MooshieStitch Monday: My Stitchable Mesh Project

Last month, Floresita shared a great review and her beautiful stitching on the new DMC Stitchable Mesh. Since DMC also sent me some, I thought I would share with you what I stitched!

First of all, I chose to stitch on the silver side of the mesh. 

A few of Floresita's suggestions when stitching on the mesh really helped, such as:

1. Use a permanent marker to trace your pattern/design onto the mesh. Anything else will rub off!

2. Secure the edges of the mesh fabric - it will unravel. I used black electrical tape on the edges. It doesn't look very pretty but it worked.

Here is the finished product with the tape removed.

To finish the back of the hoop, I used this awesome method with a light colored felt. I trimmed the mesh down so there was just a little bit left around the edge of the hoop to stitch the felt onto.

It is not my best attempt at finishing the back side, I need to work on my blanket stitch. I have never been good at the blanket stitch!! :)

Here is the front view after the felt was attached.

My biggest takeaway on stitching with the mesh - it made me very aware of the back side of the hoop!!

Since it is so sheer, I knew I had to be careful to not carry my thread from one flower to the next. (I hate to admit it, but my embroidery back sides are usually pretty messy!) But I think I did a pretty good job.

It is surprisingly easy to stitch with and softer to the touch than what I was expecting. I used pearl cotton and DMC cotton floss without any issues. I love it's unique look and like that there is a new option of something to stitch on other than regular fabric. 

Thanks again to DMC for sending the stitchable mesh!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

MooshieStitch Monday: Woven Picot Stitch with Wool

Ever since I did the Simply Stitched book review, I have really enjoyed working with tapestry wool.

I had some leftover wool from my plushwork wreath, so I decided to try stitching a woven picot stitch flower with it.

You can refer to my tutorial for the woven picot if you need to learn the stitch - this post is more to show you how it looks using tapestry wool.

DMC Red 7108 and Blanc

I usually stitch the woven picot with pearl cotton. The first thing I noticed using wool is how quickly you can stitch it up - less weaving since the wool is so thick.

Here are the finished flower petals.

I added woven picot leaves and white french knots for the center of the flower.

I love how it looks with the tapestry wool.

It sorta reminds me of poinsettia - but maybe because it's red and I have Christmas on my mind :)

Thank you again to DMC for providing the tapestry wool!

MooshieStitch Monday: A Longer Woven Picot Stitch

Hey there! Remember when I showed you the woven picot stitch? Well, it got me thinking about stitching the woven picots a different length...

You see, the blue flower above from my previous post was stitched with a 1 1/4 inch pin.

I went to my local fabric store and found the longest pins available - which are 1 3/4 inch quilting pins.

See the difference below.

Here I used the longer 1 3/4 inch quilting pin for my woven picots.

Dark photo alert

Slowly adding more petals of the flower.

I stitched this with #5 pearl cotton on black cotton fabric.

Added french knots with white DMC floss for the flower center.

Can you see the difference in lengths of the woven picots as compared to the blue flower?

I love how this turned out and now I want to experiment more with different lengths of woven picots.

I am on the search now for longer pins... Let me know if you have seen pins longer than the 1 3/4 inch quilting pins.

MooshieStitch Monday: Woven Picot Stitch

Are you looking to add some dimension to your embroidery? Then let's learn the woven picot stitch!

I was first intimidated by this stitch. It looked like it had to be difficult. But you know what, it really isn't that hard! 

Better yet, if you already know the woven trellis stitch, the woven picot will be even easier since you follow the same weaving method.

Let's begin!

Take a pin and stick it in your fabric.

Come up from the back of the fabric on the left side of the pin with your needle and thread (how far away from the pin will depend on how wide you want your woven picot to be) and then wrap the thread around the back of the pin top.

(Please excuse the blue circle drawn on the fabric in the photos below. I know, it looks strange. It is my guide for building my flower with the woven picots - so hopefully it isn't too confusing and will make more sense later in the post.)

Bring the needle down through the fabric on the right side of the pin about the same distance as the left side.

Bring the needle up through the back of the fabric just to the left of the pin and wrap around the pin top again.

Now you will begin weaving.

First row weave from the right to left: under / over / under.

Next row weave from left to right doing the opposite: over / under / over.

Continue this process until you reach the bottom.

All done weaving.

Pull out the pin and you are finished!

Here are a few pics of what it looks with pin removed and the woven picot lifted away from the fabric to give you an idea of the dimension.

Pretty cool, huh?

I am using a #5 perle cotton thread. I hardly ever stitch with perle cotton but I read that the woven picot looks best when stitched with a thread that has a good twist to it (like a perle cotton).

I continued to stitch more woven picots around my blue circle to create my flower petals.

Then, I added french knots for the flower center with yellow DMC floss (all six strands).

Here are some more photos just to show the dimension of the stitch.

Have you ever tried the woven picot? Post your photos in the Flickr Embroidery Group!


P.S. I learned the woven picot from watching Mary Corbet's video tutorial. Check it out!