Embroider
The art of sewing fancy stitches in fabric to create designs and pictures is as varied and fun today as it has been for centuries. You too can get started on your own journey into the world of thread and needle. Keep reading for detailed instructions.
Steps
- Obtain fabric, an embroidery hoop, an embroidery needle (largish eye for your heavier thread) and some embroidery floss or yarn. A loose weavable fabric is a good choice for your first projects.
- Stretch your fabric taut using the embroidery hoop. An unstretched fabric will wrinkle and become difficult to work with as you snug down the stitches.
- Cut your floss, yarn, or heavy thread to a length of approximately {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}. This is long enough to make some nice stitches and short enough so that it will not tangle easily.
- Thread your needle.
- Tie a knot in the end of the thread/floss/yarn.
- Poke the needle through the fabric from the back side. From here on out, it's a matter of placing stitches where you want them so that they form an outline or shape that is pleasing to you.
There are different types of stitches.
Types of Stitches
- Running Stitch - The classic "sewing" stitch... up,down,up,down... evenly spaced in a line so that the line looks like a row of dashes -----
- Back Stitch - Backstitch
- Blanket Stitch - Sew Blanket Stitch
- Slip Stitch - Slip Stitch
- Blind Stitch - Same as Slip Stitch
- Satin Stitch - Satin Stitch
- Split Satin Stitch - as Satin Stitch but the second layer of stitches are sewn into the previous row splitting the thread of the stitch.
- Feather Stitch - Looks like someone walking in long skis. The tracks X over each other.
- French Knot - Come up from the back. Twist the thread around the needle. Poke the needle back down through the fabric right beside where it came up. The knot should tie as the thread gets pulled to the back side of the piece again.
- Lazy Daisy - Up from the back. Make a loop on the front by poking the needle back down beside where it came up and leaving the thread loose. Come up from behind again and "tack" the end of the loop down with a tiny stitch. Repeat for each petal. of your daisy.
Alternatives
Check out Cross Stitch embroidery. This type of embroidery use the cross stitch only and is good for beginners. Counted Cross Stitch is a variation you can look into if you enjoy cross stitching.*Look at Long Stitch embroidery. In this type of needlecraft, multiple long straight, downward stitches are used to build up an image or pattern
Examples
Tips
- Purchasing a small embroidery kit can be a good introduction. It saves you the trouble of designing, choosing colors, and choosing a yarn.
- Start with something small that can be completed quickly for your first project.
