Category: In-Depth 21-22

“Love is what carries you, for it is always there, even in the dark, or most in the dark, but shining out at times like gold stitches in a piece of embroidery. ”

– Wendell Berry

Welcome back!

This week’s post will be my last blog post for In-Depth 2022. I will be giving one last progress report on my project, mentor, and my plans for In-Depth Night at the end of May.

Progress Report

Over the past two weeks I’ve gone a little slower since I’ve had some upcoming events to focus on, and I mostly worked on designs for my project. I had a call with Michelle talking about some ideas I could do for my final project, and we were talking about something like a flower field with a painted background and a quote. I chose to try and incorporate those ideas the most since they are the main patterns I’ve learnt to embroider throughout In-Depth. After our meeting I drew up some ideas with those main components, and I also drew some mains shapes I would colour in with watercolours as a part of the background.

As for the project itself, I will be working on it over the next little while, updating Michelle as I progress. As for the piece itself, I will probably be using a larger hoop, most likely my 8 inch hoop, as I want to make this project a fancy finishing project.

Mentor

Over the past two weeks Michelle and I had a meeting discussing my last project (scenery) and ideas for my final project. I told her about the meltdown I had with the watercolours on my previous piece and told her that I would try to make a background again but with thicker paints this time. We discussed ideas for my final project, and I told her about some of my ideas and she told me some of hers. We agreed that I would draw up some designs and send them to her so she could help me choose what my final project would look like.

In-Depth Night

For In-Depth night, I’m planning on having a table where I will be displaying all my projects, and I will also be working on a project in front of people. I will display the projects I’ve made, and I will likely buy a small paint easel to prop up on or two of the pieces. I will also be bringing my embroidery supplies (thread, needles, hoop, fabric, etc.) and will be creating a project at my table, answering any questions and explaining what I am doing as I go.

Journal

Below is a PDF of a journal I kept to write updates and more detailed descriptions of projects.

in depth journal

Updated Timeline

Plan: An outline of methods, activities, strategies, people, and resources you can use to meet your challenge	Timetable: The specific dates or times when you will accomplish the steps in your plan
Find a vision or goal.	Before December 17th (done)
Find and contact a mentor.	Before December 20th (done)
Make sure mentor has completed necessary forms.	January 12th (done)
Do some research on embroidery.	December 31st – January 10th (done)
Start finding stitches I want to learn.	January 3rd – January 10th (done)
Find four types of patterns that I want to work on and two types of fabrics.	Before January 31st (done)
Buy (most) needed supplies.	Before January 31st (done)
Start learning and practicing stitches.	January 16th – January 31st (done)
Start practicing a certain genre and complete a design for first mini project.	Before January 31st (done)
Finish first mini project.	February 6th (done)
Learn to care for finished product.	February 6th (done)
Start working on second genre.	February 7th (done)
Finish and care for second project.	February 28th done)
Finish and care for third project.	March 28th (done)
Finish and care for fourth project.	April 18th (done)
Finish final project.	May 22nd (in progress)
Complete a journal of what I have learnt and this journey.	May 28th (done)

 

“Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.”

– Voltaire

Hello!

Welcome back to my In-Depth blog post. This week you’ll be reading about my scenery project, my mentor and I, and some challenges.

Progress Report

For my final project before my finishing piece, Michelle and I decided on choosing a scenery project. I saw a piece on Pinterest which I really loved, so I tried to recreate that piece for this project. The piece was of a forest, the background is coloured with watercolour paint, and there’s a couple of stitched trees and birds. Since I had watercolour paint, I decided to try this out.

For the project I ended up just going for it instead of doing some practice trees first. I started by painting the background with watercolours as I planned to only embroider a few trees which would be the focal point. I found it hard to paint the fabric, even though it was just a background, the paint was hard to blend, and I had to let it dry before painting some shapes since it would bleed. It was also frustrating as the paint would dry a lot paler than when I applied it, I realized that I probably used too much water, and should’ve left it more paste-y, after a few layers it did end up working though. As for the trees, I embroidered three of them, using backstitches and running stitches. It was a simple project, and I didn’t spend as much time as I would’ve liked on it, so the project ended up looking rough. Hopefully I will be able to incorporate scenery into my final project though, and I can make it look better there.

