u/BenTutton

Today I took my first steps in Embroidery, and I’m excited to see how it goes.

I’m currently sailing across the Pacific Ocean (about 300 miles off the coast of Galápagos Islands), and although the boat has starlink, I didn’t want to scroll my way across. I thought I’d do something more productive and mindful, so I decided to learn embroidery.

I brought a denim jacket and some embroidery thread and needles and watched a few videos about basic stitches before I left.

My idea is to document the journey with embroidery - starting on the right hand side, travelling round the back and finishing on the left hand side. I plan to incorporate the yacht, the animals/birds/fish/dolphins we see, the stars, and various nautical themes. we’ve got approximately 23 days left at sea, so I hope I can make good progress.

I’m happy for this jacket to be an example of my progress. I’d love for it to be perfect from the start, but I’ve never done this before so I’ve decided that the mistakes will be part of the story and process.

As we departed from Panama I thought I’d start with the Panama flag.

Thoughts after day 1:

• I thought I would be faster! I hoped to complete the flag today.
• my needle precision is bad. It takes ages to get the needle on the right place from the rear of the fabric.
• threading a needle on a moving boat is tricky.
• Denim may be a difficult first fabric to learn on due to the thickness and diagonal weave. Precise straight lines are tricky.
• Single thread satin stitch (long and short) is difficult to achieve a good coverage on denim - I did 1 row single thread then switched to 3 threads for coverage.
• my tensions need work
• lets not even talk about the back side! 🫣

I plan to keep you all updated with my progress every 3-4 days. Any thoughts, advice or inspiration is appreciated. (but please don’t tell me to try an easier project first - this is happening!)

I’m currently sitting on my friend’s sailboat heading across the Pacific from Panama to The Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia.

We’re a week in to the passage and still have a long way to go. But my thoughts have already turned to the surf on the far end.

We’ll be travelling around the Marquesas and then down to the Tuamotu Archipelago, and I was wondering if anybody has any recommendations of places to check out?

I’ve seen a few in Stormrider, and caught u/floriderp ‘s posts here from a few years ago, but there must be spots all over the place.

It’s always nice to go on a bit of a search and find your own gems, but if anyone can point us in the right direction that would be epic too!

It’s not often you get to park your house/hotel next to empty breaks, and I’m super excited!