What Are You Stitching?

Having been inspired by Victoria Matthewson’s Buttercup & Thick-legged Flower Beetle, we went to our What Are You Stitching? files and found stitchers who have created their own nature studies.

‘Here is a piece of stumpwork I did back in 2004.’

‘I loved stitching the praying mantis and the cricket.’ 

‘It took me 125 hours. Happy stitching everyone!’

This is a beautifully stitched project, Karen. We love all the extra details you’ve added that provide so much for us take in and look at. Amazing how many insects you’ve included all in the one piece!

‘Here is my latest big embroidery project ‘Blossoming in the Jungle’. It is a work for my further education at the International School for Textile Arts.’

‘The finished project is about 50cm x 70cm (19.6” x 27.5”) and there are about 250 hours of embroidery fun in it. It is my own design and most of the development took place during the embroidery work.’

‘The complete jungle is embroidered on canvas and contains many unusual materials and stitches to achieve as many textile structures as possible. I find it exciting how, even with a rather conventional surface like canvas, a modern work can be created.’ 

‘The single flower has been worked in a shaded pearl stitch on a finer canvas and is then integrated into the jungle.

Monika, you’ve really captured the dense wildness of the jungle in your piece beautifully. It must have been incredibly enjoyable to create whilst also learning new techniques.

‘I live in Tasmania, Australia, am French and I am disabled. I find that I quite enjoy stitching to keep my hands busy. Like my husband says, ‘busy hands, busy mind.’

‘My days can be very painful with my disability, but I embroider for my mind to escape. I get my inspiration from the work I see by people on Instagram. This piece was a challenge, but the end result was an accomplishment far beyond anything I have stitched before. I thrive to learn new projects, new stitches.’

‘I used silks, cotton threads and pearls. The stitches I used were long and short stitch, satin stitch, French knots, over twisting technique, couching, blanket stitch, turkey stitch, straight stitch and many others.’

This is a glorious project, using so many stitches! You should be doubly proud of your immaculate stitching, Stephanie. If you’d like to see more of Stephanie’s work, you can check out her Instagram page HERE.

Have you stitched a still life project? Do you stitch with unusual materials? Have you found inspiration for a project on Instagram?

Whatever you are stitching, we’d love to see it! Email photos of what you’ve created with needle and thread along with a few details about your stitching journey to news@inspirationsstudios.com