e m o c Wel
What a fucking coupla months it’s been, right? When I was writing this column for our first issue, just two months ago, I couldn’t have predicted how important the stitching community would be to me—and how much StitchLife would mean to many of you. For that, Clay and I are incredibly grateful. We’ve heard from many of you about how important stitching has been while navigating though this pandemic. It hasn’t been easy for any of us—job layoffs, food shortages, unexpectedly having your whole family in your house at the same time, all the time. It’s a lot to cope with for even the most adjusted of us. I’m not sure if I’ve just gotten used to pajama pants becoming work attire, but after almost six weeks of staying at home, I’ve settled into a routine of sorts. I’m trying to find the bright spots of
e n n o C
s U h t i w t c We
are
always
all this (and not just that I’ve had a little more time to stitch). I’ve had more time to cook healthier meals (they balance all the ice cream I’ve been stress eating); I’ve reached out to friends and family more often, just to check in; I’ve realized that it’s not that I don’t have time to clean, I simply don’t like doing it; and I am grateful to be able to work for a company that encouraged us to work from home even before our state’s stay-at-home order began. I hope that you have managed through this as well as could be expected and that you and the people you care about most are staying safe. We hope you enjoy this issue and enjoy stitching the patterns we’ve created for you. Be well!
looking for new contributors— or just ideas for future features. Contact us! We’re all over the place!
Email TeamStitchLife@StitchLifeMag.com Web www.StitchLifeMag.com Facebook www.facebook.com/groups/StitchLife Instagram @StitchLifeMag Patreon www.patreon.com/StitchLifeMag
s t n e t n o C 2
WELCOME
4
7
BEWITCHED BY BESTITCHME DO YOU TOSS YOUR FLOSS?
8 9 12
STITCHLIFE EXCLUSIVE PATTERNS
FEATURED STITCHALONG: SATSUMA STREET
10
17 19
WOMEN:
STUFF WE LOVE: PIP & CHIP
13 14
CELEBRATING KICK-ASS KATHERINE JOHNSON
STITCHY GLOSSARY
FFO GALLERY
16
FEATURED FLOSSTUBER: JOY FILLED STITCHER
WHAT’S GOING ON?
18
STAY-AT-HOME SURVIVAL TIPS: SUMMING IT UP
FLOSSTUBE DIRECTORY
Bewitche
M
any of us have dreamed of taking the leap from our day jobs into something that allows us to stretch our creative legs. Brandy Prather is living that dream. As the owner and creative force behind BeStitchMe, a hand-dyed fabric company in Moline, IL (USA), Brandy officially launched the company last summer, after dying her own fabrics for a few years. “I thought ‘Why not?,’” Brandy recalled. “’I want to see what happens if I take my passion for cross stitch and fabrics to the next level.’ BeStitchMe was born.” She believes that her focus on hand-dyed fabrics chose her. “I had a very stressful jobs as a director of nursing,”
4
StitchLife Magazine
Brandy explained, “and this was my outlet for fun and allowed me to be creative.” And her creativity shows in the selection of fabrics she offers to her eager customers and followers. With the names almost as creative as the fabric itself, Brandy has a collection of colors and patterns that would make any cross-stitch enthusiast dip into their piggy banks and add to their stash. Plus, you can pick your fabric type and stitch count once you find the colors you love – so you don’t have to settle on what just happens to be in stock at the time, like with other fabric websites. With BeStitchMe, you can choose from Aida, Lugana, Linen, and Jobelan – in standard and opalescent – in various counts and sizes. If you are overwhelmed by all the options, Brandy offers other ways to enjoy her fabrics.
ed by
BeStitchMe
written by Dana Costa photos courtesy of Brandy Prather
Her Facebook followers look forward to her Friday Night Fight Nights on her Facebook group (www. facebook.com/groups/bestitchme). Held most Friday nights at 9pm (CT), these Fight Nights pits different BeStitchMe fabric creations against each other for followers to claim. The group also offers exclusive discounts and Saturday giveaways. Brandy uses the giveaways to give back to the group with fabric and patterns. “I love my supporters. They have no idea how much they mean to me and my drive to continue to create new, fun fabrics,” Brandy said.
