So, as I blogged last week, I’ve manifested a strange attraction to embroidery. After pinning a pile of images of embroidery I liked into Pinterest and watching several YouTube videos, I dug out my small stash of floss, a small embroidery hoop, an offcut of calico and some old craft books with stitch instructions. After an evening’s stitching I had made this sampler.

Then I was paralysed by indecision about what to stitch next.

Most embroidery is so far from my taste that you could build an entire transport industry between us and charge a toll for use. I am amused by more subversive kinds – burlesque and tattoo inspired – but I don’t want to make it myself. But every now and then I see something awesome. Not that I want to do the same piece, but it convinces me embroidery can be awesome.

There was also the issue of what to embroider onto. I’m not 100% sold on the idea of a wall of hoops displaying embroidery like artwork, though I’d probably come around to it if wall space for art wasn’t always in short supply in a house owned by an artist and photographer with many, many bookcases. I’d like to embroider clothing, throw pillows, maybe table linen and fabric from which to make bags, clutches and wallets. But what if I did a terrible job and stuffed up the thing I was embroidering?

I procrastinated by shopping for more floss and hoops and organising my supplies:

And taking inspiration from Pinterest:

After writing several lists I eventually decided to just stitch some fabric and decide what to do with it afterwards. I got some line drawings of Minis from Paul and decided I would see if it was true you could transfer laser prints onto cloth just by ironing:

Then while browsing through photos on my computer for something I could convert into a pattern I found this:

It was a design on a t-shirt that I grew out of. I loved it so much I took a pic thinking that one day I might screen print it onto a bigger t-shirt. But now I could see it would make a pretty cool embroidery pattern.

Of course, there wasn’t much point ironing a laser print onto black cloth so I rubbed tailor’s chalk on the back of the paper, traced it then went over the lines with a white gel pen.

And then started stitching:

I’m thinking I might be able to design one of Slinky in a similar style.