Free Machine Embroidery

During the first year of the course I am studying, You do workshops in rotation through out the year. Then you chose which to specialise in for your second year. I am currently doing the embroidery workshop which I am throughly enjoying as I love doing messy and layered stitching  mostly free machining, So I decided I would share with you a couple of samples I have created in my own time just experimenting with colour, stitch length and type. 

Setting my stitch to straight stitch and putting the thickness of the stitch quite low, I got my fabric and embroidery hoop ready. To do free machine embroidery you MUST have an embroidery hoop, They are not at all expensive and you simply cannot free machine without it. This is because the embroidery hoop creates tension on your material which allows the needle to have more control. To free machine you also need to take the foot off your machine and put down the teeth of your machine, Their is often a button/switch under neath or at the back of the machine to do this. I had pink thread in my bobbin and blue on my spool. I linked it into my most recent work which was based on colourful nature. I began by free machining a flower, I tried to layer it up a lot and make it quite sketchy and messy!

I then changed the colours and did a smaller flower, A little more messy. In green and pink.

The back of the second flower I created, I though it looked better than the front!

I then did a second sample focusing on leafs.

For this sample I set my stitch to zig zag and set my stitch length to a higher setting just to play around and experiment. I found that with these settings I was unable to create a 'messy' looking effect however it did look quite 3D. I used yellow and orange for this first leaf. I then added a few other leaf's at the side of this sample and put the settings back to the original straight stitch and layered it up to create a more sketchy effect.

I really love the colour's on this sample. They really compliment each other. 

Whilst examining my work I realised how amazing it looked when put up towards a light. As the fabric is quite sheer you can see the shadow of the thread at the back of the fabric and it gives a really nice effect.

I was in such a motivated good mood to get lot's of samples done however when I started my next sample my needle decided to snap and I don't have any to replace it, However I will buy some more and do some more sample's and show you guys as I would like to incorporate different materials into it to make it more interesting!