Stitch doodling embroidery from the book The Big-Ass book of Home Decor

How the crafty planets collided in my world today.
I had a bunch of these plain black skirts that were just screaming for some embellishment and I had the new book The Big-Ass book of Home Decor full of great ideas that were on my "to try" list. Within seconds the plan was formed. I would try the "stitch doodle" technique pictured here as a butterfly motif. I'm not too much of a butterfly girl, I'm more of a jackalope type.

So I put the skirt on to figure out where I wanted my jackalope to be. (You can see the dressmaker's chalk square still there a bit in the lower photo)

Then I printed out my jackalope image to size and cut it out.

I traced the image onto the skirt again using the dressmaker's chalk.

Then all that was left to do was two laps around the outline with some white thread in the machine. Once the dressmaker's chalk is brushed off it will be a bit more crisp but I like the imperfect look. Really doable by every type of sewer I think. Oh, and fast!

More about
The Big-Ass book of Home Decor:
More than 100 Inventive Projects for Cool Homes Like Yours
By
Mark Montano
from the publisher Stewart, Tabori & Chang

"You have a problem. Your current home “décor” is ugly, shabby, and boring, but you can’t afford lots of new stuff. Or maybe your house is filled with tired old junk that you just can’t bear to throw away. Or maybe you bought all your furniture at a big box store, but it irritates you that it all looks like you bought it there.

You have a solution—or, rather, a whole houseful of solutions. In this newest Big-Ass Book, do-it-yourself guru Mark Montano presents 105 practical, simple, and decidedly unboring projects for every space in your home. Montano’s wizardry—accomplished with masking tape, spray paint, and glue—transforms everything from accessories, to walls and windows, to lighting, to major pieces like headboards, tables, dressers, and chairs. (And there’s even a chapter on turning the anonymous items you got at IKEA into one-of-a-kind treasures.)

About the Author
Mark Montano is a designer and well-known host on TLC’s While You Were Out and 10 Years Younger, We’s She’s Moving In, and Style Network’s My Celebrity Home. He is the author of CosmoGIRL Cool Room, The Big-Ass Book of Crafts, Super Suite, and Dollar Store Décor. Montano is based in Los Angeles and New York."