The newest offering from BeStitchMe is their Fabric of the Month Club, which allows those of us who have a hard time picking just one color to be surprised each month with a special fabric each month. Just like her regular fabric selections, you choose the type and count of the fabric, so you’re guaranteed to always get a fabric type that you are comfortable working with. Given Brandy’s love of creating fabrics, it’s not surprising that she can deliver the goods. She thinks about color non-stop, she said. “It brings me peace to sit in my dye room and play with colApril 2020
5
or on fabric. There are these ‘wow!’ moments when dying or when color ideas start clicking together, and it drives me to see what else I can make.” Each batch takes three to four days to produce, starting with cutting, serging, and washing all the fabric she plans to dye that week. Day two is for dying; she mixes the colors and then lets the “magic happen.” Day three is for the task that she admits that she doesn’t like: washing the fabrics (she said she’d rather take that time playing with color!). And the grand finale is the long process of pressing fabrics as she “binges a series on Netflix or watches movies.” “Color has its own mind, and sometimes I don’t know the end result ‘til I wash the fabric. It’s like a Christmas or birthday present.” Brandy is as unique as each piece of the fabric she dyes. The mother of 6 lives in Moline, IL with a menagerie of pets and a huge collection of cross stitch supplies and patterns, plus World of Warcraft and How to Train Your Dragon collectibles. But she admits that her cross-stitch stash is by far the largest. “I am the quirky, smartass friend everyone needs. I am the video gaming, punk rock/ metal loving chick who is into superheroes, sci-fi, and is way obsessed with cross stitch,” Brandy explains. 6
StitchLife Magazine
Like many of us, Brandy discovered a “whole new world” of cross-stitch options on the internet, expanding her pattern collection. “I have no self-control, I have to have it!” She’s been stitching since middle school and fondly remembers her aunt lending her a crossstitch book, Endangered Species 2. “I never did finish my first project because I had to return the book,” she remembered. And even though she recently found a copy of that book on eBay she decided that her first project had more meaning to her staying unfinished. Although Brandy has dabbled in projects across the crafting spectrum, cross stitch has always been her main focus. “I have enough cross-stitch haul to last me a few lifetimes.”
Find BeStitchMe on Facebook and Instagram @bestitchme and on the web at www.bestitchme.com. If you have a question for Brandy or want to place a custom order, email her at brandy@bestitchme.com.
written by Dana Costa photo by Dana Costa
Do You Toss Your Floss ? I asked Brandy a question that I’m sure she is asked multiple times per day: How do I choose the right hand-dyed fabric for my pattern? Not surprisingly, she had great advice. “Hand-dyed fabric can be used for any piece,” she said, “[they] give your project character, and the pattern stands out more than on white.” The most important takeaway from Brandy: Always do a floss toss! What? I’ll admit that I wasn’t familiar with a floss toss but quickly figured it out. Pull all the suggested flosses for your project and put it against the fabric you’ve picked to make sure the colors don’t get lost in your fabric. And, if your heart is set on a particular fabric, consider swapping out the floss colors that just don’t work with that fabric. “If you love the fabric and want to use it, change the floss color,” Brandy explained.
Some great tips from Brandy: • Making a piece for someone special? Consider using a fabric in their favorite color! • Follow the weather or your mood. On a bright spring day, pick a bright yellow to match the sunshine. • Hand-dyed doesn’t necessarily mean vibrant colors. There are some great neutrals that give additional texture – so try out Vanilla Latte or Mummy to start. • Start small. Brandy said that she has grab bags of smaller pieces that aren’t on her website that are perfect for dipping your toe in. Still not sure? Brandy said that she helps her customers pick the right color fabric all the time – and responds to messages quickly. “Plus,” she said, “I think all the members of my Facebook group share their thoughts and give great advice.”
