Complete embroidery practice #1
by scarmouche
Arts & Crafts Journey Overview
Follow this step-by-step arts & crafts journey to see real progress updates, challenges overcome, and practical experience.
Progress Updates (4 total)
Update #1: Complete embroidery practice #1
I’ve always wanted to be able to add cute embroidery accents to my clothes, bags, or shoes. I asked for some embroidery kits for Christmas and received two to work on.
Challenges Overcome: I’ve already practiced a bit on some kitchen flour cloth, and completed a few initial stitches on practice cloth #1
Looking Back: So far I’ve done running stitch, back stitch, and lazy daisy. I’ve learned to be patient when separating the strands and not try to pull too quickly or the thread will knot.
Update #2: Satin stitch
10% completeI finished the satin stitches. These were tedious but fun and gave me a lot of confidence since they came out not too bad.
Obstacles Faced: The circle was my first try, it didn’t come out great but I was unclear if I should cover the line or go within it. For the others, I picked “inside the line”
Update #3: Put my threads onto bobbins
10% completeThe threads were becoming overwhelming so I went to a local craft store specializing in yarn/fiber arts and I nabbed the last set of bobbins to keep my threads in order. I also bought some threads that are only 3 strands thick. It’s also better quality thread, but it makes it so I don’t have to separate the typical 6-strand floss to do those stitches.
Looking Back: Having the threads on the bobbins makes it so much easier to keep track of threads
Update #4: French knot and Pistil Stitch
40% completeI did the French knot and the Pistil stitch. I experimented with different knot sizes and threads
Challenges Overcome: I completed the French knot and the pistil stitch, and didn’t give up when they were being difficult.
Obstacles Faced: I initially struggled with the French knot, but realized I was tired and gave it a try again the next day, and it ended up being fairly simple after that. The Pistil stitch is so far my least favorite and most challenging stitch. I did not expect this given its similar to the French knot. I had to pull out and redo the first couple pistil stitches because the knot did not come out right at all.
Looking Back: Thread width matters a lot. The “3strand” thread I got from the craft store is thinner than if I separate the “6strand” thread from the kit in half. For the pistil stitch, I had a lot of luck combining 2 of the “3strand” threads versus using just one, even though the instructions only called for 3 threads.