Embroidered portrait

Stitching a portrait, this time for a friend, weighed the task down with more responsibility. Would she like it?

Getting other eyes to look at my stitching always helps and they make useful suggestions.

I was so pleased with this piece that I wanted to keep it!

Initial sketch

Stretched & ready for framing

A close up!

Embroidery - stitching portraits

I’ve been using photos for inspiration for embroidery portraits. This one is of my daughter when she was at playgroup. I enlarged the image, used tracing paper to draw the key elements that I want to stitch, transfered the image onto fabric and then played/stitched.

Using a variety of thicknesses of thread leads to shading, re-creating pencil lines and hanging the threads symbolizes the idea that the picture, the subject, lives on.

I am super proud of these trainers!

There are lots of artists doing this kind of work and spent my birthday money on a book by Rosie James  Stitch Draw: Design and Technique for Figurative Stitching