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Easy Daisies: Garden Bouquet Part 5

     Anne      2 Comments

Hello dear friend,

We are almost done with the Garden Bouquet Project!! Can you believe it? I simply cannot wait to show you the final piece in all its glory. That will come soon, but first we have one more floral element to add to the Bouquet: little yellow daisies. They’re the easiest part of the bouquet, and we’ll be done in no time!

 

yellow daisies garden bouquet part 5

 

But first, let me catch you up! If you’ve missed any previous parts of the Garden Bouquet, you can find them below. Each element works as a standalone, so you don’t need to read all the posts in order. However, it is helpful to do so if you want to see the evolution of the project as a whole. Each post is published in the order that I stitched each element.

 

garden bouquet project part 1
Garden Bouquet part 2: wild roses
beautiful berries garden bouquet part 3
ribbon work lily garden bouquet part 4

Because I wanted my daisies more discreet and a little “hidden” behind some of the other elements, I only made very light markings on the fabric for their placement. I could have stitched them first since most of them were more in the background, but I wanted to work them around the main elements and not the other way around. Hence why we stitch these last. It’s a final little burst of sunshine upon the bouquet, a few happy little flowers to balance out the bigger ones.

 

thread key for daisies: stems & leaves DMC 3345, Flowers DMC 726, 728, 729, 743

 

Tutorial – Yellow Daisies

embroidery tutorial pin for stitching the daisies

 

  1. First, I worked the petals, which are made with lazy-daisy stitches using 2 strands of DMC #743 and #726. Simply work your stitches around the center of the flower (which should be blank for now), beginning at the edge of the center and ending at the tip of the petal. Each stitch is one petal. You can alternate between the two shades of floss. I like to start with one and work a few petals, leaving space in between to fill with the other colour afterwards. Originally I intended to stitch fewer petals, but I have a tendency to over-stitch when I do lazy-daisy petals, so here we are! I do like this look, so all is not lost, but you can definitely do fewer stitches if you want fewer petals (it will change the shape/look of the flower).

 

lazy-daisy stitches being worked to create flower petals
lazy-daizy stitches of varying sizes stitched all around the daisy, creating the petals
This is from a different flower, because I’m terrible at step-by-step photos. Sorryyyyyy.

 

2. Then, using 2 strands of DMC #728 and #729, I stitched 6-8 French knots in the center. Again, you can alternate between the two shades, there is no specific order in which to stitch them.

 

French knots added to the center of the daisy

 

3. And finally, using 2 strands of DMC #3345, I stitched the stems and leaves. I made very long stitches to create a sort of stem stitch for the stem. Instead of coming back beside the middle of the previous stitch, I came back up closer to the end of the each stitch. This creates less overlap, less of a “ropy” look, and more of a continuous line. The stem was just a bit too long to use one long straight, but this “looser” stem stitch worked very well. Then I added a couple of straight stitches around the flowers to create the leaves. I also added some along the stem (you can do this while stitching the stem instead of coming back to it). Yellow daisy leaves are very long and thin, so this stitch was perfect for it.

 

view of the bouquet to show the daisies stems
finished daisy flower with straight stitches around it to create the thin leaves

 

That’s it! Easy-peasy, compared to the rest of the bouquet! 😊 I made 4 daisies in total, scattered around the bouquet.

 

close-up view of bouquet showing finished yellow daisies

 

Next time, we will finish the Bouquet for good, and I can finally show you the final piece! We’ll add some final touches, frame it, and at last…the big reveal!! I can’t wait to show you. It feels like a while ago that I was working on this, since I’ve split the project into many parts to share with you, but in reality I embroidered the whole thing in about two weeks (it was MAD). Next week, we conclude!

I think such an occasion calls for a fancy tea party amongst friends, doesn’t it? Look out for your gilt-edged invitation soon, and prepare your most charming frock and your favourite cozy cardigan (for the weather is turning chilly). We’ll be chatting flowers, gardens, and needlework wonders and woes! And nibbling on the daintiest sandwiches and softest cookies, of course.

 

See you there soon!

 

Fondly,

daisy embroidery using only easy stitches
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Beaded Blackberries: Inspired by Regency Fiction

     Anne      Leave a Comment

Hello dear friend,

Today on the blog, I have something very special to show you: a beaded blackberries embroidery project. I’ve been planning it out for a long time and it’s inspired by one of my favourite books. It turned out even better than I expected and I have been so looking forward to sharing it with you all! To add to the excitement, my work was also featured on Hannah’s lovely blog The Bohemian Bookworm just yesterday! I highly encourage you to give her a visit. Her blog is full of charming bookish and period drama inspiration (not to mention it now features an amazing book review and embroidery project by yours truly!).

