Saturday, March 21, 2015

Colourful Satin Stitches

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Here is some serious colour inspiration for you!

For a while I have followed Corinne Sleight's work on Instagram. The pieces she has done lately with satin stitch are so bright and colourful I had to share it! I asked Corinne a few questions about these pieces. Aren't the fab?


You started doing these satin stitched circles as a way to become better at satin stitch, but they seem to become much more than that. What is the process for each design?
I started stitching my colour wheel embroideries simply to practice my satin stitching which definitely needed improvement! However, in the end, I found the whole process so enjoyable that the designs sort of ran away with themselves! I usually embroider on a pale grey cotton backing fabric as I like the way the softness of the grey complements the shades of embroidery thread.

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The first part of the process for me is to sketch out my rough ideas on paper first, just to make sure they will work. I always draw the circles onto the fabric with pencil and a compass although I am not too particular if they aren't millimetre perfect. My colour selection is the most important part of the whole process though, I love choosing my colour palette and find it very satisfying.

I usually have an idea of the shades I want to use but always choose the actual threads in natural daylight (I also thoroughly recommend a daylight light bulb to embroider by), it may sound obvious but the subtleties between different shades can be lost in electric light. After thread selection, I like to play around with their positioning until I am completely satisfied. As you can probably see from my work, the brighter the colours, the better, and I am not averse to a little clashing!

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With my newer 'Variation on a Theme' pieces, I decided to develop the colour wheel theme further, both to keep the idea fresh and to make each subsequent piece totally unique by the introduction of geometric shapes in a second colour way. I am usually playing around with design ideas for the next embroidery whilst I am stitching my current project and always like to have a plan, toying with the next set of colour combinations.

The colours in your circles are very striking. Do you use colour theory to decide the colours or do you just go with your gut?
As far as colour selection is concerned, I always, always go with my gut instinct. There are certain combinations that are my absolute favourites - green and pink, yellow and pink, and red or orange with purple - but I try to vary the colour palette for each piece to make them truly unique in their own right. The shaded concentric circles are obviously the main theme of the pieces but I love to play around with the added shapes and their positioning.

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Do you have any tips for putting together colour combinations?
My only tip for putting together colour combinations, is to go with your gut - if it makes you happy, it will show through your work.


What are you stitching? Please share in the &Stitches Flickr group. We'd love to see it!

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