Mooshie Stitch Monday: My First Mountmellick Embroidery Kit

In my last post I told you about my visit to the Mountmellick Embroidery Museum in Ireland and I purchased a small embroidery kit at the museum to try stitching.

The kit included the satin jean fabric, needle, thread, pattern with stitch suggestions and stitch instructions - along with some history about Mountmellick embroidery.

Tracing the pattern.

I used a washable blue pencil to roughly trace the pattern onto the fabric.

Stitching!

The satin jean fabric is thicker than what I am used to - at first I felt as though it was tough to pull the needle and thread through the fabric - but I did get used to it after some stitching.

Here it is all stitched.

I followed the stitch suggestions (noted on the pattern photo above) with the exception of using the snail trail stitch. I also did not use the feather stitch inside the leaves and used them stem stitch instead. Just my own personal preference - because after I tried the feather stitch inside one leaf, I didn't like how my feather stitch looked :)

Finishing - Soaking and Boiling

Next I followed the finishing instructions that came in the kit.

I was nervous about this step because I have never boiled my embroidery before. Honestly, I have never soaked to remove the pattern lines either!!! Usually I use a disappearing ink. But I didn't want to use the disappearing ink because I wasn't sure how long the stitching would take me.

I soaked it in cold water with a drop of laundry detergent for a few hours. The instructions said overnight, but I could see the blue tracings were gone within a few hours. Next, I boiled it for about 20 minutes and let dry overnight.

I looked at the instructions again and realized I didn't boil it with detergent! So I boiled again - this time with a drop of detergent for about 20 minutes and let dry overnight again.

Here it is after boiling, ironed, and in a little hoop. I am pleased with the end result. I think it turned out pretty good for my first Mountmellick stitching! :)