Our ribbon embroidery festival this month is continuing! After learning the basics of ribbon embroidery, how to start and end the ribbon when you work it, it is time to practice some basic stitches. In fact, some stitches you already know from hand embroidery and have probably already done them with thread. Actually, quite a lot of surface embroidery stitches can be worked with ribbons of smaller width because the scale of the material is similar. But when it comes to bigger and wider ribbons, replicating the hand embroidery stitches becomes impossible save for a few. Also, there are some exclusive stitches, moves, and techniques which are possible to work only with ribbons. We will take a look at a few today and later you will learn more during our festival. Lastly, we will practice few stitches working a pretty little flower :) Straight stitch Let's start with the most basic stitch. It's a straight stitch and we work it by coming up through the fabric at the beginning point of the stitch and then inserting the needle at the point where the stitch ends. Usually, because of the ribbon's width, these stitches will have sharp corners at the beginning and ending points, so it already looks like a petal. You can raise the stitch a little to give it more volume. Like that the stitch becomes more dimensional and doesn't have a sharp corner at the end. Ribbon stitch This one is ribbon exclusive. And one of my favorite! So, you come up to the front of the fabric at the beginning point, lay the ribbon down and pierce it where the stitch is supposed to end. When you pull the ribbon through, the stitch will have these nicely folded edges. My stitch has a sharp corner at the end, but, in fact, it won't necessarily look like that. It can have softer, rounder form at the end. Also, you can change the place of piercing the stitch – to the left side, or to the right side, and then the folding will be more intensive on one side. You can achieve many various looks with this stitch, it is very versatile, so make sure to try it out! Looped stitch Another quite dimensional stitch. Start the stitch by bringing the ribbon to the surface of the fabric at the beginning point and then inserting the needle close to the starting point, right behind/in front of it. This one fits softer ribbons better. I'm showing in satin ribbon like for other stitches, but satin ribbon is just a tad bit more rigid than silk so the stitch stands upright, haha. If you use silk ribbon or a softer satin ribbon, it will lay flat on the surface of the fabric. But even if you only have a satin ribbon you can still make it work if you anchor it with a discreet stitch in thread of the same color, attaching it to the fabric. Lazy daisy Yes yes, this is the ribbon cousin of our beloved lazy daisy stitch. If you're using a narrow ribbon, you can work it exactly like the one we make in thread. However, for bigger ribbons, some adjustments need to be arranged. To be more precise, we need a thread to make the anchoring stitch. You can take the thread in the same color as the ribbon, to make it less evident, or use a complimentary/contrasting color to boost the visual. So what we do, is start the stitch at the beginning point and insert the needle next to it, to the right or to the left side. As you pull the ribbon and give the stitch its desired length and form, take another needle and thread to make the anchoring stitch. So here's how it looks. You can vary the length and the thread color, so it can actually have many different appearances. Twisted stem Naturally, this stitch is not limited only to working flower stems, but still the most common way of using it is for stems and twigs. After you bring the ribbon to the front side of the fabric, start twisting the ribbon on itself. Then insert the needle at the ending point of the stitch. Thanks to the twisting, more often than not, your stitch will bend or curve in some way, which also looks pretty natural for stems. If you want to give it some special form or curve you can use thread to make dsicreet stitches that will hold it in the place and form you need. Practice flower Now, how about working a little flower to practice ribbon embroidery? I couldn't help but use my favorite stitches here, but you can use any stitch you want. Actually, to practice more seriously, I believe it is better to make flowers with each of described above stitches. This way you will get more used to ribbon as your material and will understand its behavior better. For this flower, I used 2 satin ribbons and one organza (the yellow one). The green ribbon is 12 mm, the red one is 25 mm, the yellow one is 4 mm. And the whole flower will take you 10-15 minutes to work. 5 minutes if you already got used to ribbons. As you see from the first picture, the stem didn't want to keep the curve, so I fixed it with a couple of hidden stitches in thread of the same color. They need to be very small to stay hidden though, be careful. And yes, that's a french knot worked in ribbon! You can do that easily with narrow ribbons. The wider ones will present more struggle, but if necessary, it is still possible. Just don't hurry when you do the knots, they require some patience. So, now you know some basic stitches for ribbon embroidery which is quite enough to get you started. Practice, make yourself accustomed to the new material and we will continue our festival in the next post! Stay tuned :)

