Hansel and Gretel Part 1

Hello! And welcome to the first installment of Adventures in Embroidery!  I'm so excited to be kicking off this blog today!  For my first piece I'm going to start with a little bit of red work from Aimee Ray's Doodle Stitching: Embroidery & Beyond.  This book is a really great resource for new stitchers, or if you just want some fun and cute new patterns to follow!  Most of the designs I post here will probably come from that book until I get through them all!  I've set up links above so you can go check out her blog and her Etsy store!

This is the first panel in a set of four depicting the story of Hansel and Gretel.  It took me about 4.5 hours to complete this first panel.  I also changed a few things here and there from the directions in the book, just to suit my skill level and constraints.  The picture below shows just one of the many reasons why I really enjoy this book!  She includes both a color picture of the design with the stitches labeled and a black and white copy for you to copy the pattern from!  In the book it suggests that you enlarge the patterns 220%, but I just used them as they are in the book.  I don't have access to a printer at home, so I do all of my printing at the UPS store.  I haven't figured out how I can enlarge things with them yet, and I don't think I could convince them to print onto transfer paper or canvas!

I just transferred the pattern straight onto my fabric with a pencil.  Mostly, I'm not a fan of the fabric I used for this design. The thinness of the fabric leads to a lot of problems while stitching: it doesn't stay taut for long in the hoop, it wrinkles easily, and the weave is so loose that sometimes my stitches leave holes in the fabric (maybe that's my fault, though?).  However, when it comes to transferring patterns onto the fabric, it's great!  I don't have to use a light desk or tape anything to windows!

I'll definitely be taking an iron to the fabric first on the next panel!

Stitches used:

• Split stitch
• French knot
• Lazy daisy
• Strait stitch/Running stitch

Changes I made to the instructions:

• I switched the satin stitch for French knots in the round details on Gretel's outfit. Because I didn't enlarge the pattern, there wasn't room for satin stitches to look like circles.
• I ran out of pink floss, so there are a few places that call for pink in the pattern that are red on mine.
• A few of the smaller details got lost in the smallness of my work.  If I had enlarged the pattern, I would have been able to correctly follow the directions on all of the small details.

The next three posts will be the remaining panels of the story.  I'm looking forward to working on my split stitch more!  I didn't have a lot of experience in that stitch before this piece, and I had a hard time working it around curves, but I'm going to try smaller stitches next time when I get to a curvy part of the pattern.  That seemed to work well when I was working on Gretel's hat and hair.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!  Some of the stitches are crooked, and I can definitely pick out some mistakes, but that's what Adventures in Embroidery is all about!  I'm learning from my mistakes, getting lots of practice, and improving my skills with every stitch I make! I can't wait to get started on the other panels and see how they turn out!

Thanks for tuning in!  It's great to have you along for the ride on my Adventures in Embroidery!