Category — Okie Stitch Along

Sara from Deluxe OK just shared her Flickr photo set of some of the pieces from the Okie Stitch Along. I love the variety in them. They are all amazing. And I’m not the only person from outside OK who contributed!

The pieces will be on display at The Oklahoma State Fair from Sept. 16-26 and Downtown Library in Oklahoma City for all of October.

If you can’t make it to OK, you can view them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cowan/sets/72157624795184079/

Sorry for the teaser post last week and no final picture. I’ve learned a lot in the last week. Primarily that once you sew your last stitch you are not done. It takes a lot to get a piece like this into a presentable format. I thought I’d share with you all my lessons learned. Hopefully they can help you out if you ever need to frame or mount a piece of embroidery.

The entire time I was stitching Chet I planned to put him into a simple black frame that I bought for $20 from Target. I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to get him into there, but I figured I’d wrap the fabric around some mat board, secure it with a couple of stitches and voila. Turns out it’s a bit more complicated to frame needlework in this way. Needle’n'Thread has an excellently detailed post if you are interested.

I ended up not framing my piece because at the last minute I noticed on the Okie Stitch Along website that they actually wanted them mounted. My first question was what does mounting mean? Luckily Sara Cowan, who is organizing the stitch along, is very kind and patient and answered my questions. She said mounting was…

Just like a painting you’d see without a frame – the way painters stretch their fabric over a rectangle of cheap wood. You could even buy a blank canvas and staple your pressed embroidery piece onto it, exactly where the blank canvas is stapled. You want it to be stretched as tight as possible so there are no wrinkles.

I really dislike dealing with frame shops (because it always seems to cost an arm and a leg) and I didn’t think I could make a frame myself. So I called up my in-laws who do lots of wordworking. I thought maybe they could make me a simple frame and I could staple the fabric on myself. My mother-in-law did have some experience framing needlework and she recommended leaving it to the professionals. She said they have special stretchers they use to stretch the fabric evenly while stapling and that it is just one of those things that is better not to do yourself.

So, the next day I went to my nearest frame shop, Jubilee Gallery, their website advertised familiarity with needlework. Jack, who was working at the time, was really exited by my project and had lots of ideas for nicely mounting my piece. We discussed taking some simple wood frames, painting them white, then placing a white mat board over the frame, because my fabric was so sheer. But when I went to pick up the piece he’d done an even nicer and more thorough job that we’d discussed. He backed the whole thing with some mat board to hide the staples and placed a hanging wire on the top.

I wasn’t wrong though about it costing an arm and a leg. The entire framing job cost me $96.90. This is a LOT for a hobby I usually refer to as inexpensive. But there was no turning back, I had taken months to stitch Chet and promised him to Deluxe OK. Not to mention the attentive, thorough, and quality work that Jubilee did for me. So all in all, I guess that was a price I was willing to pay. Although I will think differently next time before I start a piece that I plan to hang. Probably I will do an embroidery hoop frame as described in this awesome tutorial.

I finished Chet yesterday. Are you ready to see the final product?

I finished Chet’s face and skin a few weeks ago, but I’ve been slacking on my posts. I’m now well into the trumpet, but I think I’ll save that for the grand reveal!

I finished Chet’s shirt this week! Now the whole things looks a lot more promising. I only have the face, hands, and trumpet left. Hopefully I can finish those before the end of the month.

It’s been a while since I posted an update, and that’s because I really haven’t spent that much time on my Chet Baker project. But thankfully, I got in a solid 3 hours of work at Sunday’s group stitch. That enabled me to finish the hair, which I think is the most time consuming part. (I don’t plan to fill the rest of Chet, only outline.) So here’s a peak…

The final piece is due in Oklahoma on July 1st, so expect more updates soon!

I’ve really been procrastinating on my Chet Baker portrait, but I have made some progress. I managed to trace the major lines onto my linen. The trumpet still needs some work, but the basic idea is there.

I followed the instructions for creating an embroidery pattern from a photo on this video podcast.

She recommends tracing the major lines using a light source, like my window.

I used a water soluble marker, so no need to worry about making a mistake. Here is the result.

I’ve settled on a photo to use as the basis for my Chet Baker portrait. I’d like to know the photographer, but I haven’t been able to find out who it is. If anyone knows, please let me know.

I’m attempting to follow this video explaining how to convert a photo to an embroidery pattern, but I don’t even trust myself to draw the key lines over the photo, so I chose to use GIMP instead to convert the image to a sketch for me. I found 2 different ways of doing this and combined both for my final result.

The first uses a Sobel Edge Detect and the second uses High Pass Filtering. I don’t actually understand what any of these things are, but the results look like this…

Sobel Edge Detect	High Pass Filtering

The next step is to trace it onto the fabric. I just have to wait for the sun to shine a little into our apartment.

I just ordered the fabric for my Okie Stitch Along project from Needle In A Haystack. I wasn’t at all sure what type of fabric to use. I read this very detailed article on Linen for Hand Embroidery at Needle ‘n Thread, but found myself more overwhelmed. So I decided to call Needle In A Haystack and see if someone would listen to my project and offer advice. They were very willing to listen and explain to me all about fabrics and to help me decide on what would be best for my project.

The first thing I learned is that you want an evenly woven fabric, not knit like t-shirt. And the thread-count is consistent. The higher the count, the less space between threads. Any thread count is fine for what I am doing, its more a matter of taste.

Next there is linen or cotton blend fabric. Linen is what I thought I wanted, but I decided to go with the cotton blend because it has a more consistent look. Linen can have those strands that bulge in places, giving more of an antique finish. I don’t want people to be seeing my fabric, I want them to see my stitches, so I think the cotton blend will blend into the background of my piece.

So, what I ended up with is Jobelan 32 count (51% Cotton/49% Rayon) by Wichelt. Although you have to order the fabric in standard sizes, like 1/2 yard, Needle In A Haystack will cut and finish the fabric to the specific size of your project. I arbitrarily decided that my project would be 11″ x 14″. The helpful sales lady told me they recommend leaving 3″ on all sides for framing. So I ordered a piece 17″ x 20″.

I haven’t received my fabric yet, but so far I’ve had a very positive experience with Needle In A Haystack.

The folks at Deluxe OK are organizing a Stitch Along. Anyone can participate no matter where they live or what their skill level. This is a good thing for me because I live in Brooklyn and am a very new beginner. All you have to do to participate is select a famous Oklahoman and embroider a picture or portrait of them. Send it in by July 1st and it will go on display in 3 exhibitions including the Oklahoma State Fair.

There are still lots of great Oklahomans left, so if you’re interested in participating check it out here: http://www.deluxeok.net/stitchalong

Chet Baker Monument. Photograph by Jeroen Coert.

I’ve signed on to stitch Chet Baker.  Chet Baker was born and raised in Yale, Oklahoma.  I’ll be updating the blog with my progress on this intimidating project and hope to get some input from you readers as to which image of Chet is most iconic and worthy of being embroidered.