Hi, hello! I hope your summer is going well so far. If you're new to Orts, this week is my 5/5 link pack: 5 creatively inspiring projects (and/or people) and 5 ways for you to DIY.
🗣️ Tell me! What's inspiring your creativity? What projects are you working on? Reply to this email and let me know! (And scroll down for mine.)
👉 ICYMI: This pair of "paint splattered" embroidered jeans was the most clicked link in the last 5/5.
✨ 5 creatively inspiring things
1️⃣ Maddison Koutrouba, aka The Squeaky Mixer, produces painterly designs on top of cakes. In this mesmerizing video, she has created a drawing on parchment paper, filled it in with icing, and transferred it to the top of the cake. It’s baking magic.
2️⃣ I’ve not heard of a “puffy lampshade” before, but I watched Kelli Kikcio create one by hand, and now I want one for my non-existent lamp. Watch her process, with the inspiration being a quilted teapot cover from her childhood, and finding a couple of free lampshades in her building.
3️⃣ I don’t cross-stitch, but so many people do! (It’s a fact I’ve learned in doing more in-person markets.) So, cross-stitchers, this one is for: a cross-stitch trucker hat by Seany. I’m not a fan of trucker hats (I’m old enough to remember how popular they were in the early aughts), but I like this one with the florals stitched over the webbing.
4️⃣ If you’re a long-time reader of this newsletter (or have read my book), you KNOW that I love a good 100-day project. Here’s a recap of one by Atiliay. She divided a piece of paper into 100 squares and filled in a new square each day. The concept is simple but effective and fun. It’d be easy to replicate for yourself.
5️⃣ Circular fashion is the way forward. And one way to make a newly acquired piece feel extra fresh—extra special—is with embroidery. Tessa Perlow is one of the best at doing this. Here’s how she adorned a bold flower dress with an embroidery that doesn’t fight the design, but enhances it.
🪡 5 ways to DIY
1️⃣ I might not cross-stitch, but I admire the designs. This adorable digital pattern by Mama Witch Cross Stitch features a little turtle and a good reminder: slow down.
2️⃣ What would you do with a knitted notebook? Hunter Hammersen of Tiny Nonsense wants to give you the space and freedom to figure it out. The downloadable Noteworthy pattern is mostly knitting with some embroidery and grommet adding. Looks like fun!
3️⃣ Do your jeans have a giant hole in the knee? Radha of Sewing Through Fog has a fix for it: a t-shirt patch. In this step-by-step photo carousel, she shows how to weave jersey scraps before stitching around the outside to patch the hole.
4️⃣ Pre-order alert! Amy L. Frazer of Keller Design has a new book coming out in early December called Birth Flower Embroidery. The book is a month-by-month celebration of floral embroidery with 26 birth flower designs. In looking at this book, I learned that September’s birth flowers are the morning glory and aster.
5️⃣ Here are two unrelated embroidery things that have one thing in common: they are both handy! One is Brannon of Happy Cactus Designs explaining why she always lines her inner embroidery hoop (I had never thought of doing this). The second are sets of color-coded needles sold by Dropcloth Samplers that make them easier to thread. The needles are available in tapestry, chunky, and embroidery styles.
See me in person next month!
I'm going to be vending at Urban Craft Uprising's summer show at Magnuson Park Hangar 30. There, I'm introducing a new embroidery kit: a dwarf bat patch! Plus, you can pick up a custom pet portrait patch kit, too. (They were a big hit at Renegade Seattle last weekend!)
Here's a peek at my bat design:
It's the last weekend to register for camp!
Camp Craftaway is a three-day adult craft camp that I co-host with Melissa of MCreativeJ. It's happening August 1 – 3, in Des Moines, WA (just south of Seattle). We have a lot of workshops planned, making it the perfect way to try a bunch of different crafts and meet new people.
Ticket sales end on June 30, so get yours before they close!
Talk to you next week,
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Sara Barnes
Embroidery illustrator and writer
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