Mentor

1. What kinds of learning opportunities does the mentor provide to expose you to new learning?

As I progress, I choose new projects with Michelle to challenge me and broaden my horizons. When I finish a project, I’ll begin to choose a new one with her. My most recent one is scenery, stitching trees, mountains, and other greenery. Michelle has also talked to me about ribbon embroidery, which could be something I try in the future.

2. What kinds of learning opportunities exist to reinforce new learning?

When we choose my next project’s topic, I usually do some practice patterns so I can get comfortable with it, Michelle will send me pictures of examples that I can build off as I think of project designs. The final project shows what I have learnt.

3. What kinds of opportunities exist that might accelerate learning?

Michelle usually will send me tutorials for extra clarification when learning new patterns and such. Practicing those patterns helps me polish them for the final project. I usually will make a hoop full of patterns I might use in my final project or in the future.

4. When you get together what do you talk about?

We usually discuss my progress, projects, and other ideas I’d been thinking of. If I am stuck on something Michelle often talks about projects she’s seen or done, and we discuss what my next project idea could be. Outside of projects Michelle will also send me tutorials on other handy skills like blending or embroidering with ribbon.

5. What is going particularly well in your mentoring relationship right now?

Michelle and I are good at collaborating together, in my last post I talked about how we had trouble finding time to meet and talk, but when we do we share ideas and find new topics for me to learn. Michelle often supports my opinions, and she recommends projects based on what I enjoy embroidering or what I want to learn.

6. What are you learning about one another?

I’ve been learning about what types of embroidery Michelle is interest in, based off what she’s recommended to me, and she has been learning about what I like to embroider too. During our first couple of meetings, I explained to her why I wanted to learn embroidery, and she had told me about her embroidering journey. Though this is less about embroidery, I’ve also noticed that Michelle travels quite a bit, which sometimes makes it hard for us to meet.

Challenges

I’ve found it hard to find time just for in depth recently, there’s been a lot of outside distractions that keep me from working as much as I want to. My progress is slow, but I’ve been taking advantage of longer weekends and such to continue working on projects. I hope to get back to my old schedule, where I worked on in-depth every Sunday, so I can finish my final project for in-depth without rushing.

Though this is not a pressing challenge, I have no idea what I would like to do for my final project yet. It will be a cumulation of the patterns and skills I’ve learnt throughout these past months, I will discuss this frustration with Michelle at our next meeting, and hopefully we will find some ideas!

Updated Timeline

Plan: An outline of methods, activities, strategies, people, and resources you can use to meet your challenge	Timetable: The specific dates or times when you will accomplish the steps in your plan
Find a vision or goal.	Before December 17th (done)
Find and contact a mentor.	Before December 20th (done)
Make sure mentor has completed necessary forms.	January 12th (done)
Do some research on embroidery.	December 31st – January 10th (done)
Start finding stitches I want to learn.	January 3rd – January 10th (done)
Find four types of patterns that I want to work on and two types of fabrics.	Before January 31st (done)
Buy (most) needed supplies.	Before January 31st (done)
Start learning and practicing stitches.	January 16th – January 31st (done)
Start practicing a certain genre and complete a design for first mini project.	Before January 31st (done)
Finish first mini project.	February 6th (done)
Learn to care for finished product.	February 6th (done)
Start working on second genre.	February 7th (done)
Finish and care for second project.	February 28th done)
Finish and care for third project.	March 28th (done)
Finish and care for fourth project.	April 18th (done)
Finish final project.	May 22nd (in progress)
Complete a journal of what I have learnt and this journey.	May 28th (in progress)

“Although the threads of my life have often seemed knotted, I know, by faith, that on the other side of the embroidery there is a crown.”

– Corrie ten Boom

Welcome back!