Ribbon embroidery festival, anyone? For the next two weeks, we will have a ribbon embroidery festival here on StitchFloral! We will go through some basics, learn enough stitches for you to get used to this craft and create something beautiful yourself and will finish our festival with a tutorial for some serious piece. How does that sound? Don't know about you, I'm quite excited! I already mentioned that ribbon embroidery was, in fact, the first thing I learned before I switched to hand embroidery. I haven't done it in a while. The last would be the Marigold botanical embroidery. Now my hands were itching to play with ribbons again, and my family started missing my ribbon embroidery works, and lastly, I wanted to do something with my old silk scarf that I'm not going to wear anymore and ripping it in ribbons seemed a nice idea. Actually, I already tested the waters – you can see a small flower in my last Instagram post, it was done with a ribbon from my old scarf. I also was happy to know that some of you were interested in tutorials! So it added up and now we're having a festival! We will not start with the stitches right away, though. Today we will talk about materials and tools and how to start and finish your ribbon when you embroider. Needles Specialty needles for ribbon embroidery do exist, but they are present mostly in online stores. If you decide to pursue ribbon embroidery more seriously, then maybe looking for these needles would be the best option. For me, ribbon embroidery was just a hobby and pastime, so I didn't really bother, to be honest. There are needles for hand embroidery out there that are well fitted for using with ribbons. As you see, the three main characteristics a needle should have to suit ribbon embroidery are: a large eye, a thick shaft, and a sharp point. All of that you can find in Chenille needles. They come in various sizes, suitable for smaller and bigger ribbons. Tapestry and crewel needles also may come in handy for softer and smaller ribbons. Ribbons Today there's plenty of ribbons to choose from that would suit your project. Their width normally varies from 2mm to 50 mm which gives you the opportunity to create plenty of variety in your projects. Ribbons also come in various textures. The most “desired” ribbon is probably a silk one. I haven't had the joy of working one, only a faux silk. But silk ribbons are delicate, soft to touch and pliable, they offer an elegant look to your work. If you have an opportunity, I would suggest using silk ribbons. For me, it was pretty hard to find silk ribbons, so I usually used what I had an easy access to – satin ribbons. If you come to a sewing store here, there is a whole display of satin ribbons of all colors and widths, so it was easy to find something nice. They often have silk fibers in them, which makes them softer and more pliable too, however, the characteristic sheen still stays. I personally don't mind satin ribbons at all, but because their colors are often too vibrant for my liking I opt to buy some neutrally toned ribbons and then color them to get achieve the effect I want. You can also find organza ribbons. They are partly see-through which can add a nice variety of texture to your work. Fabric Just like with thread, pretty much any fabric will suit ribbon embroidery (linen, cotton, bomull, synthetic fabrics, etc.). I would like to point out a few things, though. First of all, it is important to understand that ribbon is much thicker than thread. Even a small ribbon will require some space to be pulled through, not mentioning the wider ones. That's why it is better to use weaved fabric where you can pierce through a hole in the weaving as it can stretch around the ribbon when it will go through. If the fabric is too solid and you are having a trouble pulling the ribbon through, you can try to widen the hole in the fabric using the manicure scissors. Speaking of holes, here's an example. This is a hole after I picked out a stitch, the ribbon was 6mm wide. You can imagine what can of a gaping hole there would be after a bigger ribbon (maybe I'll show you in another post). I'm not scaring you or anything, these holes don't damage your work at all. But it is just something to be aware of. Because unlike in hand embroidery where we can undo a pretty big part of embroidery and still have a decent looking fabric, after ribbon embroidery your fabric is already destroyed, haha. Lastly, using a lightweight and sheer fabric might not be a good idea if it isn't able to support the ribbons