We interview Brieana Fraser
Canadian designer Brieana Fraser mixes and matches cross stitch with embroidery techniques to create unique portrait gifts for loved ones
Co on & String, Brieana’s stitching brand, is based in Calgary, Canada, where her focus has been to provide hand-stitched portraits to families and friends, who’ve all requested the personal touch! Brieana’s custom pictures are stitched using both cross stitch and embroidery techniques – something she discovered early on in her family portrait journey. “I think only my first two family portraits were entirely cross stitches with no embroidery, and since then, I have never done a portrait that didn’t combine the two,” she explains. “I was initially inspired by my now friend, Kristi, from @familystitch who was one of the first stitchers I ever saw combine the two art forms. It’s not really something that can be taught in my opinion as so much of the embroidery embellishments such as for hair and clothing is all free-styled.
“I love figuring out ways to add texture to outfits and hair with different types of stitches. Sometimes it’s just a ma er of changing up how many strands of thread you use to achieve the desired effect. I love creating dresses out of long satin stitches and chunky sweaters out of thick irregular shaped cross stitches. I often get asked for tips on adding dimension and texture to a portrait with embroidery and my biggest piece of advice is to just try it! Start with what you think will be the hardest part of the portrait so that you either get it over with first and feel great about it, or if you mess it up to the point of no return, you can just start over on a new piece of fabric without wasting the rest of the piece.”
PICTURE PERFECT
For Brieana, the hardest part about working on her portraits is that fact she’s too much of a perfectionist, “I strive to make every portrait as perfect and unique as I can so sometimes it’s hard for me to say the portrait is done and ready to be sent off. I often worry I’ve forgo en something small, or I’ve failed to translate something the customer is expecting,” she explains. “Thankfully, this hasn’t actually happened yet that I’m aware of! Oh, and small animals! Those cats and dogs might look small and easy, but animals often take me the longest to do. You are working with such a small amount of space and it’s very challenging to capture the eyes of cats and dogs.”
Brieana’s service is so personal that she only opens her Etsy shop for special requests,“I open my Etsy shop approximately every two months at which time I accept a handful of custom portrait spots and then I close shop until I’m ready to take on more. This allows me to have control over my work-life balance, which is key for me to not burn out and also allows me space to create new things other than portraits.”
Luckily Brieana has an office to herself so when the pressure’s on she can focus on her portraits in peace, “I have all my stuff there and I like that I can close the door when I leave it and not have to worry about pu ing anything away,” she enthuses. “I like to binge a show on Netflix when I’m stitching. For some reason I find it more relaxing to work with a show on in the background instead of music or an audiobook. In the summer months, I love to work outside on
the back deck while my kids play!”
ONLINE COMMUNITY
For inspiration there are plenty of other stitchers who Brieana likes to follow on social media, so even while lockdown continued she had a circle of fellow stitchers she could chat with. “The first two successful portrait stitchers I found were Kristi from @familystitch and Megan from @sweets. stitches,” she recalls. “I admired them both greatly and I saw that they had turned this craft into successful businesses for themselves. I wanted that too! In the beginning, it was just me and my small Instagram page. One day I finally got up the courage to message both of them and they were so welcoming and supportive. Even though we live thousands of miles apart, we chat regularly! I also have a daily, on-going chat with the most lovely group of stitchers – we call ourselves a ‘Bunch of Biddies’ although we couldn’t be further from an actual biddy if we tried. We’ve created a space where we can be each other’s sounding boards, and much of our conversation now extends past embroidery and cross stitch into our personal lives.
“Sometimes I think back to the beginning of my journey and how lonely it was. This is why I choose Instagram as my sole social media outlet for my work. I love and value the friendships I have made through there, with other stitchers, but also with other small shop owners, and with my audience as well. Instagram can be a wonderful place if you let it. My shop wouldn’t be where it is today if it wasn’t for Instagram.”
I love figuring out ways to add texture to outfits and hair with di erent types of stitches