Embroidery for boys - Grasshopper t shirt

 

I feel that my son gets short shift regarding sewing and embroidery, and obviously so does he, as he has been asking me to make him things a lot lately. Usually, when I make or buy a t shirt for the girls I add a few flowers, or a butterfly, or something else pretty to jazz up a plain top. I brought out some plain t shirts for my son, as he had grown out of quite a few, and he asked me to put a grasshopper on this blue one.
I decided to make the grasshopper 2D, as I found drawing 6 legs very difficult, let alone embroidering them, and I made the grass hopper very stylized and cartoonish.

 

I used DMC stranded cotton thread. The outline is in single chain stitch, 6 strands. The hoppper leg is in two rows of chain stitch, decreasing to one, again in 6 strands. The small legs and the antenna are in stem stitch, 3 strands. The eye is a french knot. All of these are in black. I have filled in the body with random straight and cross stitches. I have used 3 strands of thread, and 3 different shades of green. I was hoping for a chitanous effect, and have crossed the threads in different directions to give an irregular surface texture.
My son is quite happy with the shirt, but it took a lot longer than a few lazy dasies! The rest of the t shirts can stay hidden in the top of the wardrobe until I finish a few more projects.