What's Up Wednesday: slow stitching

There hasn’t been much quilting going on here lately. I think it’s because my sewing area is such a mess and I can’t just face it. I need to bite the bullet and spend some quality time tackling the piles of fabric on the floor and organizing them where they belong. In the meantime, I am continuing my new love of hand stitching on garments.

Stitching with silk wrapped stainless steel

I bought this shirt (didn’t take a before picture) while in Austin for the sole purpose of embellishing. When I stumbled onto the Ito silk stainless steel thread in Dripping Springs in that pretty ice blue color, I knew that was what I wanted to use for the shirt. The idea of the circles came from browsing Making (issue No. 3/Dots) that Margaret had in her studio. The cone base was perfect as a template for marking circles.

Love the simplicity

The thread/yarn was a bit tricky to stitch with. It was wiry and tended to twist occasionally. As long as I took the stitching slow, I didn’t have a problem. Perfectly imperfect is my new mantra!

Perfectly imperfect

Voila, I have a new new shirt! Bonus, it is super comfy!

Stitched a teeny tiny EPP block onto my back pocket

I finished mending the jeans I started at Squam. It was almost disappointing to stop. I am sure there will be more wear and tear which will provide additional mending opportunities. In the meantime, I am enjoying wearing the jeans again.

Comfy jeans

Since Squam, I added more vertical stitches on the right thigh area and a EPP flower block to the back pocket. Having fabrics from my friend Yumi in Japan, Karen’s hand dyed scraps, and other favorites (Carolyn Friedlander and Liberty) make me smile.

So, what have you been up to this week? Hope you are finding time to enjoy doing what you love.

Happy stitching,