properly. And ribbons, although don't look like that, can be pretty heavy when worked in embroidery. Other tools & materials Scissors, hoops, pens, and markers for fabric – all the tools and materials for ribbon embroidery are pretty much the same as for hand embroidery. And if you already embroider, you already have everything you need. There are just a few more details that you need to know. We don't wash ribbon embroidery. Usually, we don't, because it is bothersome and, unlike with hand embroidery, ribbons allow a pretty quick rate of work so it is unlikely for your work to get dirty or dusty. And ribbons lose half their charms after washing. And many ribbon embroidery artists color their ribbons which also means washing is a no-no. All in all, there's no need for washing, really. And what that means is that you have to be careful with marking and transferring your design! If you are using a washable pen, make your marks smaller than the actual size of future ribbon objects, so that the marks don't peek out. And one more tool that might surprise you is a flame – a lighter or a candle to be more exact. Because the thing is, a raw cut will fray, like the left ribbon in the picture above. If you burn the edge, the fibers will glue and stuck together, making your ribbon more durable – see the ribbon to the right. It will be needed when you will cut out shapes out of ribbon or just when you cut a new length of ribbon to work it. Lastly, if you'd like, you can color your ribbons! You can do that before working it, coloring the whole ribbon. Or you can do that after you already embroidered it and color it when it is assembled on the fabric. I frequently switch between the two options. For example, color my ribbon for leaves beforehand and color a big ribbon flower when it already worked on the fabric. You can use paint for silk, paint for fabric, and watercolors. How to start a ribbon The process is similar for narrow and wide ribbons, except that I simplify it a little for the wider ones. The first thing we do is we cut a length of ribbon. Usually not very long, probably the length of your forearm if it is a rather narrow ribbon and a bit longer for a wider one. We don't use a big length because while the ribbon is being pulled through the fabric and back it gets damaged to an extent and the longer it is, the more damaged it will look on one of the ends. To fit the ribbon in the eye of the needle cut the end of it to acute angle (45 degrees or lower). The sharp end then can be put in the needle eye. If you want to secure this end of the thread even better, you can move the needle down the length of the ribbon and then pierce through it closer to the end (but below the cut). You will end up with a loop and you can adjust it according to your taste, maybe even up to the base of the needle. By the way, you can burn the cut of the ribbon so that it doesn't fray! Now, like with thread, we can make a type of a “knot” with ribbons as well. Although it will be quite different and not really a knot. So, what you need to do is fold the other end of the ribbon 1-2 times and pierce through it. This is what you'll get after pulling the thread through. So when you bring the ribbon up through the fabric to the front side, your backside will look like this. This “knot” is flat and anchors the ribbon securely. Note that this “knot” is also a bit large so if you want to make a stitch next to the previous one, try to avoid piercing through the ribbon on the background of possible (fabric is already enough to pull through, we don't need extra layers). Move the needle and ribbons on the backside to grab only fabric. Naturally, it's not always will be possible, but better to decrease the number of levels as much as you can. How to end the ribbon You will need a thread (simple sewing thread or floss. You can use something cheap here) and a needle. Here's an example of how your backside will look like after stitching a very simple leaf. Cut the waste end of the ribbon and take a threaded needle. Then secure it with few stitches on top of the other ribbon bits there. That's all! Next time we will learn a few basic stitches and try to work our first simple flower. And for now, you can take ribbons of different widths (and textures) and practice starting and ending ribbon. If you're impatient for the next post, there is actually a little tutorial here, so you can try it. I might have missed some points, so if you have questions, slide into the comments section and ask anything that makes you wonder.

