Doodle Needlepoint – Stitchlady’s Project

Stitchlady took up Jocelyn’s idea for doodle needlepoint and did her own. The results, with lots of pictures, are now posted on her blog.

It’s a neat idea for doodling. She outlined each area and then filled it in with different threads and stitches, looking for balance and texture.

Jocelyn’s was done in Tent Stitch and is very geometric. Stitchlady’s has a landscape feel about it and is on a much larger scale.

Both are lots of fun. I’ve been thinking about this and looking for ideas with a similar feel if you are uncomfortable with doing something freeform. At our local bookstore I saw book on decorating which had some great needlepoint ideas along this line.

This bears lots of similarities to my Scrap Bag Needlepoint technique and is tons of fun to do.
I’m thinking of making one or two to cover an old pillow and a footstool to go in the (keep praying for it) new house.
Here’s how to do it.

1. Find a shape you like and outline this shape along your entire canvas in a neutral color (the pillow I saw used a honey color).

2. Deciding about color is the most important step here. You can just pick color at random. Or you can restrict the colors you use to a particular range, color, or tonal value. Do this before you start stitching and put the colors you will be using aside.

3. Now go to your stash and start filling the shapes. Pick a color at random from your pile. Fill in a shape, using either Tent Stitch or a textured stitch. But use only one stitch.

4. If you have more of the thread, fill in some more shapes, but do not make two shapes next to each other the same thread.

5. Continue to do this until the whole area you outlined is filled.

With luck, you’ve used up some of your stash and made something unique.