Author: StitchPretty

Retired from NHS and now enthused by stitching beautiful things. It might be quilting, or embroidery, or painting on fabric, or printing images and machine embroidering them. Lots of colour and new ideas to keep the interest alive. Like teaching others what I have learned and enjoy the social side of getting together with my friends to sew.

HOOPED EMBROIDERY DISPLAY

On By StitchPrettyIn RibbonworkLeave a comment

It’s become quite common to display embroideries in the hoop used to do the stitching. But also other hoops are available now to display your finished work of art and some don’t have the screw at the top. So you can keep your favourite embroidery hoops to use over and over again as well as having a choice of others designed especially for display. The simple wooden display hoops can be cheaper than the ones with the screw and there’s a choice of sizes.

The one pictured below is a Nurge screwless wooden display hoop. Placing the embroidery into the hoop was easy and it didn’t matter which was the top of the design. When using a hoop with a screw of course it does matter which is the top and bottom of the design.

A different embroidery shown below is in a display hoop with a screw. It’s called a flexi display hoop and these are plastic and come in a range of colours, sizes and shapes. They are available on Etsy and Amazon and on the Nurge and other independent websites.

But before your work is hung it’s necessary to make the reverse of the embroidery neat and tidy and ready for display. For this you’ll need a circle of felt cut to the shape and size of the embroidery hoops’ inner ring. Also some strong thread such as Perle together with a needle which has an eye large enough for that thread to go through.

Your sewing kit with scissors, normal sewing thread and a matching sewing needle are needed too. Once the backing is finished of course you’ll need something to actually hang the completed article on to the wall such as a command strip or a small curtain ring perhaps. I used a small gold connecting or linking ring sewn on and shown here. These can be purchased really cheaply from a jewellery findings supplier in multiple packs.

This is what you do:

Once the embroidery is secured into the display hoop trim off the surplus fabric leaving about an inch or more around the perimeter at the back of the work. Take a long piece of strong thread like Perle and lace across the back of the work. Knot the thread firmly and go diagonally across the work taking a good stitch into the material on the opposite side. You’ll need a long thread and may extra several times. Ensure you pull the thread firmly across the back and secure each of the thread ends every time. Keep lacing diagonally across until all the excess fabric is caught neatly and strongly leaving about two inches space between each laced section. Fasten off securely.

Now take your circle of felt and pin on the reverse around the edges. Neatly stitch the edges of the felt close to the inner edge of the hoop.

Add your little ring and sew firmly ready to match a small hook on the wall. Or use your own choice of hanging method.

The design shown here is called Wildflowers and is from the Australian Inspirations Magazine. The other design above is a Lorna Bateman design. Both of them are to illustrate the joy and pleasure of surface embroidery together with ribbon embroidery.

HYDRANGEA WALL ART

On By StitchPrettyIn Hand-stitchedLeave a comment

Multiple Suffolk Puffs (or yo-yo’s):

Tiny yo-yos with beads

It’s fun to make petals for flowers with tiny circles of fabric gathered up into a small Suffolk Puffs (or yo-yos). This small piece of wall art took a lot of hours gathering and shaping the fabric into petals with sewing thread but was worth the effort when finished. A bead in the middle of each one added to the illusion of an hydrangea flower petal.

An important point: choose fabric that doesn’t fray easily so that when you gather the edges of the circles the gathering doesn’t come away as the thread is pulled up.

Cut squares of fabric larger than the circles that you want and draw the circles in the centre of these squares. Using good sewing thread put running stitches around the edge of a circle leaving a narrow seam and with the one end secured. Cut around the drawn line to release your circle. Pull up the thread, spread the gathers evenly and flatten the little yo-yo with your finger & thumb. Secure your thread on the gathered side then come up through the centre wrapping gently around the circle three times to form separate petals. With the thread still attached and secured at the centre add a tiny bead in the middle. Leaving the thread attached place the yo-yo aside. As shown in the photo, a strip of masking tape is useful for keeping them apart and untangled.

To begin making the hydrangea flower, take a piece of muslin larger than the size you want and sew the yo-yos on one at a time. Keep making more and continue until your flower is the size and shape that you want. Once you have enough and they’re secured to the muslin trim around the edge leaving a small seam to sew onto your background fabric.

For the leaves, I found an image on-line and copied it onto freezer paper. I ironed those freezer paper shapes onto green cotton then bonded it onto a second layer before cutting them out. The large stem is a bias cut strip of cotton, stitched along one long edge then turned in and pressed before machine stitching down. I hand embroidered smaller stems then machine stitched the larger leaves onto the background over the smaller hand embroidered stems.