This fabric came about really quickly one Wednesday spent doodling! In one afternoon I designed it and ordered samples and then only had to wait a couple of days for the fabric to arrive. When it dropped through my door I took it to a hairdressing appointment with my good friend Kim. Another friend happened to be getting her hair cut before me and the three of us got very excited about all of the ways that it could be used!
I’m going to confess that it wasn’t until I was at Kim’s that we realised that because there were 12 frames, it would be great to stitched something each month for a year! A happy mistake as Bob Ross would say!
I wanted it to look like a gallery wall that you might have in your house and for this reason, the design is sized to fit inside an A4 frame or mount. I love the idea of a gallery wall within a gallery wall! I did toy with the idea of adding an embroidery hoop but I’m going to save that idea for another day….
So what could you stitch then? Here are the ideas I’ve had so far! Please comment on this post if you have any other thoughts!
- One a month journal
- Days of a holiday
- Past holiday memories
- City landmarks
- Menopause symptoms
- Family portraits
- Pets
- Pin/brooch display
- Needle-minder display
- Kids drawings
- Mini classic art
- Bug display
- Houses you’ve lived in
- Favourite pubs
- Signs of the zodiac
- Stitch sampler
- Needle turn appliqué (fabric swatches), EPP shapes
- Paint the wall/wallpaper
- Stitch the background, a geometric design perhaps
- Stitch the frames (gold thread)
And I’m sure there are countless more ways it could be used!
This time I’m not including any white cotton in the fabric packs (available here). I normally include a piece of plain white cotton so that you can stitch through both pieces of fabric, fundamentally so that you can’t see any thread on the reverse on the front. This normally happens when stitching lettering and you jump between letters or words, or musical notes on my music fabric, or between different places on my map fabric. But because the designs on the picture fabric will be self-contained, I didn’t feel that the white cotton was necessary. Of course you could always add it yourself if you prefer! Even an old pillow case or sheet would do the job.
I’ve started stitching my fabric and because I couldn’t settle on a theme, I’m just using it to experiment. I started with a mini version of ‘plan ahead’ on my lined paper fabric and then I stitched a very glam beetle! I’ve been walking parts of Offa’s Dyke path recently so I think I’m going to stitch a landscape scene in a third frame, and I’ve got the Great North Swim coming up in Lake Windermere so I think I should include that somehow too. Keep an eye on my Instagram profile to see these ideas come to life!
I’d love to hear how you are planning to use the fabric so please add a comment below. If you have any questions, please pop a comment below or email me at hello@littlelightstitchery.co.uk. And I would love to see your finished design so please share your pictures on Instagram and tag me in them @littlelightstitchery !
Happy Stitching!
Nicky x
