Life of an Item with BySaraLynn

Creating for me is rarely a linear process. Maybe it’s because I constantly have a handful of projects already started or suffer from major procrastination and I-don’t-feel-like-it syndrome. One thing that remains the same for every piece is it starts out as a doodle. Everywhere I go in my house I can find one of these little scrap pieces of paper with different ideas. That simple flower drawing is where this idea began.

To start this piece I made the kanzashi flower first. This involves folding itty bitty 2” squares of fabric into the petals and stitching them all together. Of course, I have to pick out the right cute button, too.


With the flower made and the embroidery hoop picked out it’s time for a few more doodles. This time they are size accurate and a couple of ideas come out. I like the one with a single flower best. When I pick out my background fabric I start thinking about thread colors. Those get jotted down on my doodle along with different stitches I can use. From the beginning I know this is going to be a bright piece.

Time to get it all on the fabric! I choose to freehand my design on the fabric with an air soluble marker. The marker disappears within 72 hours, often sooner, so once I get started I like to keep going until the stitching is finished.


The stitching takes the biggest chunk of time in the whole process. It’s a very detail oriented process with lots of tiny stitches. With some Pandora, Netflix, or just TV the time goes pretty quick though. In this piece I used 4 different stitches – the backstitch, running stitch, stem stitch, and lazy daisy. Once all the stitching is done it’s time to trim the excess fabric, secure the piece in the frame, and cover the back with a simple piece of cardstock. And there you have it!