it's never too early...

to get a little spooky! I decided to get a jump on the holidays this year, and I love Halloween so I went crazy and started stitching ghosts and black cats in the middle of summer! It's hard to find modern, sophisticated Halloween counted cross stitch designs, so I wanted to make something different and fun but still classically Halloween!

I love how the strong black and white typography sets off against the bright candy colors, and since the whites are all left unstitched it's a surprisingly fast project for how large it is.

I couldn't resist finishing it as a funky throw pillow with some crazy pom pom trim, but I also considered framing it in a gothic-style black frame for a great way to greet trick-or-treaters!

Add some punch to your Halloween this year with this crazy mixed-up colorful design, only from Satsuma Street! 

Happy Fishy Friday!

Just thought I'd share a little sneak peek at a new pattern I'm working on.  Should be in the shop in a couple weeks!

Amsterdam!

The summer after I graduated from college, I spent a couple months backpacking around Europe by myself.  It was an amazing experience, but at times it was scary and intimidating to be alone in these big cities where I didn't speak the language.  The last place I visited before heading back to London to catch the plane home was Amsterdam, and I fell in love with the city.  It was so welcoming and beautiful, and the people were so nice and helpful, I almost stopped being homesick!  I haven't been back to Amsterdam since, but I knew I wanted to pay tribute to it with a Pretty Little City pattern.

Amsterdam has been one of my most requested cities, so I know I'm not the only one who has a special affection for this lovely place.  I hope I get to go back someday, but in the meantime I can look at my cross stitch and remember the wonderful memories I made there.

Pretty Little Amsterdam, available in the shop now!

tips for cross stitching with metallics

If you don't follow me on Instagram… well why don't you??  I LOVE Instagram, it's been such a fun way to connect with my customers and find a community of cross stitchers who share my love of modern design and crafts.

I love responding to questions about my designs, my process, and cross stitching tips on Instagram too. After I posted pics of my new design, Arcadia, I had several requests for tips on working with metallic threads.  Metallics are a great way to add some sparkle and life to your cross stitch work, but they are a PAIN to deal with.  Metallic floss seems to have a mind of its own and staying on your needle and laying nicely on your fabric are just not always what it wants to do.  It also gets weakened and frays quite easily, and then you end up with a mess.

I used to dread working with metallics as much as anyone else, until I learned this technique which completely changed my mind.  As several of my Instagram followers claim, this is a game changer!

First I should state that in my opinion, all metallic accents should be done LAST.  Seriously, finish all your other stitching first, and then do the metallics.  It's hard to wait because they are so pretty, but metallic threads are more fragile and more likely to get snagged, and if you are still working on your fabric for a while, the metallic stitches are going to end up looking raggedy by the time you're done.

OK, so photographing a single strand of metallic floss is basically impossible, so in the photo below, pretend that the red floss is just ONE strand of metallic thread:

Step 1: cut 16" of metallic floss and pull out a SINGLE strand, not two. Fold that strand in half and thread the folded end into your needle eye.

Step 2: pull enough of that folded end through the eye until you can flip the looped thread over the sharp end of your needle.

Step 3: While hanging onto the doubled part of your floss with one hand, pull the needle to tighten that loop and slide the loop towards the eye of the needle. You are basically making a half-hitch knot at the end of your needle.

Step 4: pull the knot tight until it sort of "locks in" at the point where your needle ends. Now you just stitch as you normally would, essentially stitching with two strands. This method keeps the floss from sliding and twisting around, and all the fraying should happen right at the base of the needle which won't get used anyway.

This does mean that you're stitching with only 8" of floss at a time, but with metallics, anything longer than that and you will get frayed spots for sure.

If you find that pulling the little knot through the fabric is difficult, try going up to a larger needle size than you would normally use.  That will help stretch the holes out a bit, which will help the rough thread go through easier.

If you haven't tried this technique before, I hope you give it a try!  And if you have other tips for working with metallics, I'd love to hear them!

my blue heaven...

Sometimes I just have an idea in my head, and I can't rest until I see it materialized.  That was this case with this new pattern I've released, which I'm calling Arcadia.  It was inspired by one of my favorite concept paintings by Mary Blair, of white buildings on a blue background.  I thought it would be fun to try that palette in cross stitch, and when I came upon this fabric by Charles Craft, I just had to do it!

This design was just begging to have some accents of metallic threads added, so in addition to the neutral color palette, I used three shades of DMC's Light Effects threads to add a little special sparkle to the project.

