Interesting Stuff

Why yes, I do carry a threaded needle with me at all times. Why do you ask? Thread tagging? Sometimes! But the real reason I keep a length of floss and an embroidery needle with me in my coin purse (hoo boy, now I do sound like an old lady* or what) is in case I come across a fabric I like and want to test its stitchy-ness. I am always ready to find the best fabric for stitching.

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*nooffensetooldladieswhomIrespectgreatlyandhopetoonedaybeanoldladymyself

This is a blog post I wrote a few years ago for Dinosaurs and Robots, but thought I'd re-post it here because I find it so fascinating. Embroidered senninbari garments ("Thousand Person Stitches") were simple caps, belts or vests that Japanese women would give to soldiers to wear before they went into battle. I love the public-stitching-jam aspect of making one: "a woman from the family or community would stand in a busy location like the entrance to a train station and entreat passersby to add one stitch each. When one thousand stitches had been collected, the belt was believed by some to have special power to protect the bearer from the hazards of battle." Beautiful.

Link

I just wanna give you what you want. Except in those cases when I must save you from yourselves when you request things you think you want. (No, you don't really want a teddy bear with a tummy that says "I wuv you thiiiiis much".) Sorry. That's when I gots to get tough love and draw the line.

Yesterday, I was, as I will often do, asking what you want for patterns. The Gnomes and Fairies sheet has sold out, and it needs some changes. So I posted a call for suggestions on the Sublime Stitching Facebook Page. Out of the numerous directives that came in ("No gnomes. They are like clowns to me." "A mushroom house!") Three requests stood out. One, because I already have them and two: there was a suggestion that is now my most favorite evs.

Request 1:"Unicorns!"
KABLAM! Have you not seen the newly re-vamped Unicorn Believer sheet?

Request 2: "Hedgehog!"
PP-POW! There is totally a behbeh hedgehog on Forest Friends looking for a mommy.

Request 3: ~My new favorite pattern request to date~ "a squirrel maybe, with tufty ears like the European squirrels"
OHNOIDINT-YESIDID2 There is a squirrel on Forest Friends with ear tufts.

My work here is done. (Not really. I have a ton of work to do.)

Tell politicians "Don't Blow It" through the power of hand-embroidered handkerchiefs!

London's Craftivist Collective has a great project going on: "Don't Blow It!" Longtime crafty friend Sonja Todd of Tatty Devine (she used to make the coolest, mini needlepoint repros of album covers back in the diy day) connected me via email with Sarah Corbett of Craftivist Collective about this creative and impactful embroidery project. (I appreciate the email- I'm super heads-down working these days). 

"We are encouraging all craftivists to hand embroider a personal message
to your MP in handkerchiefs you have been given, have found or have
made this summer. We hope you can then deliver your hanky to your local
MP at their regional office or Westminster (preferably in person) when
they arrive back to work September 6th from their break. This is our
summer project. We want the message to be timeless so you can keep
referring to it in your correspondence with your MP to talk about
current issues you care about"

Even though this is a UK-based activity, there's no reason it can't apply to US government! Why not offer a congress(wo)man, city council member or mayor a hanky with a message from their constituent?

(I just got some handkerchiefs in if you need some.)

 

So, do you know about the whole Japanese masking tape craze? I came across some rolls of these tapes by MT Deco and squee'd when I saw ones with embroidery stitches on them! Machine embroidery stitches, but hey! That's so cool!

Washi Paper Tapes! More tapes from Happy Tape!

This is what I was stitching last night. Think it was just a leisurely night in, doing some embroidery? Oh no, this was a...leisurely night of work (embroidery is work for me, but it's a labor of love). In about a week, I'll go tape an episode of Sew It All for PBS! 

What am I making? Well, it's a sewing show, and I don't sew. My wonderful friend, and author, Christine Haynes sewed up some linen tops in several different colors for me, and I'll be embroidering on them with different designs, methods and ideas. (The sewing pattern for the top will be available on their website when the episode airs, and so will a design I'm doing just for the show!)

So, as I'm working last night, I thought Fantasy Flowers would look sweet on the green linen top. Then, I started thinking the open petals looked a little funny with all that green showing through. So, I worked them in a radiating, open satin stitch, instead of a solid one. I really like the way it's turning out! Very folksy-looking. Very textural. Um...you do realize that we have come full circle here: tattoos...robots...flowers...folksy. It's the 70's again people! But, okay. I like it, too. The texture is so appealing! I thought you'd like to see a detail so you won't have to smush your face up against the TV screen.

I don't yet know when the episode will air, so be sure to check here or on my Facebook Page for updates. If you don't get Sew It All, contact your local PBS station and request that they carry it! Now, I hafta get back to stitching...

Heather sent me a link to Denmark's Oh No Ono's animated x-stitch video from 2006! I'm always a day late and a dollar short on my Danish bands.

I've been meaning to write this blog post for about five years. Then, I got a text from one of my very best friends recently, a blurry photo taken with his phone and a text that read "IS THIS U?????". Then I realized, maybe I should write this blog post after all. It was really funny to me that he was seeing it for the first time, but to be fair, I didn't know he authored this cookbook, so I guess we're even.

In 2006 I was approached by Adult Swim to create an embroidered cover for the Brak Show DVD, for season 2. The theme was supposed to be crafty and cozy-looking with a handmade feel, and they decided they wanted it in embroidery. So, I was called. I toiled and submitted the preliminary sketch above, certain my job was done. They'd love it and approve it immediately! Nope. Rejected. Not quite right. They wanted it to look more like "fan art" along with some other guidelines. Okay...how about this?

Closer, but...nope. This one was rejected too (though, as nicely as possible). I really struggled to understand what it was the creator was going for because this was his baby and direction was coming from him. So after hours of doing sketches and concepts, I gave up. I took a post-it note and drew Brak as sloppily and as fast as I could:

That's it! Perfect! Exactly what we want. After hours of fine-tuned sketches, a scribbled post-it note drawing was the one they liked best. I have always thought that was pretty funny. And that's how the finished result ended up being this:

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a student in the UK working on her dissertation in illustration. I took a follow-up peek at what she was working on, and was delighted to find this.

Easter is just around the corner, and that means it's time to stitch some eggs! Okay, okay. I kid. These amazing goose-eggs were stitched by Forostyuk Inna, a Ukranian artist. I haven't been able to turn up any other examples of her work apart from this link. Anyone know of her work? I wonder how she did that. Curved needle? Beading wire? Magic? I started to think maybe they were halved and then put back together, but how do you halve an eggshell without breaking it? Any ideas, dear readers? I'm stumped.

Related: Cross-Stitched Cars on Embroidery As Art