Day 4 - 

With the idea of a skills exchange at the centre of this project it was time for us today to learn from the lovely ladies of the Embroiderers Guild. Our group was going to look at insertion stitches. I hadn't actually heard of these before so I was very interested to learn more about them. Before the session I had a quick look on Pinterest to give myself a rough idea of what insertion stitches looked like and could be used for. I sketched out a rough design, combining the use of the prints we made in the last session and the insertion stitches we were going to learn. 

Above: My sketch of what a final collaboration of all of our work could look like, alongside Julie's insertion stitch samples.

To begin our insertion stitch tutorial we each had: 

an embroidery hoop

fabric

embroidery thread

lined paper

needles

pins 

the prints we made last session.

Beginning with the base fabric securely held in the hoop, we placed a piece of lined paper within the hoop, cutting it down to size if necessary. We then pinned our sections of print on the paper to hold them in place. The lined paper provides a perfect guide for measuring how far apart or how close together you would like the two pieces of fabric to be. With everything in place we were able to begin the insertion stitches.

I found it really helpful to watch Julie do the stitches first and although I did need to be reminded often of what was to happen next, I'm sure I would manage to repeat the stitches I learned today again. The technique is so effective and very versatile. As a group we were all really excited by the insertion stitches and kept on talking about how else we could use them! 

This picture shows my first two rows of insertion stitches that held together my heat transferred print. 

Julie's sample shows the insertion stitches really nicely. The colour and thickness of thread is also really important as it can really compliment the overall design. 

This was a print made from photocopying Julie's first sample, and heat transfer paper on synthetic fabric. I would like to stitch into this sample or cut it up and apply more insertion stitches. 

I really enjoyed todays session but am disappointed it is the last one working with the ladies. Towards the end of the day we had so many ideas and if we had more time it would have been great to put them into action.