Needle Painting
Have you heard of needle painting? It's an art form developed by Trish Burr, which features the long and short embroidery stitch. Trish does spectacular work. I was inspired when I checked her book, Colour Confidence in Embroidery, out of the library.
I've not been particularly good at the long and short stitch, but looking through the book I am amazed at just how much like painting her embroidery is.
I decided today to practice just a bit with a couple of flower petals, using her book as a guide. The book has comprehensive color palettes as well as sample projects.
Here is my very first attempt at needle painting.
After taking the photo and getting a proper look at my stitches, here's what I actually saw:
The work above is in a 3 inch hoop, so it's really quite tiny. Other mistakes I see is that I didn't follow the shape itself during each color or color change. There are a total of 6 colors and each color is stitched with 1 thread.
Trish goes into detail about how to lay out the threads so that your thread is always laying the same direction (each thread having it's own warp and weft) which I think makes a huge difference. I didn't do it and i wonder if that has something to do with how messy it all looks.
It's fun to stretch out and learn new skills so this will be something that I intend on practicing. Have you done needle painting? What was your experience? Are you super fab at the long-short stitch? I would love to know!
I've not been particularly good at the long and short stitch, but looking through the book I am amazed at just how much like painting her embroidery is.
I decided today to practice just a bit with a couple of flower petals, using her book as a guide. The book has comprehensive color palettes as well as sample projects.
Here is my very first attempt at needle painting.
 |
| Not bad I thought, before I took the photo |
After taking the photo and getting a proper look at my stitches, here's what I actually saw:
 |
| Oh yes, I might need better lighting! |
The work above is in a 3 inch hoop, so it's really quite tiny. Other mistakes I see is that I didn't follow the shape itself during each color or color change. There are a total of 6 colors and each color is stitched with 1 thread.
Trish goes into detail about how to lay out the threads so that your thread is always laying the same direction (each thread having it's own warp and weft) which I think makes a huge difference. I didn't do it and i wonder if that has something to do with how messy it all looks.
It's fun to stretch out and learn new skills so this will be something that I intend on practicing. Have you done needle painting? What was your experience? Are you super fab at the long-short stitch? I would love to know!