Say Hello to Eight Lil’ Kitties and One Perky Pug [Brown Paper Stitch Dispatch]

This article is brought to you by Brown Paper Stitch, my business that makes your wardrobe pawesome by embroidering your pets on clothing.

I did­n’t do a lot of stitch­ing this past week. Save for fin­ish­ing a den­im jack­et fea­tur­ing a beau­ti­ful kit­ty, I was in plan­ning mode; I sketched for three cus­tom pet por­trait shirts and a cus­tom pet por­trait patch.

Siamese Kitty on a Denim Jacket

This is the first col­lar I’ve ever stitched in which one of the ani­mals had their eyes closed. But I think it adds some nice calm to this den­im jack­et. And by the way—the stitch­ing on this jack­et was so hard to sew through. I had to use a pair of pli­ers in order to pull the need through the seam­ing.  It turned out to be a new-to-me embroi­dery hack!

Sketching, Sketching, and More Sketching

Sketch­ing might sound quick and easy, but it is often the most labo­ri­ous part of what I do (not that I’m com­plain­ing!). Using my iPad and the Pro­cre­ate app, I cre­ate detailed draw­ings of your pets—down to the whiskers and ear hair. The sketch is then sent to you for approval, and you act as the art direc­tor. Is the col­or off? Are the eyes too close togeth­er? You know your pet bet­ter than any­one. We go back and forth about the sketch until it’s per­fect, and then I get to work stitching.

So stitch­ing is where I’m at now. There’s a point in each embroi­dery where it does­n’t look like much, and each of the cus­tom pieces is at that point.

Are you think­ing about gift­ing a cus­tom pet por­trait for the hol­i­days? If so, don’t delay! My lead time is between three and four weeks, and I won’t be tak­ing com­mis­sions start­ing at the begin­ning of December.