And so, I shall start here.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine was talking about embroidery. She wanted to start a new hobby, didn’t fancy knitting or crochet, but did fancy sewing. A tattooed lady herself, she fancied needleworking a tattoo-style illustration.

I’m not a good needleworker. I have done some tapestry in the past, but I just don’t seem to have the patience for embroidery. It doesn’t mean I don’t like other people’s though…

I’ve already sent her the links now, but had I got round to starting this blog a wee bit sooner, these are some links I would’ve shared with both you and she simultaneously.

Subversive Crossstitch
Yup, you probably know this one already – great traditional-style charts filled with wonderful sentiments such as:

Sublime Stitching
Another new twist on an old craft, Sublime Stitching feels more ‘freehand’. Embroidering straight onto any kind of fabric (rather than cross-stitch fabric specifically), with a range of patterns from tattoos to 1950’s pin-ups

Making up your own subversive statements
This page is interesting – it’s pixel fonts – some of which are drawn to look like embroidery. You could buy a pixel font, and use it to create your own sampler pattern to work from….

Or of course, you could work in something like Photoshop, and draw out your own pattern, pixel-for-stitch.

Urban Crossstitch
Self-described as ‘street stitchers with style’, UC have a variety of kits based on Banksy Graffiti and iconic things like space invaders. There’s a touch of the ‘Subversive Crossstitch’ about them too…

Three dimensional embroidery
Flickr is always a good place to look for cool crafty stuff – and actually, I haven’t passed on this link to my friend as I’ve only just found it – but how cool is this, by Kristin Krause :

A day of the dead pillow, embroidered with thread and sequins.

I think the thing with starting up with a new craft, is – as Carina says – the chance to

And, more to the point, enjoy it. (I keep seeing lots of people demonstrating how speedily  they can do x/y/z craft – but for me, someone who crafts occasionally and just for the hell of it, it’s a real joy to be able to take my time.)

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Phew. There. Done. My first post.