This is my first attempt at beaded embroidery. It turned out better than I expected, but took longer than I expected. So, here is my review of the process, the mistakes I made, and my final thoughts on the finished piece. A supply list will be given at the end.
First off, I had to organize my supplies. All of the embroidery thread I had was in a jumble in a big cat food tin. To find anything I wanted, and figure out how much of it I had on hand, involved digging through the mess of tangled threads, and half-empty skeins. I also had needles - sewing, beading, embroidery - stashed everywhere. Not the best method of storing things. This is what things looked like after I went through the tin, and a few other places I had socked stuff away.
So, off to the hardware store I went, and bought one of those big organizers for nuts, bolts, washers, etc. Lots of drawers. So everything got stowed away by color, and then light to dark. Crochet hooks, and needles are in the bottom drawers. I have several of these organizers that I use for jewelry making supplies, and also one in our bathroom that I keep my costume jewelry in. They are just so handy for everything, and I like that I can see the color of the threads without having to open the drawer.
Then it was on to my first beaded embroidery project. I picked a photo of a butterfly (I knew I saved that calendar full of butterflies for a reason) mainly because the photos were large and showed the detail. Not that I was going to get that obsessive about it. Mine would be an interpretation of the little thing, not an exact replica. I was pretty sure this embroidery/beading technique was going to try my limited amount of patience anyway, so trying to do an exact copy of the pattern on a wingspan of only five and a half inches would have driven me insane.
Here is the project half finished, along with the source photo.
The piece was done on a linen blend fabric, and the design done by transfer pencil drawn on paper, then ironed onto the fabric. I will be researching better ways to get designs on the fabric, as this one didn't really work very well. The first time I ironed the design on the fabric, half the lines didn't show up, so I had to do it over.
The stitches used are chain stitch for filling in the negative space (very tedious and time-consuming), back stitch, split stitch, and padded straight stitch. The beads were sewn on with upholstery thread.
I first outlined the wings in beaded back stitch with small iridescent blue/black beads, then divided the wings with small black beads. Then I used straight stitch one way and then another to pad out the body of the butterfly. The head was done in one layer only. On the body, over the black embroidery thread I put in a layer of single strand indigo "silk" thread, but that was not very successful, as they didn't show up very well. Once the body was done, and the wings outlined in beads, I stitched the orange dots with straight stitch, then filled in the wing space with chain stitch. Lastly I sewed on the white beads over the chain stitch, and over the body.
There are two dark blue lozenge beads sewn to the thorax of the butterfly that barely show up in the photo. There is a black round bead for the head, and two small red beads for the eyes...which wouldn't lay snug, so the bug looks cockeyed. Two red crystals are at the end of the antenna. The white spots on the butterfly are done with flat white beads, some so small they wouldn't fit over a #10 beading needle - and since that is the smallest beading needle I have the patience to thread, those beads that wouldn't fit, got tossed in the thrash.
Here is the finished butterfly. It was definitely a learning curve, as I hadn't done any embroidery since probably the 80s, other than the feather stitch I use to sew binding on to the clothes I make out of T-shirts. I need more practice. Lots more! And since doing tiny little chain stitches to fill in negative space took forever, I can see why learning to use a hook needle would be a good thing. Would make that whole process go much quicker, but from all I have read about them, it takes a while to get the knack of using one, and can be frustrating at first, so, another lesson in patience in my future.
Here is the finished piece.
Critique
The design ended up asymetrical to a certain degree, the wings on the right are shaped slightly different that those on the left. This would not have been a huge deal if the piece wasn't beaded, but the white beads are more crowded together on the right than on the left. The body of the bug is cock-eyed - the head and thorax off center from the body. I jokingly remarked to my husband that it looked like it had hit a windshield. As stated above, I was not happy with the method of iron on transfer pencils to get the design on fabric, so that is my next puzzle to solve. Working with "silk" threads is a pain in the butt, but they look lovely. In this piece I should have just left them out, or used a lighter color, since they barely show up over the black.
No, I am not going to show you the back of the piece. LOL I have my pride to consider.
Supplies - I am keeping this pretty general, because everyone has their own favorite sizes of needles and threads to use. Also, as for bead size, these are ones I had on hand and were not in their original package, so I have no idea of their exact size.
A remnant of linen blend cloth - this worked very nicely.
2 different embroidery needles from a pkg of needles size 3-10, and a #10 beading needle.
Black upholstery thread
DMC embroidery thread in black
DMC embroidery thread in orange
DMC "Silk" polyester thread in indigo blue
1 black round bead for the head
2 small red beads for the eyes
2 red crystal beads for the antenna.
2 lozenge beads for the thorax
Multiple small white beads for the white spots on the wings
Dozens of small iridescent black/blue beads for the outline
Dozens of small black beads for the wing divisions
I enjoyed doing this project, even disregarding the many times I stabbed myself with that danged beading needle. They are SHARP! It was a good learning experience, showed me my weaknesses in both getting the design on cloth, and in working on the stitches. I suspect a hook needle is in my future, but will do a lot of practice with it before I use it on a project. I have read it can be a "tear your hair out" level of frustration until you get the knack.
Not sure what I am going to do with this piece, but will appliqué it to something. It is quite sturdy, heavier than I thought it would be, and will stand up to washing just fine. That will be another test of how to use this technique on clothing, which is my main goal.
