I always used to sort of avoid embroidery projects. It seemed like a bit of a mystical skill which some people possessed but you had to spend a long time learning, so I just used to steer clear of it, but for some reason this year I just decided to leap right in. I guess this isn't really embroidery its more just stitching around string but it has a really amazing effect and it's a great way to get over embroidery anxiety (I have no idea if anyone else has this neuroses, it's probably just me). I decided to decorate some pockets of a dress I was making but you can decorate just about anything as long as you have access to both sides of the fabric.
You will need:
Something to decorate
String or rope
Embroidery thread
An embroidery needle
Lots of pins
1.First start with you fabric you wish to embroider. I wanted to embroider
the pockets of a dress so I made a simple pocket pattern. Iron your
fabric so it is easier to work with.
2. Now using a pencil or chalk draw your graphic or your words.
3. Now for the tricky part! You're going to need to pin your string into
the right shape. This is harder than it looks. Keep making sure you keep
the fabric flat so it won't have any odd contours.
4. When you're all pinned up it should look a little like this.
5. Start your embroidering half way down your first letter as doing the
ends of letters is quite hard and you need the string to be secured for
this. What you are essentially doing is covering or wrapping the string so
just do simple stitched which cover the string close together.
6. When you need to do an end simple work up to the edge with nice tight
stitched. Once you get to the edge of the string do a single stitch on
the fabric blow it and then build this up until you can't tell the
difference between the stitches on and off the string.
7. You should have something which looks like this!
8. Carry on with the whole of your graphic until it is all covered.
At the back of your embroidery you should have something which looks a
little like this. Try and keep it as tidy as possible. If there is a
tonne of mess carefully cut the strands, separate the embroidery thread
and knots them in order to secure them.
