Black Floral Purse #39

This is intuitive embroidery #39. After the couching experiment on the previous one I’m back to using fabric collages and random intuitive florals. I had a lot of people asking how I start my intuitive embroideries so here are a couple of pictures on how I prepare the base.

The first step is to prepare the base using a fabric collage. I cut really random pieces of fabric and pin them down over a piece of felt. I like to use fabric from repurposed dresses or shirts. Some of the fabric scraps have no pattern while others have florals, which I may or may not use.

I then clean up the collage by basting all the pieces of fabric to the felt. I’ll create stems for the florals using thick backstitch or couched ribbons. This process is entirely intuitive, I never know where it’s going to take me.

I may use some of the fabric patterns to create embroidered flowers and leaves or just make them up as I go.

After the piece is entirely embroidered I attach it to a purse or jacket. The piece measures approximately 7×10 inches.

Feel free to share or pin these images.

Remember that all images are Copyright Eni Oken.