imagine gnats – hand embroidery

This post is part of the A Season by Hand series. Find the schedule here.
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a season by handOur guest today is Rachael of imagine gnats.  Rachael is a mama, wife, designer, and all-around creative lady. She recently released her first garment sewing patterns, is currently hosting Shorts on the Line, and you can find a whole host of embroidery resources on her blog.

Today she’s sharing a little about her favorite kind of travel stitching, hand embroidery, and a recent project.

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while i do love a good paper piecing project, i must confess that my very favorite travel project is hand embroidery! paper piecing is a “sitting on the couch” activity for me. no idea why, but sometimes that’s just how these things work. i always make sure to load up my floss and needles and my scissors shaped like a bird (you have to have those scissors, right?) before we head out on a road trip.

travel embroidery

and i always travel with this lovely bag that my friend Jill, of Made With Moxie fabulousness,  gave me last summer. (should you be in need of such a lovely bag, she even has a tutorial for how to make your own right here!) of course, we don’t actually “head out on a road trip” all that often, which means… that ambitious stitching shown above? well, i’ve been working on that for just about a year now.

so, how about an embroidery project that i recently finished? i did spend some time stitching this sewing sayings pattern set while enjoying the early summer weather out on our deck, and it was lovely.

sewing sayings embroidery pattern

how can you make stitching on the road a pleasant way to pass the time? it’s as simple as a little pre-trip preparation. i like to decide what i’ll stitch up ahead of time (and i encourage you to be ambitious… better to not stitch it all than to run out!!) so that i can trace the pattern and have the appropriate floss and thread with me. i like to trace my patterns with a water-soluble marker, and i typically pack up the marker is my embroidery bag in case i need any touch-ups while on the road.

embroidery in process

these are some in-process shots… isn’t it fun to watch it come together? of course a road trip is the perfect time to instagram all the things! i just might be headed out on a trip of my own soon, and you can follow my instagram feed here.

sewing sayings embroidery pattern

if you’re looking for a fun embroidery project for your summer travels, what about this thread girl embroidery to-go case (a free project)? and you can find my sewing sayings embroidery pattern for sale here. thanks to Jennie and Clara for having me today! and i hope your summer is a season by hand!

xo, rachael

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33 Comments

  1. The sayings are so neat. I should make those for my sewing room. I love the travel bag! And I don’t have a pair of those scissors….I opted for scissors with pink polka dot handles because I LOVE pink! LOL

  2. What a neat idea to embroider some sayings. I do have the stork scissors–they’re a necessity for anybody who loves needle and thread, I think!

  3. I must be the only person who does handwork without owning bird scissors. Maybe I need to fix that… (You can never have too many scissors!). Love the sayings!

  4. What a great project. Love your bargello bag. Super cute syaing to make for the sewing room. Love how you use the dissaperaing marker to trace your designs.

  5. What a great idea to bring an embroidery project for a road trip! We will go on a camping trip soon and I couldn’t figure out what kind of handsewing project to bring. This is perfect! Thank you for sharing all your pretty projects.

  6. That is a super bag for storing embroidery thread…thank you for sharing!!! I love your sewing room sayings too!!! As for the scissors, I have been lucky enough to come across three stork scissors (different sizes) in my travels to add to my collection !

  7. Rachael, it’s been such fun to see your projects and read your notes and tips on hand work. I need to prepare my handwork/embroidery bag so it’ll be ready for me when it’s time to go; I’m a terrible procastinator!!

  8. Really interested in “this thread girl to-go embroidery case” mentioned in this post but can not reach the embroidery pattern or case instructions. Do you know if it is still available?

  9. I haven’t embroidered in a very long time, but I need a portable project I can do. Thanks for the inspiration – I’ll have to dust off my needles and hoops!

  10. I love your sewing sayings set (say that 5 times fast, I dare you!)! It would look great in my sewing room!

  11. I have embroidery scissors, but not with a bird. Would love to find some other random animal, honestly!

  12. I have these new patterns and can’t decide what to do with them. I did buy the fabric I want to stitch on (unless I change my mind) but just haven’t started. I really need to think on it some more. You, my friend, are one talented lady!

  13. I don’t have any of those bird scissors, but I see them all over the place! I love the look of the first embroidery you are still working on, very pretty 🙂

  14. A little project idea for you today, I recently made up a little pouch to hold all my embroidery supplies for my wips and projects. I wanted somewhere where everything would be neatly stored ready for any spare embroidery minutes I can find during the course of the day.

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