This article is brought to you by Brown Paper Stitch, my business that makes your wardrobe pawesome by embroidering your pets on clothing.
When the 2020 holidays had passed, I thought that I might get some downtime to tackle some of my goals for Brown Paper Stitch this year. (New product development, for instance.) But ever since the beginning of January rolled around, I’ve been busy with custom work. I’m elated that this is the case. I love working on custom projects and developing portraits of your pets.
But it hasn’t yielded much to show at the moment, and I dislike showing my embroideries in progress when there isn’t much thread and it’s hard to tell what it is I’m stitching. So, I thought I’d give you a little more insight into the sketching phase of a custom order—the first step in creating your pet portrait!
Sometimes, the color is off. Here’s an example of a tweak I made.
I’m formally trained as an illustrator, and in the illustration process, you will typically submit a sketch to a client. They will offer their comments. Maybe your sketch looks great! Or, maybe there are a few tweaks needed. If the latter is the case, then there are sketch revisions that take place with the client’s comments in mind. All of my custom pet portraits are started with this premise; you, as the client, get to OK the sketch before I start on the final (the stitching).
I sketch with an Apple Pencil on an iPad using the Procreate app, so most changes are pretty quick.
Tweaks are often in the shape of the face, like in this pug portrait.
I like to do this for a couple of reasons, but the biggest is that it gives you control over the portrait. After all, you know your pet better than I do! And it also ensures that when you receive the shirt or garment, there won’t be any surprises with what it looks like. It’s peace of mind for you and me.
Want to get your pet stitched as a patch or on a garment? Check out the custom options in my Brown Paper Stitch shop.