 

needlework inspiration from georgette heyer: venetia's blackberries

 

‘I mean to know you better, Miss Lanyon of Undershaw!’

‘To be sure, it does seem a pity you should not, after such a promising start, but life, you know, is full of disappointments, and that, I must warn you, is likely to prove one of them.'”

Georgette Heyer, Venetia

 

Ahhh, Venetia! What a complete delight of a book you are! (If we take out the parts with Mrs. Scorrier, of course. And Edward Yardley. He is most definitely not delightful.) I’ve mentioned it on my blog before, in my post called 10 Wonderful Classic Books to Read This Summer (although after revisiting it lately, I have realized that a large portion of it takes place in autumn, so…what better time to go read it than now?!). I also wrote a full gushy, incoherent essay on it over on Goodreads, if you want more of my fangirling thoughts on it.

 

My Thoughts on Venetia

flat lay view of Venetia book, plate of blackberries, beaded blackberries project, cup of tea and embroidery notions

 

One of Georgette Heyer’s most acclaimed works and a favourite among readers, Venetia is undoubtedly one of my favourite romances of all times. I assure you that you will seldom find a more perfect one. While Heyer’s Regency novels tend to be more comedy than romance, Venetia is certainly more romance than comedy. The signature funny, witty style is there of course, but it’s overall more serious and lyrical than her typical screwball comedy.

Taking place in the countryside of Yorkshire in 1818, the story is rather quiet (despite the passionate romance scalding off the pages) for a Heyer book. Although Venetia does go to London later in the book, this is not your usual romp full of glittering balls and soirées. It’s a more mature story, with an “older” heroine (really, she’s only 25, but most Heyer heroines tend to be 17-20) and everyone’s favourite seasoned rake, Lord Damerel, kindly christened the Wicked Baron by Venetia and her siblings.

 

“‘[…]your quotations don’t make your advances a whit more acceptable to me – and they don’t deceive me into thinking you anything but a pestilent, complete knave!’”.

 

A Beautiful Romance

There is no doubt that Venetia and Lord Damerel are among Heyer’s best-matched couples, if not the best. Most readers unanimously agree that they are perfect for each other, unlike some other couples. Their romance is ultimately grounded in solid trust and friendship nearly from the start (we shall magnanimously gloss over the aforementioned “advances”). They laugh together, share inside jokes, understand each other, and best of all, they can’t stop quoting classic literature.

 

‘Item, two lips, indifferent red-’

‘Oh, no, you’re quite out, and have gone to the wrong poet besides! They look like rosebuds filled with snow!’”

 

Ahh. Their bond is undeniably strong, and unlike in other Heyer novels, you don’t have to read between the lines to see how attracted they are to each other, and how much in love they soon fall. It’s palpable in their every interaction. I might make it sound a little spicy, but fear not, this is a clean book. 😉 Orgies may be mentioned now and again, but what’s to be expected from a novel so bent on referencing ancient Greece and Rome if not to throw in a little orgy (pardon me, a splendid orgy!)?

 

I’m kidding of course, there are no orgies in this book. It’s all in good taste, I promise. For all this talk about passionate romance, that isn’t exactly what makes their relationship so good. As mentioned previously, it’s the fact that they are so completely in tune with each other and become such good friends so quickly.

 

The Idyllic Setting

 

Somewhere in the garden a thrush was singing, the joyous sweetness of its note so much in harmony with [Venetia’s] mood that it seemed a part of her happiness. She was content for some moments to listen, not questioning the source of her happiness; but presently she came to full consciousness, and remembered that she had found a friend.”

 

Venetia book copy being held against backdrop of brambles and blackberries

 

I think this is probably the passage that touches me the most in the entire book, and trust me there’s a lot in there to delight you. But that sweet passage, the opening of Chapter 5, in which she wakes up to the delicious memory that she has found a friend in Lord Damerel is just so pure and heart-melting that I can’t help sighing contentedly.

The imagery conjured up is also very beautiful. Venetia awaking – probably wearing a charmingly embroidered white nightgown – to the first rays of sunlight on a golden autumn day, a thrush sweetly singing in the garden…Very romantic and period-drama-esque indeed.

 

Embroidery Inspiration

 

flat lay showing venetia book, beaded blackberries project, plate of blackberries, cup of tea, and dried botanicals

 

Georgette Heyer’s books are always lavishly detailed, usually describing people’s dress at length, providing a veritable treasure trove of ideas for historical costumers. In Venetia however, I found the setting and romantic tones of the book even more inspiring. I love to create embroideries inspired by classic novels, and the blackberry project came to mind from what is surely the most famous “first encounter” scene between the hero and heroine in all GH’s books.

