Each month, as part of our Swatch of the Month Club, we are demonstrating some of our most popular techniques so that you might try your hand at creating new designs and embroideries. If you join the Swatch of the Month Club, you will receive a ready-to-sew package each month with the supplies needed to make that month’s unique piece. Just provide your own needles, pins, and scissors. Techniques and instruction can be found in Alabama Studio Sewing + Design.

March’s swatch illustrates how you might use beading and embroidery with your stenciled design to create an elaborately embellished piece. To create our stenciled Fern pattern, using a double length of Button Craft thread, sew a satin stitch through all fabric layers, across the leaf’s stenciled shape, placing your stitches about 1/16” apart. On every stitch, pick up one chop or seed bead. Continue working the beaded Fern stitch along the leaf shape, alternating between beaded and unbeaded stitches until you reach the end of the stenciled shape. Repeat until you have stitched each of your stenciled shapes.

OUR DESIGN CHOICES

Fabric – 100% organic medium-weight cotton jersey
Top layer – Black
Backing Layer – Black
Stencil – Fern
Treatment – Beaded Embroidery
Beads – Chop beads
Bead color – Black
Button Craft thread – Black
Textile paint color – Pearl Slate
Knots – Outside

Follow along on social media and on our Journal with the hashtags:
#theschoolofmaking
#swatchofthemonth
#buildawardrobe2016