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 …
Use up your fabric scraps with an embroidery tutorial on French linen. How to fuse and embroider a pretty tiled-fabric background ready for embellishment.
We humans have the unique ability to take something ordinary and add a little extra to it.
Teach kids how to sew running stitch by hand using burlap and yarn for an easy beginning sewing lesson for children. Learning how to sew a line using a basic running stitch develops the fine motor muscles of the hand to prepare the hand for writing and more detailed handwork projects.
Sashiko—often translated as “little stabs.” Sashiko is a type of sewing or embroidery. Sashiko is a Japanese traditional art that dates back to the Edo era. Historically, sashiko was wi…
Today I am practicing a basic heirloom technique known as “Drawn” or “Pulled” thread work embroidery. This type of embroidery is achieved by gently pulling out individual thread along the grain line to create a small gap in the fabric. A combination of hand stitches is then used to create simple to elaborate designs within...
Selon le monde du 30 mars 2016 : « Une vingtaine d’espèces de libellules, sur 89, sont aujourd’hui menacées ou quasi menacées de disparition en France métropolitaine. Deux ont même déjà …
The sleek and modern look of traditional Japanese sashiko stitching has become wildly popular recently. This style of stitching can be used to mend clothes and decorate anything from jeans to pillows. This week, Maker Team member Dani Miller shows us the basics of sashiko stitching and helps you get started with this coaster set to show off four different sashiko patterns! Be sure to follow Dani's takeover of the Benzie Design Instagram feed the week of October 5th for even more tips about how to use sashiko! Sashiko is a form of Japanese stitch work that is similar to hand quilting. It was originally developed to help mend and reinforce clothing and is now commonly used in the visible mending movement. But, it can also be purely decorative. Many of the patterns are geometric in nature, and with the availability of many pre-printed fabrics it is very easy to make your first sashiko piece. Today I am going to show you the very basics to get you started on this popular craft! Skill Level: Beginner Time: About 2 hours for the coaster set In addition to the above supplies you will also need matching sewing thread and sewing machine (for finished project such as coasters). Pre-Printed Panel or Coaster Set, Sashiko Thread, Sashiko Needle, Sashiko, Thimble, ScissorsDirections:1. Lay out your pre-printed fabric. Do not iron the fabric, as this will make it hard to remove the water-soluble marks after you are finished your project. 2. Cut an 18-24” piece of sashiko thread and tie a single knot in one end. Thread your sashiko needle. (Note – there are three sizes of needle included in the Tulip set. You may use any needle you like, but I like the longest one as it allows you to load up the maximum number of stitches before having to pull the needle through.) 3. Place your sashiko thimble on your center finger with the wide part of the leather resting on the palm of your hand below your finger. 4. We will start with any horizontal stitches. All of the horizontal stitches will be stitched before you move on to all of the vertical stitches, and after that any diagonal stitches. There are a couple of reasons for this: 1) the horizontal and vertical stitches provide a nice stable “web” that keeps the fabric from stretching on the bias when you stitch the diagonal and 2) stitching all of one direction first means that any areas where the threads cross will be consistent with the horizontal running under the vertical. 5. On your first horizontal row, bring your needle up from the back to the front, at the beginning of the first marked stitch on the right-hand side (feel free to reverse this if you are left-handed). 6. Rest the blunt end of the needle on the leather thimble and use your fingers and thumb to hold the sharp end of the needle. You are going to be using a rocking motion to load stitches up onto the needle, without pulling the thread through (not yet anyway!) 7. Rocking the fabric up towards the needle, pierce the needle through the fabric at the end of the first marked stitch. You are making very small movements. 8. Rocking the fabric down away from the needle, bring the tip up through the fabric at the beginning of the second stitch. Again, this is a very small movement. 9. Continue this process across the row, loading 5-10 stitches onto the needle. You may want to do less stitches at first until you are comfortable, and after that, go for it! Click here for a video demonstration! 10. When you reach the end of the row your needle should be on the back side of the fabric. Spread your fabric out flat and shimmy the stitches so that they are not causing the fabric to pucker or ruche, but so they look nice and tidy on the front side. 11. Turn your fabric 180° and begin stitching the second horizontal row. Leave a little extra thread between the rows on the back side. This will keep it from puckering up. It is really important in sashiko to not bunch the fabric up, because as it is washed the thread will shrink up a little on its own. 12. Repeat steps 7 and 8, rocking your fabric back and forth on the point of the needle. Repeat this with all the horizontal, vertical, and diagonal rows. 13. If you are making coasters, cut the fabric along the dotted lines. Layer a blank square over the stitched square, and stitch around with your sewing machine and matching thread leaving an opening for turning. 14. Clip the corners, turn the coaster and poke out the corners. Machine or hand stitch the opening closed. 15. For all pre-printed sashiko, you will need to gently wash your piece in warm water to remove the printed stitch markings. Once it is dry, press with a warm iron. And that is it! You have made your sashiko piece! Just think about all the things you can use your new skill for – go mend those jeans with the big hole! Thanks to Dani for designing and writing this tutorial! You can follow her on Instagram @knitty34. Stay tuned for more Benzie Design Maker Team tutorials from Dani and the rest of the Team!
