Hey friends,
I would love to invite you to join the Pattern Lab. It is a monthly (or yearly) subscription where you get a new embroidery motif every week. It is kind of like Patreon, except that it’s not through the Patreon website, I’m hosting it through my shop.
I thought I’d share a bit more about what happens ‘in’ the lab (there isn’t an actual lab, it’s just me and my sketchbook and my computer, but feel free to imagine me in a white lab coat with safety glasses!).
But first, time to get a bit…vulnerable. It’s not easy running your own stitchy business. Some ideas take off, some…definitely don’t. And right now the Lab is in the “don’t” category. Atleast from a financial point of view.
Two people have joined the lab. That is a lot less than I had hoped for! Not that I imagined that thousands of people would join, but you know…two is not a lot, considering the amount of work that goes into it. Depending on how you look at it, you could say that the idea has failed.
I am very grateful to the two who did join because that means that there are two people to whom I am accountable and so I will keep the Lab going for the rest of the year as a creative challenge to myself. Creative challenges are good. :-)
Now, come with me inside the Lab:
This is how it starts: lots of sketches! Sometimes the sketches are inspired by particular things (like William Morris designs), sometimes it’s just random ideas and sometimes one motif inspires the next.
Once I have a page full of sketches, I take a picture of the page and take it into a vector drawing program called Inkscape (similar to Illustrator if you are familiar with that). Drawing things in vectors means that the drawings can be scaled up and down without losing quality. This is very handy!
Once I have drawn the motifs from my sketchbook (and not all of them make the cut!) it is time to play! Sometimes I draw the motif exactly as it is in my sketch. But often I change things. Different sizes or placements. Sometimes I only use parts of a sketch and add other things to it. Sometimes by changing the size a new idea occurs and sometimes I combine elements from different sketches. And because the drawings are in the vector format, I can change it in pretty much any way I want.
I love drawing in my sketchbook but I think this part of the process is probably my favourite. I can take one element and play with it until I have just the right idea. Or make several different versions. You never know what can happen…
I also quite like this part: adding colours to the motifs. Since the Lab motifs are not stitched (unless they become proper patterns) then I like to add a coloured in version with suggestions for the thread colours. A plain black and white drawing is a bit boring. :-)
And because I am a bit of a nerd, I have taken some pictures of hoops so I can mock up the motifs to give me an idea of what they would look like if they were actually stitched.
I hope you have enjoyed this little peek into the Pattern Lab. Actually it is pretty much the same process for all my patterns. Except that Actual Patterns also have a stitched sample and photos of that. And sometimes in the process of stitching a pattern I figure out that things need to be a bit smaller or further apart and then that gets adjusted in the final pattern. I love fiddling with little details like that…
This is my pitch for joining the Lab: every week you will receive a new embroidery motif, with thread colour suggestions. If a motif becomes a proper pattern, this is also included. And my gratitude and the feel-good feeling of supporting my work. :-)
Monthly membership is £4.00 (cancel any time). If you joined today you would have instant access to nine motifs and one full pattern for Lab members. Not bad for £4.00!
A yearly membership is £40.00 (saving £8.00). There is also an option to split the yearly membership into four payments of £10.00 each.
Join the Pattern Lab here or maybe share it with someone who might enjoy it. :-)
Have a lovely weekend!
x Carina
Some Things I Am Enjoying
Book: If Women Rose Rooted: A life-changing journey to authenticity and belonging* by Sharon Blackie. I have only just started reading it…it has the vibe of potentially being a nice audiobook. I’ll have to see if it’s available from the library app. :-)
Watching: Ragnarok. We have only watched one episode so far, but it looks good. Ragnarok is “A Norwegian fantasy drama television series reimagining of Norse mythology from Netflix. It takes place in the present-day fictional Norwegian town of Edda in Hordaland, which is plagued by climate change and industrial pollution caused by factories owned by the local Jutul family. The Jutuls are actually four Jötunn (supernatural beings) posing as a family. They are challenged by Magne, a teenage boy who is surprised to learn that he is the reincarnation of Thor, the Norse god of thunder.” {Wikipedia.}
Music: Manic Street Preachers: Forever Delayed - The Greatest hits.
*bookshop.org affiliate link.
Join the Pattern Lab and get this week’s motif:
Thank you Carina. I look forward to the pattern lab email every week!