The Diary of a Northern Belle

Hand Embroidery

THE LATEST

All Posts

“Embroideries From an English Garden” by Carol Andrews – Book Review

     Anne      Leave a Comment

Hello hello! My, but it’s been ages since I published a new blog post! I’m ever so sorry and hadn’t meant to neglect my poor blog for so long. Unfortunately, publishing posts just hadn’t been at the top of my to-do list these last few months, but today I really want to share one of my favourite embroidery books with you. Books are my favourite way to learn new craft skills, and especially embroidery. For some reason I seem to remember tips & tricks I read in books much better than anywhere else. I’ve already written a list of embroidery books I recommend, but in this book review we’ll be looking at the wonderful Embroideries From an English Garden by Carol Andrews.

copy of the book Embroideries from an English Garden by Carol Andrews, with an embroidery in progress, stork scissors, and a small posy of daisies

I’ll start by saying that this book features some of the most gorgeous embroidery I’ve ever seen, but it’s not for beginners. Previous knowledge and experience with embroidery is absolutely recommended, but you don’t need to be an expert either before approaching the projects in this book.

 

What’s in the book?

Realistic, textured, and dimensional, this book features a truly beautiful collection of botanical embroideries inspired by the changing seasons in a typical English garden. Actually, it’s not just any English garden, it’s a garden at what used to be Edith Holden’s home! If you’re not familiar with Edith Holden, she’s the author and illustrator of the posthumously famous Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady (which I’m sure you’ve seen here and there on Instagram, since the pages make for really beautiful backdrops!). Isn’t that amazing?!

The projects really showcase the beauty of the English flora in all their glory. By using different combinations of stitches, techniques, and thread types, this book really has a lot to teach you and is perfect if you’re interested in realistic floral embroidery. The projects sometimes combine the usual cotton floss with wool, silk, or another type of thread to achieve realistic and stunning effects. The techniques used also vary from long & short stitch needle-painting to stumpwork using padding and/or beads.

 

Structure of the book

The first part of the book includes the main projects and is further divided by seasons – a beautiful wreath (or half-wreath) is offered for each season, as well as a few other single subjects for each season. Some of these are bigger and more intricate, while others are smaller and seemingly less time-consuming. Each project includes a threads and materials list, detailed instructions, and lots of helpful diagrams to guide you along. Specific techniques are referenced but shown in the second part of the book.

 

Here’s a project I tried!

One of the projects is none other than this magnificent lilac branch, which I attempted back in 2020 and showed you in this post where I also discussed Jane Eyre. I hadn’t done a lot of needle-painting at that point, and only used threads and materials I had on hand. If I were to do it again, I would definitely like to try stitching the leaves with Appleton crewel wool as suggested, instead of the random greens I had. I also would not choose this project again without knowing how to properly work bullion knots! Even though my incompetence resulted in this handy-dandy hack 😉

close up view of embroidered lilac branch

Nevertheless I was very proud of the final result and absolutely loved adding beads at the end to really make the piece pop! I loved the beads so much that I was determined to use them in embroidery again. This eventually led to my Beaded Blackberry Branch pattern, inspired by the lovely blackberries also featured in the book.

I didn’t follow the same technique as what’s outlined in the book, but I had so much fun making that piece. I even turned it into a full pattern for you to stitch as well!

 

Stitches & Techniques

As I mentioned earlier, the book is divided into parts, and the second part explains all the stitches and techniques. It starts with a beautiful sampler featuring wheat, daisies, and poppy-seed heads, and then goes on to give you lots of important information on how to prep your work, transfer your pattern, and start your stitches.

One tip that really stood out this time around was the tissue-paper inside the hoop. To avoid finger marks or hoop stains, the author suggests cutting out a ring of tissue paper that you place between your fabric and outer hoop. Mine was a bit too thin (width-wise), and since I was working a design that went close around the sides of the hoop, there wasn’t enough room for it to really make a difference. It ended up slowly ripping apart, and it also discouraged me from removing the fabric from the hoop between each stitching session. Other than that I’d be willing to try it again with a different design!

You can find the finished wreath pattern here!

Stitches and techniques are very well-explained and easy to follow, and include yet more designs to embroider! This book really is a treasure trove of gorgeous botanical designs. The third and last part of the book includes all the pattern outlines to trace and transfer. The easiest way to do that is to copy them with tracing paper, since there are already to size. As I said before, some are quite big, while others are very small. They can easily be resized though, especially if you have access to a scanner.

