My first attempts at embroidery...

During my blog surfing I came across this great website Sublime Stitching which has loads of modern embroidery patterns. When I was a kid I did some cross stitching but I've never had a go at embroidery. I suppose it has a rather old-fashioned reputation but after seeing some modern stuff on other blogs and the quirky designs at Sublime Stitching I was inspired to give it a go.


Sublime Stitching is a small independent company based in Austin, Texas USA with a great slogan 'This ain't your gramma's embroidery!'. This pretty much sums up their ethos with patterns that feature everything from sushi, tattoos and beach babes to work by upcoming illustrators and designers. The founder Jenny Hart writes her own blog and it really is great to feel that you are supporting a small independent business. Hopefully people will feel the same about my stuff if I ever start selling things!




I chose some cute designs by artist Julie West and my starter kit arrived packaged up with threads, a hoop, the all important stitching instructions and a great pair of cute pink embroidery scissors. And a tea towel to get started on. It really is as easy as Jenny promises in the instructions. All I had to do was cut out the designs that I wanted and arrange them on the tea towel and iron on the transfers. The special ink means that it only takes a few seconds to leave an imprint and you can use the transfers more than once. Genius!



So once I'd ironed on my design, I started with the chain stitch and it really was very easy and addictive. I really like the fact that you just follow the outline, like a sewing version of paint-by-numbers, which means it's a relaxing thing to do while watching telly or listening to music. I'm already thinking of ways to incorporate my own designs into future projects. This could be the start of something very exciting....I'm hooked.