I decided to check out a local embroidery store this morning, and was reminded why I don’t visit these places all that often. I didn’t really need any fibers or other supplies, but just wanted to browse, taking some time to look through the various patterns and kits they had.

I did find a few patterns that seemed somewhat ok, like a few involving satin and other stitches in nice, geometric patterns. But all of the rest were so completely cutesy and unappealing to me, that I felt almost too young to even be in that store, let alone interested in embroidery.

Now, I like cute things, like crazy Japanese characters that don’t make much sense (cats in food?!), but I do not find anything appealing in teddy bears, cherubs, baby dolls, animals wearing aprons, or any other traditionally cute things that seems geared towards grandmothers and housewives. That’s fine if you dig that kind of thing, but it makes me want to puke.

I know there are some cool embroidery pattern makers out there, who actually make stuff I like, like Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching (fun and retro) or Katherine Shaughnessy of Wool & Hoop (modern, but simple), but that’s really all I know of and that’s not very much. I mean, I adore their designs, but they only have so many, and none are cross-stitch or things like that. Well, there’s Subversive Cross-Stitch, though they’re more focused on funny phrases.

I guess this just leads me back to creating my own designs, which I briefly tried my hand at earlier this year. It does take a bit of work, of course, and I don’t often feel that inspired or creative when it comes with what I can come up with. Here are some photos of what I did though:

 

The one on the left was sort of a cheat, because I started with an icon I found on a Japanese illustrator’s site (Hot Apple Pie). And the one on the right was a few steps away from a past art class project idea I borrowed, though it turned into practice using the Norwich stitch. So, not entirely original, but still fun to work on.

Anyway, I would love to know if there are some other cool embroidery sites out there that have something that is more appealing than the grandma-style stuff that seems to be pretty plentiful. Anyone?