September 5, 2019 • 56 mins
Did you know you can use crochet as the foundation for embroidery?
On their own, crochet and embroidery are amazing crafts, each with a flair that makes them unique. But together, it's a gorgeous combination. I was blown away when I learned about Andy from O&Y Studio, a talented maker in this community who blends her crochet and embroidery skills as well as love of flowers into one gorgeous and unique project.
Whether you know how to embroider or not, in this episode of The BHooked Podcast you're sure to be inspired by Andy. She tells us how it's possible for anyone to embroider on crochet as well as a few tips to get you started. I learned so much from her. I know you will too!
About The BHooked Podcast
Brittany's primary goal is to inspire you and help you grow in your craft with The BHooked Podcast. Through her own stories and the stories of each special guest, you'll discover tips and tricks to improve your crochet and knitting skills and find inspiration to achieve your hobby goals. When you want to kick back and learn from yarn industry experts, grab some yarn and turn on The BHooked Podcast. There's never a shortage of all things crochet, knitting or yarn.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brittany (00:00):
You're listening to The Be Oaked Podcast, Episode
132, with Brittany.
there.
(00:32):
Thank you so much for joiningme in episode 131 of the Be
Hooked podcast, the place wherewe love yarn, we love to learn,
and we truly believe yarn can domore for us than just make
pretty things.
Now we tend to focus on crochetand a little bit knitting here
on the podcast, but I alwayslove bringing in a guest that
(00:52):
has a completely uniqueperspective.
So a way that they use one ofthese crafts, knitting or
crochet, and maybe they mix itwith something else or maybe
Maybe they just have the samemedium but I'm super excited
about today's episode becauseit's completely unique to
anything that we've had before.
Embroidery has always had asmall place in my life, but it's
(01:16):
never been something that Ihave ever been able to do.
My grandmother was really biginto embroidery.
She always embroidered thesebeautiful pillowcases.
And I just remember thatgrowing up as a child having
pillowcases with these beautifulflowers embroidered on them.
So I have a lot of really greatmemories associated with
(01:39):
embroidery.
But for whatever reason, I justhaven't invested the time to
actually learn this skill.
So when I learned about Andyfrom O&Y Studio and saw that she
blends embroidery with crochet,my mind was blown.
And I knew I had to have her onthe show just to see where that
(02:01):
inspiration came from, to learna little bit about embroidery
so that maybe I could startthat.
Maybe I could give embroidery atry.
Put something unique on one ofthe projects that I've already
made.
So if you crochet and you alsoembroider, you've got to get
connected with Andy.
(02:22):
She is so much fun and I thinkthe two of you would have a lot
in common because she reallyloves both.
But if you don't embroider andyou do crochet...
What I've learned from Andytoday is that you don't really
have to know a lot aboutembroidery to be able to blend
these two crafts.
(02:42):
So what I wanted to do was giveyou the basics.
Just spark the idea that, hey,these two things go together and
they look really amazing whenyou do it.
And to give you the confidenceand just a few first steps that
you need to take in order to tryblending these two crafts
together.
So that's what we're talkingabout with Andy from Owen Dwye
(03:06):
Studio.
I'll have all of herinformation linked in the show
notes page for this episode,which is behooked.com slash 132.
You'll definitely want toconnect with her after hearing
and if nothing else, just to seewhat she's talking about.
Her pieces are absolutelygorgeous and they're truly
inspiring to me.
All right, so I don't want todelay anymore.
(03:27):
I'm really excited about thisone, as you can probably tell.
So here's my chat with Andyfrom O&Y Studio.
Andy, hi, welcome to the show.
Thank you so much for beinghere today.
Hi, Brittany.
This is so much fun.
I've been looking forward tothis.
I have been looking forward toit as well.
When I first found you onInstagram, I was just baffled by
(03:51):
the things that you create andI Great.
Great.
Andy (04:19):
I'm here to tell you about it.
Brittany (04:21):
Well, I will wear you out, I'm sure, with all kinds of
questions.
I know absolutely nothing aboutembroidery.
My grandmother did it, and mygrandmother has already passed
now.
And at the time when I was ableto spend time with her, I was
too young to really beinterested in any of that stuff.
(04:42):
And I really wish that I were.
So now I just have some of theembroidery pieces that she has
made.
And I associate that with her.
So I think it would be so coolto blend something that was
really important to her withsomething that's really
important to me.
So
Andy (05:00):
who knows?
I might get some tips.
We'll have to get you startedon some
Brittany (05:03):
embroidery.
Yeah, for sure.
Before we get to any of that,though, I would love to know a
little more about you and howthe order of all of this
happened.
When did you first startblending embroidery with
crochet?
What gave you the idea?
Andy (05:20):
Well, it was in 2016, and my daughter had been coaxing me
to start an Etsy shop, and Istarted getting excited about
the idea.
But I was so across the boardabout what I could make.
I've been a smocker, which isthe English smocking, and I
(05:43):
owned a shop that sold needlearts-related materials.
And so smocking for many, manyyears had been a big part of my
life, which, of course, itincorporates embroidery.
For somebody who doesn't knowwhat that is, it's like the
pleated fabric.
And then you do the decorativestitches.
And so I kept thinking that Ineeded to do smocking for my
(06:10):
shop.
And I was thinking, how in theworld can I have such a
time-consuming product that Isell?
How do you know what sizespeople are going to want and
that kind of thing to put inyour shop?
I was a little bit confusedabout what I should do.
So my daughter was reallygreat.
(06:31):
She kept nailing me withdifferent things, like, Mom,
look at this.
Mom, look at that.
You could do this.
You could do that.
And so I started trying outdifferent things.
And I eventually came to thepoint where I was thinking about
doing embroidery with DMCthread on fabric.
And I was doing some pieces.
(06:52):
But I just wasn't excited aboutwhat I was doing and as a
possibility for a business, youknow, doing a lot of it.
And and so I was brainstormingand I was in my sewing studio
and I was looking over at all mybeautiful, colorful walls and.
And I went over and I pickedsome up and I thought, what can
(07:15):
I do with these?
And then I had just recentlyfound some hoops in an antique
shop.
So I had this big stash ofvintage hoops and I crocheted a
background.
Well, a piece of fabric and acrochet circle.
And I tried to put it into thehoop.
And it was too thick.
And I couldn't get it centeredjust right.
(07:38):
And I didn't want it to hangway over the back.
It needed to be just, you know,about the right size.
And I was thinking, how in theworld am I going to do this?
So this is not going to work.
And then I thought, well, waita minute.
What if I make it smaller and Iwhip stitch it into the inner
hoop?
So then I tried another one.
And so that worked.
And I had a background.
(07:58):
So then I got all excited and Istarted stitching some flowers
on it.
And that is actually how it allbegan.
And I had two or three of themand I showed my daughter and she
said, that's what you need todo.
Make 10 of them and we'll getyour shop open.
So that all kind of cametogether towards the end of
(08:20):
2016.
Oh, so cool.
Brittany (08:23):
So it was sort of like a happy accident.
It was.
Yeah, I have tried to do thatmyself.
I recently created a wallhanging and I have this like
bare spot on my studio wall andI thought I need to hang some
yarn there.
I'm not really...
I don't really have the effortor the energy to weave
(08:45):
something, which is really whatI wanted to do.
But it's a skill that I don'tknow, don't really have the
tools for.
So I thought, well, I cancrochet something.
And I started crochetingsomething completely different
to what actually ended up beingwhat I used.
And it just didn't work out.
It was a crocheted piece.
And I had tried to do sort oflike a part of a chevron.
(09:08):
So think about the chevronstitch, how it like goes up and
down, it was like the downwardpeak.
But because it wasn't solid atthe top, it was really like
saggy and it didn't hang right.
And so I thought, oh, I've putall this time, I've completely
finished the project.
It's not going to work though.
Like I know if I let it sithere on the wall, it's just
(09:28):
going to get saggier and saggierand I'm going to hate it.
And I don't want to publish apattern for somebody else to
hate.
So...
I thought, well, I need to dosomething quicker and easier.
And I had an embroidery hoop inmy closet that I bought, gosh,
probably three or four years agobecause I wanted to use it as
like a framework for crochet.
(09:49):
But I ran into the same problemas you.
I thought I can crochet acircle.
And I can put it in this hoop.
Well, I quickly found out toothat it's too thick to do that.
And I sort of gave up on it.
But I used this hoop later onand I actually crocheted around
the entire hoop.
So I really just made it likethe frame of the O, like the
(10:11):
circular shape to create thewall hanging.
And it was a lot of fun, butWhen I saw some of your stuff
and thought, wow, like she's gotthis figured out and it looks
so cool.
I wish I would have put alittle more effort into figuring
out how to put the crochetinside the embroidery hoop.
Andy (10:29):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you're right.
It was a happy accident.
And it took me a little bit ofa little while to get the
stitches evenly.
You know, I usually stitchevery other stitch.
single crochet, I run my threadthrough that all the way around
and that sort of spaces outthose threads that hold it into
(10:51):
place.
So what happens is that thehoop is, The outer hoop is not
really necessary.
It's just, I just put it onbecause it's part of the hoop,
but it's not holding the tensionor the tautness of the crochet
at all.
It's the stitching that'sholding it in there.
Brittany (11:14):
Yeah.
It just gives it probably anice finished look on the
outside, which I personallywould love that because I'm a
little bit of a perfectionist.
So having like a whip stitchthat's not exactly perfect,
would probably drive me crazy.
Andy (11:29):
(Laughs) But then with the outer hoop there then you've
also got the little hook forhanging it so that works out
Brittany (11:36):
yeah yeah so nowadays you said that you are you're
still doing this you're stillmaking these it's a few years
later And now you have your Etsyshop.
Did you open it at the timewhen you were like, yeah, this
is exactly what I need to make.
I love doing this.
Or did you already have itstarted and you were just kind
(11:57):
of experimenting with the thingsyou sold?
Andy (11:59):
No, I didn't.
I started it when I had 10items to list, and that was the
1st of November 2016.
And that same day that Ilisted, that my shop went live,
I sold a hoop.
I couldn't believe it.
That's amazing.
Brittany (12:16):
Yeah.
I wonder how that person foundyou.
I know it's really difficult tobe found in Etsy's algorithm,
especially nowadays, three yearsafter you had made that first
sale.
Yeah.
Do you have any idea of wherethey came from?
No,
Andy (12:33):
I don't know.
And then I got very busy makingChristmas ornaments myself.
And so I put some of those inmy shop, and they did quite well
as well.
And it actually blew my socksoff that I had such a good
little two months right there atthe end of the year.
(12:53):
I just caught the wave.
Brittany (12:56):
Yeah.
Well, that's really cool.
Now, I have known your shopname for a little while now, but
you just told me the storybehind it.
So what is that?
It's so clever.
I love it.
Okay.