As someone who loves needlework, I can say that silk ribbon embroidery is a sophisticated and elegant craft that is truly a joy to work with. The history of silk ribbon embroidery dates back to the…

I thought I would start doing some simple ribbon embroidery tutorials here on the blog. Embroidering with silk ribbon has been one of my favorite hobbies for many years now, but it seems that quilting

Time to practice ribbon embroidery! Today we will work an easy forget me nots miniature and apply the stitches we learned in the previous posts. And of course we will add some extra elements in our favorite floss :) If you're wondering why there's so much stuff about ribbon embroidery on the blog lately, it's because we're having a little ribbon embroidery festival this month! Well, this week is actually the last one, but I will try to give more tutorials for you in the next few days so that you have enough inspiration and guidance to try it yourself. Ribbon embroidery is quite easy, so don't hesitate to try it out and broaden your expertise further :) Before we start with the tutorial here are the posts you might want to read if you are a complete beginner in ribbon embroidery: Ribbon embroidery for beginners where you can read what materials and tools you need to start as well as how to start and end the ribbon when you are embroidering. 5 basic stitches for ribbon embroidery, we will use the straight stitch and ribbon stitch in this tutorial, in particular, so check this post if you're not familiar with these techniques. DIY silk ribbons if you want to use silk ribbons like me, but can't source it anywhere in your place of residence. I'm using DIY silk ribbons in this tutorial for the forget me nots and hand-colored satin ribbon for the leaves. So, now we are ready to go, let's start! Ribbon forget me nots tutorial First, we make the flowers. I'm using a technique which is kinda on the border between a straight stitch and looped stitch here. I still refer to it as straight stitches, but the fact stands that we are actually making loops, haha. So you start your stitch at the center of the flower and insert the needle approximately halfway where you really want your petal end. Don't pull the ribbon fully through, leaving it in a looped form on the surface of the fabric. It makes your petal dimensional and quite realistic as the end sort of “hangs in the air”. Make more flowers like that. 5 petals per flower is fine. Place them closer to each other to avoid white space in between. You can vary the sizes of the flowers to add more realism and make the ensemble more fun. Also don't worry if your petals start looking a bit to the left or right, or just aren't perfectly the same shape and look. All these imperfections will only benefit the work making it more entertaining to look at. For the stems, you can use any line stitch (I used stem stitch here) in the thread of similar color to the ribbons. Then add the leaves making ribbon stitches on these stems, piercing the ribbon at the top of your stitches. I also added branches with french knots to make the work a bit more interesting and placed french knots at the centers of the flowers. The result: It's actually quite easy and quick to work. Perfect for beginners and doesn't really require a pattern, Just place few flowers close together, surround with leaves and add some extra elements like french knots to complete the look. So try it out for now and next time let's work something a bit more complicated, shall we?

Ribbon embroidery is a romantic, old art that uses ribbon, embroidery floss, and perle cotton to work beautiful floral motifs and decorative stitch patterns by hand on garments and accessories. I love the antique quality of this form of embroidery, and I use it to embellish crazy-quilted bags and purses,contemporary garments as well as cushion … Continue reading "Ribbon embroidery Step By Step Image Tutorial"

Like I promised in the last post, here's one more tutorial for ribbon embroidery. Meet the yellow tulip! If you need more background information on ribbon embroidery, then first go the forget me nots tutorial and check the links mentioned there or just go through the ribbon embroidery tag and you will find everything you need. In the last post, I said that we will work something more complicated this time. But you know, actually, it's not like this tulip tutorial is really complicated. It's just that there are a bit more elements, that's all. Working them all, though, will be a piece of cake, I promise :) So now, take your ribbons and let's start. Ribbon embroidery tulip tutorial First, to work tulip, make a pair of straight stitches next to each other. Because I'm using a wider ribbon, you can see how the stitches are already puffed up. But they don't really look like a tulip yet so we can do more stitches. The new stitch starts a bit lower than the previous ones because it is really hard to start it in the same place and not snag on the other stitches. Besides, starting it lower makes the shape of the tulip a bit longer which is a good thing, because we would be increasing only the width otherwise. Tulips are closer to oval shapes, after all. So that's how it looks after the third stitch. I actually wanted to make one more stitch, starting it below the previous one and finishing at the right top angle. But, to be honest, it already looks like a nice tulip to me. The almost opened kind, you know? The drapes of the ribbon on the last stitch create an illusion of two petals, so I think it is enough. See for yourself, though, when you work your tulip. If you feel like adding the fourth stitch, do it. Next, I added some stems for the tulip and the leaves branches next to it. The tulip itself doesn't have a leaf here, but it will go together with pretty twigs, haha. The stitches used here are stem stitch and whipped back stitch. Now ribbons stitches (pierced) for the leaves. Be patient and pull the ribbon through slowly to not tug the part of the ribbon that is supposed to stay on the surface of the fabric. It's particularly important when you are using delicate silk ribbons. They are very easy to snag on. The mid-result. Now, how about adding more twigs? Let's add there these teeny tiny things using a small width ribbon and short stitches. It can be buds or small berries or whatever you want. If the length of your stitches will equal the width of the ribbons they will be more round-shaped. Or make them elongated by finishing stitches a bit further from the starting point. To be frank, it would be better if I did the twig first for the background and then the tulip and leaves. But I kind of went with the flow, adding the elements on the go, so that's how it went. I also made some of the stems a bit longer if you compare to the mid result. I think it's really cool how the colored ribbons create this variety of color – every stitch, every element is unique and the whole work remind of watercolor illustrations. You might wonder why I didn't work the stems with ribbon as well. Well, it's because I didn't find a suitable ribbon and I didn't want to use the same as for the leaves. But it's fine, stems in thread work just as well! I'll try to post the last tutorial on Sunday. I want to show you how to color ribbons when they are worked, so please look forward to it and have a nice weekend!