I'd love to see this pattern on other colored fabric besides blue... I think it would look great on pink or mint green, and absolutely smashing on black!  As always, I love to see my customer's project photos, so please share them on the Facebook page or on Instagram using the tag #satsumastreet!

Biscornu Basics

I had never heard of a "biscornu" until recently, but it seems they have been all the rage in cross stitching for some time, and I just love their quirky little shape, so I thought I'd try my hand at designing them.  My elephant biscornu was my first attempt, and it was so fun, I did another!  This time I thought I'd do my "satsuma" name proud and designed a funky little citrus motif.  I love this little orange so much, I've made it my Satsuma Street icon!  The pattern and a printable version of this tutorial are available in my shop now.

There are many excellent tutorials out there for making biscornu, but I get asked for directions quite frequently, so I thought I should post my own.  Once you get the hang of it they are really quite easy, and you'll be making them as gifts for everyone you know!

So, let's get started.  Biscornu are traditionally made using Aida cloth or evenweave linen, my sample is stitched on 28 count linen over two threads.  In addition to your cross stitch fabric and floss, you will need some type of stuffing, heavy sewing thread, and two buttons with a shank.  I use 1/2" buttons in this sample.

The most important thing to keep in mind when making a biscornu is that each piece must be exactly square, and have the same number of back stitches around the edge on all sides.  Your pattern can have even or odd number of stitches, this pattern is 72 stitches square.

The first step is to stitch your cross stitch charts onto two squares of fabric.  Make sure to also work the row of back stitches all the way around the chart as shown below. (click any of the photos to see them bigger!)

When you're done with the cross stitching, press both your pieces of fabric well.  Trim your excess fabric to 1/2" outside the back-stitched border.  It's a good idea to finish the edge of the fabric so it doesn't unravel while you're assembling the pincushion, you can either zig zag the edge on a machine or whip stitch by hand.

Knot a piece of floss that matches your back-stitched border and bring your needle up through the fabric at a center point on one side of the border of your top fabric.  Line up that point with a corner point on your bottom fabric.  You can finger press the seam allowance, turning under so that the back stitching is right on the folded edge.

Sliding your needle under the back stitches but not catching the fabric, begin to whip stitch the two pieces together, making sure to catch one stitch from each border every time. If you start stitching to the right, your needle should slip under the first stitch to the right of center on your top piece, and then also under the first stitch to the right of the corner point on the bottom piece, before you pull your needle and floss all the way through.  You can flip the pieces so the bottom fabric is on top if that is more comfortable, but keep the direction of the whip stitching the same.

Keep the tension of your whip stitch consistent but not too tight. Keep checking as you go to make sure you are matching up your borders correctly and haven’t skipped any stitches.  I find that the whip stitching has to be done in very bright light and at a very relaxed pace in order to go well.  You really don't want to have to pull out this whip stitching, if you do you might also mess up the back stitch border.  So take your time!

When you reach the corner, you should now have lined up the corner point of one piece to the center point of the other. If you did skip a stitch accidentally along the way, you can make it up here by taking two whip stitches in one side of the corner and it won't be too noticeable.  If you're more than one stitch off however, you should probably pull out your stitching to the point that a stitch was skipped.

Don’t pull corner stitches tightly, thinking it will make sharper corner points, just keep a normal tension.  At first it won't seem possible that the points will look good, but after you do 3 or 4 corners, you see the biscornu start to take shape.

Stop whip stitching (you don't need to knot your floss and cut it, you'll be finishing that stitching in a moment) when you are about 4 inches from finishing to leave a space for stuffing. I use a combination of fiberfill and poly pellets, but any stuffing of your choice will work.

The stuffing should be quite full, remember you will be squishing the centers down with a button.  When the cushion is fully stuffed, fold your edges inside and finish whip stitching them together.

The last corner stitch…

Before pulling the last stitch all the way through, pass your needle back through the loop in the floss.  Then pull the stitch tight, making a knot (use this same method to secure your stitching if you run out of floss mid-way through the whip stitching and need to start a new piece).

After knotting your floss, slip your needle into the fabric and bring it out again about a half of an inch away.

Cut your floss close to the fabric, thus hiding the tail of your knot.

The stuffed biscornu, prior to sewing on the buttons:

Using heavy sewing thread (I like quilting thread for this as it's really strong), knot your thread and then bring your needle up from the bottom of the pincushion, exactly in the center.  Thread your button onto the needle, and then go back through to the other side, pulling tight.  I like to go through the button several times to be sure it's secure.  Once the top button is on, repeat the same step to sew on the bottom button, which should hide your knot.  Knot your stitching and hide and cut the tail as shown in the steps above.