 

‘Fair Fatality, you are the most unusual female I have encountered in all my thirty-eight years!’

‘You can’t think how deeply flattered I am!’ she assured him. ‘I daresay my head would be quite turned if I didn’t suspect that amongst so many a dozen or so may have slipped from your memory.’”

 

Repeatedly warned by family and friends against the dangerously rakish Lord Damerel, Venetia nevertheless doesn’t scruple to wander about his grounds when she knows he is not at home. He’s not there, darn it, and his blackberries are going to waste!

 

It came, therefore, as a surprise to Venetia, serenely filling her basket with his blackberries, when she discovered that he was much nearer at hand than anyone had supposed.”

 

Venetia book copy and plate of real blackberries

 

Naturally, who should happen upon the charming picture of Venetia in an old dress and straw bonnet quietly picking blackberries but Lord Damerel himself (on his horse, no less)? Actually, he happens upon her as she is trying to disentangle herself from an especially encroaching bramble. He then starts (naturally) to quote classic literature, and after recovering from the shock of being ruthlessly kissed, Venetia starts (naturally) to quote back. I love this unforgettable scene so much, and have associated Venetia with blackberries ever since.

 

The Project: Beaded Blackberries

flat lay close-up on beaded blackberries project and plate of blackberries with embroidery notions and dried flowers

 

I’ve been dreaming of embroidering my own beaded blackberries after seeing beautiful photos on Pinterest and in the book Embroideries From an English Garden by Carol Andrews. What a perfect project that would always remind me of Venetia!

The design is my own, and I embroidered the piece using different techniques.

 

The Embroidered Leaves

I started by stitching the leaves and branch in needle-painting style, using the long & short stitch. I’ve talked about this technique before in my post Garden Bouquet Embroidery Part 2: Wild Roses. It was a little faster here because I used two strands for most of it, except for the veins and tiny thorns that border the leaves’ jagged edges. I used very small straight stitches for those.

 

close up of embroidered leaves in long & short stitch
close-up of leaves' tiny thorns being stitched with straight stitches

 

The Ribbon Flowers

Next, I created the flowers with small pieces of ribbon. I wanted them to have the round petals of a real blackberry flower. To do this, I cut out each petal out of a wide piece of ribbon and singed the raw edges with a candle. Then I ran a gathering stitch along the bottom to create a fold, and sewed each petal one by one to form the flower. I later added the center details using embroidery floss.

 

blackberry flowers made with white ribbon pieces gathered together
blackberry flowers close-up showing embroidered center details

I used polyester ribbon which wasn’t the best and it unraveled easily, but the candle flame and a bit of Fray Check glue did the trick. 😉

 

The Beaded Blackberries

And finally, for the blackberries, I knew I wanted to use beads to make them sparkle and shine and look as good as real ones. I also wanted to raise them a little bit, so I decided to do a bit of stumpwork. Stumpwork is raised, or 3D, embroidery, and one of my favourite things to try lately. I used felt and pieces of cotton ball to create the blackberry shape, and then hand-sewed beads one by one to cover the shape entirely.

 

close-up of beaded blackberry in the making; beads are stitch on a padded piece of felt

 

And voilà, beaded blackberries! I’m immensely pleased with how it turned out! It was a lot of tedious work but I enjoyed it a lot and it certainly paid off. And now I’m reminded of Damerel and Venetia’s witty banter and swoon-worthy romance every time I look at my beaded blackberries. It probably didn’t help that I compulsively listened to the audiobook version narrated by Richard Armitage while I worked!

 

close-up view of finished beaded blackberries
beaded blackberry branch, completed

 

A Bit of Floriography (because I can’t resist)

Of course, I was very curious as to the meaning of the blackberry per the Language of Flowers of the Victorians. I have the handy pocketbook reproduction of the dictionary illustrated by Kate Greenaway (which you can see here), and while there was no entry for “blackberry”, there was one for “bramble”.

 

real blackberry branch in nature

 

Bramble = Lowliness. Envy. Remorse.

 

Well! Not exactly the most joyful thing, but in the context of what we know of Damerel’s character at that point in the story, lowliness would seem fitting! When he surprises Venetia tangled up in brambles, all she (and the reader) know of him is his unsavoury reputation as a degenerate hosting wild orgies during hunting season. Low indeed. Remorse definitely comes later as he starts falling in love with Venetia, but there is no sign of envy about him at all.

