Designing a Seam: How to use Embroidery Stencils, Crazy Quilt Seam Designs

I recently created this piece for Embroidery Extravaganza, which was held on Creative Spark, C&T Publishing’s online learning platform. I also posted the piece's progress over several weeks on Maker’s Mingle, C&T Publishing’s private Facebook page.

My goal was to show how a piece can grow through the process of creating a color scheme, adding in your stitches according to a planned colorway to create a balance throughout the piece.

Here are the fabrics that I used to create the base.

Here are the threads that I used for the embroidery.

Here are the beads that I used for embellishments.

Color Chart

I always plan out the colors of the threads and embellishments for each piece of fabric. Here is the basic formula that I used for this project.

“Where do I Start”?

I have taught embroidery for over 30 years. One of the most common questions I am asked is, “Where do I start”? My suggestion for a project like this is to work all the border row seams first so you can establish a color patten and the beginning of the seam design.

When you are embroidering a crazy-pieced base like this one, you will be embroidering on the seams and in the open areas between seams. This is how I categorize the progression that the embroidery stitches will take.

• Border Row Stitches: These stitches are worked along or close to the seam of two sections of fabric. I suggest using a continuous stitch, like the feather, chain, blanket, cretan, chevron, or herringbone stitch.
• Decorative Stitches: These stitches are worked off or around the tips, or open spaces of the border row stitches. I suggest using individual stitches like lazy daisy, fly, cross stitch, a flower, or other shape.
• Details Stitches: These stitches are worked around the decorative stitches, and open spaces of the border row stitches. I suggest using small individual stitches like the French knot, straight, or stacked bead stitch.

Progression of a Seam

I used my newest set of stencils from Embroidery Stencils, Crazy Quilt Seam Designs to work the border rows and create the decorative and detailed stitches. The embroidery stitches I chose to work with can be found in my book, Hand Embroidery Stitching.

Here is an example of the progression of the yellow batik fabric in the lower right-hand corner.

Border Row Stitch Stencil #20: the cretan stitch, green perle cotton

Decorative Stitch Stencil # 74: lazy daisy stitch, 3 strands of purple variegated floss, and lazy daisy with French knot stitch, 3 strands of red floss 

Decorative Stitch Stencil #78 (middle line): lazy daisy stitch, 3 strands of green floss

Decorative Stitch Stencil #84: French knot stitch, blue perle cotton #8

Decorative Stitch: French knot stitch, yellow perle cotton #8, and stacked bead stitch, blue and yellow seed beads

Decorative Stitch: French knot stitch, 3 strands of blue variegated floss

In Closing

I hope you enjoyed this blog post. I hope it will help you to get creative and feel confident in your color and stitch choices.

Happy Stitching to You!

~Christen

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Christen Brown teaches embroidery, quilting, crazy quilting, ribbonwork, mixed media, and beadwork in her best-selling books.