These bags celebrate two of my favorite medicinal herbs — lavender and chamomile. They both bloom in spring, look lovely in bouquets, and have potent medicinal properties.
In the last couple of weeks, I stepped out of my comfort zone-- quilting-- to try out something new-- embroidery. I’ve done embroidery before, and I know all the basic stitches. But this was the first time in a long time that I did any figurative stitching.
I’m currently an Aurifil Artisan, and Aurifil provides a monthly prompt for all of us to work on. The March 2022 prompt was “inspired by flowers,” and I knew I wanted to try something with embroidery.
I've been seeing and pinning lots of images of bags with delicate floral embroidery. I wanted to create my own.
Aurifil sent me their Aurifloss embroidery floss to stitch with. I used colors 2311 Muslin, 2900 Light Kakhy Green, 2890 Very Dark Grass Green, 2135 Yellow, and 2725 Medium Blue.
It was my first time stitching with Aurifloss, and it was a real treat. The thread is strong, smooth, and doesn't split or break at all during use. It feels silky. The colors are brilliant, and a spool has 18 meters of floss. (Most brands offer a skein of about 8 meters, so this is more than double!)
I used three simple stitches to create these embroideries.
I used backstitch for stems, and the small feathery leaves of the chamomile.
I used lazy daisy stitch (detached chain stitch) to create petals and lavender leaves.
And I used satin stitch for the yellow chamomile flower centers.
Once the flowers were complete, I sewed the panels into tiny, lined drawstring pouches. I imagine I'll use these to store tiny things -- like jewelry or ear buds-- during travel.
Did you enjoy these pouches? Leave me a comment below!