Saturday 24 August 2013

Tutorial - stitching

Hello lovely people,

I have had quite a few comments/queries about my stitching so I thought I would share a little photo tutorial on how I do it.
If you're not interested please feel free to skip on down to my Totally Gorjuss DT post below; I will not be remotely offended!

First off, I do the stitching by hand ... ok, maybe that's obvious because if I used a machine then a tutorial would be rather pointless!

Here's what I use: a cutting mat, a Tonic Studios Tim Holtz pokey tool (the rubber on this started flaking almost immediately but it works fine), a fine needle and some DMC white embroidery thread;

I start in one corner and poke holes about half way along, the spacing is by eye;

Then I start from the other corner and poke holes towards the ones I have already done.  I stop when the gap looks the right size for 3 more holes;

I add the hole in the middle of the gap;

Finally I fill in the 2 remaining holes either side of the last hole I made.  This seems to mostly avoid having the wrong size gap at the end, although I have been known to get it wrong!

For the stitching part I do backstitch with a fine needle;

I tape the ends down on the back although I realise now that my tape is almost invisible!

I also cheat!  If I know I am going to be covering some of the lower layers up then I don't bother to stitch the non-visible parts :-)

Since I do a lot of this just by 'what looks right' I appreciate it may be a bit daunting for some, but I like doing it by hand and trust me, you get a lot better with practice.  Besides, I reckon it looks better if it isn't too perfect!

I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial and happy stitching :-)  Oh, and if you want to see the finished article it's below this post.

Thanks for visiting,

Hugs,
Kat xx

6 comments:

Sue said...

Your tutorial is fabulous Kat, thank you for sharing. The embroidery thread gives a nice effect.
hugs Sue xx

Kelly Lloyd said...

Thanks for tutorial Kat. With have a go at it
Xx

Christine L said...

Brilliant tutorial hon... thanks for sharing your technique... I really am going to try this soon! But today I'm determined to master Distress Ink colouring... I've had to stuff for more than a year now... but have been scared... sooooooo TODAY'S the day!

By the way... what you said about it looking better if it's not too perfect.... someone once said to me, and I think they were talking about something made with an error in it in the 1500's at a stately home... it was done deliberately as 'only God makes things perfect and he would be offended if we tried..!' I'll stick with that one! LOL

Hugs
Christine x

Donna Ellis said...

Wonderful tutorial, Kat! Thanks so much for sharing your special stitching technique! The perfect thing to do when keeping my husband company watching TV. I agree about perfection, but only because nothing I strive to do comes out perfectly anyway! It's fun to always be happy with whatever "happens" LOL Thanks again! hugs, de

Stacey said...

fantastic thanks kat will give this a go too xxxx Stacey xx

Marilyn said...

Had to come check this out Kat because I too was wondering how you did that perfect stitching. Thanks for the brilliant tut!