Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Girls Being Girls

I'm always on the lookout for interesting illustrations that I can use for stitchery projects.  One good source is Behance, a site for professional artists to showcase their work.  Much of the artwork displayed is available for personal use with attribution under the Creative Commons Act, so the copyright issue doesn't affect me.   I had one lone white pillowcase just waiting for the needle, so I picked  a subset of some cute illustrations of ladies designed by Ana Varela.  These were  winners in a Stamp Design competition.  

I mostly just used back stitch in whatever colors I grabbed out of the DMC boxes.  I wasn't too concerned about getting a match.  Did a little frogging when my choices didn't work out so well.  I also did a touch of satin stitch and filler stitches where it seemed appropriate.   I wanted to get this post in before the end of the month, so I haven't totally woven in some of the threads on the back and they show through in the close-ups.   But that will be taken care of soon.


Love the coffee girl and her cat's eye glasses.  Quite the trendy business attire, no?


I used a chain stitch to make the earphone cables stand out a bit more on this one.  Her right hand came out really good, unlike the paws on some of the others.

This is girl at her desk, pretending to be engaged in an important business project, but really reading love letters.


The final one reminds me of a hippie.  I love the look of contentment as she reads from a favorite book before bedtime.

 With the exception of weaving in some ends, I'm done.  Love that these pillowcases require no extra finishing!  And this was a nice change from Prim projects.

26 comments:

Irene said...

che bella idea!! Io somiglio alla terza :)

Blu said...

They're so pretty! I love the one with hippie one.

Dani - tkdchick said...

Those girls look like so much fun!

Vickie said...

How sweet and fun Annie!

StitchinByTheLake said...

Adorable! blessings, marlene

Carol said...

What a fun piece this must have been to work on, Annie!! All of the "girls" are so cute and I think your color choices simply add to the whimsy of them. Can you wash the pillowcase now? I did a few of these back in high school for my mom, but I'm not sure if she ever used or washed them. (I wonder whatever became of them?)

Thanks for the link!

ArchangelDecker said...

I love them all, but the girl with the glasses and coffee is my favorite.

Beautiful work! :)

Jane said...

I love these Annie, such great fun and beautifully done

Annette-California said...

These girls made me laugh instantly! Lovely stitching! My fav - the girl holding her book before bedtime. That's soo me - LOL!
love Annette

Mii Stitch said...

Different & cute!! They are all lovely ladies :)

Kissy said...

What a funny crowd! Love the last one!

Annette said...

So beautiull.. you done a great job.
Your backstitch stitch is looking great!
To bad of the frogging, but the finish is so lovely!!

Margaret said...

This is fantastic! I really love these girls -- you did a great job with the embroidery too! So cool!

Gina E. said...

They are all so cute, and beautifully stitched!

Holly said...

Lovely stitching...these designs really appeal to me! Your color choices are great, especially in the girl who is reading the book.

You should give your pillowcase a funky crochet edging!

Karen said...

These are very nice, Annie! I always enjoy seeing embroidery and these are very nicely done!

Brigitte said...

These girls are gorgeous. It must have been a lot of fun to stitch them. I particularly love the last girl who is reading a book and seems to be totally immersed in it.

Anonymous said...

OH Annie...love the girls being girls...Adorable! Embroidery is one of my favorite pastimes also!

Tammy said...

Your embroidery is adorable! That's on my list of things to learn this year. I have so many cute designs I want to do! Your stitching is awesome too, as usual!

Sheryl said...

Love these designs, beautiful stitching.

Kaisievic said...

Really sweet stitching, Annie. You chose your colours well.

Melanie said...

Oh my goodness, these are so cute! Just lovely stitching as well. They have very sweet expressions.

You could probably put a tiny spot of clear fabric glue on the short ends to make sure they don't unravel in the wash. Extra insurance to protect your work. :)

Hetti said...

WOW Annie, it is really a fun project with this cute ladies in different stitches and colors! I like them all but the hippie is my favorite :-))
XXX Hetti

Anonymous said...

Hello!

I love this project - you are clever!
Lovely blog too.
Happy Thursday x

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

These look great, very cute.
I've made line drawings into embroidered pictures before and I agree, hands are difficult!

Beaj said...

Love them...so, so fun and special...wonderful idea and just darn cute... I wore cat's eye glasses..lol