The Diary of a Northern Belle

Hand Embroidery

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Archives for May 2021

Easy Chain Stitch Tutorial

     Anne      Leave a Comment

Who’s ready to learn more stitches with me? Today, I’ve put together a tutorial on how to do the chain stitch and the detached chain stitch (commonly known as the lazy-daisy stitch). I absolutely love the lazy-daisy and use it all the time. So I’m excited to share it with you! Back in March, I wrote a post on the first 5 stitches you should learn as a beginner, and I definitely encourage you to have a look at it to learn the basics. Today’s tutorial also features an easy stitch, perfect for beginners and widely used in surface embroidery. So grab your needle and thread & let’s go! For a list of all the materials you need to get started with embroidery, check out this post.

 

chain stitch easy embroidery tutorial

 

First things first, you’ll need to cut some embroidery floss, about the length of your forearm. I will be using 3 strands of DMC #3818 throughout this tutorial, but feel free to use more (or less). Then, thread your needle and either knot the end of your thread or anchor it to the fabric using any of the methods detailed in this post (or any other way you know of starting embroidery)

 

The Chain Stitch

 

I’ll be honest, I really don’t use this stitch very often. I usually kinda forget about it. I really like it though, and it’s super easy. It just never seems to work with anything I’m stitching for some reason haha!

 

To begin, bring your threaded needle up from the back at point A. Pull the thread all the way through.

 

thread pulled all the way through at point A to begin chain stitch

 

Go back down in the same hole (A), and bring the needle up at point B in the same swoop. Don’t pull all the way.

 

needle going back down at point A
needle going back down in A and up in B

 

Pull the needle through gently, pulling until the thread forms a loop. Bring your needle through that loop, and pull through.

 

needle being pulled through point B
Pull the needle through until you get a loop big enough to go through it.
thread going through the loop to form chain stitch
Bring your needle through the loop.
loop being pulled down
Since point B is below point A, the loop will eventually be pulled down to lay where it’s meant to.

 

Sometimes you might need your other hand or the tip of your needle to help guide the loop, as it can have a tendency to twist and won’t lay properly.

 

first chain of the chain stitch complete
Pull the thread trough the loop until it rests nicely on the fabric.

Go back down into the same hole again, where your thread currently is (point B), and bring your needle up at point C. This is the same motion as before, when you started your first stitch.

 

needle going back through point B and up at point C
Go down B and up C before pulling the needle through.

Pull the needle and thread through until you get a loop of thread, just like in the previous steps. Make the sure the needle goes through and then pull all the way so the loop will lay flat.

 

second chain stitch being pulled through
two connected chain stitches laying flat

 

Keep repeating these steps until you have the chain length you want! Basically, you always go back down in the same hole you came up.

 

chain stitch in progress

 

To end the chain, simply take a small stitch on the outside of the loop to close it.

 

closing the last stitch

 

view of the last closed chain stitch

And there you go, that’s the chain stitch!

 

The Detached Chain or Lazy-Daisy Stitch

 

If I never use the chain stitch, I most certainly always use its detached version 😉. As you might have guessed, this is essentially a single link of the chain stitch. It’s commonly referred to as the lazy-daisy stitch, and will seem super simple after working the chain stitch!

 

Begin the same way as above. Bring your needle up from the back at point A. Go back down through A and up in B, pulling until you form a loop. Thread your needle through that loop and pull.

 

needle going down in A and back up in B
needle going through loop
thread being pulled through loop for chain stitch

 

Pull the loop down until it lays nice and flat.

 

loop being pulled down to lay flat
chain loop laying flat on the fabric

 

So far, that’s exactly the same as the chain stitch. If you wanted to continue the chain, then you’d go back down in the same hole again and keep going until you got the length you wanted.

 

But for the lazy-daisy, all you need to do is end the stitch there, as though you were finishing the chain length.

 

Take a small stitch on the outside of the loop to secure it.

 

small stitch on the outside of the loop to hold chain stitch down

 

And that’s it!

 

finished detached chain stitch

 

I can’t tell you how much I love that stitch. It’s so incredibly useful for leaves and flower petals. Plus it’s pretty quick to work!

