Framed Satin Stitch

Ever since I stitched up this project for St. Patty’s Day, I’ve been sort of obsessed with satin stitch. 

For those that don’t speak embroidery, satin stitch is just a fancy way to say “long stitches that completely fill an area”. 

There are lots of ways to do satin stitch and what I love about it is that satin stitch really shows off the pretty colors of embroidery thread you have in your collection… and if you are like me, a thread hoarder, you have a lot of colors to show off.

Check out my stash… And I have a list of colors I need to go buy… Pathetic.

And this isn’t where the illness ends!  I take my stash almost everywhere with me. 

I had a day to myself so I went to have a coffee at Panera, took the thread with me. 

We flew to Pennsylvania with two kids under two for Easter, took the thread with. 

I went home to the farm to see my sister, who hadn’t been home in 3 years, took the thread with me. 

Do you ever take a step back and really look at yourself and think, “man, you’re strange”? 

Having one of those moments right now…

Oh well! On to the project! Here’s the how-to:

Supplies:

• The cute tiny frame ($1.50 from Michael’s)
• Fabric (I used a thrifted napkin)
• Iron-on Interfacing
• Embroidery Hoop
• Thread and Needle
• Sharpie and Marker

• First, take your fabric and iron on a piece of fabric, just so that you have a little bit more stability when you are stitching.
• Then, take the sharpie and the ruler.  Trace the outline of the frame to mark your stitching area.  Next, draw straight lines to create various triangles.

• Put the fabric in the embroidery hoop and start stitching!  I used various shades of blue and orange for this project.  To do the satin stitch, simply bring your thread up on one side of the triangle and down on the other side.  Continue, making parallel stitches until the entire space is filled.  When I went on to a neighboring triangle I tried to make the stitches run in a different direction.
• When done, throw it in the frame!

Unlike a lot of embroidery projects, this really doesn’t take that long to complete. 

I was able to start and finish it in the time it took to watch the movie X-Men, Origins. (Also, I heart Wolverine)

I hope you are well!  Thanks for stopping by,