Beaded lazy daisy butterfly

I fell in love with this butterfly when I first saw it here.It’s actually a lazy daisy butterfly pattern.Recently, while searching the internet for embroidery patterns, I came across this pattern and decided to embroider it using beads instead.

I feel that this is a versatile pattern that can be stitched on almost anything, be it pillow cases, T-shirts or on dresses for children and adults alike.Have you stitched this pattern before?I would love to see your work.You can download this pattern here.

Twisted ribbon dragonfly

Today, I would like to share with you a ribbon embroidery tutorial – twisted ribbon dragonfly. I’d used 7mm wide ribbons.

Bring up a piece of ribbon at A and go in at B (approx 8cm).Bring another piece of ribbon up at C and in at D (7cm).Please don’t make knots at the beginning or the end of both ribbons (at the back).It’s better to measure the ribbons and mark the positions of points A,B,C,D before working.I didn’t, that’s why my point D is out of place.Meet both ribbons at the center and join them with a small stitch.

Twist a 25cm long ribbon tightly.Meet both ends and let both twisted parts twist each other.

Measure 4.5cm of the twisted part and untwist the remaining. Attach this to the wings with a small stitch.This stitch will also prevent the ribbon from untwisting further

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Place the untwisted pieces one on top of the other and insert the ends of the ribbon into the fabric at the position shown (the body is 1.5cm long).Don’t make knots at the back of the fabric.

Apply a thin layer of fabric glue at the back of the tail and glue it to the fabric and let it dry.

Sew beads for the eyes and embroider the legs.Work fly stitches or any other stitches of your choice on the wings and straight stitches on the body of this dragonfly.While working those stitches, place the tail ends at the back of the fabric at the same position as the ribbons on top and sew them together.This will secure the ends at the back and that’s the reason for not making knots in the beginning.

Goldwork peacock - Part 3

I didn’t have the passing thread which is normally used in goldwork embroidery to outline this peacock.Instead, I had to use the smooth purl for this purpose.

The purl was cut into small pieces and stitched the way we embroider the stem stitch.I made knots at the back after each purl piece was stitched.As you can see here, I’d also covered the base of the crest.

For the right side, outline stitch method was used.The purl is so fragile that if you pull it tightly while making the knots, it will crack.I’d also outlined the bottom part of the body but couldn’t show it here because I accidentally deleted it from my camera.

Chikan embroidery

One of my pending projects was Anita’s chikankari embroidery SAL.Although at first, I wanted to sew it on  a dress, after finishing the embroidery I felt reluctant to use it (didn’t want to spoil such a beautiful embroidery).Now, I’m keeping it at a safe place to be used as a reference for future chikankari projects.

I must admit that I was in a hurry to finish this project that maybe I didn’t practice enough.My favourite stitches are the overcast stitch and the wave stitch filling.The latter stitch was easier when practiced on a squared pattern but confusing when worked on a heart shaped pattern.I made a mistake and had to rework it.The stab stitches really play an important role to create a wave like pattern at the back.This class was a wonderful learning experience.Thanks again, Anita.I hope your next class will be on beaded chikankari.Ever since I started this class, I have been searching the internet for free chikankari patterns but couldn’t find one.If someone knows, please share it with me.

Long and short flower

In one of my posts last year, I’d written about long and short stitch direction rules. Please click here for the post. Those of you following my blogs must have read my experiments using these rules to improve my long and short stitch. I’d tried 2 different types of leaves and I’m satisfied with both results. I would love to embroider more complicated leaves using this method but today, I would like to share with you a simple long and short flower which I’d embroidered. This flower doesn’t have overlapping petals,( a continuous petal)  so it’s quite easy to embroider.

For this flower, the point of attachment between the petal and the stem is the small dot in the center. Split stitch or outline stitch the flower before starting the long and short embroidery.

As in my long and short leaf 2, I didn’t draw the directional lines on the flower pattern. Rather, I just held the thread toward the dot and stitch into that direction. Starting from the middle, stitch all the way to the left, alternating long and short stitches. Then, embroider from the middle to the right. Here, I’d finished the first row.

Finished the second row. As you can see here, I’d started embroidering on the second part of the petal, from the middle to the left.

Continue in this manner for the whole petal.

The next row is white. I just started from one point, worked long and short stitches in clockwise position till I came back to the starting point. All the while, I pointed the stitches toward the small dot.

Fill the center with French knots.