Twilight in Paris

In January there was a stitch-a-long on Instagram based on Jenny Hart's Sublime Stitching patterns. I hadn't realised how prolific the craft movement is on Instagram until then so thought it would be a good time to join in. Also, I've wanted to stitch the Sad Valentine pattern for a while now. It reminds me of the Twilight in Paris music video from the 80s cartoon Jem & The Holograms.... Yes, yes I'm a bit Jem obsessed lately.... sue me :-)

So I altered the pattern a bit, pulled out some funky pink and neon threads and stitched along:

I decided to frame it with a fabric wrapped hoop in neon pink, a very Jem colour! It now has pride of place on my wall above my framed Jem posted (see...obsessed!!)

If you want to see everyone else's Stitch-A-Long look up #sublimestitchingsal on Instagram for some stitchy goodness!

Ooh, That's Sublime!

Jenny Hart’s website, Sublime Stitching is having a contest called the Combo Contest. The object is to combine three of her patterns in an interesting way and produce an embroidered piece.

I have always liked Jenny’s designs and have both of her books, but have not had an opportunity to use them. This was the perfect time! Now, my embroidered piece may not be the most innovative, but it will be the springboard for something much bigger.

I chose to use the patterns Country Cool, Pinups by Gil Elvgrin and the book Embroidered Effects. I chose a cowgirl, a sailor pinup and the feather girl from the book (which I have wanted to stitch for a long time). I put them together on a 20" by 20" square with the quote ‘Well-behaved women rarely make history’. Each woman represents an aspect of myself.

The sailor pinup represents my love of nature and water and that I have been working on the sea for almost 4 years.

The feather girl represents my showgirl side, the entertainment industry that I work in and love, and the extrovert in me.

Finally, the cowgirl represents my hardworking side and my confidence.

I have decided to use this piece as the central square of an embroidered quilt that I plan to make. I need to create 20 more 10” by 10” squares all around the theme ‘Feminist Statement’. I want it to show the women and words that have influenced me throughout my life… so keep an eye out for the squares as I make them!

J'adore Embroidery

As I mentioned before it is National Embroidery Month, so I am taking the opportunity to shame some of the stitchy projects I have been working on lately. I also thought I’d show you some work in progress as I may be MIA for the next couple of weeks. We have cast change over on the ship so I am going to be super busy fitting costumes and running shows… so until I can get blogging again check out these beauties!

I was looking at Jenny Hart’s Flickr account the other day and found this great French knots sampler. I had never been able to do a French knot until I read Jenny’s instructions for one so thought this would be a great chance to show off my skills! You can see the results above…

I have also been working on my Rock Belt. My friend left me an old pair of jeans when he left the ship, which I decided to turn into a belt. I cut off the waist band and embroidered images on to it in bright colours. I frayed the edges and added some chains to give it a worn in edgy look. I need to get come better photos of it and maybe get a friend to model it for me. Let me know what you think!

Finally, my work in progress. I am embroidering a t-shirt with a peacock pattern that I was inspired to create by paintings on my ship. We have a peacock on the curtain in our theatre and there are a few dotted around the ship too. I haven’t got too far yet, I’ll show you more once I get some time to myself…

Leave a comment to let me know what you think!