My great grandmother hand-sewed dozens of these "chicken scratch" aprons, though I just now learned that is what her embroidery style is called. They have been worn and handed down so many times. Each one is different. My grandma wore them and then handed some down to her daughters and daughter-in-love, then I scored big-time and got a small stack of them (including some white eyelet with white satin ribbon tied "dress aprons" 🥰 Then when my grandmother was going through some boxes, she found one that her mother had cut and embroidered the pieces for, but not assembled (she died back in '92). Knowing that my daughter and I both especially love the homemaking arts AND family heirlooms, she sent it on. So, my daughter got to assemble and put in her own hope chest the apron that her great-great-grandmother had begun decades before she was even born! 😍 How many girls have such a treasure, especially these days???
Thank you for this video. My mom has a quilt with this kind of stitching on it from her granny. It's been well loved and a lot of the stitches have come loose. I'm a beginner at embroidery work and had no idea on how it was made and how to fix it but now I know what to look for to try and repair it!
printed gingham is a lie. you think the lines are straight, but they were only straight at the time at the time it was printed. dyed in the yarn gingham for the win.
But embracing the crookedness of printed gigham could result in some cool creative whimsy! But yes, always a good idea to know which one you've got, because it can make a difference in your final product!
@@ColorwaveCraftsCountil I saw this, I thought that printed version only appeared on really cheap Dollar store type doo dads. Had no idea it would be sold as yardage or that anyone would purchase! Jeez, quality is going downwards in every arena of life and trouble is, young un’s don’t know it wasn’t always so tatty.
My mom did this kind of embroidery exclusively. She used crochet cotton, mostly black and white, but I still have the quilt she made for me when I was a young girl that’s pink gingham. The chicken scratch squares are centred with a purple flower.
I'm not someone who uses gingham but now I am inspired to make a tablecloth using chicken scratch. Thanks Charlie, I really did not need another project. 😄
You totally should! It's easier to do than it looks! Having a little portable project to work on while waiting for a doctor's appointment or the kids in the school's pickup line gives me such a feeling of accomplishment. Instead of thinking: this waiting is such a waste of time! Now I think: yes! I get to work on my project! 💕🌞🌵😷
My mum is a stitcher, and she got me addicted to chicken scratch when I was 10 - navy and white gingham with red thread, chef's kiss! I've forgotten about it over the last 30 years, might give it another go!!!! ❤
I have, within the past year, started a crazy quilt bag with embroidery on it, and I there is a strip of gingham that has 1/16th of an inch squares on it so decided to try my hand at chicken scratch. I started out as a cross-stitcher and thought "This won't be that hard." Famous last words. I am using a single strand of thread for most of it with a really tiny needle because the standard cross-stitch needle was difficult to maneuver and manipulate the fabric. I do enjoy it though. I am doing the more modern style of chicken scratch (more colored threads and floral motifs) and am enjoying how it is looking. However, I wish it was a larger square size because it is a pain, but it is what I have on had. All the fabric I am using came from my grandpa who thinks most of the fabric came from his grandmother (definitely some 1930s and 1940s fabric in there) and the rest from my grandma (his wife). Also, for gingham fabric, there is printed gingham and woven gingham. Printed gingham usual is more rectangular, whereas the woven gingham is square because it is the same number of threads going horizontally and vertically through the fabric in both colors (how the gingham pattern was originally made). It looked like most of the gingham you used was the printed kind, so it will be a little longer one way over the other. If it doesn't bother you though, you do you and it will be just fine. Thank you for the videos and keep up the good work!
this video couldn't have come out at a better time, i was just given a bunch of fabric from my grandma and one of the pieces included was a large piece with what i thought was just unfinished cross-stitch details on a large piece of red gingham fabric but after seeing this its very apparent its actually chicken scratch! hopefully i'll be able to finish it and surprise my grandma!
Your video has intrigued me enough that I may actually try chicken scratch this winter. I am a 74-year-old stitcher that never tried chicken scratch in the 70s and 80s. I love crewel embroidery, embroidery, cross stitch, needlepoint and have never attempted chicken scratch. These old eyes can no longer do cross stitch in front of the tv. I need a large LED floor magnifier light, enough lighting to guide in airplanes, and a floor frame because of arthritis. There is not enough space in the LR for all of that. This might be something I could do with one good light and the large gingham. And I vote for red work embroidery. I think you will love it.
I'm sorry you can't do cross-stitch in front of the TV anymore, but may you find great success in trying chicken scratch! I've only ever done cross-stitch before, but thus looks super fun!
@@kathrynrowland5165Thank you for your kind comments. I am presently teaching a 7-.year-old granddaughter to cross stitch. Thank goodness for 6-count Aida. My sewing area is set up in my bedroom. I could work on chicken scratch while helping her with her sewing in the LR. I could rejoin the family in the evening😁.
I love red work! Do you mean doing that in regular embroidery? I think I love it since you don't usually fill in every space but use a lot of outline stitches. I also have 70+ eyes. 😊
@@kayherstedt6618 I remember the embroidery of ‘pictures’ (Sunbonnet Sue, flowers, etc) in squares and then combine with red squares and create a redwork quilt. I remember my mother doing pillow cases with redwork. Always so beautiful. Pinterest has some gorgeous examples. Maybe that is something I need to put back on my possible to-do list.
For the depression-lace name, I'd argue it may also tie to the fact that chicken feed sacks were being printed with pretty patterns and used for clothing. Some of those pretty patterns were surely checkerboard/gingham like.
I did some Chicken Scratch embroidery back in the '80s and I still have some of the patterns. I really like the way that people are updating the patterns and mixing the colors of the thread. Love how the skirt came out. I may try my hand at it again.
I love chicken scratch because it brings up a sweet memory. My mother did chicken scratch borders on the skirts of Easter dresses for me, my 4 sisters, and herself. She did white on lavendar gingham.