What Is It Stumpwork is an embroidery style that produces patterns raised from the base fabric surface to give a 3-dimensional or realistic effect to your needlework. Different techniques may be employed for doing this including padding, beadwork, goldwork, felting or any other imaginative way of uplifting. How to Do Stumpwork Embroidery Here we will […]

Don’t miss Susan Elliott’s post about how a piece of needlework changed her life. Amazing story. And the photos deserve deep study. See the post on Plays With Needles blog. Judith Baker…

I have found that there are several different techniques and stitches in silk ribbon embroidery that are common to creating many different flowers, baskets, etc. Therefore, I have created a guide for distribution to my students during my silk ribbon classes. Why not share it? So, here you are...if you are needing just some basic guidelines...that are free...you are welcome to print the guide out. You are also welcome to save a copy of the pdf formatted file on your computer. What you are not allowed to do is SALE or ALTER the guide in any way. Teachers are welcome to copy the guide for use in their own silk ribbon classes. No need for special permission, as I have just given that to you and the copyright on each page indicates it is mine. The illustrations are in color, but the guide prints just fine for black/white too. Please do not pass these illustrations and instructions off as your own...they took me days to draw and get written. (Sadly, there are folks who think this is okay...so I have to say this.) And...while I would appreciate you're sharing about my blog...it is not required that you do that in order to use the guide. Follow this link to download the Adobe PDF File: LINK Please let me know if you enjoy it...and perhaps there will be enough incentive to create more freebies like this one. Hugs, Kathy

A blog about hand embroidery and needlework adventures

A blog about hand embroidery and needlework adventures

Ready for the first part of the Stitch Along?? I'm thrilled! Let's get it! Foreword Whenever I start an important piece of embroidery, I experience a short period of anxiety and nervousness. This time, after transferring the pattern, gathering all the materials around me and setting everything up, I was still so anxious that I had to go and have tea with something sweet before I made the first stitch. In case you are going through something similar, let's all let go of the pressure together. Take a deep breath and remember few things: None if us is Trish Burr. Our end results will inevitably look different from the original work, and that's normal. More than that, if you already took the time to check out the instructions and the pattern, you know that they leave plenty of space for personal interpretation and imporovisation. The needlepainting in this design is often done in “patches” of colors, but the areas and exact choice of thread are not marked on the pattern – you need to figure it out yourself by looking closely at the pictures of the original. Another thing I would like you to remember is that I am only showing my process of working it (and I am not Trish Burr, either) which is already a bit different form the origianl (inevitably). You don't have to follow my way of working it with precision. You can, however, take my insight into consideration and adjust the things to how you see them. Lastly, I would like to tell you that 66 people applied for the Stitch Along and everyone has different level of skills, from beginners to seasoned needlepainters. So, when we share the results we are likely to see a lot of diversity, which I think is great! My place will be in the middle between these two groups, as I am not a beginner, but this is only my second time working Trish Burr's design (first was Pansies), and first time working a needlepainting design of this scale. Hope everyone will get enough space to practice their skills, and by the end of the project will learn something new :) Schedule Our schedule will be as follows: Part 1 (May 21): Branch + Stems Part 2 (May 28): Green leaves 1 Part 3 (June 4): Green leaves 2 Part 4 (June 11): Flower Part 5 (June 18): Red leaves and last touches. So, shall we start now?? Branch and stems Every area here is worked using 1 strand of floss. First, let's work the right part of the branch. For this, you need to know stem stitch, back stitch, and satin stitch. 1. Work a row of stem stitch along the bottom line of the branch in thread K, going upwards. 2. When you reach the top turn around and work one more row in stem stitch, close to the previous one. This time, switch the position of your needle – if as you went upwards your needle emerged from above the previous stitch, now make it appear from below the previous stitch. (More on that here: 6 faces of stem stitch) 3. When you reach the bottom, start outlining the edge of the branch with back stitch, filling in the small dark spaces scattered there using satin stitch. They are not marked on the pattern, so you have to check closely the original or my example – I will leave a more detailed picture below. 4. Next, fill the empty space with the rows of stem stitching using thread J, I and H. Going from the darker one to the lighter one. I also used threads J and K to make some random scratches. Just simple straight stitches here and there in a random order. 1. Please note, that I turned my embroidery upside down here because it is easier for me to work it this way. So we start with satin stitch in thread K, leaving random gaps here and there and especially in the part closer to the leaf. (I didn't use any outlining here) 2. Throwing in thread J randomly here and there. Just straight stitches. 3. Now adding the lightest one, thread H. 4. Sometimes the stitches are not full length – you can make a half stitch piercing right through the one below. 1. I don't know how to call this part of the flower, somebody help me. 😅 Anyway, there are little shadows in the right parts of the areas worked with thread K and J and the green part is worked in M. Stem stitch everywhere. 2. The highlight is worked in thread A, again in stem stitch. 3. For the stems, the shadows are worked in stem stitch, thread J. 4. And the rest – randomly used threads L, M and O. I didn't really use N for the stems, but rather for the leaves veins later. But do as you like! I think you can use any of the colors in any order here :) Here are the stems in the end: I might actually add some finishing touches later with thread N. That's all for today! How was that? I know some of you will finish this part quickly, but others don't have much free time, so I think this is a nice dose of stitching for a week :) Looking forward to seeing your results! Make sure to share your impressions and progress below in the comments section, send me a letter or post it on Instagram. I started hashtag #magnoliastitchalong so use it to show your work (also tag me so that I don't miss it)! Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