Andy (13:08):
So if you look at it, it's O&Y Studio.
with an ampersand but theampersand is and so oh Andy is
really what it is and the waythat came about is because when
I have made things during mylife whether it be baked or a
flower arrangement or a you knowsmock dress or something like
(13:31):
that people tend to say oh Andythis is beautiful and And my son
honed in on that and he startedteasing me about it.
And so it kind of became afamily joke.
Oh, Andy.
And so that's what we named myshop,
Brittany (13:46):
Oh Andy Studio.
I love it.
And it's funny as you'resitting here telling me that I'm
looking at some notes here thatI have for myself.
And I actually wrote out, Ityped out the word and instead
of doing the ampersand, just Idon't know.
I don't know why.
I just ended up typing it out.
So I'm looking at the letter Oand Y.
And then when you said it, it'slike, oh, I totally see it.
(14:09):
It's so clever.
And I think that's a fun littlestory for people to hear.
Thanks.
So your Etsy shop is reallygorgeous.
The things that you have inthere.
And I'm just completelyfascinated with the way that you
incorporate these twocompletely different needle arts
into one like really amazingpiece the disadvantage to an
(14:34):
audio podcast like this is thatthe listeners they can't really
see what you're talking about soI definitely want to link to
your shop in the show notes pageso that way if you're listening
now like do go and check thisout because it just really blew
my mind but in your own wordscan you try to put into words
(14:57):
exactly what you create.
I know we've sort of dancedaround that, but are they all
just wall hangings or are thereother uses for them?
And just help people get avisual picture.
Andy (15:08):
So basically what my work is, is it's an embroidery hoop
with a piece of a circle ofcrochet that's mounted in there.
And then I embroider 90% of thetime that's flowers.
I've done leaves, likebotanical leaves, like monstera
plant leaves, that kind ofthing.
And I've done some smallerpieces like Christmas ornaments.
(15:32):
I've done animals.
And yeah, that's basically whatmost of what I've done.
But flowers is my big love.
So I've done flowers mostly.
So I embroider them, but I usewools to embroider them.
So they're very textural.
I have a lovely collection ofhand spun and hand dyed walls
and painted walls and that kindof thing.
So the colors, they sometimesblow me away what they do.
(15:56):
They just add texture andreally completely change what my
perception of what I'm doing isgoing to be like when I add
certain ones with the differentshading.
And so basically they're allflower scenes.
Or if they're a leaf orwhatever.
And then they are wall art.
(16:16):
They look lovely in acollection or in a gallery wall
combined with plates and photosand plants hanging on shelves
and that kind of thing.
And then the other use onecould do is to put it in an
easel, but you would have to puta piece of cardboard behind it
so that the back of the easeldoesn't push through the
(16:39):
crochet.
Or you could just prop it on ashelf.
And then I also do somedriftwood hangings.
I only have two in the shopright now, I think, where I've
picked up driftwood in the SouthCarolina beach and put a fringe
at the bottom of the crochet.
And usually I've done leaves onthose.
(17:00):
I've also done mushrooms andtoadstools.
I forgot about that.
Okay.
Anyway, did that answer yourquestion?
Brittany (17:07):
Yeah, it totally does.
That gives us a good visual aswe kind of can see the spectrum
of what you can create withsomething like this.
It's not just maybe one thingin particular.
If you learn about the idea,you can sort of run with it.
And most of the listeners hereare crocheters.
Some of us knit and crochet aswell.
But, you know, we might notnecessarily...
(17:30):
be looking to make the exactthing but just having the aha
moment that oh you actually canembroider on crochet so how can
I use that in a way for my ownpersonal style like let's say I
love to crochet bags or totesand I want to embroider my name
on it then that's something thatthey can see absolutely they
(17:54):
can see the idea yeah so let'stalk about how the process
works.
I'm sure the creative processis probably similar to what we
would follow for just a crochetproject or just a knitting
project, but I like to geteverybody's unique design
process because it's always alittle bit different.
(18:15):
So how does one of your piecesstart?
I'm guessing it probably startswith crochet and an embroidery
hoop, but let's kind ofelaborate from there.
Andy (18:25):
Yeah, so if I'm going to...
make a certain embroidery hoopI would have the hoop in front
of me and then I start with awith a magic circle and then I
do rounds of crochet but Ialways I typically don't do a
spiral I typically end a row andthen start the next row so that
(18:47):
I can I can sort of keep iteven.
Otherwise, sometimes I've endedup with it a little lopsided.
I don't know how because Idon't know.
I think it's because I don'tknow where.
I can't figure out where Istarted.
So I try to do that.
And then I stop when I'm abouta half an inch shy of the inner
hoop.
And then that gives me the halfinch to stretch it and gives it
(19:12):
the tautness that I need.
for embroidering so that itdoesn't, you know, it's not
loose, something too looseunderneath what you're trying to
sew.
Although if you were doing abag, and definitely when I'm
doing the driftwood hangings,you don't have it pulled into a
hoop.
So you certainly can stillembroider.
(19:34):
You just have to be careful notto pull too tight so that you
crimp the fabric underneath.
Brittany (19:41):
Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.
Do you always use the samestitch or do you play with
different stitches to make likea different textured background?
Andy (19:51):
I would say most of the time I just do single crochet.
I have done sort of sometrebles on the last row just to
add a little bit of a lacyfiligree edge.
And then I did that in a recentseries Then I actually did
embroider over some of thoseholes.
(20:12):
So they're there for part ofthe circle, but the rest of the
circle, they were kind ofembroidered over a little bit.
But, you know, just like apetal over or something.
And it kind of had a niceeffect.
I quite liked how that was.
So I do need to experiment somemore with that.
Brittany (20:30):
Yeah, I was sitting here thinking about it.
The stitch structure is sodifferent from a single crochet
to a double crochet.
It makes me think that maybesome stitches aren't suitable
for embroidery.
Now, like I said, I knownothing about embroidery, but I
feel like you have to have maybelike a consistent structure
where you don't have like reallybig holes.
(20:50):
Like think the...
this airspace in between yourtwo double crochets is a lot
bigger than the airspace betweentwo single crochets so I'm sure
that comes into play
Andy (21:00):
yeah it is helpful that's why I use single crochet almost
exclusively just because itgives me an even background
however I do I do also crochetjewelry wire and I've mounted
that into hoops before and thenembroidered on that so it has a
(21:21):
so it has a see-through kind oflook and it looks like the
embroidery is standing, youknow, out from your, from the
wall.
Um, and I, and I use differentcolors of, um, different metals.
I use brass or bronze andantique copper and copper.
Yeah.
So, so, um, they, they, uh,have a, Depending on your wall
(21:47):
color, it could show throughnicely.
And then you just sort of havethe flowers floating in the hoop
there.
I bet that looks really cool.
I'm going to have to stalk yourInstagram page for one of
those.
If you're wanting to do that,try the wool background first
because the wire has a lot ofair space, as you say, and
(22:10):
there's not always a place whereyou need to put your needle and
you have to kind of getcreative or plan it out a little
bit.
Brittany (22:17):
Yeah, I've seen a lot of people crochet with that like
jewelry wire before.
I've never tried it myselfbecause well for one I don't
know about how it will wear thehooks because you would think
that metal rubbing on metal itcould potentially scratch the
hook but it also seems like it'skind of difficult, really.
(22:39):
Maybe not so fun.
What was your experiencecrocheting with it?
Do you like it, or is it justyou like the result, but maybe
not really the process?
Andy (22:47):
I don't love crocheting with it at all.
I have to do a lot more rowsbecause it just is finer.
Brittany (22:53):
Yeah.
Andy (22:53):
And if I stretch it too much, then it gets too holey.
Oh, it stays that way.
Yeah.
But yeah, you know, you haveto, I kind of It could cut
through your fingers if you heldit too tight in your non-hook
hand, you know, and so you haveto kind of be careful.
Brittany (23:17):
Yeah,
Andy (23:18):
okay.
Brittany (23:18):
Well, good tips there.
I probably won't try it anytimesoon.
I'll still admire otherpeople's work for doing that,
but I probably will steer clear.
Now, once you have your crochetframework there, you've got it
mounted on your hoop, This isthe part that I am just full of
questions, I think, when itcomes to adding the embroidery.
(23:41):
So I imagine you probably startwith some kind of idea first.
Are you pulling inspirationfrom your mind?
Just do you have a collectionof flowers or different shapes
that you like to create?
Or do you sketch it out?
Or how does that part look?
Andy (24:01):
Well, in the beginning I did used to sketch it out and I
think, but now I've done so, somany that I just, um, I just
kind of wing it, you know, what,uh, with an idea.
Um, usually I have a color forthe main flowers in mind, you
know, that I want to somethingthat'll show up nicely on the
background and, um, and then,um, and then I have to decide
(24:25):
what my main flower is going tobe.
I, I, um, I'm quite aproficient embroiderer, so I
know a lot of stitches.
But probably for the most part,I do use just a straight
stitch, which anybody can do,even if you don't know how to
embroider.
All you need is a tapestryneedle with a big eye, and it
has a blunt end.
(24:46):
And then you don't knot yourthread to start.
You would run it underneathwhere you're going to make a
pattern.
a petal, for instance, so thatif it does come through on the
right side, you will again hideit with your stitches.
And so then, for the most part,those flowers are just a
(25:09):
straight stitch with a centralplace.
You find kind of a hole in yourcrochet, and then just go out
like spokes of a wheel.
And you can group...
three or four of those spokestogether and then leave a little
gap and then three or four andthen um just keep going around
until you've got five petals orsix petals and um or you could
(25:33):
just make a spoke flower becausethere really are some in life
that are like that and then ifyou don't know how to embroider
and french knots or somethinglike that don't Don't feel like
you have to know embroiderybecause there are ways that you
can still do it.
You can use beads, forinstance, for the center of a
flower and get a lovely texturedcenter and have something that
(25:56):
you're happy with.
But certainly if you areinterested in embroidery, I
would recommend looking onYouTube for basic embroidery
stitches and just teachingyourself some of those.
Brittany (26:09):
Yeah, I think that's a really good tip.
I mean, gosh, I totally live byYouTube when it comes to
learning new skills.
That's the first place that Igo, especially for something
where it's a visual kind ofskill.
Well, I just understand thatI'm not really one to learn
easily from books and throughpictures.
So I don't even attempt thatanymore.
(26:31):
I always end up going toYouTube.
Andy (26:35):
Yeah, it's
Brittany (26:36):
a great resource.
Yeah, what would you say arethe basic four or five
embroidery stitches that mightbe good to know, just to sort of
get your feet wet?
Andy (26:47):
Okay, I would say a stem stitch or an outline stitch.
They're almost identical toeach other.
That's what you would do stemswith, as the word stems says, or
you would do outlines, like ifyou're just doing the outline of
a shape, you know, or you coulduse use it also for a monogram
(27:09):
stitch.
And then Lazy Daisy is a verygood one.
It is a sort of, you come up inone place and make a loop and
go down, and then you come up atthe point where you want the
end of your loop to be, and thenyou anchor it down.
