I’m not much of a Valentine’s day fan, but I like to use it as an excuse to do something with my partner. Pre-covid we’d have gone out for dinner, something we rarely do because we’re both indoor people. But having something to “celebrate” forces us out of the flat, I get to wear something other than joggers, and he finally decides to shave. But this year was different, obviously. We still managed to go out in 2020, when people were still unaware of the virus already being in England. We went out to a new pizza place in the centre of town, I wore a new dress, we got drunk on cheap beer and got home before ten. Yes, we’re those people that make dinner reservations for 7.30 pm. This year, though, the plans are way simpler. Just dinner and a movie from the comfort of our sofa. Like most weekends.
A Taylor Swift inspired embroidery
I wanted to create an embroidery for Valentine’s, but I didn’t want to make the typical one with hearts with lots of pink and red. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not my style. So I went with a Taylor Swift’s lyric, who’s the ultimate Valentine’s day queen, with all of her love and heartbreak songs. I chose New Year’s Day, the last song from her Reputation album, which was my favourite until Folklore and Evermore came out. Delicate will always be my favourite song from Reputation, but there’s something about New Year’s Day that stands out, I think it’s a song that belongs more on Lover (her album after Reputation). The positivity and romance of New Year’s Day feel like it could be the introduction of Lover. So that’s why I chose this song for my embroidery.
I designed the embroidery to be colourful as if it already belonged to Lover and not Reputation. I went with a pink fabric as my background and used purples and white for the stitching.
The lyrics ” I want your midnights” are from this part of the song:
Don’t read the last page
New Year’s Day, Taylor Swift
But I stay when it’s hard or it’s wrong or we’re making mistakes
I want your midnights
But I’ll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year’s Day
This is my first embroidery stitching letters, and I guess I struggled a bit to make them look effortless and round. I was going for a handwritten look that I saw on Pinterest, but I think the stitches could’ve been better. I’m starting two Taylor Swift hoops soon, for Willow and Ivy, the best songs in Evermore (in my humble opinion). So I’ll be sharing them here in the next few weeks!
Willow in Winter 