 

Where to get this book?

And there you have it, my book review for the wonderfully lovely Embroideries From an English Garden: Projects & Techniques in Surface Embroidery by Carol Andrews! Unfortunately, I do believe the book is now out of print, so if you happen across a copy in a thrift store, or on eBay, don’t pass it up! I was able to get mine via Amazon, but I believe there’s only one copy left and it’s quite pricey.

It’s a real shame because it’s truly an amazing book. May it be in print once again!

I hope you enjoyed this book review! Don’t hesitate to let me know if there’s another embroidery book you’d like me to review! Do you like this kind of blog post?  Drop a comment below!!

Hope you’re enjoying the last few golden days of August,

Pin to save for later!

2023 Free Yearly Stitch-Along + Mini Needle-Painting Tutorial

     Anne      8 Comments

Hello! It feels like a while since I posted anything here, and now it’s already 2023! Happy New Year to you and I hope you are having a lovely January so far. I’m thrilled to announce a new stitch-along again for this year, free to all my email subscribers.

If you’re new around here (warmest welcome!), last year I ran the Tea Party Mini-Quilt stitch-along, which consisted of 12 mini-embroidered hexies turned into a mini-quilt. The project combined embroidery, EPP and hand-quilting, and was tons of fun! Each month, I sent out a small embroidery pattern to my email subscribers, and at the end of the year I put together instructions for making the hexies into a mini-quilt. (You can find more info about it in the post linked above)

This year, my theme will be “Floral Garden” and instead of a mini-quilt, we will be making a nice string of bunting. It’s something I’ve been meaning to try for a while now and this project will be the perfect opportunity. Of course, if you prefer to make a mini-quilt again, or anything else you fancy, feel free to do so!

(By the way, if you missed the Tea Party project and it sounds up your alley, you’ll be able to purchase the pattern from my shop shortly. Sign-up to the email list to get notified!)

 

The January Anemone

For January, I’m starting off with a fanciful version of a white anemone, after having been inspired amongst other things by this beautiful wreath from Stitch Floral. I knew I wanted a blue flower for January, and after much Pinterest scrolling and deliberation over the palest DMC shades, I finally settled on two beautiful blues and the palest purple and sat down to stitch.

Of course, I had to do a little needle-painting to get the effect I was looking for, and I wasn’t disappointed! Since it’s a mini-pattern, it doesn’t take too long to stitch and yet it yields a very satisfying result. If you’re new to needle-painting, fear not! Not every pattern in this stitch-along will feature needle-painting, and to make things easier I’ve put together a little tutorial for you, specifically for this flower.

I already have a tutorial for the long & short stitch here, which is the technique most often used and referred to as “needle-painting”, but I wanted to simplify it a bit for this project. Since the pattern is so small, you don’t need to work many rows and the shape is quite forgiving. The addition of the grey-blue thread around the center will also hide any imperfections 😉

You could decide to use the satin stitch if you prefer, but personally I find the long & short easier to get a better definition and control of each stitch.

 

Easy Long & Short Stitch Tutorial

1. So, to begin, you want to be using only 1 strand of floss in your needle. This is one of those stitches that is much harder to lay smoothly if you use many strands. (I’m using a darker blue for this tutorial than I did in the original pattern, for the sake of the photos.)

Start by outlining the shape with split stitch. This will give you a nice edge to work with.

Then, start your first “long” or “short” stitch in the middle of the petal, outside the split stitch edge. We want to be covering this edge by using it as our guide to start stitches evenly.

 

2. Work more stitches on either side of that first stitch, spaced out, in the direction you want your stitches to go. For this project, you want to angle them towards the center as much as possible, to create definition along the edges.

 

3. Begin filling in-between those guiding stitches by working “long” and “short” stitches. Since this is a small area, it doesn’t matter if most of your stitches are about the same length. It will end up looking a bit like satin stitch, but gives you more flexibility to work around the curved edges.

Keep your stitches nice and tight against each other – you don’t want any gaps! You can use the tip your needle to smooth out and “comb” through the stitches before making the next one.

4. You don’t need to stitch all the way to the bottom of the petal, since we will add the darker blue there. Stop when you have just a little bit left.

 

5. Add stitches with the grey-blue colour by starting through the previous row and ending right along the center edge. You will only need to add a few stitches with this colour, just to give it that extra pop and really make the petals come out. Vary the lengths of the stitches so you have visibly long and shorter ones.

