Embroidery Tips
- I learned to embroider as a kid but it had been a
long time so I dug up an old embroidery stitch book
of my grandmother’s. I also found myriad tutorials
online—there is even a handy, free, printable guide to
basic stitches that I found at museofthemorning.com/
embroidery. - I used wheatear stitch in green, cretan stitch in deep
magenta, and French knots coupled with straight stitch
in orange in the test piece (fi gure 5) and fi nal sample
(fi gure 6). - I cut a notch in the top and bottom of a wine cork and
wound my thread around it to keep it tangle free.
- Using a thread that matches the foreground, sew a
machine zigzag stitch all around the design. I used a
stitch length of 1 and a width of 3.
TIP: You might be tempted to skip this step but I think it keeps
the fabric from fraying and secures the design for a more durable
end product. (fi gure 4)- Add hand embroidery. This could be optional, I
suppose, but it adds so much to the fi nal design.
Choose some colors and play with a few sample
stitches on a scrap of the foreground color. (fi gure 5)
NOTE: I used bright colors in organic patterns. I didn’t
draw any guide lines; I let the cut shapes in the fabric
inspire me and I didn’t worry about my stitching being
exactly the same all the way around. Also, I didn’t use
an embroidery hoop; I found it awkward and preferred
holding the block in my hand. The two layers of fused
fabric create a secure base to stitch and the fabric doesn’t
seem to pull or stretch out of shape.
Finish the block using your preferred method.
(fi gure 6) I fused my block to a square of felt, and then
fused the felt to a backing and added binding.fi gure 4
fi gure 6
fi gure 5fi gure 5