So it's a very simple stitch.
(27:30):
I actually learned that when Iwas a young child.
And If you make several othersaround, you can make a little
flower or they make greatleaves.
Yeah, so that's a good stitchto know.
A French knot would be anotherone because you can do so many
things with French knots.
It's basically you come up withyour thread.
(27:51):
It's anchored in the back andyou come up and then you wrap
your needle with three or fourwraps.
And then you hold the wraps onyour needle and then you pull
the needle through.
And then you push the wraps allthe way down to your fabric.
And you want them to look theway you want.
When you push them down, youwant it to look the way you want
your finished knot to be.
(28:11):
And that's the key.
So it doesn't have like alittle stalk on it.
And then you push your needlethrough to the back and then you
come back up.
And that's a French knot.
So I'd say those are probablythe– a chain stitch could be
another one that's very easy tolearn.
Brittany (28:29):
Okay.
I think that's a really goodstarting point.
Is this something that like youcould learn in an afternoon?
Like say you wake up on Sundayand you're like, man, I want to
try something fun and different.
Is it something that's easythat you could just dive into
for a few hours on a Sunday?
Or are there like– is there– asignificant time investment to
(28:52):
learning these stitches andinvesting in some of the
different tools that you mighthave to have?
I
Andy (28:58):
don't think so.
I think what I would recommendis not starting on crochet, but
just getting a piece of linen orsome kind of twill fabric and
putting it in a hoop and thenusing some cotton threads just
to begin with and then some kindof an embroidery needle.
And then just always rememberthat the eye of your needle
(29:23):
needs to carry the amount ofthread you carry through.
So you use different sizeneedles based on how many
strands you're using, forinstance.
And so you could try it withall six strands of a DMC thread,
but then you would need– Ican't actually tell you, but
probably– Probably like, Iforget the size of embroidery
(29:44):
needles right now because I'mnot using them, but you would
need one with a big enough eyeto put all of them through.
And then, and you also, thatway the shaft of your needle
makes a big enough hole to gothrough the fabric and pull the
threads through.
So just having thosecomponents, then you could do a
(30:06):
little sampler where you justtry chain stitch in an area or
do a circle of chain stitch anddo a circle of stem stitch and
that sort of thing and then dosome flowers.
I think you could certainlyeasily learn those four stitches
in an afternoon.
Brittany (30:26):
Okay, yeah, you completely read my mind with
that answer.
I was thinking to myself, Iwonder if it's easier to do this
stuff on crochet or if thatactually makes it more
difficult.
So I
Andy (30:37):
think it would make it a little bit more difficult just
because you're working with suchthicker textures of wool, you
know, when you're embroideringwith it.
However, once you've masteredthe stitches, I think then
taking that to crochet, thenit'll just all snap into place.
Okay.
Brittany (30:56):
Yeah.
So once you have the design onyour piece, is there any like
finishing steps?
Like, you know, for crochet,you weave in your ends and that
sort of thing.
Are there any additional stepsto finishing with embroidery?
Well,
Andy (31:11):
if you are using the embroidery on a garment, for
instance, or a bag where it'snot lined and there would be
some friction on the wrong side,I would say you would
definitely need to anchor yourstitches in such a way that they
(31:31):
would not come undone.
So to start my thread, I woulddo a backstitch.
I would come up on the back,you know, run under a couple of,
underneath a double crochet,for instance, and then, or
sorry, a single crochet, come upand then go back around.
That would be a backstitch.
(31:52):
And then you're ready to start.
to come out on the right side.
You don't usually use knots inthe wool embroidery just because
it would be so bulky and you'dhave these big knots, and they
would probably pull through tothe right side anyway.
And then to end off, I do thesame thing.
I run it under some existingembroidery threads that are on
(32:14):
the back, and then I do abackstitch and pull it back
through.
And you can go a little ways,but just always be mindful Look
on the front, make sure it'swhere you're running it.
Underneath something is notshowing on the front.
Brittany (32:27):
Okay, that makes sense.
Yeah, I think in my novicemind, I would think, oh, just
tie a knot and finish it off andthere's a clear right and wrong
side to the work.
But it's good to know that thatreally isn't a good idea always
because it could come throughthe crochet, especially with
that framework being like moreopen than if you're using like a
(32:47):
linen fabric or that sort ofthing.
Andy (32:50):
Yeah, probably every hoop I make, I have to take out a
stitch or two that I see showsthrough from the back, you know,
that I don't want it to beshowing or else I'm asking with
a stem or a leaf or somethinglike that.
Brittany (33:05):
Well, that brings up another good point that I didn't
even think of.
What happens when you make amistake with embroidery?
Like with crochet, it's supereasy.
You just pull back thosestitches.
With knitting, it's not quiteas easy, but you can still tink
through it and it's not like abig, huge deal.
Right.
But with embroidery, you'rereally creating stitches that's
(33:26):
more like a sewing machine, Iguess is the best way I can
relate to it.
Is it difficult to fix mistakesor is it like not possible at
all?
Oh,
Andy (33:37):
no, definitely.
If something doesn't look rightand you don't like it when
you're doing it, go ahead andtake it out and get it right.
Because it doesn't make senseto be working for a long time on
a project that you want to lookgood or put your stamp of
approval on and then not behappy with the result.
(33:59):
a shape or a, you know, part ofit that's not looking good or a
color, you know, that doesthat.
Sometimes I'll do something andI'll go, eh, that doesn't look,
that doesn't look good or itdoesn't show up or like I
thought it would or whatever.
If it's just a straight stitch,then you can easily just use
the eye of the needle and juststart pulling it out.
(34:20):
If you, if it's a knottedstitch, sometimes it's easier
just to snip it, but just be socareful as you don't cut your
crochet.
And then once you snip theknot, you know, like a French
knot, then you can usually justpull it right out.
Yeah.
So definitely if you're nothappy with it while you're
working on it, you're not goingto be happy with it when you
(34:41):
finish.
So go ahead and take it out.
That's so
Brittany (34:44):
true.
Now, I feel like this is acomplete novice question, but
I'm curious when you're makingthe different elements, like
let's say you're working on aflower and that flower consists
of petals.
Is the yarn that you're workingwith to make the embroidery
stitches, is it like enough yarnto make the whole flower so
(35:07):
you're working with like a longpiece?
Or do you like just have enoughto work on that one petal and
you're just constantly addingmore elements, like more
strands?
Does that make sense?
Andy (35:19):
Yeah, no, it does.
No, I just cut a length ofyarn.
I try not to use too long of alength of yarn because then it
starts getting twisted andtangled and then you're dealing
with the issue of pulling itthrough, you know, it looping on
itself and that kind of thing.
So probably 24 inches or so,something like that would be the
(35:42):
longest that I would usuallycut.
And then if I'm halfwaythrough, Even if I'm doing a
spiderweb rose or something andI get halfway through and I
haven't cut enough yarn, I canjust end it off.
Like when your tail, you needto end it off when you've got
enough of a tail to run over theback.
(36:04):
And sometimes I'll end up withtoo short of a piece.
And so I'll take the eye of myneedle and run it underneath the
thread to pull it through.
that's a trick that I've that'sa good trick to know
Brittany (36:21):
yeah yeah that's sort of where my mind was going with
that when you run out of a skeinof yarn if you're crocheting a
project it's pretty simple tojust add in a new ball of yarn
or like when you're changingcolors I didn't know if it was
easy like that if you're doingit with embroidery plus the the
motions that are going into it Irecently just finished a
(36:43):
crochet afghan.
That's a, it was a pretty bigsize.
It was 12 squares wide and 16squares long and each square was
four inches.
So it was a decent sized, likelittle afghan, like throw sort
of thing.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
(37:05):
Now, you mentioned before thatyou like to use wool yarns when
you're doing your embroidery.
(37:25):
And I think that's a reallycool idea.
Are there any other type of,like, fibers that you like to
use?
Do you ever use that embroideryfloss?
Andy (37:36):
No.
On this particular embroiderywhere I'm doing the wool on the
wool, I don't use cottonthreads.
I use mostly wools and mohair.
And I...
grew up in South Africa, um, ona wool farm and we had Merino
sheep and Angora goats.
(37:56):
And so I have an affinity for,for lovely walls.
Um, and, um, when I've gone,when I go home to South Africa,
um, our family farm is in the,in the, um, wool and mohair
district of South Africa, whereactually most of the mohair in
the world comes from.
And, um, So it's just soluscious to go into a workshop
(38:23):
and come home with somebeautiful balls of wool.
And a lot of the– I sort ofhave a passion for helping the–
the industries where they'retrying to teach women a skill so
that they can earn, have anincome.
And so a lot of the walls thatI'm using are made by women who
(38:50):
are trying to rise up abovepoverty and and feed their
families, and it just makes itfeel special to me.
And so, yes, I have a nicestash of beautiful hand-spun
wools, and it gives me an excuseto buy more when I travel.
Brittany (39:09):
Well, and they're all totally unique, too.
That's the really cool partabout walking into a yarn store.
You never know what you'regoing to get, and you never know
if you'll ever get that again,because it's hand spun, hand
dyed, and it's not massproduced.
So I think that makes all ofyour pieces that more unique.
Andy (39:30):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And they're beautiful indiewools in America too.
So don't get me wrong.
I love buying them here too andsupporting our local shops.
Yeah.
Brittany (39:39):
Well, and that's, I'm totally speaking from
assumption.
Honestly, I'm definitely not awool expert, but I know that
when you find a wool that youlove it's just you know you know
that it's something special andthere's a reason why people
joke and say that you go to theyarn store like a specialty yarn
(40:04):
shop you buy a hank of yarn andyou just keep it to pet it
because it's just so beautifuland you treasure it and you wait
to find the perfect project tomake it into something.
So that's something I canrelate to, not necessarily on
how it's produced and that sortof thing, but I can relate to
(40:27):
finding a special yarn andwanting to turn it into
something special too.
Yeah.
So I wonder now, is the processthe same for most of your
pieces?
Like we've sort of laid out thegeneral steps that you follow
when you're creating somethingnew.
Would you say that every piecethat you make is completely
(40:48):
unique or do you sort of followthe same idea?
And really the only thing thatchanges might be the yarns that
you're using or the design thatyou're embroidering on them.
So
Andy (40:59):
I freehand my designs.
There's not an easy way to markcrochet wool with a pattern.
You can't sort of hold it up tothe light and put it over a
black and white drawing andsketch it on there, even if it
was a washable pen or something.
So I just...
(41:20):
I don't really follow anypattern.
And I just kind of get startedwith a focal flower or two or
three, depending on the size ofthe hoop.
And I just kind of go fromthere.
And once I have them there inplace, then I sort of pull out
other colors or else I alreadyhave other colors that I want to
(41:41):
use to go with that background.
And then I usually, well, nextI usually do the leaves.
Because if a flower needs to beon top of a leaf slightly or
something, it's okay.
