How to Use One Pattern, Three Ways!

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Erika Kern, contributor

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The same pattern can be stitched in many ways, from right to left: outline with pen and ink–style shading, full-color fill, and black outline.

Erika Kern

The pattern is a simple outline made so that you can add as much or as little detail as you'd like.

Erika Kern

The pattern looks great just on its own. I stitched it with a stemstitch and splitstitch using all six strands of the floss. This is great for when you want a project done fast because you can easily finish it in one to two days.

Erika Kern

The same pattern can be stitched in many ways, from right to left: outline with pen and ink–style shading, full-color fill, and black outline.

Photo: Erika Kern

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I Do, I Do

The top to bottom, full fill of the pattern. This takes major commitment, like a golden-anniversary-renewing-your-vows commitment, but it is worth it. If you decide to do a full fill on something that's going to get a lot of wear and tear, such as clothing or a throw pillow, you're going to want to do a sturdier stitch than a satinstitch. I like a splitstitch and a long/short stitch as good workhorse fills. A fill of French knots is also fun—I used it here on the waves and in the water. Since I stitched my ship as wall art, I decided to do a ropelike stemstitch in a thicker wool yarn to add interest to the border. Never be afraid of adding a bit of pop to your work.

This is the technique that takes a while, at least a week of steady stitching. Here I used full color. Most of the filling is done using a satinstitch. The moon and the hull of the boat were stitched in a long/short needlepoint stitch, and the sea mist is all French knots.

Whichever commitment you choose, have fun and stitch on! And if you fall in love . . . don't say I didn't warn you.

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Comments (5)

erika_kern writes: Well. . . I have been accused of being an embroidery machine. Hee hee.
Posted: 11:25 pm on September 24th

Average_Jane_Crafter writes: Wow! I love seeing this pattern done three ways, and I have to say ... I can't pick a favorite. They all look amazing in their own ways. I love the hatching on the high school romance, and the french knot froth on the waves in the last one is too.die.for. :)
Posted: 10:44 pm on September 24th

JenniferStern writes: Holy Cow, I thought you did that by machine...it's so wonderfully perfect. Great Job!
Posted: 9:54 pm on September 24th

erika_kern writes: You're more than welcome!
The only hint I can give you about the satin stitch is tension, close stitches, and patience. Also, though it uses a lot of floss, I like to have the back match the front on my satin stitch because it helps with that all important tension.
Posted: 5:21 pm on September 24th

Ednarb writes: These are absolutely beautiful! I can't believe how smooth and even your satin stitch is. Still can't get mine to come out that nicely. And I'm so excited to see hand-stitched embroidery articles on this site - usually they're all about machine embroidery. These have inspired me to be more daring in my creations - to move up from the Summer Fling to the High School Romance. Thank you for posting these!
Posted: 3:12 pm on September 24th

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