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Hello my dear friends, today I am so excited to share my latest free tutorial with you! It is the how to make my seam binding roses. They are easy to make and look so beautiful and you could use them for so many different things. This is going to be a longer post since I have taken many photos so you can see everything really well. Please note that I did not design how to make these roses ~ I am only showing you how I make mine. This is what you will need: ~ Fabric or the piece you want to embellish ~ Seam binding ~ A large needle for the seam binding ~ An embroidery needle for either embroidery floss or strong thread ~ Embroidery floss or strong thread in the color of your seam binding ~ A sewing needle and thread (to sew the pearls onto the rose) ~ Pearls/beads for the centers of the roses ~ Embroidery hoop ~ Scissors ~ Pencil or disappearing quilt marker (when using velvet I use a fine tip Sharpie pen) ~ Coins or small round objects (for the size of the rose) ~ Piece of lace or doily (if you wish) And now you can start ... Using your pencil or marker draw a circle onto you fabric where you would like the rose to be. (When I used velvet I had to use a fine Sharpie pen to draw with.) Mark 5 dots as if you were to draw a 5 pointed star. Now place your fabric in the embroidery hoop that is nice and taught. Double thread your smaller embroidery needle with your embroidery floss or strong thread and knot at the end. Now stitch a 'star' into the circle using the dots as guidance. Secure the thread in the back well and cut the thread off. Next ... thread your large needle with a length of seam binding and knot it at the end. I think that I thread about 30 inches/75 cms when I make my large roses. I always have a leftover piece of seam binding once the rose is done but I would rather have too long a piece than a piece that is too short. I just hold on to my leftovers and use them in other projects. Hold your hoop and from the back stitch through your fabric close to the center of the thread star. (This can be difficult at times because of the size of the needle with the seam binding so be careful and tug gently until it goes through.) Now twirl your needle around a few times so the the seam binding curls but not too much. If your seam binding becomes flat again whilst making it, twirl the needle a few times again. Now the 'growing of the rose' starts ... (sorry for the bad picture) ... you are going to weave your seam binding into your thread star by either going over or under the thread alternately. I like my larger roses to be very full so I try and use as much seam binding as I can that is on my needle. You can make your roses of course as full as you like - just don't over fill it! When you are at the end pull your needle through the fabric by going slightly under the rose and make a knot. Make sure you carefully push your knot towards the fabric to tighten it but don't pull too hard or you will ruin your rose. Cut the seam binding off leaving a small tail. I like to take the needle and thread and secure the knot with a few small stitches to prevent it from reopening which it sometimes can because the seam binding is quite smooth. And now your rose is almost done. The only thing left is to sew the pearls into the center of the rose. For this take your sewing needle and thread it with strong thread and knot the end. Now going through the center of the back of the rose, firstly fold the 'ribbon tails' over each other and push your needle through them. Once your needle is through to the front center of the rose, thread a pearl into the needle, position the pearl in the center of the rose and then go back through the rose. Do this 3 times and then secure the thread and cut it off. Now your rose is finished! If you wish to embroider your rose onto a small tattered piece of lace or old doily, this is how I do it ... Start by drawing your circle and marking it with your 5 dots onto a strip of muslin. Next center the area and slip stitch your lace/doily piece over it so that you drawing is on the back and visible to you and then place it into your embroidery hoop. Now continue as you would before ~ as above. Once your rose is completed, carefully cut it out leaving a circle of muslin under the rose slightly smaller than the rose but beware not to go too close to the stitches! Again your rose is now completed! I work very hard on my tutorials and take many photos too in hope that it will help you lovely bloggers, even those that have never created before, to be able to learn how to create a little something. I hope you have enjoyed today's tutorial ~ maybe you will try it out one day. I would love for you to visit me here at Todolwen some time again. I hope you are well and life is treating you kind my dear friends. Have a peaceful and creative day, Karen B.