Because if you had a bouquet offlowers and you looked at it,
you might see a flower in frontof the leaf.
(42:01):
I think that's also the way mywork has evolved a little bit
because before I probably didn'tdo that so much.
But now I'm kind of stitchingover flowers and putting petals
over flowers and that kind ofthing.
But yeah, so I just...
make up a design and I don'tknow how it's going to finish
when I get started so I reallydon't don't know what the
(42:23):
finished hoop is going to looklike but I do work in series so
I've started doing that I guessprobably a year and a half ago
and I so I'll do a whole serieson a certain background or color
and then make them sort of mixand match and They could go with
each other on a wall, butthey're not all just identical
(42:45):
in different sizes, but theyhave different elements in them,
like maybe different othercolors, little flowers in there,
or the secondary flowers mightbe different or whatever.
Brittany (42:56):
Okay, yeah, so they sort of complement each other.
Right.
Makes sense.
Yeah.
So the one thing that reallyseems to stand out now and
scrolling through your shop, alot of your pieces have like
these really pretty flowers inthem.
And I can't help but wonder ofall the things that you could
embroider, you seem to lovedoing flowers the most.
(43:18):
How do you think thatinfluences your work?
Like what is it about flowersthat really keeps you inspired?
Andy (43:27):
Well, I think I've loved flowers my whole life.
My parents grew them when I wasa child and I was free to pick
whatever I wanted and play withthem.
And then the other thing isthat I've been a crafter all of
my life and so I've been makingflowers in all kinds of
different mediums from liketissue flowers when I was a
(43:51):
child to crocheting them lateron and I've made them in icing
and I've made flowers.
I think one time I sat down andcame up with almost 100
different ways that I've madeflowers.
I think that's helped me tolearn the anatomy of a flower
and what makes them work andwhat they need to have in the
(44:13):
way of shading and that kind ofthing.
I love gardening and have alittle smattering of all kinds
of different colored flowers outthere that are trying to grow
on different seasons.
And I love picking them andbringing them in and using them
for props with my hoops to take
Brittany (44:31):
photos.
That's another thing I noticed.
Throughout your shop, there'salways something really pretty
in the background that'scomplementing what you're
selling, the piece that you'vemade.
It's cool to hear the storybehind that.
Now, my husband and I, we justrecently got into gardening.
We're, I love flowers, but I'mstill not quite good enough for
(44:57):
some of them.
I have a lot of house plantsand my thought process on that
was let's get the plants thatare really hard to kill.
That way I can just build myconfidence a little bit.
And now I'm sort of venturinginto a little bit more.
And I'm sitting here at my desklooking at a pink African
(45:18):
flower.
And from what I've heard,that's one of the more finicky
flowers to grow.
And here it is thriving.
So I am really loving the wholeworld of flowers too.
I've always loved to crochetthem, but it wasn't because I...
was ever maintaining them orhad them on my own.
I admired them, but I wasalways just really bad at caring
(45:41):
for them.
But I guess in my old age, I'mgetting a little bit better at
knowing what a flower needs.
They definitely
Andy (45:50):
need water when they're out in the garden.
Yeah, they don't do so well ifthey don't get water.
And then the other thing in thesummer is they definitely need
to be fertilized so that that'llmake them
Brittany (46:04):
produce.
Yes.
And the internet is a wonderfulplace to learn all of those
things.
That's for sure.
If it weren't for YouTube andvarious blogs, I wouldn't have
this little African flowersitting on my desk because I
probably would have killed it byaccident.
Well, now this has been a lotof fun.
(46:24):
I don't want to get too offtrack with that.
I'm sort of going down a rabbittrail there.
But we've heard a lot of greattips.
I think it's it's prettyrealistic to say that somebody
could dabble with this just tochange things up a little bit
and create something unique andnew.
Out of all the tips and stuffthat you've mentioned for us
(46:45):
today, if somebody is ready togive this a try, what would be
your first tip for them?
Andy (46:51):
Well, um, I think just don't be, don't be scape
frightened.
Um, just, um, find acontrasting color or a
coordinating color.
And then just, you could trywith some straight stitches, as
I mentioned before, if you don'tknow how to do embroidery, and
(47:11):
do a spoke flower.
And then you can use some greenand kind of do straight
stitches for a leaf as well.
And then...
The center of your flower, youcould actually do another set of
spokes with a different color,like a dark yellow in the center
(47:31):
or a black, so that you'remaking a center.
So you're not limited by thefact that you don't know how to
do embroidery stitches.
Well, you are limited somewhat,but don't let that stop you.
Don't let that stop you fromplaying and experimenting.
And then definitely try andlearn some stitches.
Then you could branch out alittle bit.
Brittany (47:53):
Yeah, I think the one way that we can all really
relate to this is thinking backto when we first started
crocheting.
Maybe we only learned onestitch first.
Let's say you only knew how todo the single crochet for a few
months.
Just because you only know onestitch didn't mean you couldn't
make an infinite number ofprojects.
And I feel like it's probablysimilar for embroidery.
(48:15):
You might only know one or twostitches, but you can be
creative with that one or twostitches and create something
with it.
Andy (48:22):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Like when I do my toadstools, Idon't use anything but straight
stitches.
Well, I do sort of outline it,but you could just use straight
stitches to outline it and thenjust fill it in with lots of
shaded colors.
I usually do the toadstools inreds and peaches and not corals,
(48:43):
but blushes, blush colors.
And then just, it's a littlebit like needle painting.
So yeah.
Yeah, you absolutely don't haveto know any kind of embroidery
stitches for that.
It's in, out, in, out, in, out,you know.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
Brittany (49:01):
Go for it.
Okay.
So yes, go for it.
Learn one or maybe two stitcheson YouTube.
Maybe find a picture of aflower that you can embroider on
one of your crochet projects.
I know we all, if you're likeme, you've got them sitting
everywhere.
They're in every nook andcranny of my house.
Every drawer, every closet hassomething crocheted in it.
(49:23):
So I'm sure I can findsomething to maybe embroider my
initials on.
I think that would be a reallyfun touch.
Just To say that I've done it,not necessarily to do it every
single time, but I really justlove experimenting with
different crafts.
And so I just really want tothank you for coming on the
show, sharing your knowledge.
I'm sharing so much with usabout what you do and making it
(49:47):
seem like it's doable for all of
Andy (49:49):
us.
So I appreciate it.
Thank you for having me.
It's my honor.
Brittany (49:53):
Well, before we hop off here, I want to give people
a chance to connect with you anddefinitely like go look at her
stuff.
Seriously.
It'll change your life.
just having something pretty tolook at.
So where can they go?
Where's the best place for themto find you if they want to
connect with you and see yourpretty work?
Andy (50:11):
Well, I'm not on Twitter, but I am on Instagram and
Facebook.
My Instagram is oandystudio,O-A-N-D-Y studio.
And then my...
My Etsy shop is etsy.com slashshop slash O&Y Studio.
(50:32):
And Facebook is O&Y Studio aswell.
So you can find me on all thoseplaces.
And then I also have a websitethat's O&Y Studio or
oandystudio.com.
From my Instagram and from mywebsite, you can find my shop.
Brittany (50:52):
Okay.
Gotcha.
Well, I have links to all ofthat.
So don't, don't worry about,um, you know, trying to remember
if you're on the go, if you'redriving or that sort of thing,
I'll have them linked in theshow notes so that you can, you
know, next time you have a freeminute, just go and check out
some of her work, be inspired byit.
That's really what we're allabout here.
Just admiring other people'swork and being inspired by what
(51:14):
they do.
So once again, thank you somuch.
It's been a really big pleasurefor me to talk to you today.
Thank you for having me,Brittany.
All right.
Once again, that was Andy fromO&Y Studio.
You definitely want to find heron Instagram.
Look at her amazing work so youcan put a visual to what you
just heard.
I think it'll blow your mind.
(51:36):
And you can find all of herinformation, where you can see
her stuff, where you can findher on Instagram.
You can find that over on theshow notes page, which once
again for this episode isbehooped.com slash 132.
I would really love to hearfrom you on this one and see if
you have tried blending thesetwo together and how it worked
(51:57):
out.
I would love to see somepictures and that sort of thing.
So I'm going to challenge you.
You heard Andy say that she'snot on Twitter and you know that
I'm trying to help thiscommunity see the value in the
conversations that can happenover on Twitter.
So let's start the conversationthere.
Tweet me at bhookedcrochet,B-H-O-O-K-E-D, crochet.
(52:19):
And tell me your experiencewith embroidery and crochet, if
it's something that you've triedbefore.
Or if it's not, just say, hey,I would love to try this.
I really just want to start theconversation about it.
This is something unique andfun and different.
And as you can tell, I'm prettypumped about it.
So tweet me.
I would love to hear that.
(52:39):
And if you're not on Twitterand you don't want to create
another social account, noworries.
There's a comment section onthe show notes page.
And just tweet.
Talk to me there.
I'm right here on the otherside of the keyboard and I
really do love to connect withyou.
It's one of the only ways thatI have as a podcaster to really
(53:01):
communicate with you.
So head over to the show notespage.
We can chat there and we canchat on Twitter.
Lastly, before I go, I want tolet you know that today's
episode was brought to you by myblueprint course, Tunisian
Crochet for Beginners.
Now, you've heard me talk aboutthis course before and why I
got into Tunisian crochet in thefirst place.
(53:22):
It's something that I reallylove to do to shake things up.
You might know that that's acommon theme.
I love to crochet.
I love to knit.
I always go back to those twothings.
But every now and then I wakeup on a Sunday morning and I
just get this urge to trysomething a little different.
I'm sure that's how embroideryis going to play its role in my
life here in the very nearfuture.
(53:43):
But let's say you're wanting totry a different form of
crochet.
Tunisian crochet is so muchfun, it's completely unique, and
it's sort of a hybrid betweencrochet and knitting.
So let's say you crochet andyou just don't knit.
You don't get it, you hate it,whatever the case may be, but
(54:05):
you like the way knittingstitches look.
Well, if that's the case,Tunisian crochet will be your
best friend because you cancreate a lot of stitches with
Tunisian crochet that you cancreate with knitting.
So what I did was I teamed upwith Blueprint, which is
formerly known as Craftsy, tocreate a completely beginner's
(54:26):
course to Tunisian crochet.
We cover all the basics likethe different hooks that you'll
need to use.
And of course, I like to teachby doing.
So I created three completelybeginner projects.
I walk you through all three ofthose projects in the course.
So if you want to learn moreabout Tunisian crochet for
beginners, exactly what'sincluded in that course, and
(54:48):
maybe take part in it, just headover to bhooked.com slash tcfb.
That'll redirect you toBlueprint's page where you can
find all that information aboutthe course.
And I can't wait to see youthere.
I'm...
I'll be able to interact withyou, answer your questions, and
that sort of thing as you're astudent of my course.
