Tuesday 18 March 2014

In which I embroider a catfish

Phwoooof! (Sister Twisty blows the dust off this blog).  Hello.

I've been involved in the first Phat Quarter swap over at Weave, Mr X's new social media space for stitchers.  The theme was bestiaries, and my swappee was Mad of Mad Monsters.  She told me she likes cats!  I love cats too, of course.  Those furry rapscallions of the deep!



Wait, what?  No. This is a catfish, an unholy mating of kitty and fishy. 

I used split stitch for the fur, and chain stitch for their scaly tails. 



One detail I was rather happy with were the sea snails.  These were made with shells I'd found on beaches in Guernsey.  I sewed a translucent pink bead into the hoop, and glued the shell on top to give the impression of little sea snailios hiding in the seaweed.  I just hope the catfish don't try to eat them.


8 comments:

  1. Those catfish are too cute. Did you tie-dye the base fabric? and are you using the sewing hoop as a frame for the piece? What a good idea.

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  2. Thank you! The base fabric was an old piece of batik I had in my stash, and yes, I used the hoop as a frame. A bit lazy, but it works!

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  3. It is adorable, thankyou so much for making it!

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  4. So glad you like it!

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  5. Love your catfish! Great inspiration - love the textures and colors. Well done!

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  6. My colleague and I LOVE this, so much so that she wants it on a t shirt! I love your use of two different stitches to create the two different textures but still using the same colour thread - it's very realistic :-)

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