Embroidery Madness

I guess I've been on a bit of an embroidery kick lately. I just finished these two little sets of tea towels for my Etsy shop. One set is foodie things and the other has sweet little birds. This time 'round I used a Clover iron on transfer Pattern, but I think next time, I'll just make a little sketch right on the cloth in a pale ink. Once you start embellishing the pattern is covered anyway, so why not?

Thanks to Design Sponge I just discovered this amazing website called Sublime Stitching which is chock full of updated embroidery patterns and tools. I love how they are vintage inspired, but with a little rock and roll edge to keep 'em from getting saccharine. I also discovered Melys Baby on Etsy. She sells all sorts of beautiful old fashioned embroidered linens which remind me of the ones my mom has that her grandma made. Those white pillowcases always felt so cool and soft when you laid your cheek on them. And they smelled so clean and familiar! Ours were just embroidered with flowers and ribbons, but they still felt special because someone took the time to make them just for you.

I enjoy the meditative quality of embroidery, but I can't imagine doing anything much more elaborate than these tea towels. The doughnuts took longer than everything else put together and they aren't any bigger than a penny! The other day I found a shop here in Shenzhen that sells these incredible embroidered paintings. From far off they look like a photograph, but up close you begin to see that they are actually made up of thousands and thousands of unbelievably delicate silk threads. They must take months to complete. I think I'll stick with my childish outlining for now.