MooshieStitch Monday: Puffy Couching (and Stitchable Cork!)

Have you ever heard of puffy couching? 

I was looking through one of my embroidery stitch books (The Embroiderer's Handbook by Margie Bauer) and saw it in the couching techniques section.

Essentially, a bundle of threads is puffed up between each couching stitch. 

To practice: I cut three 12 inch lengths of DMC floss and then pulled apart all 6 strands to create my bundle of threads below.

Smooth out the bundle of threads as best as you can. Fold the bundle in half and secure it to the fabric with a straight stitch.

Bring your first couching thread up and over the thread bundle.

Use your needle to lift and puff the thread bundle section.

Continue to couch down the thread bundle and lifting each section to desired puffiness.

To finish, bring your thread bundle through to the back of the fabric and secure. 

Here is the finished puffy couching.

DMC sent me a sample of their new stitchable cork fabric, so I decided to stitch a puffy couching project with it.

To give it a little different look, instead of bringing my thread bundle through to the back of the fabric to finish each color,  I left a little tassel on the end.

You can see my puffy couching has gaps in my thread bundle sections. I think it is because I didn't take as much time to smooth out my thread bundles, compared to above when practicing with the red thread.

So, it is important to get the bundles as smooth as possible. (But I still think they turned out ok!)

I liked stitching on the cork - it has a cool texture and it is similar to stitching on a thicker fabric.

I used the natural cork fabric for this project, but they also have a gold flecked cork.

Have you ever heard of puffy couching? It's definitely an easy stitch to give dimension to your embroidery. The tassels and puffy couching could be a good technique for stitching hair ... it reminds me of pony tails! :)


Thanks again to DMC for sending the stitchable cork!!

FYI - if you are interested in purchasing the book Michelle mentioned, here is an affiliate link to Amazon: The Embroiderer's Handbook. Clicking through this link to buy a book on Amazon is one way to support Feeling Stitchy and keep our all-volunteer work going. We use funds in our Amazon account to do new reviews and giveaways!

Floss Review & free pattern: DMC Coloris Floss

Hello all! Today, I have the lucky task of writing a floss review for DMC Coloris floss. Seriously, I was over the moon when the nice people at DMC Commonthread sent me this:

Yes, that's all 24 colors of new DMC Coloris floss. I think I took a million photos of them, then slowly moved on to crafting with them.

The floss is 6 strand embroidery floss, which is variegated in 4 shades of DMC colors. These colors are not always complementary, as in the traditional DMC variegated floss or Color Variations floss you may have used before - instead they are bright, contrasting colors that are very lively and fun.

In addition to numbers, each color has a name, which is an especially nice touch. Here is the full color card, from the DMC site:

Below, I cross stitched one line of each floss color to give you an idea of how many stitches you can do before the color changes. Next to each line is the remaining 4 strands of each color :

I chose 12 of my favorite Coloris shades and embroidered a small 5 x 9 in. hoop with a design I made up as I went along. I used 2-4 strands of floss, using as many stitches as I felt like experimenting with.

I stitched each flower with a different color, so I could see how each color changes...

For the lettering, I traced a free font I found online and used 2 strands of floss to do a tiny split stitch.

I used a finer needle than I normally use, and that helped to keep my stitches tiny:

Here is the final design - it's a bit wonky, but lots of fun to stitch. Some colors show up better than others on the pink quilting fabric I chose, but it was mainly a learning exercise for me.

Edit: I was asked which colors I used in my hoop, so I'll list them for you, from left to right.

Lettering: 4501, 4508, 4517, 4509, 4502, 4506

Flowers: 4514, 4500, 4517, 4501, 4510, 4509, 4502, 4506, 4507, 4523, 4508, 4503

Here's a free pattern I made, if you'd like to stitch along with me!

I tried to mark all the stitches I used, but feel free to do your own thing! If you print the design on 8 1/2 x 11 paper it "should" fit into a 5x9 in. hoop, but I'd test it out first to be sure.

I would definitely recommend giving DMC Coloris floss a try - it gives a lovely pop of color to even a basic project like mine. That's my two cents, and thanks again to DMC for sending this floss to me to try out!

What do YOU think of DMC Coloris floss? Have you seen it in your local stores? What kind of project would you stitch with it?