This post will be about my two new projects, some updates with my mentor, and challenges I’ve had.

Progress Report

Since my last post, I have finished my fabrics project, but due to events over spring break, I had to push the project’s due date by a week. For my first sub-project for this one, I had told you I was trying tulle embroidery. For the idea, Michelle said I would go ahead with my koi pond. Since the project was on a new medium, it was hard to adjust to at first, and since it’s a “loose” fabric, I had to use thicker threads. I used many, many French knots, backstitches, and lazy daisies, so it wasn’t too difficult. Overall, though, this project turned out much better than I had thought, and I thoroughly enjoyed the process of it.

As for my second sub-project, I had embroidered a plain sweater I have, stitching on some of my favorites flower patterns. For my first try, I tried to stitch on a flower on the top right corner of my sweater, it consisted of many French knots and a couple of lazy daisies, but the design ended up in a strange spot, so I had to remove the stitches. This was really frustrating as the many knots required more thread, and I had used quite a bit of it. For my second try, I did three woven wheels of different sizes in the center of my sweater, the design was a little too low for my liking, but I was satisfied with the minimalistic look it had.

For my last project before my final piece, Michelle and I have decided for me to learn some scenery patterns including, trees and maybe animals.

Mentor

1. What has been your most difficult mentoring challenge so far? Why?

Especially for the past few weeks, Michelle and I’s call schedule has been rocky due to timing and other commitments. Michelle has been quite busy over the break with her kids and trips, so we had to reschedule quite a bit. Michelle was away from home for a few days for a trip too, so we couldn’t communicate as effectively during that time. I did update Michelle when I could through messages, giving her progress reports and ideas I was thinking about.

2. What is working well? Why?

Even though we have had trouble communicating effectively lately, Michelle has been helping me with questions I have, and she has given me feedback for projects I’ve done. On our most recent call, we were deciding on what I should do for my fifth project, and Michelle recommended I try scenery, and I could incorporate that into a Mother’s Day project as that is coming up. I also told her about what I planned to stitch onto my sweater for the second part of my last project. Overall, when choosing new projects for me, Michelle helps me think of fun and challenging ways to use my skills.

3. What could be working better? How can you make sure this happens?

As I mentioned before, Michele and I have had trouble communicating recently. To fix this, I plan to get our biweekly calls back on track, and since Michelle will likely be in the area for a while, we won’t have too many problems. I can continue to update her in the time between our calls, and we can message each other in case of trips for cancellations.

Frustrations

I had planned to work on my fabric project over the break quite a bit, but due to other events I had fallen behind quite a bit. To catch up, I ended up pushing my dates by a week. I did finish my project within the new time though, and I am back on track now.

As for the project itself, it was definitely tough at first for both pieces; for the pond I found it hard to make my stitches as accurate, and I needed to use all six threads to cover a space. For the sweater, the placement of the design was difficult, as well as putting the hoop on, since the sweater’s fabric was a lot thicker, my hoop refused to close as first.

Updated Timeline

Plan: An outline of methods, activities, strategies, people, and resources you can use to meet your challenge	Timetable: The specific dates or times when you will accomplish the steps in your plan
Find a vision or goal.	Before December 17th (done)
Find and contact a mentor.	Before December 20th (done)
Make sure mentor has completed necessary forms.	January 12th (done)
Do some research on embroidery.	December 31st – January 10th (done)
Start finding stitches I want to learn.	January 3rd – January 10th (done)
Find four types of patterns that I want to work on and two types of fabrics.	Before January 31st (done)
Buy (most) needed supplies.	Before January 31st (done)
Start learning and practicing stitches.	January 16th – January 31st (done)
Start practicing a certain genre and complete a design for first mini project.	Before January 31st (done)
Finish first mini project.	February 6th (done)
Learn to care for finished product.	February 6th (done)
Start working on second genre.	February 7th (done)
Finish and care for second project.	February 28th done)
Finish and care for third project.	March 28th (done)
Finish and care for fourth project.	April 18th (in progress)
Finish final project.	May 22nd
Complete a journal of what I have learnt and this journey.	May 28th (in progress)

 

“Now the Earth with many flowers puts on her spring embroidery.”

