Using Polka Dots for Embroidery Design Mapping

Today I am sharing three skirts…all of which were started OVER A YEAR AGO…and just recently were finished!

I’ve enjoyed embroidering on clothing forever (like on these baby undershirts and this dress) but a long while back I started thinking about how fun it would be to embroider on polka dot fabric and use the dots as a template or map for where the embroidering should go.

So back when the idea was fresh in my mind I cut out these skirts and got to work…and I finished embroidering them but then never sewed them up into actual skirts….so there they were…sad rectangles of fabric waiting in the “to be finished pile” until they were recently discovered as I was moving and reorganizing the craft room.

How glad I am I came across them!

And here they are, in order from first to last on the idea train:

This is the first skirt that I started…I wanted to make some geometric hearts in a line around one side of a skirt…which I did, and then to add a little more interest I threw in some random French dots.  I like how it turned out…it’s a subtle detail but one that Grace and I both really like.  In fact, this is the outfit that she wore to school yesterday…with some black and white striped leggings and red shoes.  (Love that girls style….)

This skirt took me the longest even though it is the easiest design.  Now, I know I called it a “rainbow chevron” skirt and that it’s not actually a rainbow and that it only has 5 colors in it…but it still reminds me of rainbows none the less.  I remember when I started it being obsessed with this fabric (it is from Riley Blake’s Verona line) and wanting to use warm , summery colors.  I’m glad I went with that because it will end up being a great skirt for grace to wear all summer.

This is the last skirt that I finished up and I started it one afternoon after Simon and I were drawing with graph paper.  (Anyone else remember making these shapes in junior high?)  And even though it was the last one I started it is probably my favorite.

Each of these skirts were fun to embroider…and I didn’t need a pattern for any of the designs.  I just used the dots on the fabric and pretended they were graph paper and drew out my design as I went with my needle and thread.  It was so fun.

Now…before I sign off for the day….I have to give a big giant thank you to Jess over at If Only They Would Nap….it is because of her and her super fun series “Straight Lines and Angles”  that these skirts even got finished.

We are actually over there today sharing these skirts…and with out her asking us to take part in the series…I’m not sure I’d have ever finished up these skirts (even after finding them in the bin!!!)  So head on over there and check out all the fun!

-liZ

PS:  If you embroider on something like a skirt you should iron on a stabilizer of choice to the back side of the finished embroidered area.  (I don’t think I mentioned that anywhere in this post.)

PS:  This has started me on my dots to make patterns tangent again….and I started 3 more skirts….and one of them is with swiss dots!!!  (And the pattern is turning out so fun!)