Weekly Stitching

Linda McLaughlin here to tell you about my weekly stitching projects. One of the benefits of doing my daily stitching is that I keep getting ideas for other stitching projects. I keep a list of these ideas and review them when I'm getting ready to start a new one.  At the end of 2012 I realized that some of my ideas were not ideal for daily stitching, I knew that it would take much more time than the simple quick stitching that I do daily.

The 2013 weekly stitching project grew out of an idea to use some of my vintage linen collection. Here's how it looks finished.

-The fabric is vintage linen and cotton napkins that were divided into three piles and dyed either rose, teal or yellow. 

- Each dyed piece was then clamped with a pair of plexiglass shapes, either a circle ,square or triangle and then over dyed in one of the opposite  colors.

- Each one has a piece of flannel fused to the back, this gives the fabric a bit more stability when stitching and also gives the stitches a bit more dimension. I do not use a hoop when I stitch.

-The stitching is all done with pearl cotton thread, most of it  #5 weight. Some of the threads were dyed with the fabrics, others are commercial threads.

-I finished each piece by pillow casing a cotton fabric to the back. The fabric was ice dyed with the leftover dyes from doing the linens. This is a sample of the backs.

- Each back has the week it was done written on it.

- I only used seven simple stitches to do all 52 weeks. Frequently I would combine different stitches in a block, here's how often those stitches show up.

    - Straight stitch /running stitch, 32 weeks

    - French knots and variations , 33 weeks

    - Fly stitch and variations, 23 weeks

    - Blanket stitch and variations, 13 weeks

    - Chain / lazy daisy stitch, 11 weeks

    - Cross Stitch, 6 weeks

    - Couching, 5 weeks

Although I've used the same stitches over and over each individual piece is different. Here are a few of my favorites from the group.

You can see all of them here.

My 2014 weekly stitching is called The Weekly Leaf. Each week I use various surface design techniques on hand dyed fabric or muslin to get a leaf image. So far I've stenciled, gelli-printed, done rubbings, solvent transfers, stamped and drawn a leaf. After I get the image on the fabric its time for the stitching.  Unlike my daily stitching that I do first thing going into the studio, my weekly stitching sits in a bowl by my big comfy chair in the living room so that I can work on it in the evenings when the tv is on. I average between four to six hours on each one.  Here's a few that I've done so far this year.

Here are all twelve.

 

So far the only stitches I've used are;  french knots, stem and straight stitch.  

You can see all of them here.

I hope that I've inspired some of you to try doing some regular hand stitching. I've enjoyed sharing my hand stitching projects with you this month, at least once a week I do a blog post with the current finished pieces, please stop by and check them out. http://notesfromstudiob.blogspot .com/

Daily stitching

Linda McLaughlin here, todays guest blogger. If someone had told me a decade ago that I would be hand stitching on a daily basis, I would have laughed and said, "Not me!" I still love my sewing machine and use it regularly, but hand stitching has really become a big part of my routine.

I'm very comfortable with daily projects, I'm on year five of a daily photo blog, but had never done stitching daily. In early 2012 I became intrigued with daily stitching projects so started a short term project,  Sixty five days to 65. It was started and done to celebrate a milestone birthday. I found that I loved doing hand stitching, but also learned a lot about doing a daily stitching project. I had given myself too many options so there was way too much stuff accumulated to accomplish my stitching. I had 35 different coordinating hand dyed fabrics, three different block sizes, floss for stitching and beads.

"Sixty five days to 65"

My next daily stitching project "365 days of being 65" started on my birthday with a much slimmer fabric and thread selection. Whenever I make a new stamp or screen, I do a sample print in black on either white or muslin fabric. I had a pile of these samples, so I cut them into 4" squares and had them ready to go. All the stitching was done with black pearl cotton thread. Everything fit into a container, so it was all in one place. Each block is different and my stitching was in response to whatever was printed on the square.

"365 days of being 65"

3/14/2012 to 3/13/2013

Daily stitching has become a very important part of my life, currently I have two different projects going at the same time. I start one on my birthday and the other at the beginning of the year.

"365 Red Circles"

1/1/13 to 12/31/13

Here's what I do to make each one a project I enjoy and look forward to working on.

- I plan ahead and keep everything I need in one container

- Fabric squares are cut ahead, the flannel I use to back each block is also cut and ready

- I have my threads, usually pearl cotton, also in the container. Each thread has the correct size needle with it, threaded and ready to go.

- It's become a part of my routine

- It's easy to travel with, everything I need for the duration of my trip goes into a zip lock bag

- I photograph and sew the blocks together as I go

- Post pictures to my blog weekly to keep myself accountable

Container for " 365 Red Circles"

Container for "Indigo and Rust"

Daily stitching has brought some definite benefits.

- When I do something creative everyday, I'm happier

- It gets me into the studio and once there I'm more likely to continue on other projects

- I'm using up materials I have on hand

- I get to try things on a small scale, finding out what works and what doesn't

- When traveling its great way to center myself before or after a busy day

- Each individual piece may not be much, but the sum of all parts is pretty impressive

- A sense of accomplishment

- A way of marking time, I remember where I was or what was happening when I look at certain ones

Line Dance

The first 3 rows of this years daily stitching

Today is my birthday!! So here is the one that was finished yesterday.

"Indigo and Rust"

3/14/13 to 3/13/14

I get to start a new project today.

I'll be back in two weeks to tell you about my weekly stitching projects.