– Sappho

Hey!

Happy spring and welcome back to my In-Depth posts. This week you’ll be reading about my mentor and I, a recently finished project, some frustrations, and more.

Mentor Meetings

What went particularly well during your mentoring sessions?

During our meetings, I’ve begun to be more comfortable around Michelle, and I show her my ideas, and explain my plans. She gives me feedback and suggestions on skills to learn which I can use in the future. She also supports my ideas and tells me about previous projects she’s seen. When Michelle is explaining ideas she has, I listen and take mental notes so I can apply them to my work later.

What logical challenges affected your communication? What factors affected your ability to interact effectively?

From what I have learned from her, Michelle is often busy, as she travels quite a bit. Sometimes this impedes our meetings, or when I text her an update it takes her a while to respond. Due to her schedule, our meetings are often on the shorter side, which means I don’t learn as much from her during those sessions. Although we both share our ideas, I often lean towards mine, making it harder for Michelle to teach me the skills that are important for future projects.

What three strategies could improve the quality of your mentoring interactions?

I have been hesitant to continue asking about Michelle’s schedule, so our meeting time isn’t very long. I will start asking her about it more, so I can learn more skills with her. I also believe I should share my embroidery ideas with Michelle more. This way, she can see what I’m interested in, and we can make plans for my projects together. This also makes it easier for Michelle to teach me skills that will be helpful for the designs I like. A third strategy might be for us to trust each other more. I think it might build a stronger relationship if Michelle and I knew more about each other. I can learn about her teaching strategies, and she can learn about how I like to learn.

What is the action plan for implementing each of the three strategies?

During my next meeting I can bring up these strategies with Michelle and ask her what she thinks. I can start sharing my embroidery board on Pinterest with Michelle so she can check it out. While planning our meeting dates I can ask which days would work best for her that week so we can get as much time as possible. As for getting to know each other, if she feels comfortable, we could go to a café and embroider t  here or something like that, since I’ve only been meeting her online.

Progress Report

Since my last post, I started and finished my second pattern group which is words. For that project, I had to make very neat and small stitches since the letter wouldn’t come out round or good-looking if I didn’t. I started practicing with words that had spaces between the letters, and Michelle recommended I try some cursive words. I did end up liking those more, as it’s more flowy and I don’t have to end the stitch when I finish a letter. Stitch-wise, I found backstitch to be the easiest, as it makes round lines clean, which makes my letter look neater. I tried it with split stitches too, but I found when it came to corners, the stitch would move to the side, making it look strange. For the final project, I went with a simple quote, and added some flowers from the previous patterns I had learned.

For my next project, I will be working on a different medium, which is tulle. When I first asked Michelle about it, she said to use a mesh with smaller holes, so it would be more like working on my regular fabric. I found a fabric which was sufficient, and Michelle approved it too. Since I won’t be learning new stitches for this project, I will be making two simple projects instead of having a practice hoop and a final project. I will check in with my mentor about this on Friday though. For ideas, I’d seen a layered embroidery piece that looked like a koi pond, and I wanted to recreate that with simple stitches like the satin stitch, French knots, and more. As for the second one, I am not so sure yet, I want to try the simple project first to see how it is.

 

Frustrations

For the word project, I realized that I had to make my stitches very short to make the letters look like letters, which turns it more time-consuming, and by the time I am finished half a day would’ve gone by already. I also learned that placing a stitch slightly away from where it should be can turn the word into a strange collection of lines. This especially applies to cursive words, since all the letters are connected. When I get very frustrated with my stitches, I end up leaving the piece for a bit and coming back later.