April 2020
7
8
StitchLife Magazine
SAL OF THE MONTH
photo courtesy of Dana L. Costa
Featured Stitchalong: Sat suma St r eet THEME: ALICE IN WONDERLAND FREQUENCY: BI-WEEKLY START DATE: FEBRUARY 28, 2020 COST: US$15 (PATTERN ONLY) ETSY.COM/SHOP/SATSUMASTREET
April 2020
9
INSPIRATION
Katherine Johnson : A Hidden Figure No More
written by Dana Costa
I’m a sucker for a good underdog story. I flock to them on Netflix. I love them even more when they are based on true events. That’s how I felt when I saw the first trailer for Hidden Figures in 2016. I had every intention of going to see it in the theaters, but, you know...life. When I finally saw it in 2018 or so, I felt all the feels. I was sad and happy and frustrated and enraged and dumbfounded...and inspired. I realized that women like those portrayed in Hidden Figures were the women who bravely fought for the opportunities I have now. I didn’t know it—or about them —until I was almost 50-years-old, and I felt less for it. If you are not familiar with the award-winning film based on the non-fiction book by Margot Lee Shetterly, it follows three women of color who fought discrimination in color and race segregated in the 1960s to be instrumental in the United States’ space race with the So-
viet Union: Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson. Then, as I was writing the first feature in our Celebrating Kick-Ass Women series in February 2020, Ms. Katherine Johnson had just passed away at the age of 101. I watched Hidden Figures again in her honor but I needed to know more about Ms. Johnson, and the parts of her life not depicted in the movie. I was blown away at what I found. Born in West Virginia in 1918, Ms. Johnson excelled in school but because African-American girls couldn’t go to school past 8th grade, she transferred to a school 130 miles away from home. Her family split their time between the two towns in order to support Ms. Johnson’s education. She graduated from high school at age 14. She graduated with honors from West Virginia State, a historically black college, at age 18 with degrees in mathematics and French. Typical for women at the time, Ms. Johnson
sources: Wikipedia; Biography.com.; NASA.gov; Houston Style Magazine. 10
StitchLife Magazine
worked as a public school teacher after graduating from college. Ms. Johnson married in 1939, leaving her teaching position and enrolling in graduate school at West Virginia University, the first African-American woman to do so. She left the program after a year in order to start her family. Fast forward to the early 1950s. The post-World War II Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union is in full swing. Everything is a race between those two countries, including the Space Race. In 1953, Ms. Johnson starts working for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the predecessor of NASA as a computer, using her math skills to
After her retirement from NASA in the late 1980s, Ms. Johnson continued to encourage women, especially women of color, to enter in STEM fields such as mathematics and engineering.
“We needed to be assertive
In 2015, President Barack Obama presented Ms. Johnson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor bestowed upon a citizen of the United States. But the accolades don’t stop there. Ms. Johnson has numerous honorary degrees, two buildings at NASA Langley (Virginia) named after her, NASA’s Silver Snoopy Award (and many more NASA awards—too many to list), the Congressional Gold Medal, and even has a Barbie modeled after her.
as women in
those days—assertive and aggressive—and the degree to which we had to be that way
depended on where you were. I calculate and analyze various aircraft, and eventually spacecraft, movements. Over the course of her 35 years with NACA/NASA, Ms. Johnson broke gender and color barriers to contribute to the success of most major space events and even when NASA switched to electronic computers for calculations, Ms. Johnson was often called upon to verify the calculations manually.
had to be .”
Without the book and movie about her life, her accomplishments may well have been hidden from the world. Luckily, we know about Ms. Johnson’s intelligence, bravery, and determination—and her legacy will never be forgotten.
Sources: Wikipedia; Biography.com.; NASA.gov; Houston Style Magazine.
April 2020
11
12
StitchLife Magazine
Stitchy Glossary
A K A W H AT T H E F U C K D O E S T H AT M E A N ? written by Dana L. Costa
FFO
SAL
FROGGING
An FFO is a fully finished object, one that has been stitched and framed (or made into whatever its final form will be). It is the sister to the UFO or the unfinished object, one that is either a work in progress (also known as a WIP — bonus glossary word!) or a abandoned project because your heart just isn’t in it anymore.
What is an SAL? It’s a stitch along, meaning that a group of people are all working from the same pattern, typically with portions of the pattern being released on a set schedule.
No one likes a visit from the frog!
FFO project and photo shown above courtesy of Alexandrea Wolfe.
While everyone works from the same pattern, not everyone is always working with the exact same floss and fabric since people like to pick their own to personalize the project. Typically there is also a Facebook group and/or Instagram hashtag to follow along with others who are part of the SAL group. See StitchLife’s featured SAL from Satsuma Street on page 9.
