Combining my two hobbies -- Stitching and Stamping!

Most people think of card making when you mention rubber stamps but there is so much more you can do with your stamps! A year ago I wrote a blog showing that you can stamp on coffee mugs and now I've been Stamping Outside the Paper again by using fabric.

I had a challenge from an embroidery group I am a member of (Counties Embroiderers' Guild) to stitch something on a square of fabric using three assigned colours. I was given red and two shade of purple threads as well as a small piece of even-weave fabric to work with. At first I had trouble trying to think of what to stitch as I usually work with embroidery kits or from instructions. Then I had an 'AHA!' moment when I realised I can stamp on fabric.

I had never done this before but I've seen pictures online of projects like bags, shirts, towels and coasters stamped with StazOn black ink so I decided to give it a try. The hardest part was choosing which stamp set to use for this project. I chose the large butterfly from the Beautiful Day stamp set, which is now retired.

I use StazOn black ink to stamp the image because it is a permanent ink which works well on non-porous surfaces. I liked the look of the large spaces on the butterfly image as they would be easy to fill in with the three colours I had to work with.

I first stitched the centre parts of each wing with solid red thread using a long and short stitch. Since I didn't want the same colour to be touching each area of the wings I combined a couple coloured threads to create a varigated looked on some parts of the wings. I used the dark purple thread to outline the wings and create a contrasting body for the butterfly.

I am very happy with how this project turned out. If you are like me and enjoy stitching as well as stamping then you should try using your stamps on some fabric. I'd love to see what you create!

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