(55:08):
So that link, once again, isBeHooked.com slash TCFB.
All right, now that'll wrap upthis week's episode of the Be
Hooked podcast.
If you haven't subscribed tothe show already, go ahead and
do that now in your podcastplayer.
I have a couple of reallyamazing episodes, some new
guests that are on the show thathave never been here before,
(55:29):
talking about some of your oldfavorite topics, but then a
couple of new ones as well.
So subscribe if you haven'tdone so already.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Experiment with embroidery andcrochet.
And I'll see you later, friend.
Bye-bye.
You're listening to The Be Oaked Podcast, Episode
132, with Brittany.
there.
(00:32):
Thank you so much for joiningme in episode 131 of the Be
Hooked podcast, the place wherewe love yarn, we love to learn,
and we truly believe yarn can domore for us than just make
pretty things.
Now we tend to focus on crochetand a little bit knitting here
on the podcast, but I alwayslove bringing in a guest that
(00:52):
has a completely uniqueperspective.
So a way that they use one ofthese crafts, knitting or
crochet, and maybe they mix itwith something else or maybe
Maybe they just have the samemedium but I'm super excited
about today's episode becauseit's completely unique to
anything that we've had before.
Embroidery has always had asmall place in my life, but it's
(01:16):
never been something that Ihave ever been able to do.
My grandmother was really biginto embroidery.
She always embroidered thesebeautiful pillowcases.
And I just remember thatgrowing up as a child having
pillowcases with these beautifulflowers embroidered on them.
So I have a lot of really greatmemories associated with
(01:39):
embroidery.
But for whatever reason, I justhaven't invested the time to
actually learn this skill.
So when I learned about Andyfrom O&Y Studio and saw that she
blends embroidery with crochet,my mind was blown.
And I knew I had to have her onthe show just to see where that
(02:01):
inspiration came from, to learna little bit about embroidery
so that maybe I could startthat.
Maybe I could give embroidery atry.
Put something unique on one ofthe projects that I've already
made.
So if you crochet and you alsoembroider, you've got to get
connected with Andy.
(02:22):
She is so much fun and I thinkthe two of you would have a lot
in common because she reallyloves both.
But if you don't embroider andyou do crochet...
What I've learned from Andytoday is that you don't really
have to know a lot aboutembroidery to be able to blend
these two crafts.
(02:42):
So what I wanted to do was giveyou the basics.
Just spark the idea that, hey,these two things go together and
they look really amazing whenyou do it.
And to give you the confidenceand just a few first steps that
you need to take in order to tryblending these two crafts
together.
So that's what we're talkingabout with Andy from Owen Dwye
(03:06):
Studio.
I'll have all of herinformation linked in the show
notes page for this episode,which is behooked.com slash 132.
You'll definitely want toconnect with her after hearing
and if nothing else, just to seewhat she's talking about.
Her pieces are absolutelygorgeous and they're truly
inspiring to me.
All right, so I don't want todelay anymore.
(03:27):
I'm really excited about thisone, as you can probably tell.
So here's my chat with Andyfrom O&Y Studio.
Andy, hi, welcome to the show.
Thank you so much for beinghere today.
Hi, Brittany.
This is so much fun.
I've been looking forward tothis.
I have been looking forward toit as well.
When I first found you onInstagram, I was just baffled by
(03:51):
the things that you create andI Great.
Great.
Andy (04:19):
I'm here to tell you about it.
Brittany (04:21):
Well, I will wear you out, I'm sure, with all kinds of
questions.
I know absolutely nothing aboutembroidery.
My grandmother did it, and mygrandmother has already passed
now.
And at the time when I was ableto spend time with her, I was
too young to really beinterested in any of that stuff.
(04:42):
And I really wish that I were.
So now I just have some of theembroidery pieces that she has
made.
And I associate that with her.
So I think it would be so coolto blend something that was
really important to her withsomething that's really
important to me.
So
Andy (05:00):
who knows?
I might get some tips.
We'll have to get you startedon some
Brittany (05:03):
embroidery.
Yeah, for sure.
Before we get to any of that,though, I would love to know a
little more about you and howthe order of all of this
happened.
When did you first startblending embroidery with
crochet?
What gave you the idea?
Andy (05:20):
Well, it was in 2016, and my daughter had been coaxing me
to start an Etsy shop, and Istarted getting excited about
the idea.
But I was so across the boardabout what I could make.
I've been a smocker, which isthe English smocking, and I
(05:43):
owned a shop that sold needlearts-related materials.
And so smocking for many, manyyears had been a big part of my
life, which, of course, itincorporates embroidery.
For somebody who doesn't knowwhat that is, it's like the
pleated fabric.
And then you do the decorativestitches.
And so I kept thinking that Ineeded to do smocking for my
(06:10):
shop.
And I was thinking, how in theworld can I have such a
time-consuming product that Isell?
How do you know what sizespeople are going to want and
that kind of thing to put inyour shop?
I was a little bit confusedabout what I should do.
So my daughter was reallygreat.
(06:31):
She kept nailing me withdifferent things, like, Mom,
look at this.
Mom, look at that.
You could do this.
You could do that.
And so I started trying outdifferent things.
And I eventually came to thepoint where I was thinking about
doing embroidery with DMCthread on fabric.
And I was doing some pieces.
(06:52):
But I just wasn't excited aboutwhat I was doing and as a
possibility for a business, youknow, doing a lot of it.
And and so I was brainstormingand I was in my sewing studio
and I was looking over at all mybeautiful, colorful walls and.
And I went over and I pickedsome up and I thought, what can
(07:15):
I do with these?
And then I had just recentlyfound some hoops in an antique
shop.
So I had this big stash ofvintage hoops and I crocheted a
background.
Well, a piece of fabric and acrochet circle.
And I tried to put it into thehoop.
And it was too thick.
And I couldn't get it centeredjust right.
(07:38):
And I didn't want it to hangway over the back.
It needed to be just, you know,about the right size.
And I was thinking, how in theworld am I going to do this?
So this is not going to work.
And then I thought, well, waita minute.
What if I make it smaller and Iwhip stitch it into the inner
hoop?
So then I tried another one.
And so that worked.
And I had a background.
(07:58):
So then I got all excited and Istarted stitching some flowers
on it.
And that is actually how it allbegan.
And I had two or three of themand I showed my daughter and she
said, that's what you need todo.
Make 10 of them and we'll getyour shop open.
So that all kind of cametogether towards the end of
(08:20):
2016.
Oh, so cool.
Brittany (08:23):
So it was sort of like a happy accident.
It was.
Yeah, I have tried to do thatmyself.
I recently created a wallhanging and I have this like
bare spot on my studio wall andI thought I need to hang some
yarn there.
I'm not really...
I don't really have the effortor the energy to weave
(08:45):
something, which is really whatI wanted to do.
But it's a skill that I don'tknow, don't really have the
tools for.
So I thought, well, I cancrochet something.
And I started crochetingsomething completely different
to what actually ended up beingwhat I used.
And it just didn't work out.
It was a crocheted piece.
And I had tried to do sort oflike a part of a chevron.
(09:08):
So think about the chevronstitch, how it like goes up and
down, it was like the downwardpeak.
But because it wasn't solid atthe top, it was really like
saggy and it didn't hang right.
And so I thought, oh, I've putall this time, I've completely
finished the project.
It's not going to work though.
Like I know if I let it sithere on the wall, it's just
(09:28):
going to get saggier and saggierand I'm going to hate it.
And I don't want to publish apattern for somebody else to
hate.
So...
I thought, well, I need to dosomething quicker and easier.
And I had an embroidery hoop inmy closet that I bought, gosh,
probably three or four years agobecause I wanted to use it as
like a framework for crochet.
(09:49):
But I ran into the same problemas you.
I thought I can crochet acircle.
And I can put it in this hoop.
Well, I quickly found out toothat it's too thick to do that.
And I sort of gave up on it.
But I used this hoop later onand I actually crocheted around
the entire hoop.
So I really just made it likethe frame of the O, like the
(10:11):
circular shape to create thewall hanging.
And it was a lot of fun, butWhen I saw some of your stuff
and thought, wow, like she's gotthis figured out and it looks
so cool.
I wish I would have put alittle more effort into figuring
out how to put the crochetinside the embroidery hoop.
Andy (10:29):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you're right.
It was a happy accident.
And it took me a little bit ofa little while to get the
stitches evenly.
You know, I usually stitchevery other stitch.
single crochet, I run my threadthrough that all the way around
and that sort of spaces outthose threads that hold it into
(10:51):
place.
So what happens is that thehoop is, The outer hoop is not
really necessary.
It's just, I just put it onbecause it's part of the hoop,
but it's not holding the tensionor the tautness of the crochet
at all.
It's the stitching that'sholding it in there.
Brittany (11:14):
Yeah.
It just gives it probably anice finished look on the
outside, which I personallywould love that because I'm a
little bit of a perfectionist.
So having like a whip stitchthat's not exactly perfect,
would probably drive me crazy.
Andy (11:29):
(Laughs) But then with the outer hoop there then you've
also got the little hook forhanging it so that works out
Brittany (11:36):
yeah yeah so nowadays you said that you are you're
still doing this you're stillmaking these it's a few years
later And now you have your Etsyshop.
Did you open it at the timewhen you were like, yeah, this
is exactly what I need to make.
I love doing this.
Or did you already have itstarted and you were just kind
(11:57):
of experimenting with the thingsyou sold?
Andy (11:59):
No, I didn't.
I started it when I had 10items to list, and that was the
1st of November 2016.
And that same day that Ilisted, that my shop went live,
I sold a hoop.
I couldn't believe it.
That's amazing.
Brittany (12:16):
Yeah.
I wonder how that person foundyou.
I know it's really difficult tobe found in Etsy's algorithm,
especially nowadays, three yearsafter you had made that first
sale.
Yeah.
Do you have any idea of wherethey came from?
No,
Andy (12:33):
I don't know.
And then I got very busy makingChristmas ornaments myself.
And so I put some of those inmy shop, and they did quite well
as well.
And it actually blew my socksoff that I had such a good
little two months right there atthe end of the year.
(12:53):
I just caught the wave.
Brittany (12:56):
Yeah.
Well, that's really cool.
Now, I have known your shopname for a little while now, but
you just told me the storybehind it.
So what is that?
It's so clever.
I love it.
Okay.
Andy (13:08):
So if you look at it, it's O&Y Studio.
with an ampersand but theampersand is and so oh Andy is
really what it is and the waythat came about is because when
I have made things during mylife whether it be baked or a
flower arrangement or a you knowsmock dress or something like
(13:31):
that people tend to say oh Andythis is beautiful and And my son
honed in on that and he startedteasing me about it.
And so it kind of became afamily joke.
Oh, Andy.
And so that's what we named myshop,
Brittany (13:46):
Oh Andy Studio.
I love it.
And it's funny as you'resitting here telling me that I'm
looking at some notes here thatI have for myself.
