A Stitcher's "Sketchbook"

As an artist, I keep a "few" different sketchbooks.  This is only a portion of them!

There are travel sketchbooks; the ones I use when I travel, both locally and further afield.  These tend to be more "show" sketchbooks, records of my travels.  They are full of memories and I really cherish them!  

Then there are the "Challenge" sketchbooks, where I've participated in a challenge to sketch things from a list of possible subjects.  Often termed "Scavenger Hunts", these have been a great way to focus on creating art on a regular basis.  For me, they have helped me learn and grow as an artist as well as to help me draw what is really there vs what I "think" is there.  

Then there are the "idea" sketches. For me, these often end up in various sketchbooks or more often, on loose pieces of copy paper, as I love to sit with my clipboard and work out ideas.  Later I file these by category for future reference.  They might be stitch ideas, project ideas, ideas for a painting, maybe possibilities for rearranging a room, or planning my garden for the year, and so on.  

Another category of sketchbook that I use t is the "pre-art" or "preliminary" sketchbook.  It's where I work things out before moving on to creating a final work of art.  One where I sketch out my composition ideas and value studies to see if my idea works, and this often turns into multiple attempts before deciding on one.  I ask myself questions such as: Would this work better in a different format, such as square, vertical, or horizontal.  Can I tell what the focal point is?  Is there a way I can emphasize the focal point better?  Problems quickly become apparent and as a result, some of these sketches never make it to a final painting or project because they just don't work.         

This sketchbook is a place to experiment, to play.  I often test out colors, try out and review new (or old) materials in them. Sometimes I use it to experiment with techniques. It's an invaluable sketchbook, and yet it is one that no one ever sees except me.   My best paintings all have preliminary sketch work and value studies.  The worst ones, rarely do.  I'm learning to rely on my sketchbook long before I ever pick up a paint brush!  And by the time I get to painting, I've already worked out most of the problems, figured out the colors I'm using, and the painting seems to practically paint itself!  Which really makes painting fun!   On those occasions where I have not done the sketchbook work ahead of time, all those decisions have to made while painting.  Which results in paintings that get scrubbed, repainted, and often discarded because I didn't take time to do the preliminary work.  I'm rarely satisfied with those paintings.  

As a stitcher, I'm finding that I need a sketchbook there as well.  I often  stitch completely on the fly, working by intuition.  But the more I stitch, the more time I spend in preparation.  I find it helps me enormously to know where I want to end up!  Even a small sketch or some simple notes can help me find the focus of a project and answer important questions.  How big/small?  What will the final use be?  A wallhanging?  A bed quilt?  A framed piece?  Then I work out details, such as fabrics I want to use and colors.  

At this stage, I often gather a tray of materials for a project.  Collecting them ahead of time allows me to evaluate how well they work together.  I often find that it needs something else, or that something isn't working. While I rarely use all the supplies I've gathered, having this large assortment already curated allows me to then work in that intuitive way I like.  

As I begin to stitch, I refer to my "stitch book" quite often.  And now that I have some samplers of stitches, I use those as well.  They help me find the stitches I want that have the look I'm after.  In the past, I would get out embroidery books and browse through them looking for a stitch that would
work and then I'd stitch it directly onto my crazy quilt block.  Sometimes they worked out well, but other times, I would pull things out, over and over again.  This was because we all stitch a little bit differently.  Our stitching is like handwriting, unique to us!  Having samplers of the stitches in my own "handwriting" helps me make better choices! 

I'm finding samplers so helpful!  They allow one to learn, practice, and play with stitches, with no consequence to a project.  You have the opportunity to master a stitch, or try a variety of stitches before stitching on the final piece.  It even allows you to play with thread and color variations ahead of time. 

In the past, I've used rick rack on many crazy quilt projects. On Pinterest I collected rick rack variations and created a Pinterest board with them.  I felt like I was seeing the same basic stitches over and over again.  In fact, I discovered that 80% of the rick rack seams I saw there used only 4 stitches! But I was sure there were many more possibilities with it, so I decided to stitch my own rick rack sampler and see how many ways I could stitch rick rack on using just basic stitches.  I've been filming and sharing my rick rack adventures on YouTube  

It has been so much fun exploring possibilities, and as I stitch, other variations come to mind.  I started off thinking I was going to stitch about 10 different stitches, but in the end, I came up with 45 or more variations using just basic stitches.  And I could keep going, except that filled up my rick rack sampler piece!  I guess that means I need to start a new one!  

Stitching all these variations also showed me that there are some stitches that I struggle with.  Buttonhole/Blanket stitch fans in particular.  So now I want to work on a buttonhole/blanket stitch sampler strip to practice and hopefully master this stitch!  Watch for videos on these further stitch explorations on my YouTube channel! 

I've kept a sketchbook type project planner for a long time, just to keep track of what I'm working on and it's been a great place to write down notes and ideas for a project, or even to question what I've already done.  

After working on the rick rack sampler, I might try making a small sampler/practice piece for each project I work on.  I can see how it would be helpful to try out stitches in various threads or play with variations in size and spacing of a stitch prior to stitching it on my project.  Especially as I have a couple of upcoming projects using fancy fabrics that would have high consequence if had to rip out stitches I wasn't happy with.  

I'd love to hear if you have a sampler that you use to play with stitches and threads on and how it impacts your work!