Stitch Showcase: French Knot

I think French knots are my all time favourite embroidery stitch. I know that some people can’t stand them but a little practice goes a long way with this one if this is one you haven’t tried before or don’t like I would recommend practicing on a scrap piece of fabric until you are comfortable with the motion of this stitch.

• Push the needle up through the fabric in the place you want your knot to approximately sit (A)

• Wrap the thread around the needle (the number of wraps affects the size of the knot) I tend to use three wraps

• Take the tip of the needle back through the fabric as close to the original hole as possible (B). If the same hole is used then the knot can be pulled all the way through to the back of the fabric

• Use your thumb over the thread wraps and gently pull the thread through, being careful of tangles.

Commonly French knots are used in isolation or in groups as in the blossom embroidery in the header picture, but can also be used to fill areas, such as in this negative space word art. (You need to REALLY love French knots if you are going to attempt a piece like this.)

They can also be used effectively as a counter point to more linear stitches such as in this blue piece of intuitive embroidery (where they also fill small gaps between the linear stitches.)

Want to try this stitch? It’s one I suggest using in my heart stitch sampler kit, flamingo flower plant kit, floral sampler kit and spring blossom kit.

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Recycled materials embroidery

I work a lot with recycled fabric such as old sheets and old shirts.

For my third and final assessed piece for my embroidery course we had a choice of six design briefs and when I saw the brief involving recycled materials I knew that was the brief for me. The brief involved designing something to hang in the foyer of the local council to promote recycling by showcasing what recycled materials could be turned into. The focus was on paper and plastic and the design I came up with was based around the recycle arrow symbol and a world map. To bring in the element about what recycled materials could be turned into around the edge were embroidered words of things that could be made.

I really loved working with the paper scraps and stitching these together, I think this created a great effect, as for the plastic and wording I would have taken this off as it looked much better without it, but it was needed to fulfil the brief!

Stitch Showcase: Couching

Couching is when embellishments such as cord are attached to a piece of fabric using small stitches to hold it in place rather than it being sewn through the fabric. It is a technique used extensively in gold work embroidery as well as in certain types of bead work. Most commonly a single strand of matching thread is used so that the couching stitch is barely visible but contrasting thread of different thicknesses can be used to make the couching visible.

Depending on the type of item you are couching will influence how you attach it. Thick cord that can’t be pushed through the fabric will be completely surface couched. If the item can be pushed through the fabric then it is best to attach the start and end of the length with a simple knot on the back of the fabric.

• Place the item being couched on the fabric at the start (A) and end (B) points. This may be a thread that goes through the fabric or one that stays on the the surface

• The thread that will be couching could be the same thread or a different thread to the one being couched

• Bring the needle with the couching thread up through the fabric right next to the item (C). it works best if it is slightly underneath and you bring the needle through at a slight angle

• Take the thread over the top of the item being couched and push the needle back down as close to the item as possible (D). Again a slight angle works best

• Add as many couching stitches as is needed to keep the item being couched secure. These can be close together or evenly spaced apart.

With this goldwork piece each hand is one strand of gold cord, the start and end of the cord is pushed through the fabric at the fingertips and each hand is then couched in place. The cord was of a thickness that it could be pushed through the fabric.

The couching stitches can also be made very close together so that the item being couched is completely covered. In the middle picture, on the right hand side of the sampler, thick yarn has been couched to the surface with the ends of the thread loose as this was too thick to be pushed through the fabric. On the left hand side cord has been completely covered by couching stitches.

Couching is also a technique used to attach strings of sequins or beads to fabric and is a much quicker method of embellishing than stitching on individual beads!

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5 tips to avoid thread tangles in your embroidery project

It seems so simple - you just want one or two threads from the six stranded floss … and 30 seconds later you have a big old tangle that you spend 5 minutes wrestling with before you win or give up.

Thread tangles are not unique to embroidery, every thread or yarn based craft I’ve ever tried I’ve had instances of that big tangled mess.

But since I’ve been embroidering there are a few things I’ve learned about working with embroidery floss that help to avoid the tangles. Here are my 5 top tips to avoid tangles:

1. pull the thread from the bottom of the skein (the long label end)

Most embroidery threads are manufactured and packaged in this way to prevent such tangles. It’s such a simple thing to remember to do to prevent tangles.

2. don’t cut the thread too long

It can be tempting to pull a really long length of thread so that you don’t run out of thread too quickly when you are in your stitching flow. I normally pull 2 full skein lengths or about the length of my fingers to my elbow.

3. pull your strands from the middle of your cut length

Most embroidery patterns require you to use one or two strands of floss for a section of stitching. Separating strands is normally where I end up in tangles. But ever since I was given the tip to separate the strands in the middle of your cut thread and use your fingers to run the strand to the end, I’ve all but eliminated the tangles.

4. pull each strand out separately

When threads are manufactured they are twisted to create each strand and each strand is twisted together to make the six stranded floss. So if you need two strands pull out two strands of one rather than two strands together, this just releases the twisting from the manufacturing process. Then just bring them back together and smooth them out.

5. keep an eye on twists

Each time you pull the thread through the fabric it twists slightly and twists twist upon themselves to create tangles. If you do find your thread twisting, periodically just let the needle and thread dangle and it will untwist itself.

And one final bonus tip (that I’ve not yet cracked!) periodically keep an eye on the back of your work to prevent knots and tangles while you are stitching. I’d love to hear from you if you have any other tips to help avoid the tangles just add a comment below.

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Stitch Showcase: Satin Stitch

Satin stitch is commonly used to fill in large spaces and there are contemporary embroidery artists such as Sarah K Benning and Salt Stitches who use it extensively in their work. The stitch is created by laying lengths of thread as close as possible on the surface of the fabric.

• Bring the needle up through the fabric at the appropriate starting point (A)

• Take it down through the fabric at the end point (B)

• Bring the needle back up right next to the first point you brought it through (C).

• Take it down through the fabric next to the end of the first stitch (D)

• The gap between each stitch will depend on the thickness of the thread being used

• Each stitch should start from the same side each time. This should mean that the back of the work work looks similar to the front (just not as neat)

• It may seem like a waste of thread to have such long stitches on the back of the work, but it does help to maintain the tension over such a large area.

• If you are short of thread or are working a smaller area you could bring the needle up right next to the point it went down (on the same side of the area) rather than go back to the other side but beware this may cause fabric wrinkles.

Satin stitch can be made using a range of numbers of threads, this is a sampler I made exploring this, the yellow shape at the bottom is stitched with all 6 strands at once while the pale yellow on the right hand side is stitched with just one strand.

One of the most difficult things with covering a large area with satin stitch is to keep the stitches all at the same angle. You can draw guidelines to follow, but I like to create guidelines with stitches, these smaller areas can then be filled in bit by bit and it’s easier to maintain the direction of the stitches.

Want to try this stitch? It’s one I recommend using in my snowdrop kit and my floral sampler kit.

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Cambodia goldwork project

I’d wanted to visit Cambodia for a long time and in summer 2018 it actually happened. Once of the places we visited was the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh where I saw these fabulous gates and just had to snap a photo.

I’ve been wanting to make and embroidery based on this picture for a while. At first I tried printing the photo directly onto fabric but because I’d taken the photo on my iPhone the resolution wasn’t great. So instead I used a drawing app on my iPad to trace over the photo and create a line drawing. I got this printed on to fabric and it worked so much better.

Having seen so many beautiful gold Buddhas on my trip I knew that stitching in gold would be perfect and I love it!

Stitch Showcase: Backstitch

As with running stitch, backstitch is another basic stitch in both hand embroidery and sewing. It is the perfect stitch to use to hand sew fabric together if you are making an item from your embroidered fabric. For embroidery it is great for adding simple details as it can be worked in a straight line or curve.

• To create the stitch bring the needle up from the back of the fabric (A)

• Take it back down a few millimetres along (B)

• Bring the needle up again a few millimetres further along from the first stitch (C)

• To make the second stitch join onto the first taking the needle down in the same place you completed the first stitch (B)

• Bring the needle up at (D) and take it down through the fabric at (C)

• Repeat for the length required.

Backstitches can be short or long, and can be stitched in straight lines, curves or patterns but backstitch look best when the stitches are of an even length. It is commonly used to outline a section of embroidery, the gold outline of the monogrammed needle minder below is stitched in backstitch. It is great for stitching on paper as it only uses three holes per two stitches as shown in the header picture.

Want to try this stitch? It is one I suggest using in my floral sampler kit.

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The basics of using an embroidery hoop

An embroidery hoop is vital to creating a great finished look for your embroidery project.

It’s important to stretch the fabric taut to keep the stitches you make even, if the fabric is too lose then you will often unwittingly pull the stitches marginally too tight meaning the fabric can’t lie flat due to the uneven tension when you remove it from the hoop.

There are a few different types of embroidery hoop, but the most common is the wooden hoop with a screw fixture.

Ideally the size of the hoop should be big enough to display the whole area you are going to stitch but this isn’t vital unless you are working with beads or other embellishments.

• To get started loosen the screw slightly (you don’t need to unscrew it all the way) until the inner hoop separates from the outer hoop.

• Lie the inner hoop down and place the ironed fabric over the inner hoop so that it is central.

• Place the outer hoop over the inner hoop and gently press down, you may need to unscrew the outer hoop a little further if you have any difficulty in pushing the outer hoop down.

• The tighten the screw as tight as you can so that the fabric is like the skin of a drum, you can pull each side of the fabric to make sure it is as taut as possible.

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Stitch Showcase: Running Stitch

This is one of the most basic embroidery stitches but is so useful, not just in hand embroidery but in sewing and mending as well. It is the perfect stitch to use to gather fabric together, such as when you are finishing the back of an embroidery hoop.

• Bring the needle up from the back of the fabric (A)

• Take it back down a few millimetres along (B)

• Bring the needle up again a few millimetres further along (C) and complete the stitch (D)

• Either bring the needle fully up and push it fully down creating one stitch at a time

• Or weave the needle through the fabric a few times and pull the thread through to create several stitches at once.

Running stitches can be tiny so that they are barely visible, which is great for attaching embellishments. This stitch looks best as a decorative stitch when there is an even gap between each stitch and each stitch is of an even length, but you can vary both the gap and the length.

Normally running stitches are used in isolation, but can be stitched next to each other or alongside other stitches such as backstitch they can create interesting textures.

It’s also a great stitch to use with quilting as you can see in the header picture where the circles of running stitches are staggered.

Want to try this stitch? It is one I suggest using in my floral sampler kit and the embellished bauble kit (that will be back at Christmas).

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Stitch showcase: Straight stitch

If you’ve ever knitted you’ll know that there are really only two stitches, knit and purl, and that all the stitch patterns used in knitting are just combinations of knit and purl.

I see the straight stitch as the embroidery version of knit and purl. It’s just a single stitch of any length and in any direction. So it really is the building block for the majority of other embroidery stitches - running stitch, backstitch, seed stitch, satin stitch and cross stitch to name just a few.

• Creating a straight stitch is easy, bring the needle up through the fabric at the point the stitch will start

• Push it back through the fabric at the point at which you want the stitch to end.

The image in the header shows one way of using straight stitches - to create a flower. But a fun way to use straight stitches is when stitching on paper. This is a card I made for my niece’s birthday using long straight stitches at random angles and overlapping.

Want to try this stitch? It’s one I suggest using in my floral sampler kit.

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Introducing Stitch Showcase

Welcome to a series of blog posts called Stitch Showcase started in September 2020. The aim of these blog posts is to provide tutorials on a wide range of different embroidery stitches giving you additional support and guidance in more detail than we can cover in the instruction booklets for our kits. For the more experienced crafters we’re also showcasing some ideas for different ways to use these stitches.

You can head here to browse all the posts in this series.

I hope these are useful in your stitching explorations.

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Canada Inspiration (circa 1995)

During lockdown I’ve missed not being able to travel so much. I’ve embarked on a project of scanning some of the film photos I took before digital photography came about.

Some of the first photos I picked to scanned were of a family trip to Canada in 1995, these beautiful epic open spaces have provided me with some inspiration this month.

