Week 3

For Week 3 of my senior project, I was embroidering. This was the craft that I knew least about and was also probably least excited to do. Below is a picture of me at Michaels on Monday.  I started off the week researching embroidery and watching videos to learn about the different stitches and what I would need. A side skill I've had to learn is couponing. I've been avidly couponing to try and get the best deals for the supplies. There were quite a few supplies I had to get for embroidery, which was different than the last two since I usually had some tools lying around my house. 

(It was very very bright)

Below, is a picture of a llama kit that I purchased from Michaels. When talking to an employee, they recommended that I try using a kit that had a very small hoop and the pattern was already on the fabric. Since I had never done embroidery, I thought that this would be a good way to get started. The picture is after I completed the outline of the llama and started filling it in. I was having some challenges with the thread. I've learned that you have to be very careful and slow as you complete each stitch, otherwise it will bunch up and not turn out well. 

As you can see, I started to get better on the right side. (The bottom left is where I started) 

As I was researching and beginning to start embroidering, I was impressed by how many different types of stitches there are. I dedicated a few hours on Tuesday to practicing the different types, but even then, it was still difficult to remember how to do each one of them. A lot of embroidery websites have free patterns that you can download which show you an image and exactly what color and stitch to use for each part of the design. I used one of those patterns when creating a flower shirt in the final days of the week. 

One of the frustrating moments of the week was that I was working on the flower shirt and had started getting pretty far (I was almost done with one flower), when I realized that I had put the hoop on wrong. Instead of putting the smaller hoop in the shirt, I put it on the back, so I was essentially stitching the shirt together. I had spent a lot of time already working on it, since I had to use transfer paper to draw the design on the shirt, so I was very frustrated. Luckily, I had another shirt so I was able to start over on that one. 

One of the things I have realized is that I would probably have a better time learning the crafts if I had someone in person that could guide me through it. Though the videos I have watched have been very helpful, I think it would be easier being able to watch someone in person and answer questions that I have in the moment. However, it has made me have to problem solve and have more of a trial and error approach when it comes to learning something new. I am definitely looking forward to crochet next week, since I have a lot of friends who can guide me with it.