Badbird Embroidery Pattern by Andrea Zuill
Wow, that last month went fast! At my Flickr Group, Badbird’s Patterns, I received the suggestion that I should create a angry, evil little bird pattern. Why didn’t I think of that before! I base my whole life on small irritated birds. Making a pattern of my alter ego should have been a no brain-er.
Like usual, please click on the image above to get the full size pattern.
In the past I have listed places where you can find embroidery patterns, both free and not so free. So, dumb me, I thought I would do it again. Wow! I can’t believe how many sites there are in which to get embroidery patterns.
In gathering these sites together there is a real possiblity that I didn’t get everyone who carries cool patterns. Please feel free to let me know what I have missed. I will do a update post to make sure I cover everyone.
Also, This list is in no particular order. Some of these sites are blogs and you will have to search their blogs to find their patterns. Many of these sites offer patterns on Flickr, blogs, Etsy, Artfire and other places. Since my head was already hurting from trying to piece this article together, I will leave it to you to explore each pattern supplier. And lastly, many of these sites have both patterns to buy and free patterns.
ps- I don’t have a personal relationship with many of these pattern suppliers. I have no idea if any of them are evil.
Jacque Davis (flickr)
Merwing (Little Dear Tracks)
Wool and Hoop I know her personally and we are carried by the same art gallery in Marfa, TX, Galleri Urbane. Besides her wonderful shop and online store she has two of the cutest kids I have ever seen.
The last three pattern makers listed you should already know about. If you don’t, hang you head in shame.
Aunt Martha, aka Colonial Patterns
Me! Badbird – I figure you know who I am if you are looking through my blog. Also, I am totally awesome. Spread the word….
Here is the subject for my embroidered portrait, Button. You can’t tell from this photo but Button is only about 8 pounds. He is a little guy.
This is the drawing I’ll base the portrait on. The image has been made a bit more graphic and with embroidery in mind, such as the shading is done with dots. Not everyone would approach a portrait like I do. Another technique is a embroidered painting. A embroidered painting is created by filling the whole image using embroidery floss as your “paint”. Or, you could make the image more graphic, heavily stylized or even flat. For me the challenge is to create a a portrait that captures the subject. I don’t want a image that is a picture of a terrier mix but a portrait of Button.
I Think a lot about how I want this piece to look as I make the drawing. I constantly ask myself, ” How will I represent the hair?” or, “How will I add the deepth, from light to dark, to this piece?”. I have certain techiques I use, such as outlining, dotted shading, and flat filling stitches and I try to keep them all in mind.
Above is my finished pattern. Even though it is pretty detailed it is still just for reference. As I stitch the design I am free to make changes.
Compare the photo, drawing, and the pattern. You’ll be able to see the differences. I try not make an exact copy of the original photograph, but my own personal interpretation. I’ve added flowers to this piece which will add color and I just like stitching flowers.
Here is some other embroidered dog portraits:
Free pattern time! How many of you guessed that this Be Mine was February’s free pattern? (see previous article) Due to extreme laziness I wasn’t about to do two Valentine patterns so I got double useage from this design.
As always, click on the pattern below to get the full size image.
Here is how I prepare a small quilt for quilting.
I tape the background fabric, right side down, on a flat work space. Tape the four corners first, then the edges.
Make sure the background fabric is flat and wrinkle free. When taping make sure that background fabric is somewhat tight. Next, lay down your batting, making sure it is smooth. Lastly, lay down quilt top, right side up.
Now you have a sandwich of your three quilt layers. The next step is to safety pin all three layers together. I create a grid with each safety pin being about 3 inches from the other pins. Once the safely pins are in place you can remove the tape from the edges. Your quilt is now free to move around without fear of you fabric moving out of place.
The safety pins secure all 3 layers temporarily so you can baste your layers together. You baste stitch your quilt in a grid in between the safety pins. Once this is done you can remove the pins.
Some might think, “When all 3 layers are laying flat, why not just baste the layers together without using the safety pins?”. Well, it’s very hard to keep all the layers nice and smooth and fabric seems to like to move around.
Putting together a small quilt in this method allows me to quilt without the need for hoops or stretcher bars. This also means I can take this quilt on trips. I just roll it up and unroll it when I am at my location. All I need is my quilt, scissors, thimble, needles and quilting thread.
I think I want to write a book. A craft book to be more specific. But, here’s the thing, I don’t know what kind of craft book.
Here is what I think I am good at:
Designing. I think that I am pretty ok with designing embroidery and quilt patterns.
Choosing colors. It took a long time, but I got a handle on it.
Finding a simple, none fussy way to create quilt and fabric art. This includes how to design, compose and choose colors.
What I am not good at:
Sewing projects like purses, pillow cases and potholders.
Creating projects in general.
Ugh, I need help. Let me know what you would want from me.
I did a tutorial a while back on applique. It was about how I appliqued the White Deer Quilt. Well, I have created a more universal Applique tutorial. If you have any question let me know.
Click on each image to see the full size version.
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I will add more to this in a few days……
Here are more followers, of the new world order, with their creative endeavers.
LOVE BEAR by GableKnits
See her stuff at Flickr: www.flickr.com/people/23769279@N05
I have made some headway on the Snake in the Grass Quilt. Almost everything has been appliqued to the background material. The exception is on the white panels. On the white panels I have not added the color shapes yet. I got into a hurry to embroider. I think that it is interesting to note the difference between the appliqued shapes without embroidery and the shapes that have embroidery.
I have made the basic pattern which I will use to embroider the queen image. I made this pattern by scanning in the drawing into Adobe Illustrator and then printing it out in sections on 8.5″ x 11″ paper. I then taped these paper panels together, cutting away paper on the back so I would have only a single layer of paper. Now all I would have to do is either draw on the pattern with a iron-on transfer pencil and iron the design on my fabric or tape the pattern onto a window, then tape the fabric over the pattern (letting the sun shine through and reveal the pattern) and using a fabric pen to trace the pattern onto the fabric. I haven’t decide which method to use yet.
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