Gremlin Embroidery 02/

I last left you guys here with my embroidery and I'm happy to report I've been making progress (very slow progress!). I stitch about 2cm squared per movie which sounds kind of horribly slow but on the flip side I think it's going to look pretty rad by the end :)

I started off on this hoop above, bought from my local sewing store in town and had all sorts of trouble. I was also double knotting my single thread so the thread wouldn't slip off the needle. Double knotting meant the size of the knot was bigger than my size 12 needle so every time I'd pull the needle through the fabric the tension of my fabric would loosen and I'd have to stretch the fabric in the hoop over and over again. 

I was going crazy when I remembered, Chloe Giordano (the fabulous artist who inspired my embroidery) answered lots of questions on her tumblr. So I sent her a question and she was so gracious in responding (in much length!). She told me I shouldn't need to tension my fabric all the time and that it could be my hoop and also only to put one knot in my thread, pointing out the size of the knot to needle ratio (so obvious when she spelled it out *face palm*). I hunted down a bamboo frame and stuck with the one knot and hey presto no more fabric tension dramas :) I do find, as Chloe wrote in her answer that the knot will sometimes come undone and you have to re-thread the needle but compared to constantly tensioning the fabric, much easier!

I never found myself comfortable using a thimble but the more embroidery I do the less finger stabbing I'm encountering so I'm quite happy to go thimble-less

I've got to December to finish him off and I guess a lot of movies to watch between now and then :) :)

Gremlin Embroidery 01