Experiment with embroidery

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I’ve been away in Melbourne over the holidays visiting family. Normally I would bring some crochet with me to keep me busy, but this time I decided to get around some embroidery. A smaller, more compact, less cozy craft to carry with me in the summertime.

With me on my travels I brought crochet cotton found in op shops and dead stock heavy weight sewing thread that I found at Adelaide Leather & Saddlery on Waymouth Street, and started embroidering on my own clothes.

The grey hoodie is from an op shop. I chopped the middle out to shorten the length and then hand-stitched it back together, making a feature of the join. I chose designs to embroider pretty pragmatically, mostly inspired by the shape of the garment. The abstract, natural design in pale yellow I chose because it’s a motif I often doodle and because I thought it would sit well on the garment. The chain design I chose because I wanted something that signified connection and solidarity to me. I also just like imagery that evokes the industrial and chains looks cool. Especially in fluro yellow.

I intially intended to continue the chain design to the end of each arm, but a friend of mine saw the jumper and wants it. He prefers the chain unfinished, so I’ll leave it. Now it’s a collaboration.

To apply the design I’ve used something that I’m pretty sure is called a chain stitch. It’s similar to a chain stitch in crochet. You can get industrial embroidery machines that make this stitch. I’ve always wanted one, but they are pretty hard to get in Australia. This stitch doubles the thread and creates a chunkier line than other styles of line embroidery. I’m so pleased with how three dimensional the design looks in this stitch.

The hoodie is a work in progress. I want to do some embroidery on the front before I send this off to its new home.

MADELEINE LARKIN X SAM WOUD

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I made this t-shirt maybe fifteen years ago. I remember i chopped the middle out because I wanted to erase the logo that was on the front. I made the cut in a curved shape to delete as much of the logo as possible without interfering with the sleeves. I didn’t have a sewing machine handy so i hand stitched it and turned the stitching into a feature. The final result is a product of accident and necessity, and I love it!

It stayed forgotten in a box at mum and dad’s house for years before I recently rediscovered it and decided to make MORE.

More is more so I decided to incorporate a print into my new shirts. I asked dear friend and talented illustrator Madeleine Larkin to design a print for them. I love the designs Madeliene’s done for MUD over the years, and the MUD tshirts she designed are some of my favourite shirts I own.

We talked about creating a design inspired by collaboration, community, and most importantly, the mark of the hand.

I’m in love with the finished product <3

NEWEST JUMPERS

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This year I am committed to using up as much of my stash of salvaged yarn yarn as possible. This includes unravelling half finished projects, some of which have been sitting in bags for half a decade, and turning them into new work.

I have a new pattern and a firm resolve. I cannot fail.

Work so far: