• Home
  • Shop
  • Stitch Showcase
  • Embroidery tips
  • Freebies
  • About
  • Contact
Menu

Embellished Elephant

  • Home
  • Shop
  • Stitch Showcase
  • Embroidery tips
  • Freebies
  • About
  • Contact
A background of hardanger embroidery with a blue square graphic on top saying hand embroidery, the traits you need to be an embroiderer, www.embellishedelephant.co.uk

The traits you need to be an embroiderer

May 4, 2022

I’m a firm believer that anyone can make gorgeous embroidery, but there are some traits that really help when picking up a needle to start an embroidery project. Here’s three and why they are important:

A close up image of an embroidered monstera plant in a basket

Patience

Embroidery can take a long time to complete.

I don’t often time how long it takes me to stitch a piece from start to finish as one of the joys of embroidery is you can pick it up and put it down at will. But for this piece I only stitched it in blocks of time (zoom calls and train journeys!) so I know this took 12 hours to finish.

You need to be patient and know that for many fully stitched designs such as this, you are not going to be able to finish it in an afternoon.

A map of Europe on fabric with embroidered outlines of each country

Perseverance

Especially if you are stitching a new design or experimenting with a new stitch, it won’t always go right first time.

It can be disheartening to see an area that you have spend an hour or two stitching doesn’t look quite right. But more often than not, making a decision to cut it out and re-stitch is the right one.

With this map of Europe I originally wanted to fill in each country with a different colour, but after completing a couple it just didn’t look right so I cut out all that stitching and started outlining instead. It looks so much better!

a close up image of some embroidered purple crocus

An eye for detail

I was originally going to say ‘attention to detail’ because you do need to pay attention to the smallest things. The fraction of a millimetre difference in where you place your needle for a stitch can make the difference between good and great looking embroidery. But it think that it’s slightly different to that - it’s about being able to look at a design or piece of stitching and notice where an added detail will make a difference.

I initially stitched the centre of this crocus using only orange thread, but it didn’t look quite right. Mixing one strand of yellow with one of orange, really made the difference.

But don’t worry if you are reading this and this doesn’t sound like you but you still want to create a great embroidery! This floral stitch sampler is the perfect project for you. Each floral motif is stitched separately meaning you can pick it up and put in down - you only need a small dose of patience to stitch each one. It come with pre-printed fabric and a guide of which stitches you can use for each motif - I’ve persevered and used my eye for detail to get this design right and ready for you to stitch.

Enjoyed this blog post? I share embroidery tips and a free embroidery pattern in my monthly newsletter. Sign up here to receive the newsletter on the 1st of each the month.

In tips 3
← How to stitch on canvasHow many strands of embroidery floss to use →

Tags

  • About me
  • Artists/Designers
  • Basics
  • Christmas
  • colour
  • Couching Stitch
  • Fabric
  • Filling Stitch
  • Finishing
  • Hoops
  • Isolated Stitch
  • Line Stitch
  • London
  • My Makes
  • Needles
  • Stitch Showcase
  • Texture Stitch
  • Thread
  • Transfer
  • Travel

Latest Posts

Featured
Jun 1, 2025
What is stranded embroidery thread?
Jun 1, 2025
Jun 1, 2025
May 1, 2025
How to manage your backlog of craft projects
May 1, 2025
May 1, 2025
Apr 1, 2025
What to do if you don't like what you've stitched
Apr 1, 2025
Apr 1, 2025
Feb 15, 2025
How to decide which embroidery stitch to use
Feb 15, 2025
Feb 15, 2025
Feb 1, 2025
Focus on stitches for flowers
Feb 1, 2025
Feb 1, 2025
Jan 1, 2025
Focus on stitches for leaves
Jan 1, 2025
Jan 1, 2025
Nov 1, 2024
Stitch Showcase: Six-pointed star stitch
Nov 1, 2024
Nov 1, 2024
Oct 1, 2024
Focus on transferring or tracing patterns
Oct 1, 2024
Oct 1, 2024
Sep 1, 2024
Focus on hoops
Sep 1, 2024
Sep 1, 2024
Aug 1, 2024
A focus on needles
Aug 1, 2024
Aug 1, 2024

Home — Shop — Stockists — Wholesale — Portfolio — Contact — Reviews — Policies — FAQs