Another project from my clearing out my embroidery stash of projects and related UFOs. This time a modern canvas work project. I haven’t done Canvaswork in a very long time, and the initial stitches have been challenging. I was close to mastering this artform, but it is completely backwards from cross-stitch work, where you are trying to get most of the thread on the front. For canvas work, two-thirds of the thread is on the back deliberately. Instead of working and thinking about the pattern in vertical and horizontal rows, the project and design is worked diagonally, since basketstitch keeps the canvas from warping.
The base stitches for the project are basketweave, continental, and a backstitch. The kit is preprinted on 14-count canvas with six-part cotton floss the company specifically orders and have made for it. (The thread feels slightly thicker than DMC). The entire floss is used for the stitchwork (separated and smoothed). I am working the project on a four inch by six inch scroll frame. The finished design is to be five inch by five inch. Yes, there is a slight problem with the sizing, but I will prevail!
9/26-29/2025 (total time spent 4.5 hours; 4.5 overall) – 9/26/2025 First picture is the basic materials, the instructions, the preprinted material (with a design that will not wash away), and the cotton embroidery floss attached to their thread holder. 9/29/2025 I have masking-taped the edges, then put the project in the scroll frame. The scroll frame isn’t a perfect fit after years of no use and I had to do a little pounding to get it all together. I hope I can get them apart later. I have worked on it for three nights, plus one meeting. The butterfly yellows and blues are filled in and I am working on the black. I got most of the white daisy finished. I may be humming Butterfly in the Sky from Reading Rainbow as I am working on the project.
10/4/2025 (total time spent 4.25 hours; 8.75 overall) – Three nights work with no meetings, but most nights are running over. I can do two flosses a night and usually I do three loaded needed in an hour, so I am trying to get a little more done. I think it was two nights of an hour and a half and one night of an hour and a quarter (4.25 hours total). The butterfly is done except the tips of a wing and I am saving that until I am ready to start the black outline stitching. The daisy is complete and I am working on the red-coral flowers now. I took pictures of the front and back this time, because it is really hard to see how far I have come against the pre-painted canvas.
10/7/2025 (total time spent 5.75 hours; 14.50 overall) – Three nights work plus one meeting. I completed the base stitching for the coral red flowers and have started work on the green leaves. At some point I will need to rotate the scroll frame. The set up is a five by five inch embroidery on a four by eight inch scroll frame, so I don’t have the full embroidery available without scrolling. The assembly of the scroll frame was difficult. The whole thing of stiff to the point of needing a hammer to get the dowels into the frame. I don’t know how I will rotate it the inch or two up I need to get access to the bottom half of the picture when the time comes.
10/10/2025 (total time spent 5 hours; 19.50 overall) – Three nights of work. The red flowers are complete and the upper third of the picture is nearly done, including the detail work on the red flower, the daisies, and one of the butterfly wings. I needed to roll the canvas to work on the bottom half, so the top portion to be rolled needed to be complete. I was worried about rolling the scroll frame, and I did need to do a full disassemble, and one point used a foot to pry one of the clamp bars loose, but was successful in the disassembly, advancement, and reassembly. Ready to start the final embroidery portion of the Butterfly.
10/18/2025 (total time spent 7 hours; 26.50 overall) – Some nights and some meetings, but one push through to get the final details done. The butterfly embroidery is complete, removed from the frame, and trimmed. Now I need to make it into something. Pictures are the front and the back of the project.
10/20/2025 (total time spent 2.25 hours; 28.75 overall) – Embroidery is framed with leftover fabric to protect the canvas edge and make it easier to apply to something. It takes a little over an hour to sew it. The fabric is from worn out bedsheets. Please note, I have not “squared” the embroidery. It could use a wash and a stretch, just a little, but it is mostly squared as it.
7/25/2026 (unknown time, but the object was started and completed in one day, 6 to 8 hours) – I had an embroidery stich-in today and instead of doing embroidery, I used the huge table area to make the notebook cover for the butterfly. Yes, the cover for the half-inch three-ring binder is completely handsewn. I tried two different ways to attach the cover and one version did much better than the other so I will be using that going forward if I do something like this again, which is highly likely. My thought is if I should challenge for mastery in an embroidery form, to have a three-ring binder of the research, classes taught, projects, etc. By having a cover of each type of embroidery, I can quickly find the notes. It’s a thought.
Anyway, “Butterfly in the Sky” is now on a book, have a look!
