a heartfelt gift

The story of Abstract Embroidery Portraits

I have recently released a new commission option on my website and I am really excited to open this opportunity up to others. You can order your own custom pet portrait or family embroidery portrait.  

Pictured above is a portrait I made for my dear friend. This is her family, including their fur babies past and present.  I used a combination of two photographs to create a template to work from. 

Because I was using two different reference photos I needed to create a solid line drawing of the portrait before I could ever add this two fabric and stitch. I love it because she has this drawing also and if we got real excited it could become some custom stationary or a their Christmas card. 

I start by giving myself a basic pattern to follow, then I paint. Once I have the portrait image painted I can then choose the color palette for the background. In this case, I knew what colors my friend is drawn to and loves so I just used those. I then begin the abstract embroidery portion of the project. 

During this time I go back and forth between the abstract embroidery and the detail embroidery of the portrait. It's helpful for me to swing back and forth, I never get bored. 

I work on these at night while sitting under a lamp, listening to a podcast or watching a show/video. It is relaxing and fun. This is the longest most time consuming portion of the project. I can see the finish line but the stitches to fill in the space take time.  It is meditative and peaceful work.