Updated Timeline

Plan: An outline of methods, activities, strategies, people, and resources you can use to meet your challenge	Timetable: The specific dates or times when you will accomplish the steps in your plan
Find a vision or goal.	Before December 17th (done)
Find and contact a mentor.	Before December 20th (done)
Make sure mentor has completed necessary forms.	January 12th (done)
Do some research on embroidery.	December 31st – January 10th (done)
Start finding stitches I want to learn.	January 3rd – January 10th (done)
Find four types of patterns that I want to work on and two types of fabrics.	Before January 31st (done)
Buy (most) needed supplies.	Before January 31st (done)
Start learning and practicing stitches.	January 16th – January 31st (done)
Start practicing a certain genre and complete a design for first mini project.	Before January 31st (done)
Finish first mini project.	February 6th (done)
Learn to care for finished product.	February 6th (done)
Start working on second genre.	February 7th (done)
Finish and care for second project.	February 28th done)
Finish and care for third project.	March 21st (in progress)
Finish and care for fourth project.	April 11th
Finish final project.	May 22nd
Complete a journal of what I have learnt and this journey.	May 28th (in progress)

 

“Take your needle, my child, and work at your pattern; it will come out a rose by and by. Life is like that – one stitch at a time taken patiently and the pattern will come out all right like the embroidery.”

-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Hello!

Welcome back to my In-Depth project. In this post, I will be giving a progress report on my projects and challenges I’ve faced, as well as tell you more about my mentor.

Progress Report: Projects

Since my last blog post, I have finished my first mini project, and I am currently working on my second. For my first project, Michelle (my mentor) and I decided on doing floral designs to start. Michelle sent me some tutorials she found helpful, and I followed along with them for a few flowers. Once I felt comfortable though, I started to make my own designs based off simple patterns I found on Pinterest. My practice hoop was filled with a variety of flowers which I would add to my actual piece. After sending a picture of those practice flowers to Michelle, she said I should try experimenting with mixing thread colours, as well as different thread thicknesses. I made a note of that feedback, and I would add it to my final piece.

For the actual piece, I made two designs, one with a more scenic design, and another which displayed more flowers and looked more cartoon-like. Michelle said that she found the scenic design more appealing, and I was stuck in the middle, so I ended up going with that design. I found that making practice stitches is very beneficial, as it’s a reference I can use when I need to see where I messed up. Overall, I thought that project was a great start to my embroidery journey, and Michelle thought so too.

I am currently working on my second project. In my meeting with Michelle last week, I was asking her what ideas she had, since there wasn’t anything that truly appealed to me. Michelle mentioned that I could learn letters and words, which a previous alumnus did too. Michelle showed me some tutorials I could use, and I decided that once I felt comfortable enough, I would stitch some words by myself. I haven’t created a design for this project yet, as I have yet to show Michelle my practice stitches, but I will share my finished product in the next blog post.

Challenges and Overcoming Them

Currently, one of the biggest challenges I am facing is my time management. I find it hard to pick up embroidery for just a few minutes, so I have been setting aside days for just embroidery. Unfortunately, sometimes I am unable to do that, thus I fall behind the goals I make for myself. I do catch up quickly though, but this is still not the best way for me to continue my projects. I’ve decided to start dedicating Sundays for my embroidery projects, and if I am still falling behind, I will have to alter my schedule a bit so I can get back on track.

Another challenge I have is that I have a bit of a block between my mentor and me. My meetings with Michelle haven’t been as long as I thought they would be, and I haven’t been learning with her as much. I plan to ask her if we can lengthen our meetings soon, especially since my third project will be on a different type of fabric than I have been currently using.

Mentor and I

“A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.” — Oprah Winfrey

In my last meeting with Michelle, I asked her a few questions about her embroidery journey since I wanted to get to know her better. Michelle had gotten into embroidery when she was a child. Her parents would go on an annual business trip, and Michelle would stay at home with a caretaker. During that time, her caretaker would teach her embroidery, and eventually started giving her some projects to work on. Those projects would keep her from missing her parents too much, and she treasured those moments with her mentor. She said it created a bond between her and her caretaker, like a bond a child would have with their grandparent.