And I actually wrote out, Ityped out the word and instead
of doing the ampersand, just Idon't know.
I don't know why.
I just ended up typing it out.
So I'm looking at the letter Oand Y.
And then when you said it, it'slike, oh, I totally see it.
(14:09):
It's so clever.
And I think that's a fun littlestory for people to hear.
Thanks.
So your Etsy shop is reallygorgeous.
The things that you have inthere.
And I'm just completelyfascinated with the way that you
incorporate these twocompletely different needle arts
into one like really amazingpiece the disadvantage to an
(14:34):
audio podcast like this is thatthe listeners they can't really
see what you're talking about soI definitely want to link to
your shop in the show notes pageso that way if you're listening
now like do go and check thisout because it just really blew
my mind but in your own wordscan you try to put into words
(14:57):
exactly what you create.
I know we've sort of dancedaround that, but are they all
just wall hangings or are thereother uses for them?
And just help people get avisual picture.
Andy (15:08):
So basically what my work is, is it's an embroidery hoop
with a piece of a circle ofcrochet that's mounted in there.
And then I embroider 90% of thetime that's flowers.
I've done leaves, likebotanical leaves, like monstera
plant leaves, that kind ofthing.
And I've done some smallerpieces like Christmas ornaments.
(15:32):
I've done animals.
And yeah, that's basically whatmost of what I've done.
But flowers is my big love.
So I've done flowers mostly.
So I embroider them, but I usewools to embroider them.
So they're very textural.
I have a lovely collection ofhand spun and hand dyed walls
and painted walls and that kindof thing.
So the colors, they sometimesblow me away what they do.
(15:56):
They just add texture andreally completely change what my
perception of what I'm doing isgoing to be like when I add
certain ones with the differentshading.
And so basically they're allflower scenes.
Or if they're a leaf orwhatever.
And then they are wall art.
(16:16):
They look lovely in acollection or in a gallery wall
combined with plates and photosand plants hanging on shelves
and that kind of thing.
And then the other use onecould do is to put it in an
easel, but you would have to puta piece of cardboard behind it
so that the back of the easeldoesn't push through the
(16:39):
crochet.
Or you could just prop it on ashelf.
And then I also do somedriftwood hangings.
I only have two in the shopright now, I think, where I've
picked up driftwood in the SouthCarolina beach and put a fringe
at the bottom of the crochet.
And usually I've done leaves onthose.
(17:00):
I've also done mushrooms andtoadstools.
I forgot about that.
Okay.
Anyway, did that answer yourquestion?
Brittany (17:07):
Yeah, it totally does.
That gives us a good visual aswe kind of can see the spectrum
of what you can create withsomething like this.
It's not just maybe one thingin particular.
If you learn about the idea,you can sort of run with it.
And most of the listeners hereare crocheters.
Some of us knit and crochet aswell.
But, you know, we might notnecessarily...
(17:30):
be looking to make the exactthing but just having the aha
moment that oh you actually canembroider on crochet so how can
I use that in a way for my ownpersonal style like let's say I
love to crochet bags or totesand I want to embroider my name
on it then that's something thatthey can see absolutely they
(17:54):
can see the idea yeah so let'stalk about how the process
works.
I'm sure the creative processis probably similar to what we
would follow for just a crochetproject or just a knitting
project, but I like to geteverybody's unique design
process because it's always alittle bit different.
(18:15):
So how does one of your piecesstart?
I'm guessing it probably startswith crochet and an embroidery
hoop, but let's kind ofelaborate from there.
Andy (18:25):
Yeah, so if I'm going to...
make a certain embroidery hoopI would have the hoop in front
of me and then I start with awith a magic circle and then I
do rounds of crochet but Ialways I typically don't do a
spiral I typically end a row andthen start the next row so that
(18:47):
I can I can sort of keep iteven.
Otherwise, sometimes I've endedup with it a little lopsided.
I don't know how because Idon't know.
I think it's because I don'tknow where.
I can't figure out where Istarted.
So I try to do that.
And then I stop when I'm abouta half an inch shy of the inner
hoop.
And then that gives me the halfinch to stretch it and gives it
(19:12):
the tautness that I need.
for embroidering so that itdoesn't, you know, it's not
loose, something too looseunderneath what you're trying to
sew.
Although if you were doing abag, and definitely when I'm
doing the driftwood hangings,you don't have it pulled into a
hoop.
So you certainly can stillembroider.
(19:34):
You just have to be careful notto pull too tight so that you
crimp the fabric underneath.
Brittany (19:41):
Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.
Do you always use the samestitch or do you play with
different stitches to make likea different textured background?
Andy (19:51):
I would say most of the time I just do single crochet.
I have done sort of sometrebles on the last row just to
add a little bit of a lacyfiligree edge.
And then I did that in a recentseries Then I actually did
embroider over some of thoseholes.
(20:12):
So they're there for part ofthe circle, but the rest of the
circle, they were kind ofembroidered over a little bit.
But, you know, just like apetal over or something.
And it kind of had a niceeffect.
I quite liked how that was.
So I do need to experiment somemore with that.
Brittany (20:30):
Yeah, I was sitting here thinking about it.
The stitch structure is sodifferent from a single crochet
to a double crochet.
It makes me think that maybesome stitches aren't suitable
for embroidery.
Now, like I said, I knownothing about embroidery, but I
feel like you have to have maybelike a consistent structure
where you don't have like reallybig holes.
(20:50):
Like think the...
this airspace in between yourtwo double crochets is a lot
bigger than the airspace betweentwo single crochets so I'm sure
that comes into play
Andy (21:00):
yeah it is helpful that's why I use single crochet almost
exclusively just because itgives me an even background
however I do I do also crochetjewelry wire and I've mounted
that into hoops before and thenembroidered on that so it has a
(21:21):
so it has a see-through kind oflook and it looks like the
embroidery is standing, youknow, out from your, from the
wall.
Um, and I, and I use differentcolors of, um, different metals.
I use brass or bronze andantique copper and copper.
Yeah.
So, so, um, they, they, uh,have a, Depending on your wall
(21:47):
color, it could show throughnicely.
And then you just sort of havethe flowers floating in the hoop
there.
I bet that looks really cool.
I'm going to have to stalk yourInstagram page for one of
those.
If you're wanting to do that,try the wool background first
because the wire has a lot ofair space, as you say, and
(22:10):
there's not always a place whereyou need to put your needle and
you have to kind of getcreative or plan it out a little
bit.
Brittany (22:17):
Yeah, I've seen a lot of people crochet with that like
jewelry wire before.
I've never tried it myselfbecause well for one I don't
know about how it will wear thehooks because you would think
that metal rubbing on metal itcould potentially scratch the
hook but it also seems like it'skind of difficult, really.
(22:39):
Maybe not so fun.
What was your experiencecrocheting with it?
Do you like it, or is it justyou like the result, but maybe
not really the process?
Andy (22:47):
I don't love crocheting with it at all.
I have to do a lot more rowsbecause it just is finer.
Brittany (22:53):
Yeah.
Andy (22:53):
And if I stretch it too much, then it gets too holey.
Oh, it stays that way.
Yeah.
But yeah, you know, you haveto, I kind of It could cut
through your fingers if you heldit too tight in your non-hook
hand, you know, and so you haveto kind of be careful.
Brittany (23:17):
Yeah,
Andy (23:18):
okay.
Brittany (23:18):
Well, good tips there.
I probably won't try it anytimesoon.
I'll still admire otherpeople's work for doing that,
but I probably will steer clear.
Now, once you have your crochetframework there, you've got it
mounted on your hoop, This isthe part that I am just full of
questions, I think, when itcomes to adding the embroidery.
(23:41):
So I imagine you probably startwith some kind of idea first.
Are you pulling inspirationfrom your mind?
Just do you have a collectionof flowers or different shapes
that you like to create?
Or do you sketch it out?
Or how does that part look?
Andy (24:01):
Well, in the beginning I did used to sketch it out and I
think, but now I've done so, somany that I just, um, I just
kind of wing it, you know, what,uh, with an idea.
Um, usually I have a color forthe main flowers in mind, you
know, that I want to somethingthat'll show up nicely on the
background and, um, and then,um, and then I have to decide
(24:25):
what my main flower is going tobe.
I, I, um, I'm quite aproficient embroiderer, so I
know a lot of stitches.
But probably for the most part,I do use just a straight
stitch, which anybody can do,even if you don't know how to
embroider.
All you need is a tapestryneedle with a big eye, and it
has a blunt end.
(24:46):
And then you don't knot yourthread to start.
You would run it underneathwhere you're going to make a
pattern.
a petal, for instance, so thatif it does come through on the
right side, you will again hideit with your stitches.
And so then, for the most part,those flowers are just a
(25:09):
straight stitch with a centralplace.
You find kind of a hole in yourcrochet, and then just go out
like spokes of a wheel.
And you can group...
three or four of those spokestogether and then leave a little
gap and then three or four andthen um just keep going around
until you've got five petals orsix petals and um or you could
(25:33):
just make a spoke flower becausethere really are some in life
that are like that and then ifyou don't know how to embroider
and french knots or somethinglike that don't Don't feel like
you have to know embroiderybecause there are ways that you
can still do it.
You can use beads, forinstance, for the center of a
flower and get a lovely texturedcenter and have something that
(25:56):
you're happy with.
But certainly if you areinterested in embroidery, I
would recommend looking onYouTube for basic embroidery
stitches and just teachingyourself some of those.
Brittany (26:09):
Yeah, I think that's a really good tip.
I mean, gosh, I totally live byYouTube when it comes to
learning new skills.
That's the first place that Igo, especially for something
where it's a visual kind ofskill.
Well, I just understand thatI'm not really one to learn
easily from books and throughpictures.
So I don't even attempt thatanymore.
(26:31):
I always end up going toYouTube.
Andy (26:35):
Yeah, it's
Brittany (26:36):
a great resource.
Yeah, what would you say arethe basic four or five
embroidery stitches that mightbe good to know, just to sort of
get your feet wet?
Andy (26:47):
Okay, I would say a stem stitch or an outline stitch.
They're almost identical toeach other.
That's what you would do stemswith, as the word stems says, or
you would do outlines, like ifyou're just doing the outline of
a shape, you know, or you coulduse use it also for a monogram
(27:09):
stitch.
And then Lazy Daisy is a verygood one.
It is a sort of, you come up inone place and make a loop and
go down, and then you come up atthe point where you want the
end of your loop to be, and thenyou anchor it down.
So it's a very simple stitch.
(27:30):
I actually learned that when Iwas a young child.
And If you make several othersaround, you can make a little
flower or they make greatleaves.
Yeah, so that's a good stitchto know.
A French knot would be anotherone because you can do so many
things with French knots.
It's basically you come up withyour thread.
(27:51):
It's anchored in the back andyou come up and then you wrap
your needle with three or fourwraps.
And then you hold the wraps onyour needle and then you pull
the needle through.
