Lionheart

Making progress on the clouded leopard. All that's left are the ears, neck, and finishing touches. I'm loving how it's turning out and I can't wait for the final color count!

My current WIP, Masala the clouded leopard ❤️ hand embroidery, single strand DMC.

Hi! Thanks so much for ask! While the work I create is for sale, I unfortunately do not take commissions and strictly stitch whatever strikes my fancy. that artist's work is so cool though!! Such a unique style that would lend itself to thread SO well!!

Another look at my recent piece! We went on a hike today so of course I had to get some footage of Luna in the wild.

Hand embroidered jaguar eye, single strand DMC floss in a 4inch hoop.

Check out my IG needlefelis for more of my work!

Wow I love a post vacation spiral

Finished! This is a macro of a jaguar cub's eye, hand embroidered with single strand DMC floss, finished in a 4inch hoop. This was meant to be a palate cleanser after my last jaguar piece but alas I put my normal amount of effort into this...

I already have two pieces lined up after this that I basically want to start immediately.

For more of my work check out my IG! @ needlefelis

Anyways the next time I have some extended time home alone Im gonna maybe try a TT Livestream of my embroidery, or IG. Not sure. But I think live streaming would be fun.

I had intended to do a pattern/tutorial for my current embroidery project, and it was going great until I got to the fur and now I am entirely lost on how to make sense of my process. I literally cycle between so many colors and so many random lil stitches to blend, color shift, etc that it's just impossible to follow now. I don't honestly think it's worth it anymore because now it's just a hindrance and it's not fun which is the major factor here. I feel bad cause I had initially committed to it, but I really just don't wanna.

How to Print Embroidery Stencils Directly onto Fabric

This was requested, and I'm often asked how I do this so here's a short how to! I do almost all my stencils this way, and avoid "stick and stitch" wash away stabilizers as much as possible. I work with a lot of detail, and I've found this is the best way to capture it all. I use a basic canon inkjet printer. Nothing fancy. I make all my stencils in procreate from reference photos.

Firstly you're going to need regular 8x11 sheets of label paper. Find the fabric you want to use and stick the whole sheet straight on. Smooth out your fabric as much as possible to ensure there's no folds or wrinkles so your pattern doesn't distort or your sheet doesn't jam your printer. Lint roll it too to get rid of any extra fuzz or hair.

Cut off the edges of excess fabric to the exact size of your sheet. Make sure there are no threads hanging off. This fabric is going to stay on this sheet until you're done.

BEFORE I load the fabric into my printer, I have to format how I want the stencil to print. I want to adjust the margins to center the image, and then I play with the scale to figure out how big I want to work. I was going to be finishing this piece in a 6 inch hoop, so I had to ensure it would frame how I wanted it to. However, when I'm actually working, I work with a 7 inch hoop(it's easier on my hands). The one downside to this method is that I cannot go any larger than this(personally I don't usually work larger than 6 so it works). You need to make sure you have margins all around your working hoop so that you can tighten the fabric.

Once you've got your desired size and centered presets, load the fabric, still on the label paper, into the printer. For most printers this will be fabric side down. Then, print! Voila, you have your stencil directly on your fabric. Peel it off the sticker paper (this is the hardest part tbh), it's normal to end up with really frayed edges to the fabric sheet during this process. You won't see those on your finished piece.

There you have it. Stencils, printed right onto fabric. Happy stitching!

Side thoughts:

-i have never had this jam or screw up my printer. That's not to say it's impossible. I take the risk because so far it's worked great for me.

-i do not ever wash my pieces or get them wet. So I cannot say if the ink would or would not run on the fabric or thread. Keep that in mind.

-the fabric I use is either Kona cotton or a slightly thicker canvas material. I've never tried with anything else.

Hi! I want to try and answer this, but it's hard to put the process into words, I'll do my best. There are youtube videos that would probably do a much better job than me!

To simplify it, threadpainting is really just getting the hang of one type of stitch: long and short stitch. And using a lot of colors to help get the depth and color blending. Be prepared to use so many threads. Threadpainting is easiest done with single thread, though you can certainly do it with more. I just get the detail I want. Standard embroidery thread comes as six strands twisted into one, and you can separate them out to get different thicknesses. This picture shows that, along with types of needles you can use. I prefer the size 9 milliners.

Once I find a picture I want to stitch, I make a stencil in procreate and then print it directly onto my fabric(which you can kind of see here)

Then from there I keep my reference photo up the whole time to help me with color choices and where to put them. Then from there I just kind of flow? I don't have much of a plan, I do what feels right. Below you can kind of see what my stitching looks like.

I hope this makes sense! I'm happy to answer any other questions :]

Wicked Game by Chris Isaak!

All the windows are open, it's breezy, only sound outside is the trees. I have candles going, a bevvy, a gentle playlist, and I'm stitching at my desk surrounded by plants.

I cultivate this for myself.

Sharing another progress video from a previous cat piece! I can't remember if I've already posted this one but oh well, this is one of my favs! I saw this Sumatran tiger and absolutely could not resist capturing him in thread. Enjoy!

Ig: threaded.wild

With all the love on my recent jag embroidery, I wanted to share this process video of a different portrait I did earlier in the year! I often try to do these process videos but I just didn't get to it with my recent piece. Anyway! Please enjoy, this was about a month of work, single strand hand embroidery.

My embroidery IG is threaded.wild, please check it out for more of my work!