Acanthus leaves alphabet

second version

This is the definitive version of the Acanthus leaf alphabet.

Indeed, the realization of these letters as I had imagined them turned out to be quite simply catastrophic. So I decided to stick to my original idea: to propose a series of simple letters, with harmonious foliage decoration to give the whole a resolutely contemporary look. 

Having opted for this concept, it seemed natural to me that the execution of the motifs should match their clean, precise appearance. So I made them using only two different stitches, stem stitch and satin stitch.

 As for the colors, I also wanted to keep things simple, using a single tone in a variety of shades.

I’ve prepared a file containing the complete alphabet for you to download HERE.

It contains 13 pages, each containing 2 characters that have the advantage of being easy to reproduce thanks to their simple, precise lines.

To present this project, I chose to embroider the letter B for BLUE, the color of the sky and serenity.  It’s a very pretty letter, and I obviously made it in the tones that match its profile. 

Threads and stitches

Here are the 5 shades of blue from the DMC stranded cotton range that I’ve chosen to use: 3838, 3839, 3840, 797 and 3753.

For the letter I embroidered 3 rows of stem stitch with two threads and colors 3839, 3840 and 3753. I used the darkest color for the outer line.

For the leaves, I used the 2 darkest colors. I made the main foliage in stem stitch with 2 threads and color 797. The 2 small branches are embroidered in stem stitch with 1 thread for the stem and in satin stitch with 1 thread for the leaves, all in color 3838.

Here are the features that make this alphabet an important part of any embroiderer’s archives:

• It is resolutely contemporary

• It can be used for a wide variety of applications

• It’s easy to do and accessible to embroiderers of all levels.

• Embroidering a letter is quick and doesn’t require many hours of work.

I hope you’ll find this project useful, and that you won’t hesitate to make use of it on many occasions.