Oh my, this was so cute!!! Love all the different samples you made. And then final skirt and pinafore is adorable! So glad no one confiscated your embroidery needles!
I was thinking about the scissors. How do you get through with them in a bag? Mind you, I've never been on a plane before, but I've heard all the nightmares.
@@GOGOSLIFEScissors smaller than four inches are allowed. As are needles and knitting needles. (At least within the US and UK, haven’t tried taking knitting and notions with me to other places.)
This is a great video and the comments are great as well. When I learned about Chicken Scratch back in the 60s, I was taught to use floss that matches the color in the fabrics, rather than white.
My aunt taught my mom,my sister and I how to do this when we went to visit her on vacation once. She used pearl cotton rather than regular embroidery floss. It turned out beautifully.
This really brings back some fond childhood memories of my mum doing this on everything from tablecloths to aprons to my cute lil girly dresses in the days when she hand made most of my clothes. I did a little bit when my first daughter was born, and i JUST found a couple of works in progress in little project boxes at the back of my closet. It's so satisfying and relatively quick and easy. Have fun with it!
My great-grandmother Irene embroidered a whole lot of gingham aprons in this style. I inherited a lot of them, along with her patterns hand-drawn on newspapers printed in the 1930's. So these were all normal for me. Later, i studied textiles in college where I learned that the definition of real gingham fabric is that it's yarn-dyed and has the same size yarn used in warp and weft. This means both sides are identical and fully reversible.
I have always used Perle cotton for this type of embroidery. It is less likely to snag than stranded floss. Mum had a number of aprons, and a black and white 1/4" woven black and white gingham tablecloth with red ricrac braid at the edges.
I don’t know if its related to chicken scratch but I remember this older lady showing me some gingham tea towels her mother had worked on. It involved removing threads from certain rows to create a lacy effect. Some of the threads were bunched together by embroidery thread as well. I never discovered what the style was called.
I've very recently gotten into sewing clothes, but have done needlework since I was a kid. I've never heard of chicken scratch and plan on trying it on the neckline of a house dress I'm planning.
I have not done this for over forty years. You hooked me. My kitchen table needs a new tablecloth. Just have to buy some fabric to match the gingham trimmed embroidered curtains. Placemats? See, I’m hooked. And I was going to give a great-niece all my embroidery stash!
Pretty skirt, I like the pockets 😍 I have to try this. I’ve been thinking about making some hankies, trying to cut out wasteful stuff like Kleenex. This would make a cute trim and be lots of practice, like making an old fashioned sampler. My granddaughter wants to learn to sew 🤔 a hem stitch is good to learn.
Woven gingham will be the same on both sides, front and back. The red fabric you have seems to be darker on the front than the back indicating that it is printed, in which case there is no guarantee that the checks are square on the fabric.
I had no idea chicken scratch was so cute! Also appreciate you partnering with relevant sponsors. I'm already on skillshare and I love it! I'd be interested in learning more about blackwork. Thanks for another great video Charlie!
I love the red vs white treat/ flower patern comparision you did on the red gingham. The red one looks so elegant 💖 almost looks like redwork/whitework/blackwork style
It surprised me when I first learned 'chicken scratch' meant something you feed to chickens, rather than the markings their claws leave in dirt while looking for seeds and grubs. One time on a road trip, my family passed a small farm and one of the chickens was running around in a very comical way, and Mom said if she ever opened a restaurant, she'd call it "The Running Chicken". I did not know people embroidered gingham! I knew the grid can be useful as built-in markings for smocking or pleats, but somehow embroidering it never occurred to me.
Chicken scratch was the first non-cross-stitch embroidery I learned! It's been years since I've done it, though! I love the way the stitching can change how pronounced the checkered pattern of the gingham is, and choosing which stitches you use can completely change the look of the project. ETA: Also, now I want to see what smocking on gingham looks like. Take all the tedious measuring and marking out of the smocking prep. The no-counting convenience works in several fabric embellishment methods!
I really want to come up with a pattern that has an odd repeat, so sometimes the dark squares are covered and sometimes the light squares are covered, turning the stripes into wider stripes... (Unfortunately I am a chronic UFO hoarder and my SO mayyyy scream if I start another unrelated project...)
I had a dress and skirt with this when I was a young teenager, made by my grandmother. I still have a couple of half aprons she made with this back then. She also did embroidery on huck toweling fabric.
Great experiment on chicken scratch. The skirt rurned out very, very cute 😊 Took a Sashiko project with me for traveling and it was great. Was a great break whenever needed and fitted perfectly in every bag. May I suggest another sort of needle work to you for which I would love to see your take on it. It's called Temari balls and you make balls from fabric- and yarnscraps (I put them in old socks once), wrap yarn around it until it has a relatively round shape an smooth surface and then you stitch mostly geometric patterns on them. Could imagine them as christmas ornaments. Also sometimes they include a little bell and a wish (written on a small piece of paper) inside which I find absolutely freaking adorable. But whatever sort of stitching you explore, it always is a great pleasure following along ❤
I love the "of course I have to take a new travel project with me..." idea. I was just on vacation with my family, and of course had to take one of EACH of my easy-to-travel past times. Knitting, crochet, embroidery.... I did opt to just pick embroidery and NOT cross stitch too. 😆 It's nice to have things to work on, and a variety of things to chose from.
It's definitely trying being unable to find online information for different niche fiber arts, but there's something really validating in a weird way. People assume the entire sum of human knowledge is contained on servers now, but we know it is not! I found very barebones information on the history of tablet weaving for class and had to request book transfers from a different university library. When I feel overwhelmed by the ubiquity of internet information, it's nice to know some things you can really only research in the meatspace
OMG, I have been on a chicken scratch mission this year, mainly because my grandmother always had these on her table. This was perfectly well timed. Fabulous thank you and greetings from Australia 🇦🇺🐨
love this idea! I think cutting some scraps of gingham into smaller squares to do some samplers. Then patchworking that into a skirt. that said, please think about using gores for your circle skirts. I have a 55" waist and can make a 1/2 circle skirt out of 3 yards of fabric. I self drafted the gore pattern on a dressmaker's board thing (the fold up kind with all the circles).
