WHAT YOU'LL NEED

Getting started in embroidery is a one-stop shopping trip. You can usually find everything you need in a craft or fabric store for around $20.00, assuming you need everything involved. Many of the supplies can be obtained from friends, gramma's sewing stash, or mom's extras.

Needles: Any size you feel comfortable with will do. Just be sure the needle is sharp (some pincushions have a little sand-sachet for sharpening your needle), and that you can easily thread it. Use a thimble, or a leather finger cover (cut off an old glove) if your finger gets sore.

Thread: Anything goes. So long as you can thread it on a needle and pass it through the fabric, go for it. DMC Six-strand cotton embroidery floss is the easiest to work with and can be found at any craft or fabric store. It's cheap, and comes in a bazillion shades. A "skein" of floss will set you back about $.30. I grab handfuls. For finer detail work, you can divide and the strands (to use three strands, for example) to reduce the thickness.

Fabric: The pleasure of embroidering is having a fabric that you can easily work on. Nothing is more frustrating than a weave that is too tight to pull a needle through, or that snags and fights with you. Sometimes I take a needle with me to the fabric store and test it on the edge of a fabric to see if it will pass through the weave easily.

Scissors: Small, sharp scissors are essential. You will do a lot of snipping and pulling of mislaid threads. You know those beautiful, dainty stork scissors? That's just what they're for.

Embroidery Hoop: Wood hoops are fine to start with, but if you think you'll become an avid needlworker, go for plastic, metal or finished wood. A 7" hoop is a good size to start with. Not too big, and not too little.

Blanket Stitch

Chain Stitch

LINKS

SublimeStitching.com - author's iron-on patterns, kits and embroidery work.
DaintyTime.com - Cool baby dolls covered in
embroidered tattoos
AnnaChambers.com - Wonderful stuffed dolls with embroidered faces
TurtleMoon.com - Dig around this site to find her "whammies".
Holley Bakich - Incredible dolls of sideshow "freaks" of history, with handmade clothes and embroidered
details.

The French Knot- Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Hidden Stitch

Split Stitch
Fibre & Fabric \ Home & Hearth

Tattoo Your Towels

By: sublimestitcher

Who has the time to sit down and embroider anything? Just the word sounds painstaking, time-consuming, intimidating. But this is a deceptively simple activity. Embroidery is a perennial favorite on home furnishing, clothing, accessories... we pay big bucks for that extra-threaded touch and even more if it's done by hand. But why shell out extra for the handiwork that you can do yourself? "It looks so hard to do". Pshaw. Embroidery is easy, relaxing, and one of the least expensive crafts you can take up. Anything through which you can pass a needle and thread is game.

Starter Project
The easiest thing to start with is a tea-towel. You can buy finished, blank tea-towels at any craft store, which are made specifically to be embroidered. Or, if you want to make your own towel, just hem the edges of an 18" x 24" piece of 100% cotton pique (pronounced "pick-ay"), diaper cloth, monk's cloth, muslin or flour-sack cloth. If you're feeling extra crafty, make some smaller napkins to go with your towel. Some of these fabrics have a fringed, "selvage" edge that works well along the bottom edge of your towel, which does not need to be hemmed.

Pattern for Your Towel
The first step, the real secret of getting started, is having a pattern to follow. There are numerous ways to get a pattern on your towel before you embroider it. Lines can be drawn directly on the cloth with chalk or pencil, you can trace a pattern using dressmaker's carbon paper, or you can simply use some fancy stitches along the edge. If you want dancing glassware or tiki drinks adorning your linens, the easiest way to go is with an iron-on transfer pattern. Known to every homemaker in the first half of the 20th century, iron-on transfers offered a wide variety of pretty patterns that could be transferred onto aprons, curtains, linens and of course, tea-towels to then be embroidered. I suggest using these nifty patterns to start. They're made with a special ink so they can be used more than once, allowing you to combine them in your own unique way.

If you have a design of your own, or from a pattern book that you want to transfer to cloth here are two easy ways of doing this:

1. Transfer Pencil: Photocopy the image and trace it with a transfer pencil, then use the pattern like an iron-on. This won't work for any images with lettering though, since the pattern will be reversed.

