I also noticed I am continuing to get into a state of flow whenever I am working. I go into the design thinking I will only work for no more than an hour, and look up and realize a lot more time has passed. I am starting to find a lot of joy whenever I finish a leaf or a design, and am excited to incorporate some type of floral element into my final design.

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I have been working on this leaf pattern design that is pre-drawn from Hobby Lobby. It uses three of the stitches I have learned - back stitch, satin stitch, and running stitch. I chose this design because for my final project I want to incorporate some type of floral pattern into my design. Although my work yet is not perfect, I think you can see the progress I made with the leaves and satin stitches from the bottom two leaves to the top. I worked my way up and I think that shows - especially when you compare the bottom two leaves to the top two leaves on the left of the stem. It is really encouraging to kind of capture my progress throughout time in this way. Next, I plan on finishing the other leaves in a brighter green color, again using satin stitch to fill in the leaves and a back stitch for the stem. I also want to perfect the outline of the leaves with the running stitch.

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I did want to note that the pictures do not do the shine justice! The threads together create a really pretty iridescent shine when the light hits it. The color also looks a lot more full and put together in person.

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After awhile of frustration, I found a really helpful video tutorial online. In the video, the creator suggests making parallel guided lines to help you keep your stitches straight. She also suggests lining up your thread to get the perfect parallel point to make the next stitch. She used a curved shape, too, which helped a lot because it mimics how my future designs will be - especially if I want to add some type of floral embroidery, the leaves are curved similar to the shape I drew.

I first drew the curved shape, then began making my guiding lines by coming up through point A, laying the thread flat and going down at point B (the point in which the thread on the opposite ends is in line with the shape outline). This is in Satin Stitch Post 2.1. I then created four parallel lines to help guide me for the remainder of the shape (Satin Stitch Post 2.2). I filled in the first space, carefully keeping each line straight by keeping in stitch in line (SS Post 2.3.). I found that the fabric I was using was also really helpful in this because it has a certain pattern with holes in it that are also parallel. I was able to use these lines to help guide me, too.

I ended up running out of my original thread, so I anchored it off in the back and started using a different blue (SS Post 2.4). I realized that while creating this, I got into the "state of flow" that we have recently learned about. It was challenging yet enjoyable and doable, and time seemed to fly by. I got into a really good groove.

I also really liked the shape that I ended up making and saw that it mimicked a whale, which started turning some wheels in my mind for future ideas!

Overall, this stitch has been my favorite because 1) I love the way it looks, 2) I feel like I really got into a state of flow, and 3) it is making me feel a lot more confident in my skills!

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How to Satin Stitch - Embroidery Tutorial for Beginners

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The next stitch I wanted to learn was the satin stitch. This stitch is really useful in filing shapes and monograms. I really liked the way it looked and thought it would be great further down the road whenever I wanted to create the hand towel with letters filled in. I used my guidebook and other materials I bought to help, and my first couple of attempts were not that great. It looked much easier than I thought, since it consists of pretty much just going back and forth between stitches to fill in the blank area. One of my first attempts is this rectangle pictured above. I started to get the hang of it but still did not feel like I was getting it down.

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I really wanted to highlight this stitch because I feel like it represents the progression I have been having with this journey. On the fabric, you can see my four attempts to perfect the lazy daisy stitch. The first one is quite something. I was trying to figure out what word to use, but I think "something" will suffice. The second one was significantly better than my first attempt, but I quickly realized I had made a mistake in not designating my center point, and did not use enough thread. Attempt three was definitely getting there, and I think you could tell what stitch I was actually trying to execute. After this attempt, I realized I needed to be more precise with how much thread I was pulling in and out of each time, so the petals would be more similar in size. Finally, attempt four is where I was able to finally get it right. I had to watch many step by step YouTube videos, but once I got it I was really proud of myself! I definitely want to continue to practice this stitch with more sizes and colors, and it gave me some inspiration into a future project I want to try: I saw some greeting cards with embroidery on the front, and I think it would be a really cute idea to make a mother's day card with flowers embroidered on the front, and this stitch would definitely work for that!

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After completing my basic stitches, I am now moving on to more difficult stitches. I have decided to call these my "intermediate" stitches, based on the level of difficulty my guide book and influencers on YouTube describe them to be. I am continuing on the same swatch of fabric to use as my own Stitch Guide. The basic stitches are in blue thread, and the more intermediate stitches will be in pink. I accidentally did the chain stitch in blue, but I added the pink marker to indicate they are not the ones I consider basic. I also put a star by the reverse chain because I found this one to be easier to do than the regular, so for future reference I know which technique I should use when implementing the chain stitch.

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I have completed my basic stitches, although I know there are plenty more, after doing some research I found these to be the ones I wanted to focus on and master. Next, I plan on learning more advanced stitches. I will continue my stitch examples on this piece of fabric and keep it as a guide for myself. I plan on doing the next round of more intricate stitches in a separate color thread.

So far, I have really enjoyed teaching myself a new skill and am excited to really see it come to life!

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This stitch is one that will be good for curving lines, outlining, and creating floral embroideries.

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Within this video, I show my second basic stitch, the running stitch. Something that I wanted to make note of was that I actually got the incorrect fabric that is suggested for embroidery work. I think before this course, the OCD/perfectionist in me would have wanted to immediately quit and go run to Hobby Lobby. However, I actually found the fabric I got to be quite helpful in making sure my lines were straight and my proportions were even. It also had bigger holes in it to help me better visualize my stitching and acted almost as a guide for me. I learned that in my mistake, something better and more useful came out of it. Instead of immediately going back for the "correct" fabric, I was able to be creative with what I had and ended up doing better because of it.

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After looking at the best knots to use, I found this one, the "needle knot", to be the simplest and most effective. It is much more precise than a regular granny knot.

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To note, I was unable to directly upload the video I created onto Padlet, so I made a YouTube video and shared the link so anyone who has it can view it.

To start documenting my journey, here is an overview of my first "chapter". I discuss how I started with basic stitches, some of the supplies I have, what I plan on doing next, and how I found what I originally viewed as a mistake to be quite helpful. I also will post some additional videos of my stitches in another post!

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Creative/Individual Learning Project Pt 1

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To start my journey of learning how to embroider, I gathered a few resources to help me begin. I knew I wanted to get a hoop like the one my friend from high school had, and researched what the best threads were and basic supplies needed to start. I found these really helpful booklets from Hobby Lobby that have lots of ideas, and found a step by step embroidery handbook to help teach various types of stitches. After going through the book, I have decided to first get the hang of a few basic stitches using the hoop, then work my way up to more intricate kinds.

I have also decided that my end goal for this project is to create a birthday/new home present for my Aunt Dawn. She was the one who originally got me into sewing and showed me how to sew and stitch my first mini pillow when I was young. Her birthday is around the end of this semester, so the timing works out well. She is also moving into a new home to celebrate her retirement, so there are lots of opportunities for good gifts! I want to give her something that means a lot to me and to her. My main two end goals will be an embroidered kitchen towel with her new zip code or town of where she will be living, and an embroidered card similar to a few of the ones I found in one of the booklets.

Overall, I am very excited to get started!