Do you remember our lovely Fiskateer Games mascott? Wasn't she gorgeous? My friend Rachael from the blog imagine gnats kindly designed her for us - isn't she so talented?!!? Rachael has recently expanded her repertoire of many talents and has created a set of embroidery patterns using her unique and wonderful designs. Today she shares with us the process of taking your own drawings and sketches and turning them into embroidery patterns. I don't know about you, but I don't do nearly as much hand sewing as I'd like. When I do find the time, I love it. I love the slow, gentle pace. I never feel compelled to rush through a project, just to get it finished, when I'm handsewing. It's peaceful and relaxing and I really ought to find time to do it more often. Perhaps with Rachael's inspiration and ideas, I'll find time to do more.
 
But the REAL question is...who's going to be the first to embroider our Fiskateer Games mascott?!?!
 
 
 
happy national sewing month! thanks to Emma and Tania for inviting me here today to share a little about one of my favorite types of stitching... embroidery. 
 
i recently rekindled my love for hand-stitching when a dear friend insisted that she simply must be able to embroider one of my illustrations. with the exception of finishing up a seam or stitching some eyes on a stuffed dollie, i hadn't done any hand-stitching since my grandmother taught me how to cross-stitch as a little girl. so i dug through my supplies, traced up a drawing, and set to stitching. i can't even tell you how cool it has been to have to chance to  see my drawing all stitched up!
 
do you love to doodle? or do you have little ones that are constantly drawing lovely and silly pictures? well, why not stitch them up... it's really simple, and here's how you can turn your drawing into an easy pattern:
 
1. tape your drawing to a window facing bright sunlight
2. tape a piece of fabric to the window over drawing (you can use cotton, linen, muslin, or even a handkerchief or flour sack towel)
3. trace your drawing onto fabric using a pencil or water soluble marker
4. place your fabric in an embroidery hoop (i recommend using a Pellon® embroidery stabilizer) 
5. start stitching! outlining your drawing with a simple back stitch is a great place to start. for more stitch suggestions and how-to's, visit the embroidery resources page on my blog.
 
for another fun embroidery project, why not check out my thread girl free embroidery pattern you could also check out this kid-friendly embroidery idea, or pick up an embroidery kit, super-hero edition, in the imagine gnats shop.