About a year ago I picked embroidery as a necessary requirement for turning my kids’ jeans into non-fraying shorts without fiddling with my sewing machine. The first attempts were based on a two minute tutorial on how to sew flowers.
Much to my surprise (especially since I used some thread meant for friendship bracelets) those jeans survived cross-country travel, a summer visit to the farm, and the school year.
And I discovered embroidery was a very relaxing hobby for me. Or as relaxing as any pastime that involves repeatedly stabbing something can be. It’s therapeutic.
This year I tried some new things. Different techniques and patterns. Thread painting. New knots.
And now it’s time for a dragon.
Both Miss Pink (15) and Youngest (8) want dragons on their summer jeans. My freehand attempt was… well… 
It’s not really a dragon. It just didn’t work the way I wanted and the head is an unholy mess. Seriously. This thing might burn in the presence of holy water.
For attempt #2 I downloaded a pattern from UrbanThreads.com, traced it, and put it on some scrap fabric to see if I could trace this with thread. 
Not terrible…. but huge. Especially for the hem of some shorts. I’m not even sure I’ll fill this in because it is HUGE.
I wound up combining the two ideas. The body is a netted knot. It’s a Corded Detached Stitch and there’s a good tutorial for it HERE in Korean with English subtitles. I made the original pattern smaller, traced the head, and added it.
Next, I’ll add vines, eyes, fire, and maybe some beads for sparkle.
What are you making this week?