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Learn Stumpwork Embroidery techniques including padding with felt, raised embroidery stitches, adding slips and creating wired needlework petals

Stem stitch is a beautiful rope-like hand embroidery stitch that works great for writing with a needle and thread. There are two real difficulties with stem stitch: stitch direction and curves. I’ll try to eliminate both of those difficulties in this tutorial. Before venturing into the tutorial, you might want to take a look at ...

Let's continue learning how to stitch dimensional flowers! This time we will take a look at cast-on stitch and how to use it to work pretty floral motifs. First of all, cast-on stitch is quite similar to bullion knot both in way of working (well, just to some extent) and in ways of using. So, if you don't know yet what is a bullion knot and how to work it, I recommend checking the linked post. By the way, choosing a needle is one more reason why cast-on stitch and bullion knot can be considered distant cousins. As you know, bullion knot requires using Milliners needle, or a needle remotely similar (yes, there are suitable ones, I've used some) with a long thin shaft and narrow eye. The same goes for cast-on stitch. Although the loops aren't wrapped around the shaft as tightly as in the case with bullion knot, still, Milliners needle or its substitutes will serve greatly to make the process as smooth as possible. Today we will learn how to work cast-on stitch and see two ways of making flowers with its help. Cast-on stitch tutorial So, first, you need to make a stitch from one point to another, the distance between these points determining the length of the stitch. Then bring the needle up in the same hole from where it first emerged (or the one next to it if it is hard to bring the needle up without catching the thread with your needle's tip). Actually, in some tutorials, you will see the needle lying on the surface of the fabric, but I find it easier when it stands upright. Now the trickiest part of the whole process. Making a loop. For that, bring your finger under the working thread and then make a rolling motion, bringing the fingertip down. When you do that, the working thread stays wrapped around the finger, forming the loop. Unfortunately, I couldn't take the picture of the movement as one of the hands was occupied by the camera. But here is a nice youtube tutorial: video tutorial. Basically, this is the essential part of the process. If your cast-on stitch doesn't work, you might be doing something wrong in this step. So be careful! 1. The loop around your finger will look like that. Look closely how the thread crosses there. 2. Now slide the loop down the needle's shaft. 3. Pull the thread, so that the loop sits on the shaft comfortable and cozy. 4. Then add as many loops as you need on top of each other. The number of loops can be different, depending on the shape of the final stitch you want to achieve. Fortunately, if you work the stitch with the needle standing upright – you don't really need to count the loops. Just bend the needle down a little and compare if it fits the length of the stitch. The more loops you cast on the needle, the more arched will be the stitch. 5. When you decide that the number of loops is enough, pull the needle through them. 6. And anchor your stitch at the ending point of the stitch. Here is the final look of the cast-on stitch. A couple of tips: In step 4 you can notice the forming of a rib, which is also most likely to start spiraling. This is not very good. I mean, it is not really harmful for the stitch per se, but if you pull the thread before adjusting the rib in one straight line, you will have some trouble with fixing the stitch and giving it a proper look. So, remember: before pulling the needle through, adjust the loops so that the rib is one straight line. You might notice that sometimes the rib of the cast-on stitch is a little wavy, and sometimes it is absolutely even. The “wavy” thingy happens when some loops have a larger gap between each other than the other ones. I caught an example so look at the picture below. This gap makes results in the “wave”. If you don't want any waves you need to adjust every loop, making sure all of them sit evenly on the shaft. And if you like this wavy effect, you can allow yourself to be sloppier when casting the loops and not mind the difference in the gaps. The arrow shows you the gap between the stitches that results in a little wave in the final stitch. Also, note how the rib forms a straight line here. Now, if you cut the distance between the starting and ending points of the stitch but keep the higher number of loops... You will get a very arched tiny stitch. Doesn't it remind you of a flower petal? Add a couple more and get a pretty flower :) Cast-on stitch rose And now the star of this post: the gorgeous cast-on stitch rose! 1. Outline the shape of your future rose and divide the circle into 5 parts. The first stitch will start at the point 1 and end at point 3. Note that you need to skip one point! 2. The next stitch, or petal, starts at point 2 and ends at point 4. Note that the start of the stitch is situated inside the curve of the previous stitch, somewhere in the middle of it. 3. The last petal starts at point 5 and ends at point 1, behind the first stitch. If needed, you can bend the first stitch a little to open more space. 4. For the next “level” you can use 4 points like the ends of a square. Again, as you stitch, skip one point every time, and start the petals in the middle of the curve of the previous one. 5. The four points strategy creates a very pretty spiral! 6. You can fill the small space in the center with tiny arcs of cast-on stitch, like I demonstrated before. That's all! Hope you enjoyed and will try to incorporate this stitch in your next project :) And we are going to learn one more stitch for a dimensional flower this week. I wonder if you can guess which one? 🤔

