Hello, Eleanor here with Friday's challenge.
This week it's running stitch, probably the first stitch we all learnt.
Let's use it on paper and card as well as on fabric.
I have tarted up a rather dull needlecord skirt by shortening it to knee length, and embellishing it with stitches.
First I marked race tracks with a tacking stitch:
Then I threaded up my needle with all six strands of embroidery cotton and started my running stitch:
Each track I changed colour until I had five, this is the reverse, make sure to fasten each colour off securely:
Remove tacked tracks, and press, adding a little crochet motif, and it's ready to wear:
I used the same cotton thread for the crochet:
Hope you're inspired to thread that needle and get running.
Over to Dolly, I wonder if she remembers sewing running stitch on Binca at school ?
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Dolly here. I would so love to be able to sew like Eleanor and make proper sewn fabric things - clothes that are beautiful to wear but, whilst I do remember that binca and still have a needle case I made at school, my sewing is usually of paper.
I do handstitch on layouts quite a lot, and having bought a new tool to help has inspired me even more, but I used my machine for the weekend workout this week.
I wanted to include a photo border to use lots of pictures and so decided to sew it in place.
My top tip - a cheat as usual - is to get out those chalks. I have lots of different colour thread for my machine, but I can never be bothered to change from my white cotton I use for most everything. The cheat is, sew it in white then use chalks (you remember those fab sets we all bought years ago) to colour the thread. I use a cotton bud and then when I have finished rub a very soft eraser over the top. It removes all the chalk from the papers surrounding the stitching but leaves the cotton coloured. Now I always have the matching thread I need.
Great challenge Eleanor - and maybe next time I will venture onto fabric, thought I bet it would still only be onto a page rather than clothing .... I am just too scared to try clothing!
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As Claireliz said last week, we're setting a new challenge every weekend on a Friday for you to play along with. The challenges are just for fun & we hope they'll give your mojo a boost, we've been having great fun with them.
We'd love to see what you create from the Friday Weekend Workout challenges, whether its a scrapbook layout, card, altered item or anything else, so if you leave us a link in the comments, we'll pop by & say hello.
Bye for now.
the girls
x
Beautiful skirt, I will have to find something to customise it looks so nice.
Love the layout and the tip about colouring the white thread is genius x
Posted by: Debbie Roberts | April 08, 2011 at 07:19 AM
Love the skirt, great idea & fab layout too.
C
xx
Posted by: Claireliz | April 08, 2011 at 07:21 AM
Thank you.:)
Dolly, have to say, the white cotton/chalk idea is THE best idea I've read in a long long time.
I don't have any scrapping type chalks, but I have a set of 48 chalk pastels, which will do the job just fine I reckon.
xx
Posted by: Eleanor | April 09, 2011 at 02:15 PM
Beautiful skirt Eleanor, I must try and stitch on some of my plain clothes.
Dolly thank you for the chalk tip. I will try it out.
Love the way those photos flow on your LO.
Posted by: Lynne V | April 10, 2011 at 08:11 AM