I’ve been looking at my BOW flower blocks a little differently lately. When I design these blocks, I create them with applique in mind. The flowers, leaves and other elements are drawn as separate pieces, with the finished design built up one piece at a time.
But just because a block was designed for applique doesn’t mean it has to stay that way! Today I wanted to stray from that thought, focusing on my Clematis block....
....and do something a little different. I want to embroider the block instead, and rather than doing this process by myself, I thought it would be fun to invite you to come and stitch along with me.
First thoughts..... With applique, I’m thinking about fabric colors, shapes, edges and how each piece will sit against the next. With embroidery, the same shapes are still there, but now I get to think about thread, texture and the stitches I can make with a needle.
So, if you enjoy embroidery (or perhaps you’ve been wanting to give it a try) gather your supplies and join me.
What do you need?
You don’t need a huge collection of specialist embroidery equipment to join me. In fact, you probably already have most of what you need.
Here’s my basic supply list:
- The BOW Clematis flower block pattern. My BOW flower patterns all included the full-sized layout template so very easy to use for hand embroidery as well as applique.
- A plain cotton or linen fabric for your background. Choose something you’ll enjoy stitching on and that will show off your embroidery.
- An embroidery hoop – large enough to comfortably hold the area you are working on - an 8 or 10 inch hoop is ideal.
- Water-soluble stabilizer or a heat-erasable pen for transferring the design to your fabric. Whichever method you prefer will work.
- Embroidery threads in whatever colors you decide to use.
- An embroidery needle suitable for the threads and fabric you’ve chosen.
- Sharp scissors for trimming your threads neatly.
That’s really all you need to get started. I've choosen a number of variegated threads in purples and greens.
Of course, you may already have a favorite hoop, particular threads you love or a special pair of embroidery scissors that make their way into every project. This is definitely not about going out and buying everything new!
Preparing to stitch
Once you have your supplies together, the first step is to transfer the design to your fabric. This is where the layout guide from the BOW patterns becomes really useful. Rather than needing to trace all the individual pieces onto the background, you can work from the layout guide.... and even better, you can print directly onto your printable water-soluble stabilizer (if you are using this)... and since the pattern is digital, this makes it a very simple process.
I’ll be using printable water-soluble stabilizer (it saves me time drawing) to transfer the design onto my fabric but you can easily draw it if you are using the heat-erasable pen.
Once printed/traced and stuck onto the fabric (I'm using the self-adhesive kind), then it’s simply a matter of putting the fabric into the hoop, threading the needle and getting ready to stitch.
There’s something rather relaxing about sitting with a hoop in your hands and watching a design gradually appear. Unlike a quilt that can seem to demand a lot of cutting, sewing and preparation, embroidery lets me concentrate on one small area at a time. It feels like a lovely opportunity to slow down.
And there’s no need to finish it all in one sitting.
So grab the Clematis block, find a piece of cotton or linen, gather your hoop and threads, and get ready to start next month. Come stitch with me. PS: The original pattern has been update to now include hand applique, embroidery, and quilting options. Use the code 'clematisblock' to grab 20% off - this week only!
In my next post, we’ll get into the fun part - choosing embroidery stitches and deciding how we want to bring those flowers, leaves and details to life.
