Welcome to the ‘Escape to Africa’ Stitch A Long
This Stitch A Long is taking place for 12 weeks on the Stitchdoodles blog – Starting Wednesday 31st May 2023 and finishing on Wednesday 16th August 2023.
Each Wednesday during the SAL – a new tutorial will be published on the blog with all the information you need to complete a part of the Escape to Africa Pattern.
If you are not familiar with a Stitchdoodles SAL and this is all new to you and you would like to join in, please go to this page to get all the information.
Do you need help with any of the stitches?
A Stitch A Long doesn’t provide you with the step by step instructions for the stitches themselves – it is a tutorial on how to stitch the pattern design – colours, techniques and stitches used etc. I will link to a ‘How to’ for certain stitches where I can, if you need further guidance, please take a look here …
How to Teach Yourself Hand Embroidery Stitches
Stitching Week 10
The Vulture
You will need the following colours…
#632, #986, #905, #310, #535, #03, #3866, #3731, #347
Use 2 strands unless stated otherwise
Stitching the Tree:
#632: back stitch to fill the trunk and branches.
Stitch the tree greenery with french knots. I used 2 strands and wrapped around the needle 3 times to make them a bit chunkier. Use a couple of colours to give a bit of contrast – stitch a few in #986 and a few in #905.
The Square pattern blocks in the top right are stitched exactly as those in week 4.
Stitching the Vulture:
Start with the lower wing feathers… #310: Chain Stitch
#535: Straight stitch to fill each of the chain stitched feathers.
Next, stitch the upper part of the wing in the same way but with a different colour combination.
Firstly, #535: Split stitch around the upper wing edge. Then with the same colour, stitch long chain stitch across the width of the wing. Bring the thread up on the top edge to start the stitch and anchor down just over the bottom wing edge that is already stitched. It takes about 5-6 long chain stitch across the width.
Next, #03: long straight stitch inside the chain stitches to fill.
Stitching the remainder of the vulture – use the below photo for reference…
- #3866: Split stitch to fill the neck and chest.
- #03: Satin stitch the top of the legs and the small area of second wing on the left side.
- #3866 / #3731 (1 strand of each in needle): Split stitch the legs and feet.
- #347: Split stitch the head.
- #310 (1 strand): satin stitch the beak, French Knot for the eye.
- #03: straight stitch mouth area to create a separation in the beak.
The African Drum
This block is really simple. The following photo shows you the stitches I used but you can use your own choices if preferred, it won’t make much difference to the end result.
The colours used were a combination of… #976, #725, #632, #3782
Week 10 is complete!
Make sure you show off your latest additions to the design in the Happy Stitching FB Group or on Instagram with #stitchdoodlesembroidery.
If you need help along the way just ask in the FB group as there are lots of lovely people stitching along with you who can offer lots of advice and support if needed.
Week 11 is on the blog Wednesday 9th August… See you then
Happy Stitching!
Stitching the Block outlines…
You can stitch these as you go or leave them all to the end… #422 (3 strands): Back Stitch.