The new darning

Life's too short to darn socks but good old-fashioned darning stitch can be put to great use as a filler stitch. 

This folk art peacock was inspired by a worshop taught by Patricia Barratt at Skipton Embroiderers' Guild.  The shape is filled with small blocks of darning stitch - laying down the warp threads with quite a bit of space and then weaving 3 or 4 strands of embroidery thread.  Changing the colour of the warp threads whilst keeping the weft the same will give subtle variations in colour. Changing the thickness of the thread adds texture. 

At around 10 cm square this is a quick and easy project that could be used as an embellishment.