When I saw the gingham needlework in your travel blog, I was hoping we’d get treated to this video! I love the yellow gingham with the white, purple, and green, I’ve got a similar color scheme happening in my bedroom. It reminds me of grassy meadows in the Midwest. I always like the idea of chicken scratch but I was hard core into cross stitch for a long time and I get really tense about my x-stitches looking uneven in chicken scratch. Maybe one day I’ll be able to relax about it. 😁
I found a black/grey/white gingham handmade vintage waist apron (a classic half apron with one pocket, nothing fancy) at a really rad thrift shop that has this style of stitching on it, and was enamored with examining the stitching and the effects of a single color thread on the different color squares... I had no idea it had a name and now I do, thank you!! 🪡🧵
Thank you for showing the closures. I wondered if hook and loop would work for detachable pieces since I don't like buttons. The final piece was so cute and your face with the petticoat was priceless.
As someone who stitches on both trains and buses every day of her life (gotta love commuting!), I have to say that stitching on a train is much easier than a bus. If you're going to attempt this, don't choose something requiring a high degree of precision on a bus- the ride is too bumpy for that. It's going to come out a little wonky no matter how hard you try. Subway train, on the other hand, that's smooth enough to do whatever you want. (Plus you attract all kinds of crafty people doing handwork in public. I highly recommend it.) That, and as an aside to the Toronto Transit Commission, all your passengers would be nicer if there was free champagne on board.
I have several gingham pieces, including a half apron, that my great aunt embroidered in the 1950s. My local JoAnn has no woven gingham, just some cheap-looking gingham prints in the quilt fabrics.
To add to the chicken scratch meanings , it is also a drawing /sketching technique where similar to the doctors handwriting you make small not very clear lines to get down the idea and make the drawing more dynamic and give you room to later redefine the drawing But anyways , it’s so cool how the stitching changes the way the colors on the fabric look ! I’ve only recently been getting into cross-stitching cause I’ve found an unfinished project my grandfather started and want to finish it to gift to my mother , and having your video in the background helped me get a good chunk going so thank you for the entertainment and new technique i could use after finishing this piece :)
I really really need to try this, it's so pretty!! I was planning on making a gingham skirt and a gingham dress soon, so... yeah. Great timing, thank you!!
This reminds me so much of my first sewing project in Home Ec in the mid '70's. I made a yellow gingham apron with white rick rack. I wonder what happened to it? Hmmmm. Anywho, loved the lessons. Glad you're home safe.
I actually have a chicken scratch project from my grandma’s stash of stuff. I also wonder how to make it and it’s kind of in my next projects spot, so I might have to give it a try. I also think you should try crazy quilt next, I think it too would be fun to try.
Charlie, you are so freakin' ADORABLE! And I absolutely LOVE this skirt and pinafore. A younger me could have ROCKED IT, and I've been doing chicken scratch since I was a teen, but always on quilt blocks and pillow cases. I don't know why I never thought to do anything else, lol, oh well.
Overall I like the white or self-color ones best too, but that purple-and-green combo with the white looks so charming! It's all surprisingly pretty for such a relatively simple technique, and one I might actually do as an embellishment one day... perhaps on a quilt? T-shirt pockets? I don't embroider or the like, but I will also watch every single one of any of those videos you make. I may have (most. definitely. did.) applaud at the promise of home improvement, and also may have (no comment) laughed like a 12-y-o boy at the fart noise. You know your audience.
Chicken Scratch reminds me of the blue and white gingham apron I was required to make (for a grade in Home Economics back in High School). The embroidery pattern I had to do on the apron was called "Chicken Scratch". My mother took the apron from me, after it was graded by my teacher (and I never saw it again). I never made another one; because, I didn't enjoy making that required one. I did get an "A' for that apron. My mother may have gifted that apron to one of her Pen Pals.
Years ago my mom sewed me and my 3 sisters Easter dresses in green and white gingham with embroidered chicken scratch tulips on the pockets. I have done a lot of embroidery but have not tried chicken scratch. Thanks for the inspiration, I may have to make a dress for my granddaughter.
That all looks amazing! It’s so much more than I thought it would be. Way back when I was in high school home economics we did a simple cross stitch pattern on our apron pockets. It looked cute but I like yours much better!
Yellow isn't a colour I generally like, but this skirt/pinafore with the embroidered pockets, is absolutely stunning. Another brilliant piece from a very talented lady.
My grandmother, who was a Depression Era mother (born in 1895), taught me how to do this in the '60's - I was very young. She maintained that it was done with mercerized thread so that it would last - also, it was far less expensive than floss. As the Depression passed, and there was a bit more money, she used crochet thread, but that, too, was lavish o her - even though she loved the different look it gave.
The fact you don't just make doll clothes with all these techniques is interesting. Doll project benefits: 1. Scaled down projects-getting bored of a specific kind of stitch pattern? Dolls are small. 2. Display opportunities- you can. Make a ton of tiny projects and display them all on dolls. You can get cheap dolls from any goodwill or thrift store. 3. Pattern testing- tired of mock ups when you're trying something you're unsure will work? Mock up a doll size. Anyway. This was amazing. Thanks for the video
I bought a few patterns for my daughter’s American girl doll. Might be fun to make a few things with gingham fabric. Cool idea, get some practice for bigger projects 😊
I just bought several doll clothes patterns on a local Facebook Marketplace cheap. Some were never cut. I wanted the pattern paper for collage but might make a small item to try out chicken scratch.
