Erica's Stitches

Connecting Threads is having a fabric design contest so I decided to try designing fabric. It's easy to come up with ideas but hard for me to get them into the computer. The first design I used PCStitch, cross-stitch design software to come up with the jpeg.  It has a tiled appearance because of that but it is an interesting effect.  I can easily imagine a whole line of fabrics with this look.  This design is on page one of the Geometric/Decorative category . For my next design I experimented with Photoshop.   It is on page 3 of the Flowers category . It's been fun dreaming about being a fabric designer but there were so many beautiful designs submitted and they are all getting more votes then mine. I have more ideas and wish I could submit again knowing more about what to expect and how to generate the designs.  So, go out there and vote for your favorites so they will run the competition again.

Here's my latest design. It seems like I've been working on this all year long.  I've been planning having it done every weekend since Thanksgiving but things kept getting in the way. The main design is four squares.  Each one has a slightly different border and a slightly different center. I decided I needed an outer border around the squares.  Typically, I'll figure out how long the border needs to be and break it up into sections.  For example, a border of 70 stitches will have 10 repeats of a 7 stitch design or 7 repeats of a 10 stitch design. In this case, I wasn't in a math mood.  So, I played around with a design on graph paper until I had a repeat that I liked.  I centered it over the design and repeated it past the edges on two sides.  Where the designs met I simply erased stitches and added others until I came up with something I liked.  This time, the plan worked out well.  I like how the chain turns the corner. This is...

Here's my latest cross-stitch design available on patternsonline . I have 4 of these 3x3 inch frames and I need to get them filled.  I decided to stitch various flowers from my garden and picked blue flax for the first flower. As you can see the stems and leaves are very delicate and they have a blueish-purple flower. This is Linum Lewissi named for Meriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame. Linen, the fabric I often stitch on is made from Linum Usitatissumum.  Blue flax must have similar characteristics because my wildflower guide states that the American Indians did twist the stems into fishing lines. It is very difficult to photograph flax on a windy day.  But, I discovered that they make great shadows. On my to-do list is to play with some of the shadow photos on Photoshop.  If I can get a pleasing arrangement I may try a feature of my cross-stitch software that I haven't used yet.  I can upload a photo and have it automaticall...

Many people think cross-stitching is a mindless activity done while watching TV.  For me, it's not.  I either end up abandoning my stitching to watch a show or I end up tuning it out and missing the ending. My mind is constantly thinking about what I'm creating.  Here's an example from when I was stitching my Coneflower Biscornu : This is the first side.  The border is made up of many quilt blocks.  I stitched all the pink and yellow first. I like this border.  It would be fun to use this as a frame for something else.  When I was designing I was using whole blocks and didn't see this possibility.  Is the pink too light?  What will it look like when I add the green?  How will the yellow look when the green is added? Now the green has been added. It looks totally different now.  The pink is definitely not too light.  The look of the "frame" has changed and is totally different.  It would be hard to pick which...

I've been working on a St. Patricks Day's Sampler on and off since last December and it did not want to happen. None of my ideas looked right when I started playing with them.  When I tried re-arranging them they looked worse than the original.  Arg. Once the design transformed into something I liked, but it was no longer a St. Patrick's Day design.  I will be stitching that design soon. Sometimes designs just seem to happen magically.  You come up with the right combination of shapes and color.  Not this time.  So, I'll put it aside for 6 months to a year and work other designs.  Maybe later on the time will be right and I'll come up with something. I did make lots of clover shapes, both with three or four leaves. Here is my favorite four leaf clover shape.  I like it on it's own and I think I'll make a scissors fob from it.  Why not?  It just wasn't working as part of a bigger design.

Biscornu's have been popular for a few years now.  I've always admired them but haven't tried making one until recently.  Last weekend, my Embroiderers' Guild of America chapter had a program on biscornu finishing.  Several beautiful designs where provided but I wanted to do my own thing. A biscornu, a many sided object, is made with one or two stitched squares so any square design will work.  Since the design comes together at the corners and the center is indented I sensed interesting possibilities.  I wanted my design to take advantage of these features. In December I made tons of paper snowflakes and decided a paper snowflake would be a great inspiration.  So, I designed a cross-stitch snowflake just as I would cut one out of paper.  I only worked with one quadrant adding cutouts and other shapes and then "unfolded" it to get the finished snowflake. For fun I stitched it in two colorways, light green on purple and dark teal on gra...

