How I stitched my Seagull
How did my embroidery squares come about?
For me, tracing patterns onto fabric is the bit that I do not enjoy doing. I don’t have a light box, so I tape patterns onto windows and trace the best I can, but my arm aches after a while, my pen stops working properly from holding it up and I usually miss bits of the pattern. So, before I’ve even threaded my needle, I feel like I’ve already got off to a bad start with my embroidery. And so, having my designs pre-printed ready to colour in with thread takes away that initial faff and allows you to get going with the fun bit…….the stitching!
Its me happily testing out some stitches for my snowman embroidery.
Why I love my embroidery squares
I really loved stitching up my Snowman and Tree embroidery squares before Christmas. I found the freedom of picking whichever thread colours I like the best and experimenting with my favourite stitches liberating! There are no instructions with my embroidery squares so you really can just stitch away however you like. There are no right or wrong ways of how you stitch yours and if you don’t like how a part is turning out, no harm done! Just cut those stitches out and do it another way. The squares are also fab for beginners as you can just choose as few or as many stitches as you like to finish your project.
The Oh Gully embroidery square before I started stitching. Since stitching my seagull, I’ve tweaked the design ever so slightly. But you can still follow this blog and stitch your seagull in the same way.
The monthly stitch alongs
At the end of 2021, I stitched my snowman and tree embroidery squares (these both turned out fab btw! I was super chuffed) and recorded little videos of each part explaining what I was doing and how I was doing it. These videos are saved in Instagram video series so that you can look back at them for inspiration when you’re ready to stitch yours, or for those of you who like to have instructions you can stitch yours the same as me.
I loved doing these so much that I’ve continued into 2022! There’s been a poll in my Instagram stories to vote for the next months stitching design (as I really do need the help choosing which to stitch next) and I’ve been doing a weekly live stitching each week.
And January’s vote went to……….the seagull!
Now that he’s all coloured in I wanted to write a little recap of January’s stitching that could be used as guide if you fancied stitching your own seagull. I’ve noted which stitches I used, the thread colour, number of strands and which needle I used. But don’t forget the beauty of my embroidery squares is that you can colour them in using which ever stitches and threads you like!
I used long and short split stitch for his body.
1) I stitched the seagull’s body first. No real reason for this….. I just wanted to get stuck in with the main event.
Stitch – Long and short split stitch
Thread colours – Anchor 1 (white) for is head and body
DMC 3760 (blue) for his wing
Number of strands – 4
Needle size – Middle sized needle from my needle pack (these are available in my shop here .
I stitched with stitch direction curving up the seagulls back to his head, like his feathers would in real life.
I used Satin stitch for the rock using 3 colours of grey.
2) The rock
Stitch – Satin stitch
Thread colours – DMC 413 (dark grey), DMC 169 (mid grey) and Anchor 397 (light grey)
Number of strands – 3 strands in total. I used 1 strand from each grey.
Needle size – Middle sized needle
I stitched horizontally and stitched around the crab.
Double Whipped back stitch for the legs and beak.
3) Legs and beak
Stitch – Double Whipped Back stitch
Thread colours – DMC 728
Number of strands – 3
Needle size – Middle Sized Needle
I also put in a small straight stitch at the top of each leg (with 6 strands of Anchor 1) to connect the legs to the body…..but he would look just as fab if you decided to continue the double whipped back stitch.
A padded satin stitch for the crab. I love the way this stitch makes the crab raised up off the rock.
4) The crab
Stitch – Padded satin stitch (using chain stitch for the padding) for the body and back stitches for his legs
Thread colours – DMC 350
Number of strands – 6
Needle size – Largest size needle
5) The eye
Stitch – French knot with 2 wraps
Thread colours – DMC 3760 (blue)
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Smallest needle
I added some wording for a personal touch.
6) A little extra detail…… some wording
This is a great way of personalising your hoop! I decided to add the print design name to mine….’Oh Gully’. This was freehand drawn onto my hoop using a fabric pen.
Stitch – Back stitch
Thread colours – DMC 169
Number of strands – 3
Needle size – Middle needle
All the thread colours that I used for this project.
And that’s it! So, if you fancy giving it a go, you can get your seagull embroidery square HERE.
You can buy the squares individually if you already have a stitching stash to use, but I also stock threads, needles and hoops if you need them. And don’t forget the seagull stitching video series is available on my Instagram and use #bluebellloveembroidery to show off your beautiful work.
My finished Seagull embroidery hoop. I love how he’s turned out.
I’ll see you next time for February’s stitching.
Liz x