My husbands grandmother was amazing at smocking, so all the grandkids and even some great grandkids (mine included) got gorgeous smocked pieces. She’s now 100 so it’s beyond her capabilities now. However this feels like something I’d love to do for the little great grandkids that don’t have pieces, especially one little great grand daughter that LOVES classic-feeling dresses. Thanks for the inspiration!
During WWII they put fabric like gingham on feed bags knowing the owner would save every scrap, iron it and it would be cherished and made eventually into clothes ( not unlike yours ). Great job. 🇨🇦
Oooh, i love this! Never heard of that embroidery technique, but I'm also not that much into it. But I immediately thought about a tiered skirt. I had one like 10 years ago, and at the bottom of each tier, there was a stripe of embroider anglaise fabric added (and the ruffled next tier was sewn onto the bottom of that), which gave the skirt an even more summary look. I think the next time i can go to the fabric shop, i will look out for a nice gingham fabric (black or red or black AND red) and a similar cotton fabric in black, and add embroidered stripes of gingham at the bottom of the tiers of the skirts. And i will go and google now how to do the exact pattern on your red gingham cause i love it.
Thx for trying. Now I can add it to my list aswell. Not into squared fabrick, but these make it look nice, less squared and easy stitches witout counting. Crosstitch I don't like due to the counting. Think this will help me create nice things to sell for charity and remain doable when my autistic brain gives out.
I've been wanting to try embroidering on gingham ever since I saw a sashiko channel use it instead of making a grid. The comment section on that video is in fact where I learned about "Chicken Scratch" in general. 19:17 - Those colors with that design hit me over the head with nostalgia. That's Easter, right there. (Agree that it's not something I'd prefer day-to-day, though)
somewhere I have a Chicken Scratch project partially finished. I think I'll go dig that out and work on it. Thank you for reminding me how fun this style of embroidery is :)
I have a blue gingham apron that has this and some other types of thread work that my grandmother made as a teenager in the 1930s. It's truly my favorite apron, therefore, it never gets used, but I look at it every day.
Lovely, I made a gathered gingham skirt at the end of summer a year ago. Don't know if it qualifies as chicken scratch. Embroidered a row of mixed colors above the hem using a counted crossstich pattern for flowers every one is a different color with different colors for the stem ,leaves as well as the flower. Quick and easy using what I had left from making a gingham dress for my daughter, the gingham was enough to cut a front and back with a length of 26 inches from 42 inch width and a waist band. Also a side pocket from scrap from cutting the dress. Took very little time for my take on a vintage inspired skirt. ❤ you ideas and take on your self designed wardrobe. Almost 73 yo and truly enjoy watching your adventures every week whether sewing or home improvement.
Your skirt sounds amazing. I love gingham because my mum made me play dresses and pinafores from all shades of gingham - I got to choose the fabric and despite the no doubt pretty patterns, I always chose gingham. I've just started an EPP project but I'm sure I could squeeze another one in! Happy stitching :)
I learned the chicken scratch embroidery when I was in grade 7 home ec. We did make an apron for our Moms for mothers day. I love all of the variation in yours and your skirt, pinafore and your adorable Pupster.
My great grandmother hand-sewed dozens of these "chicken scratch" aprons, though I just now learned that is what her embroidery style is called. They have been worn and handed down so many times. Each one is different. My grandma wore them and then handed some down to her daughters and daughter-in-love, then I scored big-time and got a small stack of them (including some white eyelet with white satin ribbon tied "dress aprons" 🥰 Then when my grandmother was going through some boxes, she found one that her mother had cut and embroidered the pieces for, but not assembled (she died back in '92). Knowing that my daughter and I both especially love the homemaking arts AND family heirlooms, she sent it on. So, my daughter got to assemble and put in her own hope chest the apron that her great-great-grandmother had begun decades before she was even born! 😍 How many girls have such a treasure, especially these days???
Petition to call a "double cross-stitch" a "betrayal stitch" 😂
Thank you for this video. My mom has a quilt with this kind of stitching on it from her granny. It's been well loved and a lot of the stitches have come loose. I'm a beginner at embroidery work and had no idea on how it was made and how to fix it but now I know what to look for to try and repair it!
best of luck on the repairs. take lots of pictures. the fabric could be weak.
printed gingham is a lie. you think the lines are straight, but they were only straight at the time at the time it was printed. dyed in the yarn gingham for the win.
Printed also just looks cheap
But embracing the crookedness of printed gigham could result in some cool creative whimsy! But yes, always a good idea to know which one you've got, because it can make a difference in your final product!
Yes!! This is SUPER important for accuracy!!
@@ColorwaveCraftsCountil I saw this, I thought that printed version only appeared on really cheap Dollar store type doo dads. Had no idea it would be sold as yardage or that anyone would purchase! Jeez, quality is going downwards in every arena of life and trouble is, young un’s don’t know it wasn’t always so tatty.
My mom did this kind of embroidery exclusively. She used crochet cotton, mostly black and white, but I still have the quilt she made for me when I was a young girl that’s pink gingham. The chicken scratch squares are centred with a purple flower.
I'm not someone who uses gingham but now I am inspired to make a tablecloth using chicken scratch. Thanks Charlie, I really did not need another project. 😄
Awww cmon! Crafts are like Pokemon - gotta catch em ALL!
@@jo-annewoerle3390, a tablecloth is a great idea! I would never wear gingham, but a tablecloth would be perfect 👍
I love how the embroidery takes gingham to something completely not gingham looking. I've never tried embroidery but now I'm tempted.
Same here!
You totally should! It's easier to do than it looks! Having a little portable project to work on while waiting for a doctor's appointment or the kids in the school's pickup line gives me such a feeling of accomplishment. Instead of thinking: this waiting is such a waste of time! Now I think: yes! I get to work on my project! 💕🌞🌵😷
@@suzisaintjames I agree, I always read eBooks on my phone or knit socks in those situations.
