This blog post is your “if you like X-kind-of-stitching, embroider Y-design” guide to choosing the next embroidery project for your hoop.
Read on and see which of these stitching approaches has you motivated to start a new project.
If you like repetitions . . .
Jacobean gives you repeating floral clusters and vines in the round. You might work all of one color on a motif, moving around the circle. Then move to the next color. You might choose a motif and work it four times. You might stitch all of one quadrant and then repeat it.
A single structure sits at the center of Lighthouse, but there are plenty of repetitions in the nested, back-stitched waves, the stripes on the lighthouse, and the French-knotted blossoms covering the stony island.
If you want a project that’s faster and easier than others . . .
Choose Patchwork, and master the most basic hand embroidery stitches in this hodgepodge of quilt blocks. Fill one section with straight-stitched stars, another with back-stitched grids, and another with four-petal blossoms using the lazy daisy stitch.
Embroider a Galaxy by stitching a variety of planets using simple stitch combinations to render striations, continents and geometric fills. Finish the design by stitching the smaller elements in the galaxy: the grey dust specks with French knots and the golden stars with fly, straight, and outline stitches.
If you want a project with a variety of motifs and sections . . .
Grow gives you a mosaic of garden-themed blocks. Each one is a discrete scene using a variety of stitches. Start with the seedlings at far left, move onto a mini garden situated above oversized sunflowers. Next stitch a fall window scene of dried plants and tinctures sitting over the graphically-styled “GROW.” Finish it off with the lupines at far right using big loopy lazy daisy stitches.
Play is a fun collage of recreation-themed motifs. Stitch the Queen of Hearts and a sandcastle, kite, tent, suitcase and game-of-chance wheel. Each time you sit down to stitch, you’ve got a fun new challenge.
If you want a project that lasts longer than the others and is a bit more complex . . .
Sit A While is a rich living room scene with textured curtains atop golden boughs and a tucked-away cat. The carpet and the wallpaper each have a colorful repeating pattern. The green plants give you leaves and blossoms, and there are even a couple of small framed pictures to stitch.
No Place Like Home is a modern take on a classic theme that you’ll render with a dozen classic stitches. Start your embroidery with the large house and tree, and then move to the tinier elements in the faraway landscape: mountains and city, pine trees and clouds.
If you’d like the option to push the easy button . . .
Bunny Folklore gives you a large (18″x14″) linen-cotton canvas print that you could turn into a pillow or frameable with as much or as little stitching as you want to add. Because the folk-art shapes are already filled with color, you could simply outline a few of them and call it done.
If you like adding embroidery to your clothes . . .
Pockets Stick and Stitch gives you 5 pocket-sized patterns for your jeans or denim jacket pockets. Trim the pattern, stick to your clothing, embroider, then soak to wash the pattern away. Choose your favorite colors and pull floss from your stash.
If you love stitching grids . . .
Each of the mountains, valleys, and pathways in Mountain Time are filled with a different pattern of straight and backstitched patterns and grids. This is a relaxing project that celebrates time in nature.
Tree of Life substitutes circles for leaves, and each circle is filled with a geometric pattern–many of them multi-color layered grids.
If you’d love stitching a full-size traditional band sampler . . .
Home Sampler is a classic sampler with a variety of motifs (including alphabet!) work in rows or “bands.” It’s fun to embroider because you can keep moving around and working small scenes with a variety of stitch combinations. It’s also a stunning piece to display when framed. We’ve made that framing easy, too, by making sure the finished design fits into an 11″x14″ mat or frame.
Which stitching preference is yours? Are you a lover of grids? Do you like to keep things easy or are you after a more complex project? Click here to browse all of our designs which eye toward your own stitching approach.
FALL in love with stitching...
...whether you love pumpkin lattes, gourd-filled trugs, or spooky scenes, we've got something for everyone who adores Autumn over in the Stitched Stories shop!