Michelle said that embroidery is almost like a lost art, you don’t see many people learning it nowadays, which is a bit of a shame. Michelle has taught me to try and experiment with my designs. She often recommends I mix thread colours and try new thicknesses. When I asked about trying new fabrics, she said it would be a good challenge to try and supported the idea. Michelle has been encouraging me to try new patterns and such, giving me ideas when I have a block. When we have our meetings, Michelle is always very welcoming and kind, she listens to my ideas, then shares her thoughts and opinions on them. I like how we chose my projects together, so I can be more invested in the project, and Michelle knows how she can guide me through it.

Goals + Updated Timeline

To continue guiding myself through this project, I have discussed some ideas with Michelle for future projects. One goal I have is to try embroidering on a new medium. I asked Michelle if I could try mesh, as mesh embroidery was what got me interested in this topic. Michelle said that I should find a mesh that is less “mesh-y,” or in other words, the fabric is woven closer together I suppose. Either way, we decided it would be a good challenge for me, so I will be using that fabric for my third project.

In the meantime, for my second project’s final design, I am unsure of any ideas yet, but I think it would be beneficial if I incorporated flowers into the design, as a review of what I’ve already learnt.

Plan: An outline of methods, activities, strategies, people, and resources you can use to meet your challenge	Timetable: The specific dates or times when you will accomplish the steps in your plan
Find a vision or goal.	Before December 17th (done)
Find and contact a mentor.	Before December 20th (done)
Make sure mentor has completed necessary forms.	January 12th (done)
Do some research on embroidery.	December 31st – January 10th (done)
Start finding stitches I want to learn.	January 3rd – January 10th (done)
Find four types of patterns that I want to work on and two types of fabrics.	Before January 31st (in progress)
Buy (most) needed supplies.	Before January 31st (done)
Start learning and practicing stitches.	January 16th – January 31st (done)
Start practicing a certain genre and complete a design for first mini project.	Before January 31st (done)
Finish first mini project.	February 6th (done)
Learn to care for finished product.	February 6th (in progress)
Start working on second genre.	February 7th (n progress)
Finish and care for second project.	February 28th (in progress)
Finish and care for third project.	March 21st
Finish and care for fourth project.	April 11th
Finish final project.	May 22nd
Complete a journal of what I have learnt and this journey.	May 28th (in progress)

“She watched and taught the girls that sang at their embroidery frames while the great silk flowers grew from their needles”

– Louise Jordan Miln

My In-Depth Skill.

                I remember at the beginning of the year I often heard about this project called “In-Depth,” I did not think of it much at first, but I was soon intrigued by this project. Around early December I started hearing more and more about this project, and I decided it was time for me to start looking for a skill. I found trouble doing this as at first, I had very few ideas, and later I had too many. I ended up going with embroidery, after remembering my many Pinterest pins that I had saved. Hand embroidery was something I was always somewhat interested in, but I never had the time to try it. Therefore, I decided to seize this opportunity to learn a new skill and hobby.

                Embroidery is the art of decorating fabric with thread or yarn, oftentimes, it can also include other decorations such as beads or sequins. It is an ancient form of art that came to life after people discovered the possibilities of decorative sewing through patchwork, cloth mending, and more.

Why Did I Choose This?

                To me, embroidery seemed like such a beautiful form of art, so I like the idea of learning how to do it. As I stated before, embroidery was something I was always interested in, but I never got the chance to pursue it. Now that I have thought more about it, I believe that learning this skill can be quite versatile. For one it is a new hobby I can acquire, and I can apply these skills to my own wishes, such as embroidering bags, clothes, and more. I can make gifts with these skills too. Not to mention, I can use stitches for fabric repairs when it comes to clothing and more. My goal for this project is to try to learn how to embroider different designs, as I can broaden my horizons and find what I enjoy most.

What is My Plan and What Will I Learn?

                I plan to make four mini projects in the next few months, leading up to my final project. I plan to learn something new with each mini project, for example, my first would be with floral designs, and my second with animals or such. My final project will be a cumulation of all those designs I have learnt. I will be learning basic stitches, and how to apply them to embroidery designs, I will learn how to care for the finished products, and how to choose the preferred supplies. Along the way, I plan to become proficient with around 15 stitches, and I would like to eventually experiment with different types of materials such as denim or canvas. Throughout this project I will be learning more about colour theory, hand-eye coordination, planning, and design skills.