Embroidery is so much fun
Going strait from 50s Diner Girl, to Square Dancing with a petticoat, to The Sound of Music with the pinafor added. 😆
Yes!! It made me think of Judy Garland in Easter Parade when she puts on the pinafore to go from showgirl to farm girl in the bar at the beginning!
My mum is a stitcher, and she got me addicted to chicken scratch when I was 10 - navy and white gingham with red thread, chef's kiss! I've forgotten about it over the last 30 years, might give it another go!!!! ❤
Sounds beautiful!
I have, within the past year, started a crazy quilt bag with embroidery on it, and I there is a strip of gingham that has 1/16th of an inch squares on it so decided to try my hand at chicken scratch. I started out as a cross-stitcher and thought "This won't be that hard." Famous last words. I am using a single strand of thread for most of it with a really tiny needle because the standard cross-stitch needle was difficult to maneuver and manipulate the fabric. I do enjoy it though. I am doing the more modern style of chicken scratch (more colored threads and floral motifs) and am enjoying how it is looking. However, I wish it was a larger square size because it is a pain, but it is what I have on had. All the fabric I am using came from my grandpa who thinks most of the fabric came from his grandmother (definitely some 1930s and 1940s fabric in there) and the rest from my grandma (his wife).
Also, for gingham fabric, there is printed gingham and woven gingham. Printed gingham usual is more rectangular, whereas the woven gingham is square because it is the same number of threads going horizontally and vertically through the fabric in both colors (how the gingham pattern was originally made). It looked like most of the gingham you used was the printed kind, so it will be a little longer one way over the other. If it doesn't bother you though, you do you and it will be just fine.
Thank you for the videos and keep up the good work!
this video couldn't have come out at a better time, i was just given a bunch of fabric from my grandma and one of the pieces included was a large piece with what i thought was just unfinished cross-stitch details on a large piece of red gingham fabric but after seeing this its very apparent its actually chicken scratch! hopefully i'll be able to finish it and surprise my grandma!
Your video has intrigued me enough that I may actually try chicken scratch this winter. I am a 74-year-old stitcher that never tried chicken scratch in the 70s and 80s. I love crewel embroidery, embroidery, cross stitch, needlepoint and have never attempted chicken scratch. These old eyes can no longer do cross stitch in front of the tv. I need a large LED floor magnifier light, enough lighting to guide in airplanes, and a floor frame because of arthritis. There is not enough space in the LR for all of that. This might be something I could do with one good light and the large gingham. And I vote for red work embroidery. I think you will love it.
I'm sorry you can't do cross-stitch in front of the TV anymore, but may you find great success in trying chicken scratch! I've only ever done cross-stitch before, but thus looks super fun!
I'm 73 and doing it again after about 60 yrs. Despite the fact that my embroidery guild friends turn up their noses at it, I think it's fun!
@@kathrynrowland5165Thank you for your kind comments. I am presently teaching a 7-.year-old granddaughter to cross stitch. Thank goodness for 6-count Aida. My sewing area is set up in my bedroom. I could work on chicken scratch while helping her with her sewing in the LR. I could rejoin the family in the evening😁.
I love red work! Do you mean doing that in regular embroidery? I think I love it since you don't usually fill in every space but use a lot of outline stitches. I also have 70+ eyes. 😊
@@kayherstedt6618 I remember the embroidery of ‘pictures’ (Sunbonnet Sue, flowers, etc) in squares and then combine with red squares and create a redwork quilt. I remember my mother doing pillow cases with redwork. Always so beautiful. Pinterest has some gorgeous examples. Maybe that is something I need to put back on my possible to-do list.
For the depression-lace name, I'd argue it may also tie to the fact that chicken feed sacks were being printed with pretty patterns and used for clothing. Some of those pretty patterns were surely checkerboard/gingham like.
I did some Chicken Scratch embroidery back in the '80s and I still have some of the patterns. I really like the way that people are updating the patterns and mixing the colors of the thread. Love how the skirt came out. I may try my hand at it again.
I love the idea of using this style on a plain black fabric that I've drawn a grid on!!!
I was thinking the same!!
That sounds like it could be really fun!
Ooooh, yes!
Clever idea!👍🤓😍
The all-white version really appeals to me, because it looks so much like lace! Just beautiful stuff.
I love chicken scratch because it brings up a sweet memory. My mother did chicken scratch borders on the skirts of Easter dresses for me, my 4 sisters, and herself. She did white on lavendar gingham.
Oh my, this was so cute!!! Love all the different samples you made. And then final skirt and pinafore is adorable! So glad no one confiscated your embroidery needles!
I was thinking about the scissors. How do you get through with them in a bag? Mind you, I've never been on a plane before, but I've heard all the nightmares.
@@GOGOSLIFEScissors smaller than four inches are allowed. As are needles and knitting needles. (At least within the US and UK, haven’t tried taking knitting and notions with me to other places.)
Knitting needles are allowed. I was able to put mine in my carry on along with a pair of small folding scissors.
Crochet hooks are allowed as well. They may seem different, but have you seen a steel crochet hook?
@knotcoppercurls had knitting needles taken in South Africa and Israel, and even small scissors at OR Tambo
This is a great video and the comments are great as well. When I learned about Chicken Scratch back in the 60s, I was taught to use floss that matches the color in the fabrics, rather than white.
That can create some fun variations!
My aunt taught my mom,my sister and I how to do this when we went to visit her on vacation once. She used pearl cotton rather than regular embroidery floss. It turned out beautifully.
My grandmother taught me and she also used Pearl cotton.
I have tons of crochet thread and wondered if it could be used for this. Might it.shrink though?
This really brings back some fond childhood memories of my mum doing this on everything from tablecloths to aprons to my cute lil girly dresses in the days when she hand made most of my clothes. I did a little bit when my first daughter was born, and i JUST found a couple of works in progress in little project boxes at the back of my closet. It's so satisfying and relatively quick and easy. Have fun with it!