Feather stitch: a simple step by step hand embroidery tutorial with attractive variations for floral designs, coral, seaweed and more
Kantha quilts are made by stitching together flattened layers of old saris or old discarded clothes together. They look kaleidoscopic with a collection of vivid colors and designs that make …
Also known as: double knot stitch, tied coral stitch, old English knot stitch, Smyrna stitch, twilling stitch, purl stitch Palestrina stitch has its origin in Italy. Many embroidery styles from Italy has Palestrina stitch and there is even an...
Introduction: An hour or two after I put up the last post on mending, I got a phone call from New York. My friend Alice is a retired textile conservator. We were good friends when I lived in the We…
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 :)
Laid work is a great way of quickly creating a solid fill for a large area of your embroidery. Read on for tips and inspiration.
There are so many great embroidery stitches so why do I use so few of them? The answer is that the ones I do use are so versatile. These are my 5 favourites. 1 • Running Stitch Possibly the m…
This abstract embroidery pattern is printed onto turquoise fabric, ready for stitching. Enjoy this lovely embroidery art design.
Learn how to choose sewing machine needles to sew denim. Whether you're sewing jeans or upcycling denim, these tips will help you.
Securing thread on the backside can't be avoided in hand embroidery. These tips will help you to end embroidery stitches in a safe way.
PLAT1E BORO SERIES --> 50% of the sale will be sent to Kharkiv volunteers (Ukraine). Upcycled Patchwork Boro Yellow Jacket Base men's shirt in combination with long sleeves from a hoodie Full adaptation in the technique of Sashiko Japanese boro Woody buttons This jacket was made 2 weeks by hand work Sustaniable fashion Size L: Body width 22,4in / 57cm Body length 28,4in / 72cm Sleeve length 28,2in / 71,5cm Shoulder width 7,5in / 19cm
Now that you’ve finished up the cover for Cotton Quartet, it’s time to embellish the gingham lining and prepare both the cover and the lining for construction. Today, we’re just going to look at the gingham embroidery inside the tool wallet, and then we’ll talk about prepping the two pieces for construction. If you’re just ...
Well you asked for it, you got it! Of course you got 15 pics to go with it. So be patient for the page to load. As I have said, I am a visua...
Mary Corbet of Needle ‘n’ Thread walks us through the basics of pattern darning. Imagine the pretty set of linen handtowels with pattern-darning borders you could whip up for a last-min…
How to work satin stitch and satin stitch tips. Learn of the classical stitches of hand embroidery.
First things first, before you dive into your embroidery project, I’d like to show you how you can start and finish your embroidery thread to secure it. Traditionally using knots to start and finish your embroidery thread is a big no-no. And there are several reasons for this. Firstly the knot can show through your
Up your embroidery game with the simple knotted line stitch. Scroll stitch is perfect for outlines, borders, fillers, or my favorite - making ocean waves.
