Blue pineapple embroidery
One of my favourite embroidery projects from Mollie Makes magazine is the pineapple embroidery by Catherine Greenslade. I decided to adapt the project to make a pink pineapple of the original project, after seeing pink pineapples on Columbia Road flower market a couple of years ago. You can read that original post here. It’s one of my most popular pins on Pinterest actually! And a few people have asked for a blue pineapple embroidery, so here it is.
You will need
If you’d like to stitch your own you’ll need to download the templates from Mollie Makes, and then enlarge it to 150% for a large pineapple. You will also need:
A needle and small sharp scissors
An air erasable pen
White fabric
An 8 x 12″ oval embroidery hoop – I got mine here
Paint and paintbrush (optional)
The thread I used is DMC thread in the following colours (Anchor thread numbers also given), and you’ll need 1 skein of each:
Shade 1 = DMC 3842 / Anchor 164
Shade 2 = DMC 3760 / Anchor 169
Shade 3 = DMC 807 / Anchor 168
Shade 4 = DMC 519 / Anchor 1038
Shade 5 = DMC 828 / Anchor 9159
Shade 6 = DMC 905 / Anchor 257
Shade 7 = DMC 907 / Anchor 255
Shade 8 = DMC 904 / Anchor 258
Shade 9 = DMC 472 / Anchor 254
Shades 1-5 are pinks, and 6-9 are greens (refer to template for shade numbers and placement).
Stitching tips
I’ve really worked hard to improve my satin stitch recently, and I’ve found that doing the stitches with little gaps and filling in works a treat. It’s much neater (for me) than doing the stitches immediately next to each other. I also love to use Thread Heaven conditioner on my thread, as it keeps it together as you stitch. I got mine from Cloud Craft. It’s a lifesaver! It definitely helps to keep the thread together more if you’ve split it up. I generally use 3 strands at a time for satin stitch, as I’ve found that this gives the neatest finish.
When embroidering the leaves, you can either draw a line down the middle of each leaf so that you can work out where you are stitching to, or just do it freehand like I did. Start at the outer edge, and stitch diagonally inwards. I varied the angle on each leaf to give contrast.
This blue pineapple was part of a larger embroidery of three pineapples – the middle, larger pineapple is the original colours, and I also included a pink one too. I love how the colours work so well together, and the bright turquoise hoop compliments it I think. I still used an 8 x 12″ hoop for this design, so these pineapples are a little smaller than my original big pink one. It’s actually nice to stitch smaller, although slightly more fiddly.
Hope you have a great weekend! Have you got any stitching plans?
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