And then you push the wraps allthe way down to your fabric.
And you want them to look theway you want.
When you push them down, youwant it to look the way you want
your finished knot to be.
(28:11):
And that's the key.
So it doesn't have like alittle stalk on it.
And then you push your needlethrough to the back and then you
come back up.
And that's a French knot.
So I'd say those are probablythe– a chain stitch could be
another one that's very easy tolearn.
Brittany (28:29):
Okay.
I think that's a really goodstarting point.
Is this something that like youcould learn in an afternoon?
Like say you wake up on Sundayand you're like, man, I want to
try something fun and different.
Is it something that's easythat you could just dive into
for a few hours on a Sunday?
Or are there like– is there– asignificant time investment to
(28:52):
learning these stitches andinvesting in some of the
different tools that you mighthave to have?
I
Andy (28:58):
don't think so.
I think what I would recommendis not starting on crochet, but
just getting a piece of linen orsome kind of twill fabric and
putting it in a hoop and thenusing some cotton threads just
to begin with and then some kindof an embroidery needle.
And then just always rememberthat the eye of your needle
(29:23):
needs to carry the amount ofthread you carry through.
So you use different sizeneedles based on how many
strands you're using, forinstance.
And so you could try it withall six strands of a DMC thread,
but then you would need– Ican't actually tell you, but
probably– Probably like, Iforget the size of embroidery
(29:44):
needles right now because I'mnot using them, but you would
need one with a big enough eyeto put all of them through.
And then, and you also, thatway the shaft of your needle
makes a big enough hole to gothrough the fabric and pull the
threads through.
So just having thosecomponents, then you could do a
(30:06):
little sampler where you justtry chain stitch in an area or
do a circle of chain stitch anddo a circle of stem stitch and
that sort of thing and then dosome flowers.
I think you could certainlyeasily learn those four stitches
in an afternoon.
Brittany (30:26):
Okay, yeah, you completely read my mind with
that answer.
I was thinking to myself, Iwonder if it's easier to do this
stuff on crochet or if thatactually makes it more
difficult.
So I
Andy (30:37):
think it would make it a little bit more difficult just
because you're working with suchthicker textures of wool, you
know, when you're embroideringwith it.
However, once you've masteredthe stitches, I think then
taking that to crochet, thenit'll just all snap into place.
Okay.
Brittany (30:56):
Yeah.
So once you have the design onyour piece, is there any like
finishing steps?
Like, you know, for crochet,you weave in your ends and that
sort of thing.
Are there any additional stepsto finishing with embroidery?
Well,
Andy (31:11):
if you are using the embroidery on a garment, for
instance, or a bag where it'snot lined and there would be
some friction on the wrong side,I would say you would
definitely need to anchor yourstitches in such a way that they
(31:31):
would not come undone.
So to start my thread, I woulddo a backstitch.
I would come up on the back,you know, run under a couple of,
underneath a double crochet,for instance, and then, or
sorry, a single crochet, come upand then go back around.
That would be a backstitch.
(31:52):
And then you're ready to start.
to come out on the right side.
You don't usually use knots inthe wool embroidery just because
it would be so bulky and you'dhave these big knots, and they
would probably pull through tothe right side anyway.
And then to end off, I do thesame thing.
I run it under some existingembroidery threads that are on
(32:14):
the back, and then I do abackstitch and pull it back
through.
And you can go a little ways,but just always be mindful Look
on the front, make sure it'swhere you're running it.
Underneath something is notshowing on the front.
Brittany (32:27):
Okay, that makes sense.
Yeah, I think in my novicemind, I would think, oh, just
tie a knot and finish it off andthere's a clear right and wrong
side to the work.
But it's good to know that thatreally isn't a good idea always
because it could come throughthe crochet, especially with
that framework being like moreopen than if you're using like a
(32:47):
linen fabric or that sort ofthing.
Andy (32:50):
Yeah, probably every hoop I make, I have to take out a
stitch or two that I see showsthrough from the back, you know,
that I don't want it to beshowing or else I'm asking with
a stem or a leaf or somethinglike that.
Brittany (33:05):
Well, that brings up another good point that I didn't
even think of.
What happens when you make amistake with embroidery?
Like with crochet, it's supereasy.
You just pull back thosestitches.
With knitting, it's not quiteas easy, but you can still tink
through it and it's not like abig, huge deal.
Right.
But with embroidery, you'rereally creating stitches that's
(33:26):
more like a sewing machine, Iguess is the best way I can
relate to it.
Is it difficult to fix mistakesor is it like not possible at
all?
Oh,
Andy (33:37):
no, definitely.
If something doesn't look rightand you don't like it when
you're doing it, go ahead andtake it out and get it right.
Because it doesn't make senseto be working for a long time on
a project that you want to lookgood or put your stamp of
approval on and then not behappy with the result.
(33:59):
a shape or a, you know, part ofit that's not looking good or a
color, you know, that doesthat.
Sometimes I'll do something andI'll go, eh, that doesn't look,
that doesn't look good or itdoesn't show up or like I
thought it would or whatever.
If it's just a straight stitch,then you can easily just use
the eye of the needle and juststart pulling it out.
(34:20):
If you, if it's a knottedstitch, sometimes it's easier
just to snip it, but just be socareful as you don't cut your
crochet.
And then once you snip theknot, you know, like a French
knot, then you can usually justpull it right out.
Yeah.
So definitely if you're nothappy with it while you're
working on it, you're not goingto be happy with it when you
(34:41):
finish.
So go ahead and take it out.
That's so
Brittany (34:44):
true.
Now, I feel like this is acomplete novice question, but
I'm curious when you're makingthe different elements, like
let's say you're working on aflower and that flower consists
of petals.
Is the yarn that you're workingwith to make the embroidery
stitches, is it like enough yarnto make the whole flower so
(35:07):
you're working with like a longpiece?
Or do you like just have enoughto work on that one petal and
you're just constantly addingmore elements, like more
strands?
Does that make sense?
Andy (35:19):
Yeah, no, it does.
No, I just cut a length ofyarn.
I try not to use too long of alength of yarn because then it
starts getting twisted andtangled and then you're dealing
with the issue of pulling itthrough, you know, it looping on
itself and that kind of thing.
So probably 24 inches or so,something like that would be the
(35:42):
longest that I would usuallycut.
And then if I'm halfwaythrough, Even if I'm doing a
spiderweb rose or something andI get halfway through and I
haven't cut enough yarn, I canjust end it off.
Like when your tail, you needto end it off when you've got
enough of a tail to run over theback.
(36:04):
And sometimes I'll end up withtoo short of a piece.
And so I'll take the eye of myneedle and run it underneath the
thread to pull it through.
that's a trick that I've that'sa good trick to know
Brittany (36:21):
yeah yeah that's sort of where my mind was going with
that when you run out of a skeinof yarn if you're crocheting a
project it's pretty simple tojust add in a new ball of yarn
or like when you're changingcolors I didn't know if it was
easy like that if you're doingit with embroidery plus the the
motions that are going into it Irecently just finished a
(36:43):
crochet afghan.
That's a, it was a pretty bigsize.
It was 12 squares wide and 16squares long and each square was
four inches.
So it was a decent sized, likelittle afghan, like throw sort
of thing.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
(37:05):
Now, you mentioned before thatyou like to use wool yarns when
you're doing your embroidery.
(37:25):
And I think that's a reallycool idea.
Are there any other type of,like, fibers that you like to
use?
Do you ever use that embroideryfloss?
Andy (37:36):
No.
On this particular embroiderywhere I'm doing the wool on the
wool, I don't use cottonthreads.
I use mostly wools and mohair.
And I...
grew up in South Africa, um, ona wool farm and we had Merino
sheep and Angora goats.
(37:56):
And so I have an affinity for,for lovely walls.
Um, and, um, when I've gone,when I go home to South Africa,
um, our family farm is in the,in the, um, wool and mohair
district of South Africa, whereactually most of the mohair in
the world comes from.
And, um, So it's just soluscious to go into a workshop
(38:23):
and come home with somebeautiful balls of wool.
And a lot of the– I sort ofhave a passion for helping the–
the industries where they'retrying to teach women a skill so
that they can earn, have anincome.
And so a lot of the walls thatI'm using are made by women who
(38:50):
are trying to rise up abovepoverty and and feed their
families, and it just makes itfeel special to me.
And so, yes, I have a nicestash of beautiful hand-spun
wools, and it gives me an excuseto buy more when I travel.
Brittany (39:09):
Well, and they're all totally unique, too.
That's the really cool partabout walking into a yarn store.
You never know what you'regoing to get, and you never know
if you'll ever get that again,because it's hand spun, hand
dyed, and it's not massproduced.
So I think that makes all ofyour pieces that more unique.
Andy (39:30):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And they're beautiful indiewools in America too.
So don't get me wrong.
I love buying them here too andsupporting our local shops.
Yeah.
Brittany (39:39):
Well, and that's, I'm totally speaking from
assumption.
Honestly, I'm definitely not awool expert, but I know that
when you find a wool that youlove it's just you know you know
that it's something special andthere's a reason why people
joke and say that you go to theyarn store like a specialty yarn
(40:04):
shop you buy a hank of yarn andyou just keep it to pet it
because it's just so beautifuland you treasure it and you wait
to find the perfect project tomake it into something.
So that's something I canrelate to, not necessarily on
how it's produced and that sortof thing, but I can relate to
(40:27):
finding a special yarn andwanting to turn it into
something special too.
Yeah.
So I wonder now, is the processthe same for most of your
pieces?
Like we've sort of laid out thegeneral steps that you follow
when you're creating somethingnew.
Would you say that every piecethat you make is completely
(40:48):
unique or do you sort of followthe same idea?
And really the only thing thatchanges might be the yarns that
you're using or the design thatyou're embroidering on them.
So
Andy (40:59):
I freehand my designs.
There's not an easy way to markcrochet wool with a pattern.
You can't sort of hold it up tothe light and put it over a
black and white drawing andsketch it on there, even if it
was a washable pen or something.
So I just...
(41:20):
I don't really follow anypattern.
And I just kind of get startedwith a focal flower or two or
three, depending on the size ofthe hoop.
And I just kind of go fromthere.
And once I have them there inplace, then I sort of pull out
other colors or else I alreadyhave other colors that I want to
(41:41):
use to go with that background.
And then I usually, well, nextI usually do the leaves.
Because if a flower needs to beon top of a leaf slightly or
something, it's okay.
Because if you had a bouquet offlowers and you looked at it,
you might see a flower in frontof the leaf.
(42:01):
I think that's also the way mywork has evolved a little bit
because before I probably didn'tdo that so much.
But now I'm kind of stitchingover flowers and putting petals
over flowers and that kind ofthing.