My great-grandmother Irene embroidered a whole lot of gingham aprons in this style. I inherited a lot of them, along with her patterns hand-drawn on newspapers printed in the 1930's. So these were all normal for me. Later, i studied textiles in college where I learned that the definition of real gingham fabric is that it's yarn-dyed and has the same size yarn used in warp and weft. This means both sides are identical and fully reversible.
And precisely square.
I have always used Perle cotton for this type of embroidery. It is less likely to snag than stranded floss. Mum had a number of aprons, and a black and white 1/4" woven black and white gingham tablecloth with red ricrac braid at the edges.
I don’t know if its related to chicken scratch but I remember this older lady showing me some gingham tea towels her mother had worked on. It involved removing threads from certain rows to create a lacy effect. Some of the threads were bunched together by embroidery thread as well. I never discovered what the style was called.
It is called Hardanger.
I've very recently gotten into sewing clothes, but have done needlework since I was a kid. I've never heard of chicken scratch and plan on trying it on the neckline of a house dress I'm planning.
I have not done this for over forty years. You hooked me. My kitchen table needs a new tablecloth. Just have to buy some fabric to match the gingham trimmed embroidered curtains. Placemats? See, I’m hooked. And I was going to give a great-niece all my embroidery stash!
Poor greatniece! Robbed of an embroidery stash by Charlie!
I really should be getting chores done. But, ... New video from Charlie 🎉
Agree! She is sooooo… much FUN to watch and listen to, also creatively talented and informative. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🙃
Silk ribbon embroidery! Can be simple and elegant or like a painting. ! 🥰🤗
Pretty skirt, I like the pockets 😍 I have to try this. I’ve been thinking about making some hankies, trying to cut out wasteful stuff like Kleenex. This would make a cute trim and be lots of practice, like making an old fashioned sampler. My granddaughter wants to learn to sew 🤔 a hem stitch is good to learn.
Wow! You're talented! I'm a guy and I enjoyed this vid. I stumbled across it and I like watching people make stuff.
This is so cute! I'm just imaging making a Dorthy Gale Cosplay with Chicken Scratch details? ADORABLE!
Woven gingham will be the same on both sides, front and back. The red fabric you have seems to be darker on the front than the back indicating that it is printed, in which case there is no guarantee that the checks are square on the fabric.
I had no idea chicken scratch was so cute! Also appreciate you partnering with relevant sponsors. I'm already on skillshare and I love it! I'd be interested in learning more about blackwork. Thanks for another great video Charlie!
I love the red vs white treat/ flower patern comparision you did on the red gingham. The red one looks so elegant 💖 almost looks like redwork/whitework/blackwork style
It surprised me when I first learned 'chicken scratch' meant something you feed to chickens, rather than the markings their claws leave in dirt while looking for seeds and grubs. One time on a road trip, my family passed a small farm and one of the chickens was running around in a very comical way, and Mom said if she ever opened a restaurant, she'd call it "The Running Chicken".
I did not know people embroidered gingham! I knew the grid can be useful as built-in markings for smocking or pleats, but somehow embroidering it never occurred to me.
You have inspired me to make kitchen curtains, Just what I need, another hobby...
I LOVE the purple and green with the yellow, it's beautiful! Your skirt and pinafore are gorgeous!
Chicken scratch was the first non-cross-stitch embroidery I learned! It's been years since I've done it, though! I love the way the stitching can change how pronounced the checkered pattern of the gingham is, and choosing which stitches you use can completely change the look of the project.
ETA: Also, now I want to see what smocking on gingham looks like. Take all the tedious measuring and marking out of the smocking prep. The no-counting convenience works in several fabric embellishment methods!
Oooo smocking has been on my list for ages, but smocking on gingham is genius!
@@gettheetothestitchery I bet you could get some interesting effects, like your pleated striped dresses
I really want to come up with a pattern that has an odd repeat, so sometimes the dark squares are covered and sometimes the light squares are covered, turning the stripes into wider stripes... (Unfortunately I am a chronic UFO hoarder and my SO mayyyy scream if I start another unrelated project...)
Fun video. I disagree on one point … I think the best design was the pockets with the purple trim.
I had a dress and skirt with this when I was a young teenager, made by my grandmother. I still have a couple of half aprons she made with this back then.
She also did embroidery on huck toweling fabric.
Great experiment on chicken scratch. The skirt rurned out very, very cute 😊
Took a Sashiko project with me for traveling and it was great. Was a great break whenever needed and fitted perfectly in every bag.
May I suggest another sort of needle work to you for which I would love to see your take on it. It's called Temari balls and you make balls from fabric- and yarnscraps (I put them in old socks once), wrap yarn around it until it has a relatively round shape an smooth surface and then you stitch mostly geometric patterns on them. Could imagine them as christmas ornaments. Also sometimes they include a little bell and a wish (written on a small piece of paper) inside which I find absolutely freaking adorable.
But whatever sort of stitching you explore, it always is a great pleasure following along ❤
I love the "of course I have to take a new travel project with me..." idea. I was just on vacation with my family, and of course had to take one of EACH of my easy-to-travel past times. Knitting, crochet, embroidery.... I did opt to just pick embroidery and NOT cross stitch too. 😆 It's nice to have things to work on, and a variety of things to chose from.
It's definitely trying being unable to find online information for different niche fiber arts, but there's something really validating in a weird way. People assume the entire sum of human knowledge is contained on servers now, but we know it is not! I found very barebones information on the history of tablet weaving for class and had to request book transfers from a different university library. When I feel overwhelmed by the ubiquity of internet information, it's nice to know some things you can really only research in the meatspace
That is a very good way to look at it! It's a whole frontier of research still left for us.