And congratulations, you have made a biscornu!  Now get to work, because all your friends will want one too!

happy stitching!

xoxo Jody

Pretty Little San Francisco, now in the shop!

Rudyard Kipling once said, "San Francisco has only one drawback - 'tis hard to leave."

As someone who grew up in the Bay Area, I have to agree with him.  Though I love where I live now, to me San Francisco will always be "The City".  Because it has such a big place in my heart, I was a little nervous about designing one of my Pretty Little City patterns for SF, I was worried I wouldn't be able to do it justice.  But I am so happy with how it turned out, and it's in the shop now!

Coincidentally, there is an exhibit of Mary Blair's work opening in San Francisco next month at the Disney Family Museum.  I can't wait to go and see my favorite artist being honored in my favorite city!

Happy Birthday Satsuma Street! (and a free pattern!)

Well I just couldn't be prouder…my little baby is turning one year old today!  One year ago I opened my etsy shop, not knowing what the response would be.  I had two sales within a few hours of opening the shop, and I started to think I might be right… people were hungry for a new take on cross stitch!

Since that first day the response has been overwhelming and wonderful.  Every day I hear from people who haven't done cross stitch in years, or who have never tried it before but are inspired to take up the craft because they love my designs.  I've worked harder at this than at any job, and every single day has been an absolute joy.  I can't wait to see what the next year will bring!

And because Satsuma would never have been a success without all the amazing customers who have supported me, I'm celebrating my birthday by giving YOU a present!  Please enjoy this new free pattern, Sunshine!

You can right-click on the chart above to download it as a jpeg, or click here to download the PDF.

Enjoy, share with friends, and send me photos of your happy suns on instagram!

hugs & stitches, Jody

the joy of stitch

One of my favorite things about this time of year is that everything slows down a little and we take the time to make things...meals, gatherings, and especially gifts.  And my favorite word of the holiday season is definitely... JOY.  It just sums up what the season is about, and without any specific ideas about what should bring you joy.

For me, joy is spending hours and hours making beautiful things by hand.  To give to others, to decorate my home, and just to give myself the present of sitting quietly and peacefully, enjoying the Joy of Stitch.

In that spirit, I present Satsuma Street's first holiday pattern, Joy.

just in time for fall...

I love Fall, even though I live in Los Angeles where the trees don't really change and it doesn't drop below 70 degrees.  It's more the idea of Fall that I love... it just feels cozier, doesn't it?  Like it's totally ok now to wear your pajamas all weekend and curl up under a blanket and add a little schnapps to your coffee even if it's only 4pm.  So in that spirit I designed one of my latest patterns, Forest:

Wouldn't you love to spend this fall stitching these vibrant autumn trees?  (while wearing pajamas and sipping schnapps, or not)  I stitched the sample for this pattern on natural colored linen evenweave, which is my new favorite material for cross-stitching.  I was originally planning on framing it, but the long horizontal design just called out to be made into a pillow instead.

Here's a close up of these vibrant colors on the natural linen:

Now that I think about it, the only thing that would make Fall even better was if trees really did turn magenta and teal and coral and purple.  But on Satsuma Street they do!

Happy Halloween and a cross stitch pumpkin!

Gosh I'm terrible at keeping up with this blog... lots of new patterns in the shop!  But as it's almost Halloween I thought I'd post a little project I did that isn't in the etsy shop... my cross stitch pumpkin!

That's right, I'm crazy and I embroidered a pumpkin.  It was easy, and there was wine and power tools involved.  So, not a project for kiddos, unless you leave out the wine.  But who would leave out the wine?!?

Anyway here's what I did:  first I scooped out my pumpkin as you usually do, except I did it from a hole in the back of the pumpkin instead of cutting out the top.  Then I drew a simple heart template on paper, taped that to the pumpkin and then marked where my holes would go with a push-pin.  I drilled the holes with a power drill with a 1/8" bit, but I wish I'd drilled bigger holes...they got really tight as I started stitching.

Then it was just a matter of cross-stitching my heart with that big bulky weight yarn you see in the photo and a very large tapestry needle.  I found it was also helpful to have a toothpick to shove in the holes from the front of the pumpkin when I was searching around for the right spot on the slimy dark inside.  Your hands, the needle, and the yarn will all get really slimy and it gets harder and harder to pull the needle through the holes, the more yarn that is passing through them, so I found I also needed a pair of pliers to help pull the needle through sometimes.