Jungle wall hanging

Module 9 of my City & Guilds course was my second assessed piece which required me to create a wall hanging. I think because I’ve been sitting on the sofa staring at my houseplants too much during lockdown this is where the inspiration for this module has come from.

The original design, stitch sample and finished piece are shown below.

Momento Park Inspiration

A short trip outside of Budapest is Momento Park. Here statues from the Communist era are displayed as a reminder. It’s a fascinating insight into how public art can be used by Government and can also give a real insight into social and political history.

Looking back through the photos of my visit I was inspired by the range of different styles of work, and this is how I looked at them for inspiration rather than for the message they were trying to convey.

Floral pouch

Module 9 of my City & Guilds course we had free reign to design anything. A bit intimidating at first but I knew I wanted to make a useful object (as the next module required us to make a wall hanging).

Looking back at the designs I’d created in previous modules I came up with an abstract floral design with each ‘flower’ stitched in a different way. I also loved perfecting my woven picot stitches to create the leaves.

The design I created, the piece in progress and the finished item are below. I love how this turned out.

Anni Albers Inspiration

For one of the modules for my the City & Guilds course I was completing, I had to choose a theme and an inspirational artist. The theme I chose was ‘blocks’ and having visited the Tate Modern Exhibition of her work in 2018, I decided to choose Anni Albers as the artist because as a weaver her work was often blocks or other geometric shapes.

Having started my creative journey mostly practicing bead weaving I always keep an eye out for geometric gridded styles of artwork as I used these for inspiration for my beadwork so I was naturally drawn to Anni’s work as a weaver.

More recently I’ve been drawn to mid-century modern styles of embroidery and Anni’s work once again came to mind.

What I particularly loved about this exhibition was the amount or preparatory drawings that were included. Normally with fine artists the preparatory drawings don’t mean much to me as I don’t have the level of drawing skills or understanding about what goes into producing a painting or drawing. With Anni’s work I could see the connection between the drawing and the finished item much more clearly.

Macao Inspiration

I’ve been reminiscing back to my trip to Hong Kong in 2016. I was lucky enough to get to go there for work, but also added an extra few days to get out and about and explore. As well as heading around Hong Kong I also headed on a day trip to Macao and loved it’s beautiful colonial architecture mixed with the new flashy casinos.

Sublimation printing and flocking workshop

I spotted the leaflet for this workshop during the visit to the Sandra Rhodes exhibition and when my other half was struggling to know what to get me for Christmas I handed him the leaflet.

I’ve not tried any kind of textile printing beyond fabric paints so was intrigued to try something new. The workshop was run by Nicole Line and we started by painting some flock paper.

We then moved on to working with sublimation papers which are papers with sublimation dyes already embedded that you can transfer to fabric using a heat press (or being very patient with a very hot iron). You can use paper templates, cut shapes from the paper or just create a collage from scraps.

After lunch we moved onto the flocking and experimented with a couple of different techniques. This included painting patterns with glue directly onto the fabric, screen printing glue onto the fabric and painting and flocking onto different textures. Once the glue has dried the flocking paper is placed over the glue and heat pressed together to transfer the textured flock to the fabric.

Lisbon Inspiration

I visited Portugal for the first time in 2017 and absolutely loved Lisbon. The the tiles on the buildings, the trams (I have a bit of a secret tram obsession!), the food and drink (hello pastel de nata & a glass of port). As well as Lisbon we also took a day trip to Sintra with its Moorish style architecture.

Here are some of the pictures from this trip that are inspiring me at the moment.

National Theatre Inspiration

While visiting the National to see Three Sisters in early January we were hunting for a slice of cake and came across this wonderful little exhibition about the costume department. We worth a stop off to take a look if you are in the vicinity - the skill you can see on show is wonderful and you can get really close and see the detail. The first outfit is from Follies - that headdress is so huge, I couldn’t fit it all in one picture; the second is a close up of the embroidery on Sophie Okonedo’s coat from the fabulous production of Antony and Cleopatra; the final headdress I didn’t note the production it is from but shows the detail that goes into the smallest item.