This post has a collection of three different types of stitching I completed over the past nine months while in school. In this first photo, you can see embroidery stitching that I applied to a couple of linen hand towels I had sewn from a thrift store linen tablecloth. These were a gift for a friend. Now that I think back, I’m not sure how I found the time to cut and sew these while in school. I know I would have embroidered a bit at a time in 15-minute time slots here and there. Anyway, I remember that I strategically cut the rectangles so that the towels would have as much aqua and yellow as possible. Linen makes such great towels, and I hope my friend is enjoying them! The embroidery stitches are pink with yellow couching stitches.
Below are photos of a new experiment I tried over the winter when some of my sweaters were developing holes. Since I didn’t have time to go thrift shopping for sweaters, I decided to try visible mending to patch the holes. I’d see photos of techniques online. One technique involved creating a line of stitching outside the hole, weaving several lines of yarn or thread horizontally over the hole, then weaving in and out through these lines. This method ends up creating a top line (at the cuffline) where stitches can be anchored. After completing this weaving part, I did blanket stitching all around the whole cuff edge. I was pretty pleased with how this whole technique made the hole and tear disappear!
Below you can see where I mended another hole and blanket stitched the cuff of the other sleeve. I was so pleased with this whole process that I used it on a couple of other sweaters that had holes or worn areas. The techniques are fun to use, and they get you a few more months of use out of the item. On the other sweaters I used yarn that matched the sweater fabric.
Remember when I posted about Dorset Singleton buttons awhile ago? I managed to start a few more, but I also made the woven Dorset buttons, as you can see below. The red button is a Singleton, and the other two are the woven ones. The rings I used for these are one inch in diameter, but you can fit quite a lot of stitching onto these small surfaces! Using your imagination, you can make quite the variety of buttons using just these two techniques. Because it involves handstitching, it’s yet another small project I can tote around with me to work on in small bits of time. I used this book for instructions; it’s great because it has many different types of buttons in it.
The orange and purple button wasn’t finished yet, but in the other two, you can see two different ways I finished the backs. The red button has a red suede leather circle stitched on. Both that and the pink and blue button have two different types of shanks that I wove. The pink shank is made from blanket stitching over two long threads, and the white shank is from a different weaving method over the long threads. How I love learning a variety of stitching skills!!!!
This final photo is of two very big Dorset buttons. Of course I won’t use them as buttons, but the technique is the same. The rings that anchor both of these weavings came from a $3 thrift store decorative hanging. The hanging had 48 plastic rings attached together with crochet. Instead of a decorative hanging, I saw a source for plastic rings. 😀 These enabled me to practice the Dorset button weaving techniques on something bigger. I’m envisioning making more of these, adding beads and embroidery to them, and selling them as smaller decorations.
Do you do any type of weaving or embroidery? Have you ever heard of Dorset buttons? What type of handstitching are you working on these days? I would love it if you would share with me in the comments; I promise I will reply!