2. Dressmaker's Carbon Paper: Trace your image onto the cloth with a sheet of dressmaker's carbon paper, face down, between the image and the cloth. Available at any craft or fabric store, carbon paper colors come in red, blue, and even white for working on dark fabrics.
Of course, you can take a decorative stitch and use it without a pattern. Use a hidden or blanket stitch in white floss along the hem of a black skirt, for example. No pattern needed!

Putting Your Fabric on the Hoop
Separate the two embroidery hoops from each other. Lay the imprinted cloth across the non-adjustable hoop so that the pattern is within the hoop. Now place the adjustable hoop over these and press down. Make sure the top hoop is not too tight, or you may tear the fabric. Before tightening the screw, gently pull your fabric taut, like a drum-head. Once your fabric is pulled evenly acorss the hoop, tighten the screw. You may need to re-tighten the fabric and hoop as you work on them. When not embroidering, loosen the adjustable hoop to avoid distortion of the fabric.

Start Stitching
Cut a length of floss or thread about 12-13" long (the length of your thumb and forefinger to your elbow). Thread the needle, and make a knot at one end (there is no need to make a knot at the needle end, just pull it through enough so it won't slip through the eye while you're working). With your fabric ready on the hoop, start by bringing your needle up from under the fabric until you hit the knot. Now, bring the needle back down through, and you've made a stitch! Now what!?

More Stitches
Before you pick up that History of a Million Needlework Stitches and run screaming from the library or bookstore, here are some good stitches to start with:

1. Split Stitch - For a continuous, running line. Make a small stitch (1-2), and bring the needle up for the next stitch through the center of the previous stitch (3), 'splitting' the threads. If you keep your stitches short, it will resemble a chain stitch.

2. Blanket Stitch - This is used for edges. Work from left to right. Make a diagonal stitch (1-2), then when you bring your needle up (3) to make the next stitch, come up under the first one, pulling the floss down to make a right angle. Repeat.

3. Star or 'Smyrna' Stitch - To make stars and little accents. Stitch length can be varied. Start with a 'plus' sign, and then stitch an 'x' across the top. For larger stars, finish with a tiny stitch across the center to prevent snagging.

4. Hidden Stitch - This is the broken dash stitch. Just run your needle through several folds of fabric at once to work quickly, or leave a space in-between stitches as you make them.

5. Chain Stitch - Pull floss up through fabric and reinsert next to where the needle just exited. Without pulling completely through, leave a small loop of loose floss instead of making a stitch. Now come back up under to make your next stitch, bringing the needle up through the loop of the previous. Repeat along your pattern line.

There are hundreds of variations and other stitches: French Knot, Lazy Daisy, Feather Stitch, Satin Stitch, just to name a few. For starting out, stitches like the split and blanket will give plenty of diversity to your designs.

Once you've gotten the hang of some stitches, you are ready to wield your fancy needlework on vintage clothing (western shirts are perfect!), skirts, pillowcases, tea-towels, cloth napkins, curtains...anything you dare!



HINTS

1. Make sure you work in a place that is comfortable, and well-lit!

2. Don't place your pattern too close to the edge of the fabric; leave room to fit on the hoop.

3. Pre-shrink your fabrics in the wash before you emroider them, or be sure to wash only in cold water once they're embroidered, to avoid distortion of your needlework.

4. If your floss is snagging, becoming difficult to pull, or tangling, let your needle dangle allowing the floss to unwind. Or start with a new length.

After you get the hang of embroidering a towel, you can use your new-found skills to fancy up: vintage clothing, hand-made pillows, curatains, purses, toaster cozies, card tablecloths, pillowcases, guest towels, toilet-seat covers, cell-phone cases, lampshades, dashboard covers....you get the idea. Now get to it, and do it!

Jenny Hart is an embroidery artist and the owner of Sublime Stitching. Her embroidery work has appeared in BUST magazine Venus Zine. She launched Sublime Stitching to provide updated needlework patterns and hand-made goods for contemporary crafters who don't dig coutry-cutesy. When not embroidering, Jenny can be seen driving her brick-patterned Volvo around Austin, performing with her band The Hidden Persuaders or playing Mah Jong for quarters

See Also

Review: Alabama Studio Style
Review: Kids in the Garden
Dyed Fungus: a Tutorial