A Literary Embroidery Stitch Along

A Literary Embroidery Stitch Along

A literary embroidery stitch-along

It’s been a while since I started a new project, but when I heard about this SAL, I immediately knew it was something I wanted to do.

What is an embroidery SAL exactly? The word SAL is an acronym for the phrase “Stitch Along“, and it is an online embroidery project that is being stitched simultaneously by many stitchers, who share and compare their progress online. The pattern for a SAL is broken down and released in successive parts, the design only becoming complete once the last part is revealed.

A stitch-along is often coordinated by the pattern designer, who regularly shares live streams or photos of his/her progress on each part of the pattern, so anyone who joined the SAL can follow along with them and the rest of the group. There is usually enough time between two releases for the participants to finish that particular section before they need to move on to the next.

About this SAL

The SAL I decided to join is being run by Nichole and Teresa in their Snarky & Modern private Facebook group, and they have 5 bookmark designs to stitch. Every bookmark is inspired by a different literary genre, so if you happen to have a soft spot for books, do consider joining this SAL.

By the end you’ll have five beautiful, embroidered bookmarks for your favorite books in the following genres:

  • Romance/Drama,
  • Thriller/Horror,
  • (yet to be revealed)
  • Fantasy
  • Sci-fi

Each design will be released every other week, along with stitch instructions, how-to guides/videos.


First Bookmark: Romance

The SAL kicked off with the Romance genre, and I already traced my pattern & selected my colors.

The color palette I originally decided upon was Luminous Canvas, SPA0588 with a few additional colors needed for the leaves & building:

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However, I soon realized these are simply too many colors for this small design, so I used another stitch palette instead, White Queen Caladium. Here’s a picture of my final color choice:

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There were no clear instructions on how to actually back this bookmark, but I wanted it to have a solid grip, with the fabric pulled tight. So I stretched my fabric around a piece of heavy-duty cardboard, and voilá:

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I love how this turned out! Its size makes it perfect for medium to large sized books, and it’s not too bulky to push the pages apart too much.

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To be honest I’m more of a sci-fi fan than traditional Romance (I can’t wait to stitch that one), but if you know of an excellent read that’s not too cheesy do let me know in the comments!

Now on to the next one!


I’ll keep this post updated with my progress so do come back next week to see how this turns out. And of course if you’d like to join, you can always do so in the Snarky & Modern private Facebook group.

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