 

I hope this tutorial was helpful to you and that you’ll enjoy working the chain stitch and its detached version. I tell you, the lazy-daisy can be such a lifesaver! I used it a lot in my Redwork Embroidery Box Project, and generally love it for small flowers and leaves.

 

the lazy-daisy stitch embroidery tutorial

 

Let me know if you have any more questions about it in the comments, or feel free to share the love for this stitch too 🙂

 

Fondly,

9 Reasons to Learn Hand Embroidery

     Anne      2 Comments

Have you been thinking about starting to learn hand embroidery but you’re not too sure what’s in it for you? How easy it is to get started? Is it worth your time and money? Read on to discover 9 reasons why you definitely should give it a try! I’m biased, but embroidery is wonderful!! Here’s why:

 

 

1. It’s Inexpensive

 

Unlike other hobbies – like sewing – you don’t need a whole lot of fancy equipment and tools to get started. Embroidery floss is relatively cheap (here in Canada it usually sells for about 0.85-1.05$/skein) and so are embroidery needles. If you’re just getting started and testing things out, you can practice stitches on any cotton or linen scraps if you have any. Cotton and linen are the most common fabrics used for surface embroidery because they are the most forgiving and the easiest to stitch on, but any fabric can be embroidered on. When I started, my first project was on a cheap piece of Dollar store felt, and it worked just fine (well, my technique was awful, but the working of the needle itself was fine lol).

 

See also: The Only Embroidery Tools You Need

 

starting hand embroidery, strawberry needlepainting with dried leaves

 

2. It’s Easy

 

As with any hobby, getting started can often be pretty intimidating. It’s hard to know exactly how and where to start, and you might feel overwhelmed by all the existing embroideries and projects you come across. There are definitely some complicated and intense patterns out there, but getting started doesn’t have to be difficult. I am a firm believer than anyone who wants to learn embroidery can do it. Your needle and thread do the hard work, all you have to do is guide them. I remember being intimidated by embroidery when I first started because I absolutely cannot draw to save my life, and thought my needlework would reflect my poor drawing skills. But everything looks much better once it’s stitched! And there are thousands of already existing patterns out there if you don’t want to draw your own.

 

getting the hand embroidery project started, winded floss surrounds hooped fabric
starting a hand embroidery project, needlepainted strawberry

The basic embroidery techniques aren’t difficult, and you don’t need to learn all the fancy techniques right away to achieve beautiful results. Check out this post on the 5 first stitches to learn to get started!

 

3. It’s Relaxing

 

There is something incredibly soothing about hand embroidery. The unhurried motions, the satisfying “swoosh” sound of thread going through fabric, the repetitive motions…Embroidery is calm, peaceful, and frees up your mind to meditate and relax while keeping your hands busy. Setting up is easy too, and you can work as little or as much as you want in a day!

 

4. You Can Do It Anywhere

 

Because there are so few materials required when you start embroidery, you can easily embroider from basically anywhere. Whether that’s your couch, your patio table, in public transit, on holiday, by the poolside, on top of a mountain, you name it! Of course not every project will be suitable for easy transportation and some projects might require being kept in the same tidy spot, but generally speaking, it’s very convenient to bring needlework along with you. I am personally a big fan of outdoor stitching. I love taking my projects to the local public garden and surround myself with flowers.

 

strawberry hoop art and strawberry bone china teacup

 

5. It’s a Perfect Excuse for Binge-Watching

 

I don’t know which justifies which for me at this point…the need to stitch the minute I sit down to watch something, or the urge to put on “a background show” when I’m stitching? A bit of both, I think. 😉 One of my favourite aspects of embroidery is how easily multi-taskable it is. It just becomes something to occupy your hands and feel productive while performing another relaxing activity like listening to music or binge-watching your favourite show.

 

embroidery snips and hooped fabric rest on pile of Jane Austen dvds

 

6. It’s So Creative!

 

You can literally embroider anything in existence! I tend to stick to florals and other nature inspired subjects, but really anything can be reproduced with a needle and thread. There are so many ways to gather inspiration for projects. It can be a line from your favourite novel, a beautiful design on a teacup, or the potted plant hanging above your kitchen sink. Inspiration is everywhere, from nature to books, movies, video games, history, the sky’s the limit!