And there you go! You’ll notice that the petals will sort of melt into each other, but that’s ok! The more you keep your stitches angled, the more definition they’ll have.

I hope this was helpful and I can’t wait to see your beautiful anemones! Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram and use the hashtag #northernbellesal if you share your creations. Happy stitching!

Fondly,

Pin to save for later!

Fern Stitch Embroidery Tutorial

     Anne      Leave a Comment

It’s been a little while since I updated the Stitch Library with a new stitch tutorial! While stitching my latest pattern, I decided to branch out a little from the usual stitches I love and try the fern stitch. It’s a lovely leafy stitch that is super simple to work and is the perfect addition to a bouquet or to create a gorgeous border.

 

 

Ready to try it? Let’s go!

 

For this tutorial, I’m using 3 strands of Anchor #365.

 

1. First, I suggest drawing 3 parallel vertical lines, making sure that they are at an even distance from each other.

 

2. Then, once you’ve secured your thread (see this post if you need), bring your needle up from the back at point A, right at the top of the middle line.

 

3. Go down at point B, the length of a stitch, and come back up at point C along the left line, just a little below point A.

4. Go back down at point B again (in the same hole), which will form the second stitch, and come back up on the right line at the same level as point B. This is point D.

 

5. Pull through to close the left stitch from C to B.

 

6. Then, go back down through B again and come up at point E along the middle line, the length of a stitch.

 

7. Pull through to close the right stitch from D to B.

 

8. Go down in point B one last time, to close the stitch from E to B along the middle line. To close this stitch, I prefer to pull through while my needle is on the wrong side, but you could come up at point F on the left line to start the new stitch in the same motion, as we did previously. I just find it easier not to for this middle stitch.

 

9. If you haven’t done so in the previous step, come up at point F along the left line, below point C.

 

10. Go back down through E and up again at G, on the right line below point D. Pull through to close the stitch.

 

11. Go down through E and back up at point H, along the middle line. Go down through E one last time, closing the next stitch.

 

12. Keep going in the same fashion to get one continuous line. Here I’m going in a straight line, but you can decide to curve it as you like. Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, you won’t need to draw the 3 guide lines, you’ll only need to trace the middle one (or none at all if you like to totally free-hand things!).

 

And that’s it! I find it such a satisfying stitch and should definitely use it more often.

 

Bonus:

You can easily add little beads as you stitch and it creates the loveliest effect!

A snippet from a current WIP, which will be available as a pattern in my Etsy shop soon!

 

I hope you’ll try this stitch too and enjoy it as much as I did!

 

Fondly,

Pin to save for later!

Two Different Ways to Embroider Hydrangeas

     Anne      2 Comments

Hello friend, it’s already time for a new mini-embroidery pattern for the 2022 Tea Party Mini-Quilt Stitch-along! For August, we have a sweet little posy of hydrangeas in a vase, freshly picked from the garden and ready to adorn our tea table. I spent a very peaceful afternoon playing around with different stitches and colour combinations to embroider the hydrangeas, and thought I’d share a bit of my process with you here today.

 

 

An endlessly fascinating and beautiful subject, florals can be embroidered in about as many different ways as there are embroiderers. I absolutely love scrolling through Instagram or Pinterest to see how everyone likes to stitch flowers. There are so many lovely colours, and so many stitches to choose from! The best way to figure out what works best is to just try out different things and have fun.

 

August’s Hydrangea Posy

I absolutely love a good hydrangea bush, all puffy with big pastel pompoms. And when dried well, they look nearly just as good in a vase as they do crowding the front steps. They are also wonderful to look at during the colder months.

For this mini-embroidery pattern, I knew that the hydrangeas would be quite small so anything too detailed (like long & short stitch) would likely not work. French knots and lazy-daisy stitch are both so versatile and useful for depicting many kinds of flowers, especially for small subjects. So I had a go an embroidering hydrangeas with both stitches, and ran a little poll on Insta to see what people preferred.

The French knots won, but I admit I was more drawn to the lazy-daisy stitch version. I love the fullness that the French knots give, but I feel it could also be mistaken for other flowers (like chrysanthemums or zinnias) and looks a bit too abstract. The lazy-daisy stitches give it a bit more definition. You can place your stitches to form an “X” to imitate the petals, but since the flower was pretty small, they kinda crowded over each other and ended up looking a bit messy.

