Announcing My Delightful New Online Affordable Sew-along
New this year, to bring some easy-to-access peace and play to your everyday.
Hand Stitching is a great solo activity, good for our well-being, but it is even better when explored with others!
So I'm thinking, once a month to get us into the delightful place of slow-stitching.
At these online sew-along gatherings you will enjoy demonstrations of different techniques and stitches.
You will be able to just watch or have a go, ask questions and get all important support.
And, if you think of a question after the event ( which I often find myself doing), you know where to find me for extra complimentary support so that you don't end up with another UFO (unfinished object)
So what's up first?
Winter Wonderland
Online sew-along
Wednesday 15th February 2023 7 pm GMT (so mid-afternoon EST)
You will enjoy demonstrations of both mixed media backgrounds and several hand stitch techniques.
When I shared this piece on Instagram the comments were unanimous "love the colours" (although there was a difference in the spelling of colors!)
Optional Kit so you have everything you need
There is the option of purchasing a ticket that includes a kit to go along with this stitch-along This will include the colours I used, both acrylic and crystalline paints!
The kit also includes pale blue Angelina for adding sparkle.
See the full contents of the kit below.
kit contents:
cotton fabric
paints: acrylic ultramarine; acrylic turquoise pearl; Brusho turquoise
bondaweb
embroidery hoop
sheer fabric pieces: white, green, grey
embroidery threads: DMC 642, 1356, 3753 & Coats 60wt: blue, green & white
Angelina: light blue
embroidery needle
sponge brush
baking parchment
But, if you have a stash of fabric, paints and threads then I've made an option to save money and grab your ticket without the kit.
Mixed Media Techniques
I love to play and experiment, bringing a range of mixed media techniques to my contemporary textile art practice.
We will take some plain white cotton fabric, and turn it into a stunning background for stitch!
This is especially important for the sky, which will be a feature in our Winter Wonderland sew-along.
I am a real summer girl, which is why wellness practices, like slow stitch, are especially important to me in Winter. But, I have been inspired by some of the Winter skies I have been enjoying!
In this project I will demonstrate four delightful background effects:
Brusho
Brusho Crystal colours are intense paint powders that are water-based and non-toxic
They can be used dry-on-wet, wet-on-wet, sprinkling, spritzing,...
They are wonderful for fabric backgrounds, especially skies! (That's why I include Brusho-coloured Tyvek in my Landscape and Seascape kits btw)
Pained Bondaweb
Don't just use Bondaweb for appliqué! Bondaweb is a soft adhesive web attached to transfer paper. We can paint it and when dry, peel off organically shaped pieces to then apply to our background.
Angelina
A soft polyester fiber that is light reflective as well as light refractive so it’s very sparkly. Angelina fibres can be used in all sorts of different ways and are perfect for adding a little – or a lot! – of sparkle to your sewing projects. One way you use them is by fusing them together with an iron.
Sheer Fabrics
These can be layered together, with each other and with the other mixed media products, and add depth and interest to the background ready for stitching.
Please note that for all these, you need to protect your iron, that's why I've included some baking parchment in the sew-along kit.
Stitching
We will include at least three different hand embroidery stitches in our Winter Wonderland project. I will be demonstrating some of my favourites, and look forward to discussing other ideas. The kit includes two different kinds of threads -three colours of each, but we will explore the wide range of threads and yarns that we can use in our stitch. This is another aspect of my never-ending play and exploration!
Join In
I do hope you can join me for this stitch-along on the 15th of February.
And if not, then please do share your stitching (projects, tips, mixed media products ...) in the comments below.
