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.
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!
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
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.
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
hi there! as someone who is trying to get into thread painting, how do you get your black and white images? do you take a stock photo and just go over the lines in a paint program? thanks for reading, i love your work. cheers!
Hi! So I do all my stencils from photos, and use procreate to make them. This is the reference photo(which I happened to take myself) with the stencil over it! I try to map out anywhere I see big color changes, and use that as my guide. I source a lot of my pictures overall from other zoo pages or pictures I take myself. Hope this helps! I'm always happy to give tips 🥰
Here's a comparison video between two pieces of the same cat! I started hand embroidery at the beginning of 2023, and seeing them side by side is my favorite. Enjoy!
My IG is needlefelis
I did it 💀 single strand hand embroidery in a 5 inch hoop.
I've done the eyes. Now for everything else.
He's done 🥰 single strand DMC floss, 6 inch hoop. I had so much fun working on this one!
Y'all keep blowing up my other embroidery posts on here, so here's my current project. I did a giraffe early on in my embroidery journey about a year ago, and I'm really excited to not only compare, but also to stitch my favorite giraffe personally. I'm working in a 5 inch hoop with single strand DMC. I'm so close to finishing this but his mane is going to be a JOURNEY.
The next major project is at last done. 5inch hoop, mostly single strand with three strand for the scales. Holo shimmer accents, felt padding for the bubbles. I like how it turned out for my first fish!
Progress on my current piece. This one has been agonizingly slow.
Jag embroidery update!!
Three days of progress and not leaving my house. Lmao.