Your time in Stitchwind has been pretty easy-going thus far. You're amazed at how flexible the guild has been with your studies. The way it had been described to you back home, you were under the impression you'd be undergoing rigorous training and your skills would be put to the test.
But the guilds seem quite laid back in their methods, knowing that you're more likely to learn if you have a desire to learn. They've been freely forthcoming with materials, resources, and patterns. Their library is truly a sight to behold, and one could easily lose themselves in the knowledge found there.
The surrounding city has been welcoming to you as well. At just seeing the guild crest, most merchants offer discounts and artisans are happy to demonstrate their methods to you. All doors are open to you, it seems.
It was while exploring the city one day that you came across a group of students gathered in a small park near the center of town. You recognized one of them from your guild and decided to head over and see what they were up to.
As you approach you notice a huge pile of books and magazines piled onto the absurdly large picnic blanket they had brought. Most were leafing through the books, many had their graph notebooks out sketching out ideas as they flipped through the pages. Others still were stitching away, chatting with their neighbor about the design they were working on.
"Oh, hi!" your friend exclaimed, finally noticing you standing over them. "Care to join us? We're doing an artist study."
Continue the Story
Your Quest
Contrary to the belief of some, copying art can be a good thing. It's a great way to learn how an artist approaches a piece and how it's put together. You don't want to claim the copy as your own, or start emulating their style entirely. But you do want to learn from it.
With cross stitch, we're constantly 'copying' an artists work -- by transferring it pixel by pixel onto our fabric. Those artists provide us that pattern to carefully follow and recreate, but we're still just copying.
So in theory we should all be excellent pattern designers by now, right?
Well the thing is we're not usually thinking about how or why those stitches work together to make the pattern, we're just blindly copying it over. And that's okay!
But this month, we'd like you to stitch a small pattern by Durene Jones, and really think about the design as you're stitching it.
It doesn't matter if you're a designer and want to learn some new techniques, or if you're just a stitcher that can simply notice and appreciate the details in a pattern. The main goal is just to understand a bit more about the art that goes into designing a pattern. And maybe discovering a new artist you didn't know.
Why Durene? Well she's got a very distinct style, and a TON of freebies. ;) If they're not *your* style, consider making it as a gift for a friend or loved one.
It doesn't have to be a freebie though. If you bought a chart, or have a magazine she's been featured in, that works too!
Resources
Free patterns: DureneJones' Facebook
Paid patterns: DureneJones' Etsy
She has several published books available on Amazon, and possibly your local book stores!
DureneJones's Books
Durene also has plenty of patterns in various cross stitch magazines. Including Cross Stitch Crazy and Just Cross Stitch. I couldn't find a comprehensive list, but if you happen to have an issue that has some of her patterns, feel free to use those designs as well. Just let us know what magazine/issue it was in!
Artistic References:
Copying Art: Stealing or an Education?
How to Find Your Style: A Guide for Artists
4 Steps to Your Own Signature Art Style
Other Resources:
Your guildmates! Feel free to post WIPs in your guild boards, town center, or discord and discuss your pieces and what you're learning along the way.
What to Turn In
All done? Reply here with a photo of your finished piece, and a sentence or two about what you learned about their style. When possible, please include a direct link to the pattern you used in case someone else would like to stitch it!
If you did this quest back in April 2020 on the discord feel free to re-submit the piece you did then, stitch a new one, or both!
Reward
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