 

7. You Can Easily Adapt it to Your Own Style

 

Once you find what you like to embroider best and what needlework style suits you, it’s easy to add embroidered touches anywhere you’d like to make something more “you”. You can add it to clothing to make it truly unique, or to other household items, like a pillowcase or a bag. Embroidery is addictive, and once you start, you’ll want to add it everywhere!

 

get started with hand embroidery! strawberry hoop art, needlepainting

 

8. It Makes Great Handmade Gifts

 

Similarly, since there are so many different things you can embroider, the possibilities for making wonderful handmade gifts are endless. Again, you can add it to every day items made of fabric to give them a personalized touch, or simply gift it as art. It’s hard to go wrong with embroidered wall art, and you can even leave the finished piece in the hoop and use it as a frame. Plus, the satisfaction and pride of gifting something handmade are totally worth the time spent on the piece!

 

9. You Can Learn a Lot of History

 

Not only will you be learning a new craft and new skills, but there is also so much fascinating history to learn regarding embroidery. It’s been around forever, in so many different forms and styles! Did you know that in many cultures, it was often used to differentiate between social classes? Or that the famous technique of “needlepainting” became popular during the Victorian era to elevate embroidery to the same level as art? And okay, maybe you aren’t a history nerd like me and are more interested in modern embroidery. That’s fine too, there’s plenty to learn there as well! And if you ARE a nerd like me, well! You’re in the right spot, because there are so many wonderful resources for learning historical embroidery techniques and I aim to share as many as I can with you!

 

My current WIP! Needlepainted strawberry done in long & short stitch

 

Check out how I made this practice stitch book using historical & vintage techniques and patterns!

 

And that’s it! Those are only 9 of many more reasons to learn hand embroidery if you’ve been thinking about it. 😊 I hope this motivates you to pick up a needle! I will be adding more useful resources on my blog very soon. If you do decide to learn embroidery, I’d love to know how it goes for you.

 

Happy stitching my friends!

Fondly,

learn hand embroidery 9 reasons why
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Sunny Dandelions: Springtime Inspiration

     Anne      Leave a Comment

Hello friends!

What a time I picked to begin this blog, LOL. Life got really busy over the last few weeks, and I sadly didn’t have much time to devote to it. As some of you know, I had to say goodbye to dear Nova Scotia earlier this month. I moved back to a charming, quiet village in Ontario. It was a pretty major move since I lived for six years in Halifax- the longest I’d ever lived in the same city! So it’s been quite the change on many levels, but the charms of the countryside are quickly working their effects on me. I’m back, with all sorts of exciting plans and fresh inspiration!!

view of the countryside showing a trail in the woods bordered by a wooden fence

Springtime Inspiration

Springtime – and especially May and June – tends to inspire me the most. After months of bare trees, cold weather, and empty gardens, it’s so nice to see nature awakening again. It makes me want to embroider ALL THE FLOWERS. But of course there’s too little time and too much to stitch.

And since I’ve been so busy lately, today’s post is only a small project, whipped up in a couple of hours. Buuuut, I’m very happy with it, especially since I didn’t use a pattern and just free-handed everything. Which was kind of a big deal for me because normally I can’t survive without solid guidelines. It was really fun though, and I’m proud of it!

dandelion embroidery hoop art against backdrop of real dandelions

The inspiration for this impromptu little embroidery came, of course, from the yellow seas of dandelions seen everywhere this time of year (at least in my corner of the world).

field full of dandelions
patch of dandelions

Although dandelions are often considered as “weed” and/ or “unwanted”, I honestly don’t know how you could not love them. They’re so bright and happy, like pieces of sunshine! They enliven fields and joyfully border gardens and hedgerows.

dandelions bordering a garden

I love them 😊 So I had to stitch them!

dandelion embroidery against the real flowers

How I Stitched My Dandelions

I used some wool-like yellow floss for the flowers (I bought a bag of those spools a few years ago at a thrift shop, and there were no labels or anything so I’m not 100% sure what it is, but it feels wooly. Could be crewel wool.) and DMC cotton floss #470 for the stems and leaves and #3011 for the middle of the leaves.

embroidery hoop art and spools of wool floss

I stitched the flowers entirely with straight stitches. I made the first few very short and meet in the same hole in the middle to create the center of the flower, and then worked my way around. The flower to the very right has a center that’s slightly higher to give it a different angle.

