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You lucky, lucky readers. My super creative cousin Aimee was so kind as to write a guest post for me. She's amazing. For Reals. Check out her Etsy store. And she is the hot babe modeling the wedding veils. She kindly put together this tutorial, which I should have posted weeks ago (Computer malfunctions, I swear!) but there is still time to make some for Christmas presents. Enjoy, and leave her some comment love!
Embroidery Hoop Collage Tutorial
I decided that these little collages would make great gifts for my boyfriend’s sisters because
1). I don’t have a lot of money for gifts this year,
2). I want to get them something to show them I care, but this is a gift that is not too much of a gift that they’ll feel bad if they don’t get me anything, and
3). It’s cute and personalized.
Materials:
-
Embroidery hoops of different sizes. They range in price from $.59 $1.69. at Joann’s and Hobby Lobby. I used a 12” hoop for the biggest ones and then all the way down to a 4” hoop for the little tiny ones.
- Fabric scraps. I think vintage fabric would be so cute here! You can get vintage fat quarters on etsy, but it’s a bit pricier. I went for vintage prints and used coupons to bring the price down. You only need a little bit, so this is a great way to use up fabric you already have.
Technically, that is all you really need. But I jazzed mine up a bit, so here are some optional materials:
- Hot glue gun (to secure the raw edges of the fabric)
- Embroidery floss
- Embroidery needle
- Fabric pencil (a regular pencil with a white eraser will work)
- Ruler
- Acrylic paint and brush
Unfortunately I didn’t take pictures as I went…but this is soooo easy.
Step 1:
If you are doing a black color scheme, I would paint the hoop using acrylic paint. It only took a few minutes. Let the paint dry completely before moving on.
Step 2:
Put the fabric in the embroidery hoop. Secure the hoop and then turn it over and trim the edges of the fabric
Step 3:
Flip the edge of the fabric over so you can see the wood of the inner hoop. With your glue gun, squeeze a thin line of glue along the inner hoop. Fold over the fabric so it is secure. I went around my hoop in two or three inch sections until the whole thing was glued tight.
Step 4:
Using a ruler, mark the center of the fabric with a little X. Then sketch the design you want to embroider with your fabric pencil. If you mess up, use a white eraser! To make this step easier, I found a thin, hard back book to put underneath the fabric. You could also sketch the design before securing the fabric in the hoop, but stretching might alter the pattern.
Step 5:
Using your coordinating embroidery floss, embroider the pattern you sketched. I did the names of the children in each family. So the big hoop had the parents’ initials and an ampersand, and then each hoop corresponded to each child.
I did the girls’ names in cursive to add a little bit of girlie-ness. But you can do whatever you want.
Don’t forget to play around with different stitches. Youtube is a great place to find tutorials on how to embroider.
I tried chain stitching:
Stem stitching:
And of course, back stitching:
Tip: Use French knots to dot your i’s.
And that’s it! You’re all done. Arrange them and hang those babies up on the wall!
Photo credit:
http://projectnursery.com/projects/grahams-bright-and-colorful-space/
