Sushi bar embroidery: motifs for the intrepid crafter

Sublime Stitching — “this ain’t your gramma’s embroidery” — out of Austin, Texas, transforms the craft with retro-inspired designs not of sweet kitties or flowers, but roller derby babes, monsters, robots, cigarette smoking bad girls, skull and crossbones, vital organs and tattoo designs. ”Tattoo your towels!” the site urges. Er, maybe not.

For the food obsessed, founder Jenny Hart puts out sushi-themed transfer patterns. Stitch away while watching the film “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” of course. There’s also an old-fashioned cocktail series (for embroidering cocktail napkins, what else?) and a series of “krazy kitchen” objects that includes a stand mixer, a blender and a frying pan on fire.

If you’re itching to tackle some kind of textile art, embroidery is portable and unbelievably inexpensive compared to knitting, say. Transfer patterns (and they can be reused up to eight times) run around $5. Embroidery floss, 39 cents a skein and widely available in hundreds of colors. What else do you need? A pack of embroidery needles that might run a couple of dollars. And a small embroidery hoop (optional) for a couple dollars more. If you prefer to embroider your own designs, add in a Sakura micron pen size 01 in brown (available at most art stores).

Available online at Sublime Stitching and at Purl Soho.

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