OMG, I have been on a chicken scratch mission this year, mainly because my grandmother always had these on her table. This was perfectly well timed. Fabulous thank you and greetings from Australia 🇦🇺🐨
love this idea! I think cutting some scraps of gingham into smaller squares to do some samplers. Then patchworking that into a skirt.
that said, please think about using gores for your circle skirts. I have a 55" waist and can make a 1/2 circle skirt out of 3 yards of fabric. I self drafted the gore pattern on a dressmaker's board thing (the fold up kind with all the circles).
When I saw the gingham needlework in your travel blog, I was hoping we’d get treated to this video! I love the yellow gingham with the white, purple, and green, I’ve got a similar color scheme happening in my bedroom. It reminds me of grassy meadows in the Midwest. I always like the idea of chicken scratch but I was hard core into cross stitch for a long time and I get really tense about my x-stitches looking uneven in chicken scratch. Maybe one day I’ll be able to relax about it. 😁
I found a black/grey/white gingham handmade vintage waist apron (a classic half apron with one pocket, nothing fancy) at a really rad thrift shop that has this style of stitching on it, and was enamored with examining the stitching and the effects of a single color thread on the different color squares... I had no idea it had a name and now I do, thank you!! 🪡🧵
I made several circle skirts for myself in the late 70’s. One I made reversible. Loved them. So comfortable.
That last toot with the "nice" had me cracking 😂 I was NOT prepared. I love you ♥
I had to replay the ending twice. Like, did she really do that? 😂 😂 😂
I used to make alternate looks for my Raggedy Ann doll, and this whole video put me in that mindset again.
Thank you for showing the closures. I wondered if hook and loop would work for detachable pieces since I don't like buttons. The final piece was so cute and your face with the petticoat was priceless.
As someone who stitches on both trains and buses every day of her life (gotta love commuting!), I have to say that stitching on a train is much easier than a bus. If you're going to attempt this, don't choose something requiring a high degree of precision on a bus- the ride is too bumpy for that. It's going to come out a little wonky no matter how hard you try. Subway train, on the other hand, that's smooth enough to do whatever you want. (Plus you attract all kinds of crafty people doing handwork in public. I highly recommend it.) That, and as an aside to the Toronto Transit Commission, all your passengers would be nicer if there was free champagne on board.
I have several gingham pieces, including a half apron, that my great aunt embroidered in the 1950s.
My local JoAnn has no woven gingham, just some cheap-looking gingham prints in the quilt fabrics.
The squares vs rectangles might also come from woven gingham vs printed gingham.
To add to the chicken scratch meanings , it is also a drawing /sketching technique where similar to the doctors handwriting you make small not very clear lines to get down the idea and make the drawing more dynamic and give you room to later redefine the drawing
But anyways , it’s so cool how the stitching changes the way the colors on the fabric look !
I’ve only recently been getting into cross-stitching cause I’ve found an unfinished project my grandfather started and want to finish it to gift to my mother , and having your video in the background helped me get a good chunk going so thank you for the entertainment and new technique i could use after finishing this piece :)
I love your enthusiasm...your gingham wrapped skirt/pinafore is so pretty, suits you... thank you for bringing a smile to me, love from Scotland xx❤
I love embroidery but never heard of this type before, something new to explore. I love the way your skirt turned out
I really really need to try this, it's so pretty!! I was planning on making a gingham skirt and a gingham dress soon, so... yeah. Great timing, thank you!!
This reminds me so much of my first sewing project in Home Ec in the mid '70's. I made a yellow gingham apron with white rick rack. I wonder what happened to it? Hmmmm. Anywho, loved the lessons. Glad you're home safe.
I actually have a chicken scratch project from my grandma’s stash of stuff. I also wonder how to make it and it’s kind of in my next projects spot, so I might have to give it a try. I also think you should try crazy quilt next, I think it too would be fun to try.
Charlie, you are so freakin' ADORABLE! And I absolutely LOVE this skirt and pinafore. A younger me could have ROCKED IT, and I've been doing chicken scratch since I was a teen, but always on quilt blocks and pillow cases. I don't know why I never thought to do anything else, lol, oh well.
The red gingham designs and colors give me Christmas vibes.
Overall I like the white or self-color ones best too, but that purple-and-green combo with the white looks so charming! It's all surprisingly pretty for such a relatively simple technique, and one I might actually do as an embellishment one day... perhaps on a quilt? T-shirt pockets? I don't embroider or the like, but I will also watch every single one of any of those videos you make.
I may have (most. definitely. did.) applaud at the promise of home improvement, and also may have (no comment) laughed like a 12-y-o boy at the fart noise. You know your audience.
My grandmother used to do chicken scratch often. She typically did her stitching in black though and incorporated animal images.
I love the yellow pinafore.
Omg. Do blackwork next!!!
Oh my goodness. I forgot about this. We used it on aprons and kitchen towels. Also saw it on the hem of square dance dreses.
I've been saving the cotton from pill bottles for a few years now to try out trapunto stitching
Chicken Scratch reminds me of the blue and white gingham apron I was required to make (for a grade in Home Economics back in High School). The embroidery pattern I had to do on the apron was called "Chicken Scratch". My mother took the apron from me, after it was graded by my teacher (and I never saw it again). I never made another one; because, I didn't enjoy making that required one. I did get an "A' for that apron. My mother may have gifted that apron to one of her Pen Pals.
We used to have pillowcases made with this. I’ve also seen a cute tote bag pattern with this kind of embroidery on it.
Years ago my mom sewed me and my 3 sisters Easter dresses in green and white gingham with embroidered chicken scratch tulips on the pockets. I have done a lot of embroidery but have not tried chicken scratch.
Thanks for the inspiration, I may have to make a dress for my granddaughter.
i NEED that skirt, it looks like such a good starting seamstress skirt to make!!
The very first garment I made was a wrap circle skirt - great starting place!
I really enjoyed this new-to-me technique. I also should make an skirt...