                Below is a timetable which will help me track and complete my projects and goals.

Plan: An outline of methods, activities, strategies, people, and resources you can use to meet your challenge	Timetable: The specific dates or times when you will accomplish the steps in your plan
Find a vision or goal.	Before December 17th (done)
Find and contact a mentor.	Before December 20th (done)
Make sure mentor has completed necessary forms.	January 12th (done)
Do some research on embroidery.	December 31st – January 10th (done)
Start finding stitches I want to learn.	January 3rd – January 10th (done)
Find four types of patterns that I want to work on and two types of fabrics.	Before January 31st (in progress)
Buy (most) needed supplies.	Before January 31st (done)
Start learning and practicing stitches.	January 16th – January 31st (done)
Start practicing a certain genre and complete a design for first mini project.	Before January 31st (in progress)
Finish first mini project.	February 6th
Learn to care for finished product.	February 6th
Start working on second genre.	February 7th
Finish and care for second project.	February 28th
Finish and care for third project.	March 21st
Finish and care for fourth project.	April 11th
Finish final project.	May 22nd
Complete a journal of what I have learnt and this journey.	May 28th (in progress)

Who is My Mentor?

                Though my previous sewing skills are decent, I am glad to have my mentor, Michelle, help guide me through this. When I had chosen my skill, I found out that a previous TALONS student had chosen the same skill as me. After contacting the alumni, they shared their mentor’s number with me, and I introduced myself to Michelle. So far, I have had one meeting with her discussing my goals and plans. She has been sending me embroidery tutorials for me to practice with and gives me feedback on my stitches. While writing this I have started planning and practicing my first mini project, and I plan to update her as I go along.

What Have I Accomplished/Learned So Far?

                After choosing my in-depth skill, I contacted my mentor and I set up a meeting with her. In this meeting, Michelle told me about what basic embroidery supplies I would need that I did not already know about. She told me threads were often found in strands of six and used in strands of two or three. I had gotten two embroidery hoops, a six inch one and an eight inch one. Michelle told me that smaller hoops are often easier to work with, but preferences are different with everyone. As I continue to progress, she recommends I start free handing some of my designs with a water-soluble marker. With that I can challenge myself with those designs and erase the marker afterwards. Once I had gotten all the needed supplies, I started with practicing some stitches. I learned and practiced around 15 stitches which I thought would be beneficial for my first project. As I practiced them though, I realized some of them which had a more pattern-like design would need more strands of thread, so the pattern is more visible. I found I enjoyed doing stitches like the feather stitch or blanket stitch quite a bit, and I found the satin stitch a little time consuming. Though I did only use three strands of floss, so if I used more, it might have been easier. In the next week, I will be practicing floral designs, so I will be implementing these stitches into those patterns.

 

What Are My Resources?

                When it comes to resources, I will be mostly looking at tutorials and inspiration. When it comes to tutorials, I will be looking at many embroidery websites, as well as on YouTube. I can ask my mentor Michelle if I need any clarification with certain designs or stitches too. For those websites, I found ones that specialize in hand embroidery, and for beginners specifically. As for inspiration, I found that Pinterest has many ideas that I can use for references. If I am not confident with drawing my own designs yet, I can follow tutorials on YouTube. Having a visual to follow along with makes it much easier to see where I made a mistake, or if I need to rewatch a section.

Here are some links I will be using.

SUBLIME STITCHING Contemporary Embroidery Design since 2001 – Sublime Stitching®

NeedlenThread.com – Tips Tricks and Great Resources for Hand Embroidery

Pinterest (I have a board for inspiration patterns)

 

                I look forward to learning these skills and discovering more about myself. My plan will help guide me throughout this project as my skills progress, and I am excited to see what I can achieve with the help of my mentor.