Stitching in the Studio

I love all the seasons here in New England but winter holds a special place in my heart because I spend the majority of my time in the studio. Even though it has been unseasonably mild here this year that rule has held true.

I thought I would share a small stitched piece that was inspired by a walk I took last November on Cape Cod with fellow ACN members, Priscilla Smith, Jeanne Marklin and Diane Franklin .

I started with a piece of Solufleece, a stabilizer that dissolves in water, and hand stitched using a selection of chunky threads. 

It is important to overlap or crisscross your stitches connecting them so that when you dissolve the stabilizer they stay together.

 Afterwards I used my embellishing machine, to further interlock the threads and blend them together to create a more muted painterly effect. 

 

 When finished I cut off the excess Solufleece and soaked the piece in lukewarm water. When the Solufleece was completely washed out I rolled it in a towel and then stretched/blocked the embroidery by pinning it to one of my work tables. After it dried, hand stitching beach grasses in the foreground with DMC embroidery thread added just a bit more detail.

 Now I have to decide how to finish it. I detest the idea of framing textural pieces like this under glass, so I am thinking about stitching it to a gallery profile canvas with the sides painted in a grey like the stitched sky. I guess it’s time to place a Dick Blick order!