You don't need a special sewing machine to create this wonderful design. Using just straight and zigzag stitches, Alison Holt captures the painterly qualities of this delightful scene.
by Alison Holt

Stitched area: 12 x 17 cm

What you need

• Source photos or sketches (optional)
• Machine embroidery threads (such as Madeira Tanne 50) in a selection of landscape colours, such as: Mid sage green, Dark sage green, Pale grey green, Soft dark green, Rich dark green, Dark green, Mid green, Light green
• 20 cm wooden embroidery hoop
• 0.5 metre silk noile
• Deka Silk Dyes (you could just use the three primary colours - red, yellow, blue - but having a wider range of ready-mixed colours makes it quicker and easier to find the colour you want: a basic palette, such as red, yellow, blue, green, sienna, yellow ochre, dark brown, black and violet, will give great flexibility)
• Brushes (sizes 5 and 10)
• Palette
• Water pot
• Square wooden frame (approx. 40 cm square)
• 160 cm piping cord
• 30 cm zip (optional)
• Air/water-soluble pen
• Silk pins
• Piping cord or braid (optional)
• 38 cm cushion pad

Preparation

1. Cut two pieces of silk each 40 x 40 cm.
2. Stretch one piece of silk on the wooden frame and pin in place with the silk pins.
3. With the selvage at the base of your design, use the air-soluble pen to draw a rectangle 15 x 7 cm in the centre of the stretched fabric, with the lower edge of the rectangle 15 cm from the bottom edge of the fabric. This places the landscape design in the correct place and ensures that it will fit into a 20 cm embroidery hoop.

What you do

The painting

1. Mix shades of blue, purple and pale grey, ready to paint the sky.
2. With clean water, wet an 8 cm band around the edge of the fabric near the frame; this will help the sky to fade out at the edges.
3. Paint the sky with a size 10 brush, leaving cloud-shaped areas unpainted.
4. Mix several shades of green for the landscape.
5. Start in the distance with the palest colour and work forward to the foreground using slightly deeper shades as you complete each set of fields. Finish with a strong shade of green for the foreground.
6. When the fabric is dry, remove it from the frame and iron with a hot iron for 2 minutes to fix the dye.

The embroidery

The threads used in this project are soft pale tones in greens and greys for the distance, and stronger greens for the foreground. Work this embroidery with a tighter than normal top tension; this will pull up the bobbin colour so that it shows on the surface and give you two colours in one stitch, which will also help with the blending of colours.

1. Stretch the fabric upside down in an embroidery hoop so that you are stitching into the well. Make sure the design is square within the frame.
2. Draw guidelines for the position of the hedgerows; this can be done with the air-soluble pen, or you may prefer to machine-stitch the guidelines.
3. With a mid sage green thread in the bobbin and a pale grey green on the top, use a small straight stitch to form the hedgerows in the distance. Move your hands slowly in a spiralling motion to give small stitches lying in all directions - ideal for creating the effect of hedges and trees in the distance. Make sure you can see both colours on the surface of the fabric.
4. With a dark sage green in the bobbin and a mid sage green on the top, continue with the same technique.
5. With a soft dark green in the bobbin and a mid green on the top, continue forward with the design.
6. Draw guidelines with the air-soluble pen to help position the hedgerow and the trees in the middle distance.
7. With rich dark green in the bobbin and on the top, embroider with a small straight stitch worked in a spiralling motion. Fill in the dark base of the shapes outlined by the marker pen.
8. Keep the dark green in the bobbin and with a mid green on top, continue the technique and fill in the top of these shapes. Overlap the previous stitches a little to help blend the colours.
9. Draw in the basic structure of the foreground tree.
10. With dark green in the bobbin and on the top, follow the guidelines and embroider, with varying widths of zigzag, the trunk and branches of the tree. Work the fine branches at he outer edge of the tree in straight stitch.

11. Continue with a straight stitch and embroider the dark areas of grass by moving the hoop up and down. At the same time, gradually move the hoop sideways to work the grasses across the design.
12. With the same colour, continue with the foliage of the tree. This is done using a straight stitch worked in a spiralling motion to form the dark areas within the foliage.
13. Leave the dark green in the bobbin and put a mid green on top. Continue with foliage in the tree, overlapping previous stitches to blend the colours. Using this colour, add more grass to the foreground.
14. With the mid green in the bobbin and a light green on top, continue with the spiralling straight stitch to add highlights to the foliage of the tree. Add more grass to the foreground in this colour.
15. With white thread in the bobbin and on top, embroider the cow parsley using straight stitch for the stems and a cluster of small zigzag stitches worked on the spot for the flower heads.
16. Outline the landscape with a closely worked zigzag stitch (see below). This can be done freehand when the fabric is in the hop or if you prefer with the presser foot on. Sign your name in stitch, and your embroidery is complete.

To make up

Allow a 1.5 cm seam line throughout.

1. Cover the piping cord with a fabric that complements the colours of your embroidery.
2. Pin the covered cord or your chosen braid in place around the seam line on the front of the cushion.
3. With right sides together, pin and sew the front to the backing fabric on the seam line, leaving an opening on one side to turn the cover and to allow access for a cushion pad.
4. Carefully turn the cushion to the right side through the opening, gently easing it into shape and pulling the corners into neat points. Insert a purchased cushion pad, and then turn in the open edges and slipstitch neatly together.
5. If desired, a zip may be inserted at the base of the cushion behind the piping so that it does not show

Suggestions

Combine your favourite elements from a number of photographs.

A postcard of your favourite view makes a good starting point.

A photograph can be interpreted in many ways; try masking out various areas, or alter the colouring to suggest a different time of day or even a different season.

Elements from these two photographs were combined for the scene on this cushion

Book

Beginner's Guide to Machine Embroidered Landscapes, by Alison Holt, published by Search Press (ISBN 085532 9173) is available from the Embroiderers' Guild Bookshop

Suppliers

(At the time of writing)

Silk noile is available from The Silk Route, Cross Cottage, Cross Lane, Frimley Green, Surrey GU16 6LN. Tel. 01252 835781. www.thesilkroute.co.uk

Deka Silk is available by mail order from Inca Studio, 10 Duke Street, Princes Risborough, Bucks HP27 0AT. Tel. 343343.

Madeira threads are available by mail order from Barnyarns. Tel. 0870 870 8586 www.barnyarns.com