close up of dandelion embroidery to show different flower heads
close up of first dandelion flower being embroidered, showing straight stitches to form petals
close up of embroidered dandelion flower

The stems are done in backstitch. I added a few more straight stitches in green to create the bracts (the little “leaves” that the flower head seems to rest on). The jagged leaves are worked in long & short stitch. I made them perhaps a bit small, but I think they look fine!

close up of embroidered leaf details

Dandelions have been everywhere I look lately since they grow all around our house, and it’s been really fun to immortalize them in embroidery. If anyone has another method for stitching them, do share it in the comments! I was tempted to make the flowers with narrow silk or satin ribbon to give them a better 3D effect. Thoughts? When you look closely at a dandelion flower, the outer petals have little “teeth” at their tips. I knew this would be hard to replicate if I stitched small flowers, but if I made a bigger one I could give the petals more definition. I’ll just have to keep my dandelion-inspiration going and try stitching them a different way next time!

close up of real dandelion flower

A Bit of Folklore & Other Interesting Facts

I was curious as to their meaning, so I dug out my pocket language of flowers dictionary and discovered that it stands for rustic oracle. According to folklore, the dandelion helps to tell the time, the weather, and even predicts love (much like a daisy).

“…its flowers always open about 5 am and shut at 8 pm, serving the shepherd for a clock.” – Folkard

Additionally, Chamberlain’s The Child and Childhood in Folk Thought tells us that children would blow the seed tufts to tell time. The number of blows it takes until only the stalk remains corresponds to the hour of the day. Since the flower is fully open when it’s sunny and closes in upon itself when rain approaches, it also serves as a barometer. Pretty cool, no?

closed up dandelion flower head

There are also a few different ways the dandelion can predict love, according to this same book. You can send a love message by plucking a dandelion head gone all feathery. Think of a sweet thought for each of the feathers, turn towards the place where your loved one dwells, and blow! The seedball will faithfully convey your message 😉 If you wish to know if they are thinking of you, blow again. If there is a single feather left on the head, it means they are also thinking of you.

half-blown dandelion seeds

Benefits of Dandelions

In addition to all this fascinating folklore, the dandelion also has many medicinal uses. The flower, the leaves, and the roots are all edible!* A super easy way to use the flowers when they’re fresh and is to add them to lemonade. Lately I’ve tried combining them with cold minty tea and honey, and it’s incredibly refreshing! You can also dry them in the sun to save later for brewing tea. I originally used this recipe for my lemonade.

glass bottle of dandelion lemonade in field of dandelions

The roots can also be used for tea. I haven’t tried this yet, but I’ve had store-bought roasted dandelion root tea before, and it’s amazing. Rich and earthy, with no caffeine, and it’s good for digestion. 😊 As for the leaves, they can be a bit bitter, but work well tossed in a salad mixed with lettuce. My mom even used them in lieu of spinach in a lasagna the other day. Mixed with the cottage cheese, it was delicious! They definitely lost some of their bitterness after they were baked.

bone china tea up filled with lemonade with a dandelion head floated on top

So basically, dandelions are lovely, interesting, and beneficial! If their sunny yellow colour isn’t enough to make you appreciate them, you can always try telling the time with their seeds, or see if you’d fancy a cup of tea. 😊

I hope you feel inspired by these happy bits of sunshine, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments.

patch of yellow dandelions
dandelion embroidery held up against field
dandelion gone feathery held against field

Until next time, and happy dandelion-picking!

Fondly,

*As with most edible things, some people might be allergic to dandelions or parts of dandelions. Just be cautious if you’ve never tried them before. Likewise, although the Internet boasts several benefits of consuming dandelions, certain people may experience different side effects due to medical conditions. Just be careful before consuming and do a little research to make sure it won’t be bad for you if you’re unsure. 😊

Sources:

I consulted the Language of Flowers illustrated by Kate Greenaway and first published by Routledge (London) in 1884 to find the meaning of the dandelion. The copy I have – linked here – is an unabridged reproduction by Dover Publications (New York) in 1992. I got more information on its appearance in folklore by consulting The Child and Childhood in Folk Thought by Alexander Francis Chamberlain, available on Google books. This was originally published in 1896 by Macmillan & Co (New York and London).

I found the eBook version through this article from Coffee House Writers, which was very interesting.