 

French Knots vs. Lazy-Daisy Stitches

I think the size of the flower greatly influences the type of stitch that works best. For a very small flower, the French knots are perfect for giving it dimension and texture. The lovely combination of the sweet shades of blue #3811 and #827 leave it with no mistake that it is in fact a hydrangea. (Plus, when it’s your embroidery, you can absolutely claim that it’s whatever flower you say it is, even if it doesn’t exist!). If I were stitching a hydrangea bush or flowering pot, I would definitely use French knots, since they would be depicted from even further away.

But for a single flower, I really do love the lazy-daisy stitches.

I made this one bigger, and used the same two shades of blue. It’s not as dimensional, but it does have more definition and works better for this size. The bigger is it, the easier it is to add details. If I were to stitch a much larger, detailed version, I would probably use satin stitch or long & short, and perhaps bullion knots to add some texture, much like I did for the lilac branch project.

 

Which version?

This was a fun little exercise, but in the end I just couldn’t decide! Both versions ended up in the August pattern! Everything is stitched with 2 strands, but you can of course substitute the lazy-daisies for French knots or vice versa. Or use another stitch altogether, if you have another way to embroider hydrangeas! I’d love to know.

Also, if anyone has any great tips for drying hydrangeas to display, please let me know! The last bunch I tried failed miserably, and the ones I did manage from a few years ago have sadly lost most of their colour.

I hope you enjoyed these different ways to embroider hydrangeas, and that you enjoy stitching the August pattern. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram (@northernbelle.atelier) and use the hashtag #northernbellesal. I always love to see your work!

 

Fondly,

Pin to save for later!

Stumpwork Robin Eggs: Easy Embroidery Tutorial

     Anne      Leave a Comment

Today on the blog, I have a really fun tutorial to share with you: how to make stumpwork robin eggs! I shared a glimpse of the making process a few weeks ago on Instagram, and some of you were interested in seeing the full tutorial so I’m happy to oblige. One day, I hope to be able to film things properly, but for now I hope you’ll enjoy this step-by-step photo tutorial.

 

 

The eggs and nest are part of a larger pattern, which is available as a PDF download in my Etsy shop here!

embroidered robin bird on a blossoming branch with its nest of blue stumpwork eggs

So if you fancy a bit of needle-painting, a bit of stumpwork, and a bit of French knot magic, you’ll love “The Robin’s Nest”!

The stumpwork was actually the easiest and most fun part of the whole project, so I’m excited to share more about it with you today.

 

What is Stumpwork?

“Stumpwork” is, quite simply, a fancy word for 3D embroidery. It refers to the various techniques used to “raise” embroidery, from 3D stitches to padding, stuffing, and the use of any other material to create three-dimensional scenes or elements. I’ve shared a bit about stumpwork here on the blog before, in these two projects:

flat lay close-up on beaded blackberries project and plate of blackberries with embroidery notions and dried flowers
Beaded Blackberries: Inspired by Regency Fiction
finished embroidered currant berry branch on garden bouquet project
Garden Bouquet Embroidery Part 3: Beautiful Berries

There are pretty much no limits when it comes to stumpwork, and a million ways to get creative and make your embroidery pop. Bird eggs seemed to me the perfect subject to try a little felt padding, and I absolutely love it!

 

Materials:

To make these stumpwork blue eggs, you’ll need:

  • Scrap of blue felt big enough to cut 3 little eggs from. My eggs were about ½” each, so you really only need a tiny scrap.
  • Sewing thread (use a matching blue, or anything pale) and a hand-sewing needle
  • Snips
  • Embroidery floss DMC #3811 or other lovely robin egg blue shade you have
  • Hand-embroidery needle

 

Stumpwork Eggs Tutorial:

1. Start by cutting 3 little eggs from the blue felt. The felt is used as padding and will be entirely covered with stitching, so don’t worry if it’s not exactly the right shade of blue. You can use white felt too, if you don’t have blue.

