Embroidery Tutorial

I have written a few time about how much I love embroidery. I love that I can create a picture with thread, you can put in on really any fabric. Whenever I am embroidering my mind wonders with the endless possibilities and I think of all the projects I could do, if only I had more time.

I wanted to do an embroidery tutorial to give a basic over view on how to get started. I am by no means an expert at this it just something that I started a few years ago and is constantly developing.

Sorry for the doddy pic will try and do a JPEG

Step 1: Selecting a pattern, this can be done is a few ways you can buy a ready to iron on pattern such as the patterns available at sublime stitching, you can down load free patterns or buy them from etsy and of course you can trace or draw your own. For this project I found the image in one of my sons readers and copies it. I am hoping to work out how to attach a JPEG and make it available for you all.

Using the heat pencil.

Ironing

Step 2: Apply to fabric. What I really like about embroidery is the ability to really put it on any fabric. However different fabrics and colours are more suited to different methods so it worth knowing a few and having a play around. Ideally you want to transfer the pattern in a way that allows for the pattern to b washed off when the project is complete. You can by carbon tracing paper to transfer with and it comes colours suitable for light or dark coloured fabric. However I tend to prefer a heat transfer pencil, I use  Birch one which I got from Spotlight.

I trace over the whole design making sure I push reasonably hard so as to give a good deposit of the lead. It is then ironed on to the fabric. I find it best to iron through the paper trying to told the paper in place but of course it can be pinned. I hold the iron over each part of the design for about 30 seconds and give a few good goings over the whole lot.

The transfer complete.

I check the design has transferred by peeling back the corner. However the more times this is done, greater is the risk that the design will get moved and distorted. Sometimes as with this design I choice to accept that small parts of the design haven't transferred very clearly but know that I can feel my way through these bits.

 

In the hoop and ready to start.

Step 3: Put the fabric into a hoop. This step can be left out but I have found that unless the piece is very small it really helps keep the tension and just makes things easier. I have used really cheap wooden ones but they have been rubbish the fabric kept slipping. I have now got myself a couple of plastic ones from Punch and Judy which have been fantastic, also there weren't very expensive which is good.

Step 4: What to sew with. Mostly I use stranded embroidery thread but I have used other novelty threads such as metallics and glow in the dark threads but really almost anything you could stich with could be used. But for this project I will focus on the stranded cotton because it easy and functional. Stranded cotton comes in a little bunch, I find it useful to wind it off onto small card. I then take the length I want and twist apart the amount of strands I want. For this project its mostly four strands. Have a look at my Youtube clip on how to get started to make things a bit clearer.

Step 5: How to stitch. I mostly use back stitch in my work which is super easy. I play round with the thickness by changing the amount of strands I use. I also use cross stitch, satin stich and split stitch. But there are many stitches you can play around with.

 

The work I like to do isn't very prescriptive, I enjoy working it out as I go along figuring out the stitches to use. After the embroidery is finished take it out of the hoop, I like to hand wash it. I always freak out at this point that something will go wrong but so far it never has. In the case of this piece I pressed it ready for the next stage, making into a pillow which I will post hopefully next week.

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