Candy Embroidery

I started this candy embroidery project a while ago - you can read about it {here}.  

Now that I have finished it, I want to share some of the stitching details and my color choices.  

This sweet motif is from my Candy & Sweets Embroidery Pattern and I have to say this was so much fun to stitch!  

For the big pink swirl in the background, I used parallel rows of Split Stitch.  The lollipops are outlined in Stem Stitch and filled with Straight Stitches.  The The lollipop sticks are parallel rows of Stem Stitch - this technique is a nice way to fill in spaces.  For the red candy, I used all Stem Stitch.

The cupcake paper is outlined in Stem Stitch and the accent lines are also Stem Stitch.  The top border of the cupcake border is Double Knot Stitch.  The cupcake is done in rows of Straight Stitch.  The cupcake frosting is a combination of Stem Stitch and French Knots.  All the red accent dots are also French Knots.

On the lavender candy, I used Stem Stitch for the outlines and a Straight Stitch for the stripes.  The big lollipop has a Stem Stitch outline, Straight Stitch interior lines and rows of Stem Stitch for the stick.

I really like the colors I used on this project, all reminiscent of candy and sweets.  Here are the floss numbers in my palette:

Next up are some new projects - maybe these dipped apples...

Pendant Couching Stitch

As the title of this post suggests, this beautiful stitch is the Pendant Couching Stitch.  It is the latest stitch I have learned from my 100 Stitches Plus list. 

I found this stitch in the book The Encyclopedia of Embroidery Techniques by Pauline Brown.  

This stitch is made up of a length of floss that is couched {held in place} by small straight stitches. I decided to use two colors of floss as it makes it easier to see the techniques.  

After looking at the diagram of the stitch, I thought it might be a good idea for me to draw some guidelines. I wanted to be able to have a straight stitching line to follow but also to have a guideline to ensure that the pendants would all be the same size. 

With my water-soluble marker, I drew two parallel lines - 1/2" apart:

For the length of floss that is going to be couched, I used this pink perle cotton.  This is a color variations floss -  DMC 4180.  

I made sure to use a long length of floss, this is going to form all of the pendants so it needs to be much longer that just the stitching line.

The first step is to come up through the fabric on the top stitching line.  It wouldn't matter which way you worked this stitch, I did mine from left to right so I started at the left end of the line:

Pull the floss all the way through.  You can see here how long my length of floss is:

For the couching floss, I again used perle cotton. This black is DMC 310.

Loosely lay the floss to be couched along the stitching line.

Bring the couching floss up through the fabric a little below and a little to the right of where the length of floss to be couched first emerged:

Pull all the way through:

Take a small stitch by going back into the fabric right above where your floss just emerged.  Take the stitch right over the floss that is being couched:

Pull all the way through making a small stitch.  This is the Couching Stitch.  The length of floss is now held to the fabric:

Just continue making these Couching Stitches - the directions suggested spacing them fairly close together, I ended up making mine about 1/4" apart.

Continue in the same way until you reach the end of the stitching guideline:

Next I started to form the pendants.  You can see I still had a lot of floss to work with: 

Using my needle, I carefully started drawing the excess floss back through the Couching Stitches:

I started forming the pendants by pulling enough floss between two Couching Stitches to make a loop. 

When I had all the pendants formed, I took the excess floss back into the fabric and secured it. 

You can see several of the pendants are still a bit uneven and not reaching all the way to the lower guideline:

I solved this problem by pinning a few in place and carefully adjusting the rest until they were all even!

Here is a look at the underside - you can see where I secured the floss:

I rinsed out the guidelines:

and took it out of the hoop.  

I think this is a beautiful stitch and so easy!

Scandinavian Christmas

Scandinavian Christmas is the title of a new embroidery pattern available in my Etsy shop.  

Just in time to start some Christmas stitching!  

I love Scandinavian designs and I think they work extremely well when done in embroidery!

These motifs are perfect for embellishing any Julefest linens or decorations.  There are around 52 motifs/borders in this set.

I have already stitched up this little Santa Lucia Bride:

and this tree:

Now to stitch up some of the other motifs!

This is what the embroidery pattern set looks like:

Ladybug Embroidery Project Part Two

I finished my ladybug embroidery project.  I first blogged about this {here}.

I had wanted to challenge myself to use as many different stitches as possible.  By my count, I ended up using eight different stitches.

The ladybug's antennae and body outline are Stem Stitch, her wings are outlined in Double Knot Stitch and filled with lines of Running Stitch. The spots on her wings are Satin Stitch and French Knots.  For her body, I used Trellis Couching Stitch:

For the flowers, I outlined the petals in Blanket Stitch, and put in a Lazy Daisy Stitch.  For the flower centers I used three French Knots.  I also used French Knots for the blue accent dots spaced randomly round the motif:

I am really pleased with the variety of stitches I included on this project!

I think this project would look really sweet framed in this hoop - maybe embellished with some matching trim?  This is a 6" hoop and is the perfect size for this motif.

Here are the floss colors and numbers I used for this project: