Home Crafts
By: Aisling Bronach of House Shadow Drake
So, you want to learn how to embroider? You will first need to get a
few things:
- Cloth
- Embroidery Loop
- Several skeins of embroidery floss
- A package of different size sewing needles
First, decide on what you want to embroider. The best thing to start with is a
children's coloring book which has pictures that you like - or better yet one of
the artistic coloring books by Dover Publications. Make a photocopy of the picture
and cut it out with a pair of scissors - leaving a sufficient border around the
edge. Preferably, the copy should be made onto a light tissue paper, but normal
white paper will work fine too.
Next, cut out a piece of cloth that is big enough to fit the picture. The cloth
should be a medium thickness. If it is too stretchy or two light, the end product
will be bunchy and uneven. If you decide to use a thick cloth, you will end up with
alot of blisters and dull needles. However, with skill, you can learn to utilize
all forms of cloth. Now, load the cloth onto the embroidery hoop and stretch it
taut. You will now need to pin the cut-out photocopy to the material.
Cut a length of embroidery floss. You will notice that the floss has six
individual strings. Divide the floss into half and seperate. Thread a needle with
the divided floss (3 strings). There are many different stitches that you can use
to embroider, however, if you are just beginning, the following is a fairly
universal stitch that can be used to cover and entire picture. It begins by taking
the needle up from the bottom, going forward a small space and then back through
the material, and then coming back up through the cloth and dividing the thread in
half.
Now, all you have to do is stitch around the outline of the photocopy. Just
stitch right through the paper. As you finish an area, you can remove the paper -
you will find that it has been punched out quite nicely by the needle already for
you. Once the outline is done, you can begin to stitch the inside areas of the
picture. Instead of a straight line, try stitch in a back and form pattern to fill
in an area, or even using a spiralling techniques. You can try experimenting with
fillign in different areas to create a textured look.
Advanced Techniques
- Drawing Pictures
Instead of making photocopies, you can draw your own pictures and then embroidery
them onto the material.
- External Textures
Try using knots and things like beads to add additional texture.
- Layers
Experiment with layering stitches to create a real 3-D effect.
- Number of Thread
Although the basic number of threads used is three, try using all six at once or
maybe just one to change the texture of your work.
- Thread Colors
Try mixing different colors of thread to achieve different color patterns.