This turns out really pretty in an "old school" kind of charm. I am going to try it!
That all looks amazing! It’s so much more than I thought it would be.
Way back when I was in high school home economics we did a simple cross stitch pattern on our apron pockets. It looked cute but I like yours much better!
Yellow isn't a colour I generally like, but this skirt/pinafore with the embroidered pockets, is absolutely stunning. Another brilliant piece from a very talented lady.
I like the little purple butterflies on the blue
My grandmother, who was a Depression Era mother (born in 1895), taught me how to do this in the '60's - I was very young. She maintained that it was done with mercerized thread so that it would last - also, it was far less expensive than floss. As the Depression passed, and there was a bit more money, she used crochet thread, but that, too, was lavish o her - even though she loved the different look it gave.
The fact you don't just make doll clothes with all these techniques is interesting.
Doll project benefits:
1. Scaled down projects-getting bored of a specific kind of stitch pattern? Dolls are small.
2. Display opportunities- you can. Make a ton of tiny projects and display them all on dolls. You can get cheap dolls from any goodwill or thrift store.
3. Pattern testing- tired of mock ups when you're trying something you're unsure will work? Mock up a doll size.
Anyway. This was amazing. Thanks for the video
Why do you think that’s interesting? (/gen)
I think a doll project would be really cool :)
@@VultureSkins I think it's interesting she's not done it/shown it before. I feel like she'd love it.
I bought a few patterns for my daughter’s American girl doll. Might be fun to make a few things with gingham fabric. Cool idea, get some practice for bigger projects 😊
I just bought several doll clothes patterns on a local Facebook Marketplace cheap. Some were never cut. I wanted the pattern paper for collage but might
make a small item to try out chicken scratch.
My husbands grandmother was amazing at smocking, so all the grandkids and even some great grandkids (mine included) got gorgeous smocked pieces. She’s now 100 so it’s beyond her capabilities now. However this feels like something I’d love to do for the little great grandkids that don’t have pieces, especially one little great grand daughter that LOVES classic-feeling dresses. Thanks for the inspiration!
Chicken scratch has been on my list since last fall when I saw it on Shannon Makes!
During WWII they put fabric like gingham on feed bags knowing the owner would save every scrap, iron it and it would be cherished and made eventually into clothes ( not unlike yours ). Great job. 🇨🇦
Oooh, i love this! Never heard of that embroidery technique, but I'm also not that much into it. But I immediately thought about a tiered skirt. I had one like 10 years ago, and at the bottom of each tier, there was a stripe of embroider anglaise fabric added (and the ruffled next tier was sewn onto the bottom of that), which gave the skirt an even more summary look. I think the next time i can go to the fabric shop, i will look out for a nice gingham fabric (black or red or black AND red) and a similar cotton fabric in black, and add embroidered stripes of gingham at the bottom of the tiers of the skirts.
And i will go and google now how to do the exact pattern on your red gingham cause i love it.
Thx for trying. Now I can add it to my list aswell. Not into squared fabrick, but these make it look nice, less squared and easy stitches witout counting. Crosstitch I don't like due to the counting. Think this will help me create nice things to sell for charity and remain doable when my autistic brain gives out.
I ❤ that you took out the parenthetical phrase to check your noun/verb agreement. I do that all of the time!
I've been wanting to try embroidering on gingham ever since I saw a sashiko channel use it instead of making a grid. The comment section on that video is in fact where I learned about "Chicken Scratch" in general. 19:17 - Those colors with that design hit me over the head with nostalgia. That's Easter, right there. (Agree that it's not something I'd prefer day-to-day, though)
somewhere I have a Chicken Scratch project partially finished. I think I'll go dig that out and work on it. Thank you for reminding me how fun this style of embroidery is :)
I’d love to see you explore Hardanger embroidery!
Oh no! Another project to try! 😂 I wondered what you were sewing.
Farmhouse Fabrics has high quality gingham fabric - all sizes all colors
Very useful information! Thank you!🖖🪡🥧🐈⬛🫖📚🧚♂️
Thanks for giving me inspo. I love that you wear garments from previous projects.❤
Charlie, this was such a great video idea! Making it a part of your England trip, starting in the plane. And it all turned out so beautifully 😍
I have a blue gingham apron that has this and some other types of thread work that my grandmother made as a teenager in the 1930s. It's truly my favorite apron, therefore, it never gets used, but I look at it every day.
You could totally make handbags out of those double sided/color floss pieces!! It looks so cute, and ready to use!!
It seems strange seeing this after your trip to the UK but lovely to know what you were stitching while you were there
Lovely, I made a gathered gingham skirt at the end of summer a year ago. Don't know if it qualifies as chicken scratch. Embroidered a row of mixed colors above the hem using a counted crossstich pattern for flowers every one is a different color with different colors for the stem ,leaves as well as the flower. Quick and easy using what I had left from making a gingham dress for my daughter, the gingham was enough to cut a front and back with a length of 26 inches from 42 inch width and a waist band. Also a side pocket from scrap from cutting the dress. Took very little time for my take on a vintage inspired skirt. ❤ you ideas and take on your self designed wardrobe. Almost 73 yo and truly enjoy watching your adventures every week whether sewing or home improvement.
Your skirt sounds amazing. I love gingham because my mum made me play dresses and pinafores from all shades of gingham - I got to choose the fabric and despite the no doubt pretty patterns, I always chose gingham. I've just started an EPP project but I'm sure I could squeeze another one in!
Happy stitching :)
Love your experimentation with Chicken Scratch embroidery, and that you shared it Vlog style! Thanks!
I learned the chicken scratch embroidery when I was in grade 7 home ec. We did make an apron for our Moms for mothers day. I love all of the variation in yours and your skirt, pinafore and your adorable Pupster.
Ah. I learned this back in the 70s. It's quite fun!
Would be really cute as a stablizing stich for cuffs collars and plackets