Learn fern stitch with this simple, step-by-step tutorial including variations and tips. Stitch along with the FREE fern pattern.

Chris of Ella’s Craft Creations shares an excellent method for transferring an embroidery design to fabric. In her needlework tutorial, she will show you one of the easiest ways to …

Silk embroidery is an art practiced by many cultures. Follow this step-by-step tutorial and learn the basics of silk shading.

Discover the art of paper embroidery with our guide and step-by-step tutorial for creating beautiful embroidered paper vase sleeves.

find out how to use the right carbon paper to transfer your hand embroidery pattern to dark fabric with great results

Colonial knots are so versatile and I use them a lot in my embroidery. They look great in clusters of knots. But at the same time can add delicate details as single knots to all type of designs such as flower centres or to dot your I’s. Finishing and securing your Colonial Knot. If you

Addendum: Here are a couple websites with tutorials... http://historicalsewing.com/pleated-trim-jazz-your-victorian-neckline https://www.mayarts.com/make-a-victorian-style-ribbon-pleat/ I picked 2 skills to improve as a personal challenge during the CQJP2015.... One I had for 2012 but going further with it... ribbon trim folding.. I fell in love the first time I saw ribbon manipulated for trim and it was a display by Candace King and unfortunately it wasn't the class she was offering... She does have a schedule of where she teaches. I would love to take her ribbon folding class and Candace does get to Seattle several times a year but the class and my schedule have never worked. I love these trims because they are so unique and can be done with inexpensive ribbon.. When you do them for CQ there is the bonus that you can do them with a small amount of ribbon... I determined that they are my #1 skill for my CQJP2015 blocks. I did buy a book, "Ribbon Trims" by Nancy Nehring to try my hand at it in 2012 and I did do three folded ribbon trims in the Morris book... I could handle the easy ones in the book but I have to admit I had trouble following her directions for the trims she had marked as "challenging".. I'm taking the book with me when I see Susie again and see if between the two of us, we can get some more figured out... The second skill is going to be paisleys of all types. Paisleys (Persian Pickles) arrived in the US via Scotland in 1888 and were immediately embraced by crazy quilters. I have done a few over the years but this year is going to be studying them in depth... I can see this developing into a major tutorial. This is Betty Pillsbury's award winning quilt entitled "Paisley" and you can see two prominent ones on it...