Frogging is the process of going back to methodically pick out stitches that you messed up. Wrong color? Frog. Wrong place? Frog. Miscounted? Frog. When frogging, be sure to use a blunt needle so you don’t damage your fabric while removing your sin. For larger portions, I have to admit that I’ve used a seam ripper but I don’t recommend it! Photo above is the exclusive pattern from the February issue of StitchLife, created by Cassi Medina from SassiStitch Boutique.
April 2020
13
April 2020
15
April 2020
17
compiled from blog posts by Dana Costa
In the last two months our world has changed tremendously. Sixty days ago, most of us could not have imagined that our days would be filled with working from home, educating our children, and learning new phrases like “social distancing” and “stay-at-home orders.” We have also learned the real meaning of the word essential. Essential means the front-line healthcare workers who are saving lives under extraordinary circumstances; it means the utility companies, truck drivers, delivery personnel, sanitation workers who keep us connect and fed and awash in stitching materials from our favorite LNS; essential means the grocery store workers who deal with toilet paper hoarders, handle dirty money, and restock the shelves so we can keep feeding our families; essential means quality time spent with people you love, and doing what you can to keep them safe and healthy. Most days, the rest of it doesn’t seem to matter as much as it did before. But that doesn’t make it easy—physically or emotionally. In five consecutive issues of StitchLife’s weekly e-newsletter, I put together Stay-at-Home Survival Tips, outlining how to cope, stay active, and help your family, your pets, and your neighbors. If you missed all five articles, check out the StitchLife blog at www.stitchlifemag.com/stories, or continue reading for a summary. Stay Active Go outside—for a walk, start a garden, play with your dog in the yard. Get that vitamin D and get off the couch for a while. 18
StitchLife Magazine
Give your home some TLC—clean out closets, wash those windows, move furniture around for a new perspective. Whatever it is, turn off the TV, turn on some music, and move around. Get moving—find a great exercise program online, dance around your house to a guilty pleasure movie (may I suggest Mama Mia!), build a family obstacle course and have a Ninja Warrior competition...just put the phone down, walk away from your computer, and get that heart rate up! Take Care of You I’m a huge fan of the airplane safety information that instructs you to put on your own oxygen mask before helping others. Bottom line: You can’t help others if you aren’t taking care of yourself. The National Institutes of Health put together a helpful reminder to cope during this incredibly stressful time. If you need more help than just a few infographics, please find someone to talk to: a trusted friend, a professional therapist, a medical doctor, or spiritual advisor. Don’t bottle up your emotions. It’s OK to feel sadness, frustration, dispair...just try not to let those feelings control you. Make the Most of Family Time Families around the world are trying to figure out how to balance their homes being offices, schools, movie theaters, restaurants, dog parks, houses, and sometimes even doctors’ offices. It’s normal to feel overwhelmed, frustrated, and even annoyed.
Make sure you have structure in your days so the day doesn’t become a blur of Netflix and Oreos. Create a family schedule that maps out when it’s time to do schoolwork or WFH, when it’s time to help around the house, when it’s time to have alone time, and when it’s time to go to bed (and get up!). Plan your weekly meals as a family and, if you are able, splurge with takeaway from your favorite local place. You won’t realize how much you all rely on routine until it is disrupted. Help Others There truly isn’t a better time to come together as a community to help each other. Sadly, we don’t often take the time to meet our neighbors so this may be a little awkward...and then
there’s the social distancing stuff. If you are comfortable doing so, why not leave a note on an older neighbor’s door offering to go to the grocery store or pharmacy for them so they don’t have to risk exposure. Drop fun gifts of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and a mask on someone’s doorstep with a note wishing them well. Don’t be creepy. Not ready to be that people-y? Donate to a food bank, offer to foster a pet from your local shelter, volunteer to distribute meals to people in your town. In the world we’re in now, the littlest things mean the most.
April 2020
19
20
StitchLife Magazine
Subscriber Benefits
• Bi-monthly digital magazine with patterns designed exclusively for StitchLife • Weekly e-newsletter • Subscriber-only VIP community • Free patterns with archive • Discounts at www.stitchlifemag.com and other creators and suppliers • Early access to contests and giveaways
April 2020
21
