Sunday: Introducing Jo

Stitched by lacerslife

Jo, or lacerslife, as you may know her on Flickr and her blog, is an embroiderer with an eye for the unusual, as you can see in her science-inspired projects. She'll be keeping up with all the embroidery patterns out there, and showing us what's new!

Your favorite DMC floss color?
Hmmm, tough one. I go through phases, for example, when I opened my Etsy shop (Mrs. Lacer’s Attic), my work was going through pretty much a brown phase, nearly everything was brown, so much so, that by the end of the big rush of work I did, in preparation for getting some stock together to open my shop, I was utterly sick of the colour! But I think at the time I was, it being November, quite influenced by autumnal colours.

However normally, I think I have to assume my favourite floss colour is blue, particularly muted blues, that look like they’ve been around for a while. I came to that conclusion, after recently grouping my floss supplies into colours and discovering I had way more blue than anything else! I’m afraid I can’t give you a specific DMC floss colour though, as being here in the UK means that I tend to use more Anchor floss instead.

Your favorite embroidery project?
My current favourite embroidery piece is my angler fish (I’ve attached a photo). My favourite has a tendency to change over time though!


Your inspirations?
Small details around me would sound really vague, but it’s true, I’m fascinated by the veins on a leaf or the banding on a snail shell. Other than that, like my favourite colour, I go through phases, I’m currently fascinated by the different ways you can embroider lettering, how font chosen obviously effects how the embroidery turns out but also how one choice of stitch may go with one style of writing and another choice of stitch will go with another. I’m also getting more into exploring my scientific background (before having kids I was a biologist) and I’m attracted to the idea of embroidering biological specimens.

My other big inspiration is my daughter and I love embroidering for her, she’s 6 years old and my biggest and most demanding ‘client’. She is fascinated by the work I do and loves it if I embroider something for her or her friends. She likes to examine my work closely and will quiz me on what stitch I used where and will often makes suggestions for what she wants. Her favourite stitch she likes me doing at the moment is satin stitch, this was after I embroidered her some satin stitch flowers, to which she said, when she saw them, “I like those, they look hard!”.

Your shop and blog url?
My shop, which is still relatively new, is where I sell hand embroidered pieces, it’s called Mrs. Lacer’s Attic and it is at http://www.etsy.com/shop/lacer. My blog, Lacer’s Life, is at http://lacer.wordpress.com/ and is where I talk about craft, writing, cooking and general family life!

Any swaps you're involved in?
I swap occasionally on Swapbot, I like to do fabric based ATCs or Aranzi Aronzo dolls!


One word answer:
Freehand or pattern? Pattern
Messy or neat? Neat
Cute or edgy? Edgy

Thanks, Jo! Can't wait to see all the new patterns you feature! :)