After I wrote the Wow factor post about what inspires me in others art I thought I’d do a free form embroidery. One where I could try some of the things I like; words and swirls (lots of shapes and patterns in the same piece that work together), bright colors (happy colors), texture and some glitter too.
It took me about two TV-watching nights to embroider the whole thing. I had it fastened in a plastic frame that I bought at a flea market. The frames had some cute rose embroidery inside, but I’ve cut up those and now I’m using it as an embroidery hoop. It works great and cost next to nothing.
Then I sat on stairs outside adding some beads to finish my little freeform work of art. Tiny glass beads and glitter sewing thread!
Mom thinks it could go into a bag design (she sees bags in every fabric), but I don’t know. I just want to continue to my next piece and not worry about what this is you know. It’s a free form embroidery. It’s like doodling with your floss, slowly making progress.
I’ve used all the three or four stitches that I know in this one. Maybe I should check out some more to practice on next. I know just where to go to learn more about hand embroidery stuff!
The backside looks nice too if you ask me; a bit more wild and uncut!
The whole enchilada:
I think you can tell it wasn’t a sketch before I started, it just grow as I did it. Have you done any free form embroidery? It’s fun, you should try it. No rules! Just color, glitter thread, beads – and maybe a button or three? Yummy!
Iced coffee, some beads and my freeform embroidery out on the stairs.
it’s awesome, hanna!! i’ve been thinking about embroidery a lot lately. think i’ve gotta give it a try.
I love seeing people’s freeform embroidery. It’s always so pretty and interesting!
…doodling with your floss… I like that. I think I’ll try this during summer. In my opinion, you could just frame it as is and hand it on the wall. It’s beautiful without having to be anything other than what it is.
*hugs*
Sophie
Oooo, very nice! I really love that you just went for it, no pattern. Free-style is my favorite stuff, and is incredibly therapeutic. Thanks for constant inspiration!
Beautiful and very inspiring! I’ve been working on embroidering a monogram for my daughter, but when I’m finished with it I want to try out this free form style, including all the glittering beads :)
Oh my gosh Hanna! I have never heard of freeform embroidery before and yours is so beautiful! Even though it’s free-from everything looks so perfectly laid out. You are a true artist! I guess it was meant to be! My favorite bits are the little red “stars”. So cute!
I love that you are so crafty! =cD I don’t get to do many crafts, so I really enjoy getting to see what you’re up to!
Love to you!
That looks like a whole lotta fun! I like the comment above when she called it doodling with floss.
;-)
This is absolutely lovely and it looks like it was so much fun to do. I’ve only done wee bits of freeform embroidery to accent other projects, but I may have to try doing it as a project of its own after seeing yours. It *is* like doodling with floss!
This looks great! It totally looks like a little sketch… I agree with your Mum and think it would be sweet incorporated into a bag. x
ooo..i’d love to try this!
I love this idea! It’s beautiful!
I like your mom’s idea too!
You know what I see in it is the word
love. It look’s like an owl. The o and
the e look like the eyes and the v looks
like the beek and the swirls above it’s head
remind me of ideas swirling around it’s it head.
I read in a book that at any one moment, your
brain is creatively performing about 400 billion
actions. We are only conscious of around 2,000.
In the same book I read that if we could hear the electromagnetic waves that are produced from chemicals that are produced when we think, it would sound like the most exquisite orchestral symphony.
Your always so inspiring. I like your comment
about the bees at Leah’s blog!
God Bless You and Yours and Your Creative Life!!!
this is fantastic…
i may just have to give it a go.
:)
Hanna, I removed your photos from the post, I’m so sorry about that. After I had posted them I wondered whether or not I should have asked your permission. Thanks for being so understanding about it.
Hanna,
long time that I haven’t commented…
But I’dlike you to know, that I just love the things you do! You are sooooooo inspiring, it’s incredible. Thank you for sharing this all with us.
***
[…] Visit the What if right now if you haven’t already. Maybe you like the “wild artsy” play more than the traditional of pot-holders and pillow cases? Do you want to sew straight edges or do you want to do freeform embroidery? I like both, but in different ways. The straight is calming and interesting, the free-form and artsy makes my heart beat faster… How about you? […]
[…] I’ve sewn several bags and totes, a pen case, log cabin pillow cases and hand sewn quite a few patchwork balls! I’ve embroidered free form, crocheted a duckling, covered a outdoor table with mosaic that crackled after just a few weeks and I knitted with hand carved sticks. I’ve glued buttons to a plaster tree, sewn them on a knitted sweater that my mom made for me and also put buttons together as bracelets. I ♥ buttons! I sewed a Flamingo bag (sold), a Mermaid Doll (for a swap with ocean theme) and a few jeans bags with recycled material! Fun fun fun! […]
[…] I?ve been sewing layers of different fabrics to the background, using different loose stitches to attach the material to the background fabric. It feels like doing collage but without the speed and ease of a glue stick. Embroidery, is as I?ve talked about before, a slow process. A meditation where you can not hurry for results. This is good for me because I often feel a longing when I craft for The Finished Product. The End. But I know that it?s the road that makes the trip worth while, not the end of the journey, so slow is good. […]
Wow, that’s very meticulous sewing! I love the colors since it is very bright and it looks very happy and cheerful.
[…] I call it my “mixed media embroidery” and that feels like an appropriate name for what I’m doing, since it is a mix of all kinds of materials in there! It is like a free form embroidery but on a mixed media surface. I’ve been working on a series of three mixed media embroidery all through winter. Sewing little stitches on the train or dark nights in front of the TV (watching good movies). […]
Just great Hanna!!!