Project a Month - Completed Linladan Circle Kit

Ladies and gentlemen, I am happy to report my Linladan Circle Kit is finished!

I really enjoyed this kit, let me take you through some moments of my stitching...

When I last checked in with you, I was less than halfway done. I looked at my linen skeins dubiously, wondering if I would have enough to finish such a large project... Do you know that feeling? I bet you do!

But I kept plugging away, doing my best to keep my color selections random, and limited to the skeins I had, as as not to make it too busy. I used just about every stitch in my repertoire, so it was fun to just do something different each time if I wanted to...

Stem Stitch Inspiration

I became very inspired by a Stem stitch class by Gimena Romero on Domestika last week, which gave me that extra boost to finish! The class is Spanish language, but it is subtitled in English, if you'd like to check it out.

I'm not sure how I learned to stem stitch originally, but I recently learned I was doing it "wrong." The Domestika class really helped me grasp how to really refine what I was doing, and I used the rest of this kit to practice!

Which meant much neater stem stitch than I'd ever done before!

Here was a check-in I did on Instagram, a bit more than halfway done...

And here was a bit more progress...

Getting close to done...

And here was my finish!

Threads Used

Remember when I was stressing about having enough linen thread to complete my kit? Tanja from Linladan did a perfect estimate - with the skeins she included, I had more than enough!

I used up 2 linen skeins (medium teal and silvery beige), used most of 2 more (yellow, and dark teal), and a small amount of DMC 504, which was the only floss I added to my kit.

Stitches Used

In terms of stitches used, it was the kitchen sink - a little bit of everything!

Stem stitch, couching, split stitch, chain stitch, French knots, back stitch, satin stitch, blanket stitch, and whatever you want to call this wavy, woven stitch I pulled out of my hat:

The colors, the textures, the linen, it all just sings to me...

I love the look of all the different textures coming together, and how perfectly random it is.

Stitching with Linen threads

A few considerations when stitching with line threads: these threads are quite distinct to cotton floss, as I mentioned in my previous post. You will need a needle with a large eye, to keep this comparatively bulky thread from wearing down as it passes through your fabric.

Linen threads have a thick and thin, organic look to them - they don't lay completely flat, and you will notice they kind of do their own thing. But that's part of the charm of stitching with them - you can forget about perfectionism, and just embrace its random, organic feel instead...

I hope you enjoyed following along with this project as much as I enjoyed stitching it!

About Linladan

Once again, I highly recommend Tanja's shop Linladan - as you see from my stitching, Tanja's kits are beautiful and vibrant, colors, vintage threads and fabrics are excellently put together, with a natural feel for color and texture. Stop by Tanja's shop if you'd like to stitch a bit of Swedish history for yourself!

Ready for August Project a Month? Coming soon!