But yeah, so I just...
make up a design and I don'tknow how it's going to finish
when I get started so I reallydon't don't know what the
(42:23):
finished hoop is going to looklike but I do work in series so
I've started doing that I guessprobably a year and a half ago
and I so I'll do a whole serieson a certain background or color
and then make them sort of mixand match and They could go with
each other on a wall, butthey're not all just identical
(42:45):
in different sizes, but theyhave different elements in them,
like maybe different othercolors, little flowers in there,
or the secondary flowers mightbe different or whatever.
Brittany (42:56):
Okay, yeah, so they sort of complement each other.
Right.
Makes sense.
Yeah.
So the one thing that reallyseems to stand out now and
scrolling through your shop, alot of your pieces have like
these really pretty flowers inthem.
And I can't help but wonder ofall the things that you could
embroider, you seem to lovedoing flowers the most.
(43:18):
How do you think thatinfluences your work?
Like what is it about flowersthat really keeps you inspired?
Andy (43:27):
Well, I think I've loved flowers my whole life.
My parents grew them when I wasa child and I was free to pick
whatever I wanted and play withthem.
And then the other thing isthat I've been a crafter all of
my life and so I've been makingflowers in all kinds of
different mediums from liketissue flowers when I was a
(43:51):
child to crocheting them lateron and I've made them in icing
and I've made flowers.
I think one time I sat down andcame up with almost 100
different ways that I've madeflowers.
I think that's helped me tolearn the anatomy of a flower
and what makes them work andwhat they need to have in the
(44:13):
way of shading and that kind ofthing.
I love gardening and have alittle smattering of all kinds
of different colored flowers outthere that are trying to grow
on different seasons.
And I love picking them andbringing them in and using them
for props with my hoops to take
Brittany (44:31):
photos.
That's another thing I noticed.
Throughout your shop, there'salways something really pretty
in the background that'scomplementing what you're
selling, the piece that you'vemade.
It's cool to hear the storybehind that.
Now, my husband and I, we justrecently got into gardening.
We're, I love flowers, but I'mstill not quite good enough for
(44:57):
some of them.
I have a lot of house plantsand my thought process on that
was let's get the plants thatare really hard to kill.
That way I can just build myconfidence a little bit.
And now I'm sort of venturinginto a little bit more.
And I'm sitting here at my desklooking at a pink African
(45:18):
flower.
And from what I've heard,that's one of the more finicky
flowers to grow.
And here it is thriving.
So I am really loving the wholeworld of flowers too.
I've always loved to crochetthem, but it wasn't because I...
was ever maintaining them orhad them on my own.
I admired them, but I wasalways just really bad at caring
(45:41):
for them.
But I guess in my old age, I'mgetting a little bit better at
knowing what a flower needs.
They definitely
Andy (45:50):
need water when they're out in the garden.
Yeah, they don't do so well ifthey don't get water.
And then the other thing in thesummer is they definitely need
to be fertilized so that that'llmake them
Brittany (46:04):
produce.
Yes.
And the internet is a wonderfulplace to learn all of those
things.
That's for sure.
If it weren't for YouTube andvarious blogs, I wouldn't have
this little African flowersitting on my desk because I
probably would have killed it byaccident.
Well, now this has been a lotof fun.
(46:24):
I don't want to get too offtrack with that.
I'm sort of going down a rabbittrail there.
But we've heard a lot of greattips.
I think it's it's prettyrealistic to say that somebody
could dabble with this just tochange things up a little bit
and create something unique andnew.
Out of all the tips and stuffthat you've mentioned for us
(46:45):
today, if somebody is ready togive this a try, what would be
your first tip for them?
Andy (46:51):
Well, um, I think just don't be, don't be scape
frightened.
Um, just, um, find acontrasting color or a
coordinating color.
And then just, you could trywith some straight stitches, as
I mentioned before, if you don'tknow how to do embroidery, and
(47:11):
do a spoke flower.
And then you can use some greenand kind of do straight
stitches for a leaf as well.
And then...
The center of your flower, youcould actually do another set of
spokes with a different color,like a dark yellow in the center
(47:31):
or a black, so that you'remaking a center.
So you're not limited by thefact that you don't know how to
do embroidery stitches.
Well, you are limited somewhat,but don't let that stop you.
Don't let that stop you fromplaying and experimenting.
And then definitely try andlearn some stitches.
Then you could branch out alittle bit.
Brittany (47:53):
Yeah, I think the one way that we can all really
relate to this is thinking backto when we first started
crocheting.
Maybe we only learned onestitch first.
Let's say you only knew how todo the single crochet for a few
months.
Just because you only know onestitch didn't mean you couldn't
make an infinite number ofprojects.
And I feel like it's probablysimilar for embroidery.
(48:15):
You might only know one or twostitches, but you can be
creative with that one or twostitches and create something
with it.
Andy (48:22):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Like when I do my toadstools, Idon't use anything but straight
stitches.
Well, I do sort of outline it,but you could just use straight
stitches to outline it and thenjust fill it in with lots of
shaded colors.
I usually do the toadstools inreds and peaches and not corals,
(48:43):
but blushes, blush colors.
And then just, it's a littlebit like needle painting.
So yeah.
Yeah, you absolutely don't haveto know any kind of embroidery
stitches for that.
It's in, out, in, out, in, out,you know.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
Brittany (49:01):
Go for it.
Okay.
So yes, go for it.
Learn one or maybe two stitcheson YouTube.
Maybe find a picture of aflower that you can embroider on
one of your crochet projects.
I know we all, if you're likeme, you've got them sitting
everywhere.
They're in every nook andcranny of my house.
Every drawer, every closet hassomething crocheted in it.
(49:23):
So I'm sure I can findsomething to maybe embroider my
initials on.
I think that would be a reallyfun touch.
Just To say that I've done it,not necessarily to do it every
single time, but I really justlove experimenting with
different crafts.
And so I just really want tothank you for coming on the
show, sharing your knowledge.
I'm sharing so much with usabout what you do and making it
(49:47):
seem like it's doable for all of
Andy (49:49):
us.
So I appreciate it.
Thank you for having me.
It's my honor.
Brittany (49:53):
Well, before we hop off here, I want to give people
a chance to connect with you anddefinitely like go look at her
stuff.
Seriously.
It'll change your life.
just having something pretty tolook at.
So where can they go?
Where's the best place for themto find you if they want to
connect with you and see yourpretty work?
Andy (50:11):
Well, I'm not on Twitter, but I am on Instagram and
Facebook.
My Instagram is oandystudio,O-A-N-D-Y studio.
And then my...
My Etsy shop is etsy.com slashshop slash O&Y Studio.
(50:32):
And Facebook is O&Y Studio aswell.
So you can find me on all thoseplaces.
And then I also have a websitethat's O&Y Studio or
oandystudio.com.
From my Instagram and from mywebsite, you can find my shop.
Brittany (50:52):
Okay.
Gotcha.
Well, I have links to all ofthat.
So don't, don't worry about,um, you know, trying to remember
if you're on the go, if you'redriving or that sort of thing,
I'll have them linked in theshow notes so that you can, you
know, next time you have a freeminute, just go and check out
some of her work, be inspired byit.
That's really what we're allabout here.
Just admiring other people'swork and being inspired by what
(51:14):
they do.
So once again, thank you somuch.
It's been a really big pleasurefor me to talk to you today.
Thank you for having me,Brittany.
All right.
Once again, that was Andy fromO&Y Studio.
You definitely want to find heron Instagram.
Look at her amazing work so youcan put a visual to what you
just heard.
I think it'll blow your mind.
(51:36):
And you can find all of herinformation, where you can see
her stuff, where you can findher on Instagram.
You can find that over on theshow notes page, which once
again for this episode isbehooped.com slash 132.
I would really love to hearfrom you on this one and see if
you have tried blending thesetwo together and how it worked
(51:57):
out.
I would love to see somepictures and that sort of thing.
So I'm going to challenge you.
You heard Andy say that she'snot on Twitter and you know that
I'm trying to help thiscommunity see the value in the
conversations that can happenover on Twitter.
So let's start the conversationthere.
Tweet me at bhookedcrochet,B-H-O-O-K-E-D, crochet.
(52:19):
And tell me your experiencewith embroidery and crochet, if
it's something that you've triedbefore.
Or if it's not, just say, hey,I would love to try this.
I really just want to start theconversation about it.
This is something unique andfun and different.
And as you can tell, I'm prettypumped about it.
So tweet me.
I would love to hear that.
(52:39):
And if you're not on Twitterand you don't want to create
another social account, noworries.
There's a comment section onthe show notes page.
And just tweet.
Talk to me there.
I'm right here on the otherside of the keyboard and I
really do love to connect withyou.
It's one of the only ways thatI have as a podcaster to really
(53:01):
communicate with you.
So head over to the show notespage.
We can chat there and we canchat on Twitter.
Lastly, before I go, I want tolet you know that today's
episode was brought to you by myblueprint course, Tunisian
Crochet for Beginners.
Now, you've heard me talk aboutthis course before and why I
got into Tunisian crochet in thefirst place.
(53:22):
It's something that I reallylove to do to shake things up.
You might know that that's acommon theme.
I love to crochet.
I love to knit.
I always go back to those twothings.
But every now and then I wakeup on a Sunday morning and I
just get this urge to trysomething a little different.
I'm sure that's how embroideryis going to play its role in my
life here in the very nearfuture.
(53:43):
But let's say you're wanting totry a different form of
crochet.
Tunisian crochet is so muchfun, it's completely unique, and
it's sort of a hybrid betweencrochet and knitting.
So let's say you crochet andyou just don't knit.
You don't get it, you hate it,whatever the case may be, but
(54:05):
you like the way knittingstitches look.
Well, if that's the case,Tunisian crochet will be your
best friend because you cancreate a lot of stitches with
Tunisian crochet that you cancreate with knitting.
So what I did was I teamed upwith Blueprint, which is
formerly known as Craftsy, tocreate a completely beginner's
(54:26):
course to Tunisian crochet.
We cover all the basics likethe different hooks that you'll
need to use.
And of course, I like to teachby doing.
So I created three completelybeginner projects.
I walk you through all three ofthose projects in the course.
So if you want to learn moreabout Tunisian crochet for
beginners, exactly what'sincluded in that course, and
(54:48):
maybe take part in it, just headover to bhooked.com slash tcfb.
That'll redirect you toBlueprint's page where you can
find all that information aboutthe course.
And I can't wait to see youthere.
I'm...
I'll be able to interact withyou, answer your questions, and
that sort of thing as you're astudent of my course.
(55:08):
So that link, once again, isBeHooked.com slash TCFB.
All right, now that'll wrap upthis week's episode of the Be
Hooked podcast.
If you haven't subscribed tothe show already, go ahead and
do that now in your podcastplayer.
I have a couple of reallyamazing episodes, some new
guests that are on the show thathave never been here before,
(55:29):
talking about some of your oldfavorite topics, but then a
couple of new ones as well.
So subscribe if you haven'tdone so already.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Experiment with embroidery andcrochet.
And I'll see you later, friend.
Bye-bye.
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