Painting with thread

Happy 4th of July weekend!  I thought I’d post a little bit of red, white, and blue for the holiday.

I seriously dislike sewing, but have been attracted to anything embroidered lately and wanted to try some myself.

So, I called it "painting with thread", to ease the pain I feel when I mess around with a needle and thread.

I had a favorite shirt, washed so much it was soft and faded, comfy and cozy.  It is perfect to throw over a tee shirt with jeans. But I had worn it so much, it was stained in multiple places, like it had been splashed with coffee at some point.

The speckles of stain dictated where I drew the design.  

Apparently, I'd splashed myself pretty good, because there were dribbles all down the front.

The vines were drawn with a kid's washable marker.  I didn't worry about covering it completely, knowing it would disappear when I washed it.  The drawing was just a guideline.

My main worry is that the thread will go away when I wash the shirt too.

The back looks pretty awful, and while there are many, many knots, I doubt if any of them are secure in the right places.

One thing I figured out about embroidery, is that it doesn't go quickly.  I worked on this piece here and there for over a month, it isn't like zipping through something by gluing it down and moving on.

When the stains were covered, I added mother of pearl buttons and I thought I was done.

But then, I decided that I'd like to try to do a rose.

Well, none of it is perfect, and it all seems bumpy to me, but I still like it and will wear this until the threads probably come out when I wash it…

I  hate to admit this but I kind of enjoyed the work.  Maybe I will have another to keep by my TV watching chair to piddle around with during evenings while watching shows.