December 31, 2011

January Stitchalong!



Hey guys! It's floresita here, with the last post of the year and our first stitchalong of next year! I was up at the crack of dawn a few days ago, couldn't sleep, and instead started to brainstorm a felt banner idea for the new year. I was thinking of new year's resolutions, and mine just happened to be - try something new every month. What haven't I tried yet? Couching!

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Using my own cursive, some yarn, and embroidery floss, I decided to give couching a try for the first time. If you, like me, have never tried couching before, this is a perfect simple project to try it out with!

Here's a nice video tutorial by Mary Corbet on couching: http://www.needlenthread.com/2006/10/couching-video-tutorial.html

And here's a very nicely photographed tutorial by Sarah Whittle: http://sarahwhittle.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-to-couch.html

If you'd like to join in this stitchalong, everything you need is pictured up above - a pen or pencil, scissors, pinking shears (if you want a decorative edge on your felt), embroidery floss, yarn, and felt.



I made a pattern file with the template pieces and a nice cursive alphabet called Handsome (if you don't trust your own handwriting). :) Get the free pattern.

template pieces for banner
Your finished banner can be a new year's banner, or maybe a Happy Birthday banner - with the letters in the pattern file, it can say anything you want. All you need to do to join in is add your picture to the embroidery pool and tag it "JanStitchalong"!

You don't have to wait until you're finished - we love seeing in-progress projects (check out my progress, below)

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I'll be back to check in later this week with my progress and a walkthrough of my first try at couching. In the meantime, why don't you line up some colors and materials, feel free to ask any questions here, and let's get stitching! Although, depending on how many spots I hit this evening I may not get to your questions right away tomorrow... ;) Hope you guys have a great time tonight and have lots of fun with this! :)

Hi, I'm floresita, editor of Feeling Stitchy. I'm an avid stitcher, knitter, and crafter. You can see more of my stitching on Instagram and my blog. My vintage transfer collection is on Vintage Transfer Finds.

Feel free to email me with any ideas for the blog!

12 comments:

  1. I've never heard of couching before, but it looks lovely! :) I think I'll probably be participating.

    ~Kristin

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  2. Ooo, I like this one! I haven't been able to stitch along any of the other months, but this one I will be doing.

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  3. Are we required to do a banner? I'm not the banner type but I did stitch up a piece with couching last night. :)

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  4. @Troublet - you absolutely don't have to do a banner! Experiment with couching however you like for this stitchalong! :)

    @Kristin and Katie - yay! :)

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  5. thanks for introducing me to couching! i love your banner and i'm totally inspired!

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  6. Hi Floresita! Lovely banner so far!
    Happy New Year everyone!

    This is a great idea. I have a little inkling of what I can do already I think... it will be a banner especially for celebrating something later this year... I haven't done couching since I was about 11 years old so it'll be a voyage of discovery. Really like the typeface you've chosen as well.
    Kind regards
    Joey

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  7. Thanks Gail - hope you can join us! :)

    Thanks Joey! I have a feeling your creation will be pretty awesome - I'd love to see what you can do with couching! :)

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  8. I'm finally back with my question but I think it's already been answered, more or less. I was wondering if we had to do text or if we could do any sort of design--I'm thinking banner, but not with words. But it sounds like we can try anything couching-related and still join in. :) Couching is new to me, so, yay!

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  9. Hi, my New Year's resolution is to get crafty. I'd like to try my hand at embroidery and have borrowed a book from the library that says to outline the design in 'split stitch'. It also tells me to use one strand of thread so not sure how I can split that. Is it ok to use a back stitch to outline or is that cheating? TIA!

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  10. morequirky-

    You don't have to use split stitch to outline a design. Use any stitch you like! Backstitch is fine. :-)

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  11. Hi Amy! - Yup - you're right - try any variation - couching or banner - we'd love to have you along! :)

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  12. Love the color choices :D And the new stitch!

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