Stitching on Prints
One of the things that sets us apart from many other embroidery artists is that we like to stitch on printed fabrics. Printed fabrics are great for inspiration or for learning some new techniques. We are also busy designing some printed fabrics perfect for stitching which are available at Spoonflower.
Japanese Darning Stitch Print (also available in other colors).
Mushroom Print Fabric (also available in white on black).
There are so many options when looking at printed fabrics. Not all of them are going to be easy to use for embroidery. When digging through fabric bins at secondhand shops (pre-COVID-19), we look for a few kinds of fabric that always work for embroidery: polka dots, gingham, plaids, and large or tiny floral prints to name a few.
Offset polka dots set up a lovely grid for many stitches – no measuring and marking it all out – just pop those dots into the hoop and get stitching. Japanese Darning Stitch is a favorite stitch to try. It’s so nice to use the layout that the printed fabric is offering.
Take advantage of an offset polka dot print to lay out your Japanese Darning Stitch.
Gingham fabric brings with it a certain vintage feel. Based on the scale of the print and the color scheme it can read as vintage cool or vintage not so cool. I find that adding embroidery can chase the not so cool away pretty quickly. Smocking is a great stitch technique to try on gingham. The even grid is perfect for getting those pleats in place if you don’t have a smocking pleater.
A sample of hand smocking using gingham fabric to get the pleats evenly spaced.
You can also use the gingham as a base for any type of pixelated image. We made a pixelated earth for Earth Day using One-Sided Insertion Stitch on gingham. This pattern obscures the underlying fabric pretty well, so you completely change the look of the gingham. If you find a gingham that gives you cool vibes from the start, then consider experimenting with some cross stitches, like Woven Cross Stitch.
A pixelated view of Earth for Earth Day 2020.
If the stitches are dense enough, you can barely tell that it was stitched on gingham fabric.
Florals are sometimes tricky. Our instinct is to look for a big bold floral to adorn or trace with embroidery. If you have big solid flowers or nicely outlined ones, you can easily add embroidery to enhance the look of the print. For a tiny floral as the background, look for ones with an obvious repeat. If the floral pattern is laid out in a way where you can see an offset grid, for example, would work great for one of the layered filling stitches, like Trellis and Cross Filling Stitch.
The offset grid of this floral print worked really well with Trellis and Cross Filling Stitch.
If you haven’t tried stitching on a print, give it a try. We think you’ll love how easy it is to do. The results are pretty amazing, as well. We always love to see what you’re stitching. Tag us on Instagram @bostonandyork.
Outlining the printed rose was an easy, yet beautiful project.