It took a while to decide what to do for my seed stitch project. On it's own, seed stitch doesn't sound terribly exciting, but you can get great effects with this stitch. Generally perceived as a filling stitch, seed stitch is often used with other stitches, but I wanted something that didn't require another stitch to define the space that it filled.
A skein of thread triggered the idea in the end. I've had this skein of variegated thread for years. It gently flows from pink to yellow, green then blue, and then back to pink via purple. A thread like this calls for something sweet. We've already done flowers. How about a bow?
What sort of bow? A large silhouette that is recognisable without an outline.
After supporting the stitching area with some lightweight fusible interfacing, I transferred the design onto the top by simply tracing the image through the fabric with a water disappearing pen.
As the fabric is quite light, I decided to use a hoop to prevent stretching or bunching as I stitched. Seed stitch is easy to do with the up and down motion of sewing that is better suited to stitching with an embroidery hoop.
From there, it was just a matter of filling the space. It was a little time consuming, because after all, it is a little stitch, but this was an easy project, and the result is quite effective. I like the pooling of colour from the changes in the thread.
For something less subtle, a solid colour in a darker shade, would give you a good look. In fact, this initial project has sparked all kinds of ideas about adding an element of shading by varying the density of the stitches. Even for such a simple stitch as this, there are many possibilities.
This stitching was completed on an adult-sized top, but a quicker project might be completed on a smaller scale garment, which wouldn't need such a big bow. The outline for the bow can be found on our Resources page, but there are endless possibilities around choosing a silhouette that means something to the person you are stitching the garment for.
And if you don't want to do a complete image, maybe just sprinkles on ice-cream?
Find the design used for Gabrielle on our Resources page.
See our Seed stitch blog tutorial for a refresher on how to do Seed stitch.
Or watch our Seed stitch tutorial video on YouTube.
See a short video of the making of Gabrielle on YouTube.
See our other Seed stitch project, Henry on our website.