3 eggs cut out of blue felt

 

2. I’m stitching these eggs inside a nest here, so I’ve arranged them how I want to determine which to stitch first. I like them to overlap, especially with the angle my nest is seen from, but they could be beside each other and not touching if you prefer.

felt eggs arranged in nest

 

3. Once you’ve decided how to arrange your eggs, stitch the first one in place with sewing thread and a simple backstitch. This is to prevent the shape from shifting when we embroider.

first egg stitched down

 

4. When it’s stitched in place, thread your hand-embroidery needle with 2 strands of #3811 and cover the egg with satin stitch, vertically (top to bottom or vice versa).

egg embroidered with satin stitch

 

5. Arrange the second egg, and sew it down in place like you did the first one. If they are overlapping, stitch right through the other egg. Again, cover with satin stitch in the same way as the first.

felt egg being covered with satin stitch
two eggs fully covered with satin stitch

6. Finally, place the last egg and stitch it down in place over the previous two. Cover with satin stitch, always following the direction the egg is laying in.

third egg overlapping the other two

 

And now you have the cutest, bluest little 3D robin eggs!!

3 stumpwork eggs finished

 

Felt is truly amazing for stumpwork, and really easy to work with. I even considered stuffing the felt, but didn’t need to since it turned out dimensional enough. You can use bits of felt like this to raise any embroidered element that you like.

stumpwork eggs in their embroidered nest surrounded by blossoming flowers

 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and small glimpse into “The Robin’s Nest”! The full pattern is available for purchase here if you’d like to stitch the whole thing. Suitable for enthusiastic beginners of the needle-painting technique and more advanced stitchers. If you’re just starting out with needle-painting, it’s not too difficult as the robin is pretty straightforward. If you’re a complete beginner to hand embroidery, I do suggest practicing basic stitches and needle-painting first.

 

You can visit my Stitch Library for full tutorials on basic embroidery stitches and more!

 

As always, thank you for reading my blog and happy stitching!

Fondly,

Pin to save for later!

Basket Weave Stitch Tutorial: Simple & Pretty

     Anne      6 Comments

Welcome to another stitch tutorial! The basket weave stitch is a really fun one. There are so many different ways to approach stitching a basket, but this method is rapidly becoming my favourite. You can easily change the look and texture of the basket by playing around with the number of strands you use.

 

the basket weave stitch embroidery tutorial

 

If you’re here following the Tea Party Mini-Quilt project, ready to stitch June’s Strawberry Basket, I used only 2 strands in the original design. For the purposes of this tutorial, I’m using all 6 strands. Up to you to decide which you like best!

If you’re new around here and you’d like to join in on the Tea Party, I send out a free mini-embroidery pattern each month, to turn into a hexie for a decorative mini-quilt. This month’s pattern is this adorable cottagecore strawberry basket.

embroidered strawberry basket in wooden embroidery hoop

If you’d like to stitch it too and catch-up on previous patterns, you can join my mailing list by subscribing here! I send out a newsletter every two weeks (usually, haha!).

 

Now, onto the tutorial!

 

Basket Weave Stitch Tutorial

1. First, assuming you are indeed wanting to embroider a basket, transfer or draw your pattern on the fabric. Mark the vertical lines of the basket’s weave.

basket outline drawn on fabric

 

2. Make straight stitches over those vertical lines.

vertical straight stitches

 

3. Then, come up on one side of the basket, just beside the first straight stitch.

needle coming up beside the first stitch

 

4. Weave your needle under and over the stitches, all the way to the end.

needle weaving through vertical stitches

 

5. Pull through, adjusting the thread if need be, by pushing it gently with your needle so it rests in a curved line at the top of the basket. Go down into the fabric.

pull working thread through
first row done

 

6. Coming up from the back just beside where you last ended, start weaving the needle again, in the other direction. You’ll want to do the opposite you did previously, so if you ended your stitch “under” the last vertical stitch, start by going over this time. Go all the way to the other end, end the stitch by going down into the fabric, and come up again just under where you left off.

second row complete
basket half filled

 

7. Continue to weave your needle over and under until the basket is filled!

basket filled with weave stitch

 

8. I like to finish with a nice line of stem stitch to hide the weaving ends, and stitch the handle.

stem stitch added around the basket base and handle

And there you are, the sweetest little basket!

 

As you might notice, the weaving looks different in this tutorial compared to my original strawberry basket. That’s because I used fewer strands and made my base stitches much closer for the latter. The basket in the tutorial used more strands, and the vertical stitches were further apart, creating a longer weave.

 

You can play around with this until you find the look you are best satisfied with! I hope you enjoyed this basket weave stitch tutorial, and I wish you lots of happy stitches and strawberry pickings. There’s nothing quite like a basket of freshly picked wild strawberries on a sunny June afternoon, is there?

 

Fondly,

Pin to save for later!