And voila!  Now I can say I have embroidered fruit.  That's right, pumpkins are a fruit!  Look how much you've learned today!

Now that's amore! Pretty Little Italy has arrived!

Here's the latest in my series of modern cross-stitch travel patterns!  For this design I combined Rome, Venice, Pisa, and Tuscany to incorporate all the best spots in Italy.  It's a perfect companion piece to my other European patterns, Pretty Little London and Pretty Little Paris!  And I'm offering a deal in my etsy shop for all three patterns for $15!

    

Pretty Little London!

Still working on the elephant pincushion, but I thought I'd mention one of my favorite Satsuma Street patterns, Pretty Little London!

This modern cross stitch design of the London skyline features some of the city's most iconic landmarks, done in my colorful graphic way.  You have Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and St. Paul's cathedral, as well as more modern structures like the London Eye, the Shard, and the Gherkin building.  And of course because it's London, there's a happy little raincloud!

Like my other city patterns, this London design is inspired by Mary Blair and her designs for It's a Small World.  I love taking the features of a city and trying to make them graphic and stylish while still evoking the place.

This pattern is available in my etsy shop, and makes a great companion piece to my other city designs!

Elephants!

Just thought I'd share the latest pattern in progress...a cross stitch elephant pincushion!  This is actually going to be a biscornu, which I had never heard of until recently, but they are all the rage in needlework these days.  They're made with two squares of fabric that are offset, which gives them a funny shape.  I thought it would be fun to put my modern cross stitch spin on the biscornu, but I've never made one, so hopefully it turns out well.  If it works, the pattern should be in the shop next week!

New Patterns on Satsuma Street!

So much has been going on since launching the shop, it's been hard to keep up with blogging!  But there are lots of new, modern and hip cross stitch patterns available in my etsy shop!  This latest pattern is a new favorite of mine...it's Pretty Little Tokyo!

  Like my other city patterns, Pretty Little Tokyo channels the design sensibility of Mary Blair and It's a Small World, while bringing in modern elements such as Tokyo's Cocoon Tower and Skytree.  This pattern looks so lovely as a companion piece to my other travel themed patterns, Pretty Little Paris and Pretty Little London!  I'm so happy with how this one turned out, and I hope other modern cross stitchers agree!

In other news, I'm also blogging now on tumblr!  I'm using my tumblr page as a place to collect my favorite photos of colorful, hip embroidery and needlework; cheerful color palettes; and inspiring graphic design.  So check me out at satsumastreet.tumblr.com!

Greetings!

Hey.  Hi.  What's up?

I love welcome signs of all kinds, so I designed this cross stitch sampler as a modern, happy version of all my favorite ways to say hello!  With each word in a different font, it's a perfect project or gift for a font nerd like myself.  Available in the Satsuma Street etsy shop here!

Pretty Little City!

I thought I'd start the blog off by introducing the different modern cross-stitch patterns I'm selling in the shop!

First up is my personal favorite, and by far the most popular design in the shop right now, Pretty Little City.  This pattern is inspired by one of my favorite artists,  Mary Blair.  If you don't know Mary Blair's name, you almost certainly know her work...she was a concept artist and designer at Disney in the 1950's and 60's, and her designs were featured in Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, and Peter Pan, along with many other animated features.  But she is perhaps best known as the designer behind the beloved "It's a Small World" ride in Disneyland.

I've loved Blair's work for a long time, and when I started designing cross-stitch patterns, I couldn't help but be influenced by her colorful, graphic style.  So this pattern, Pretty Little City, is my tribute to her.  I loved stitching it up, and couldn't help but use just about every color of the rainbow!  If you buy the pattern I provide a floss color key so you can match my choices, but I also think this would be a great way to explore your own color choices and come up with your own palette.  I can't wait to see how different cross stitchers interpret this one!

I think this would make such a great gift for a fan of Mary Blair or vintage Disneyland.  It would also make an adorable addition to a modern baby's room or nursery!  If you'd like to purchase the Pretty Little City pattern, you can find it in my shop on etsy, Satsuma Street!  

welcome to Satsuma Street!

so glad you found me!  this is where I'll be posting updates on all the goings-on around Satsuma Street Designs.  the first big piece of news is that my etsy shop is finally open!  I'm starting out small, offering five really fun, modern cross-stitch patterns.  I'm working on more patterns as we speak, and soon I'll be adding counted cross-stitch kits, embroidery patterns, and more!