Chicken Scratch Embroidery Valentine

I was recently reading Alicia Paulson's beautiful book 'Embroidery Companion' and came across the section on Chicken Scratch embroidery. I have never seen it before but was intrigued by the effect. The stitching is quite simple (double cross stitch and woven circle stitch) and uses the checks of the gingham fabric as a guide. Have a look at these other examples of Chicken Scratch Embroidery on Flickr - you can see how changing the thread colour gives a completely different look.

Anyway... I was itching to give it a try... Valentine's day is around the corner... we have a bit of trouble with pantry moths... so here is my Chicken Scratch Valentine Pantry Sachet!! I filled mine with a mixture of cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon & bay leaves (apparently moths find these smells completely unapealing!) - but you could also fill with lavender for your linen cupboard or closet or with a cotton wool ball spritzed with your favourite essential oil.

I did the embroidery first, then using a heart shaped cookie cutter as a template (easy to centre your embroidery in the shape) cut out two hearts. With a sewing machine I straight stitched around the two hearts making sure to sew a length of matching cord at the top of the heart and leaving a gap (to fill with herbs) along the straight edge (I started and stopped in a red check / square so the back stitching and join would not show so much.) Then I filled the heart and machine stitched the gap. Finally I cut along the edge of the material with pinking shears.

I hope you give this a try - it makes me smile everytime I open the pantry!

Happy Sewing