Yes, I've finally gone crazy and am trying to trace eggs!  I want to cross-stitch some Easter eggs and need to get a good egg outline. I started in the refrigerator with real eggs.  They were cold and I was afraid they would roll off table and land on the floor and make a mess.  Then I remembered plastic eggs and found them in a box in the closet.  The plastic eggs roll around too, but they do a lot less damage when they hit the floor.  It would be nice if the eggs came apart along the long half.  Then tracing would be easy. There is an art to tracing around the egg.  The angle of the pencil is key.  If you hold the pencil perfectly straight, the egg is huge and doesn't seem like the right shape.  For me, it worked best to have the tip of the pencil tipping in towards the egg.  Then you have to keep that angle consistent all the way around.  But, it's still hard to make the tracing symmetrical.  After several pages of ...

Alphabets are quite popular on cross stitch samplers and there are many decisions to be made when choosing an alphabet.  Upper case or lower case is one decision.  It seems that upper case is most popular.  Using lower case causes all sorts of compications.  Extra space is needed for j, k, l, p and the other letters that extend above or below the main line.  Another important decision is even or odd.  The alphabet above is odd.  That is, it is and odd number of stitches high, in this case 7.  Notice the B and D.  Both are symmetryical. This is an even alphabet that is 6 stitches high.  Notice that the B and D are no longer symmetrical.  I prefer odd alphabets.  I've been known to change the size of a sampler to mak an even alphabet into an odd alphabet. Both of these samplers are in a traditional font.  But it is easy to re-arrange the stitches to create different looks for you alphabet. ...

Sometimes finding a design idea is as simple as looking in your closet.  Fair Isle sweaters have great patterns. They may look complicated, but each row only has 2 colors. There are simple geometric patterns and not so simple geometric patterns. These designs can be easily adapted to cross-stitch for borders and to fill an area.  Start with a simple zig-zag, line or cross.  Vary the colors.  Add dots, circles and other shapes.  Sometimes you'll be amazed at the patterns you can make with only a few colors and a few shapes. I've even used these sweaters as an inspiration for a beaded amulet bag.  It's done in peyote stitch.  The grid is a different shape than cross-stitch but it lends itself to similar patterns.  As in Fair Isle, each row only has 2 colors.

Sometimes it's hard to come up with a new color scheme.  Sometimes it's easy.  One recommended method is to start with a known color scheme and work from there.  Quilters will find a fabric with a bold, colorful print.  The rest of the fabrics will include shades from the first fabric.  Embroiderers will start with a colorful overdyed thread and use it to select more colors. I did one such project a few years ago.  We started with an overdyed thread and then chose 4 or 5 colors from that overdye.  The project involved an oak/acorn theme and I wanted green and brown to be included in the colors.  I chose this beautiful overdye: Besides brown and green, there was red, orange and yellow.  With great excitement I started stitching.  I stitched some more and something happened - the colors where changing and not in a good way.  They began to look like a bad 70's color scheme with rust, harvest gold and avocado.  My excite...

This flower is from my "Antique Flowers" Sampler.  It is very similar to another flower in my "Les Fleurs des Bois Sampler". Whats similar?  The flower shape is identical.  What's different?  Color - the antique flower is stitched with a dark muted purple.  The contemporary flower is stitched in multiple brighter purples.  The stems are very different.  The antique flower stem is stylized and made exclusively from cross stitches.  The contemporary flower uses a few cross stitches with some backstitches and half stitches thrown in.  It is more delicate and realistic. A few simple choices drastically changed the look of the flower.  Whatever shape I design, either simple or complex is shaped by many decisions.  Color affects the mood - pastels, brights, darks all have a different look.  What stitch do I use?  All cross stitches?  Do I add backstitching or not?  The half stitches are more work but they ...