Very interesting, isn’t it? I would say the bramble’s floriography meaning is pretty spot on in the context of the story! Although floriography hadn’t really caught on yet in society in 1818, (and I’ve never heard that Heyer purposefully included references to it in her books) it’s always nice when the significance proves apt (or somewhat apt) anyways!

 

flat lay photo as seen earlier, with language of flowers dictionary by kate greenaway

 

Don’t forget to visit Hannah over at The Bohemian Bookworm! I’m very happy and honoured to have been invited to post on her blog and I hope that you enjoyed reading my thoughts on Venetia and seeing my beaded blackberries project. Thank you so much, Hannah, for inviting me on and letting me share my project! 😊

And to conclude, I highly, HIGHLY recommend that you read Venetia (and Georgette Heyer in general) if you haven’t already. You won’t regret it. It’s such an idyllic experience that you won’t want it to end (if you’ve read the book, you will understand this reference haha!).

Until next time, my friends! I should have the next instalment of the Garden Bouquet up on the blog this Saturday.

 

Fondly,

Beaded blackberries inspired by literature

Ribbon Lily: Garden Bouquet Part 4

     Anne      Leave a Comment

Hello dear friend,

It’s back to the Garden Bouquet embroidery this week with Part 4, the ribbon lily! I have been so excited about the lily since the beginning. I knew I wanted to dive back into ribbon-work, and I just had this beautiful vision in my head of a gorgeous lily in shiny ribbon, full of life and bloom.

 

garden bouquet part 4 ribbon lily

 

It’s a success, I think. I love my lily. It crowns the whole piece beautifully. Amazingly, this is the part that was the least time-consuming yet produced a most stunning effect.

 

thread key for the lily: stem and leaves = dmc 3346, 1.5 cm wide green ribbon. Flower = DMC 433, 734, 3779, 2.2cm wide pink ribbon, 1.9cm pale pink ribbon

 

I rummaged around for pale pink ribbon and found two different colours that go perfectly together in my stash. One is Celebrate It from Michaels, and I got the other one in a Dollar Tree years ago. The former is pretty wide, 2.2 cm large, and the latter is a bit smaller, at 1.9 cm large. They are both polyester ribbon.

The wider the ribbon, the wider your single-stitch petal will be. That’s the beauty of ribbon embroidery. You can use only one stitch and create a beautiful petal. The needle is admittedly harder to pull through the fabric than for embroidery, but you can also create a flower in a fraction of the time that embroidery takes!

 

Let’s Stitch a Lily

For ribbon-work, we generally use chenille needles. A chenille needle has a really big eye, thick shaft, and a pointy tip. You need a pointy tip to be able to pierce the fabric, unless you’re stitching on something with a really broad weave like Aida cloth. I’m using a cotton for my project that’s heavy enough to sustain ribbon-work, but the weave isn’t broad enough to use a blunt-tipped needle.

My ribbon was so wide that I couldn’t thread it completely through the eye of my widest chenille needle! But it’s ok, because I was able to thread enough of the ribbon so that it wouldn’t slip out. It just meant that I didn’t have a tail like you normally would with embroidery thread, but you don’t really need it in this case.

 

trying to thread the large ribbon through a chenille needle

 

As well, I didn’t knot or anchor the end of my ribbon in any way. Usually for ribbon embroidery, you thread the needle through the end of the ribbon so it forms a knot on itself. This wouldn’t have worked with so wide a ribbon here, and would have created too much unnecessary bulk. So I just left a small bit of ribbon hanging from the back after each stitch, which I eventually secured with a sewing needle and thread at the end.

 

How to Start

Once the needle is threaded as best as you can, it’s time to take the first stitch!! The ribbon is very bulky where it sits in the needle’s eye, so you need a pretty big hole to be able to stitch through the fabric. I used a small tailor’s awl to poke a hole through the fabric first, before making a stitch, and it helped tremendously. I also used a gripper to help pull the needle through, since my hands were sweating uncontrollably. If you have dry hands, you might not have as much difficult pulling, although you will probably need to wiggle the needle quite a bit to make it come through.

 

using an awl to poke holes through the fabric for the ribbon lily

 

I worked from the center of the flower to the tip of the petals, careful to leave a bit of space between the stitches in the center. You don’t want them all the same hole or too near the same hole, or they risk coming undone and you’ll likely pull the stitches out accidentally when making a new one.

Each stitch is basically just a straight stitch (it just looks so much more impressive because it’s wide ribbon!). You start at point A (flower center), and go back down at point B (petal tip). You can decide how much ribbon you want for each petal. The tighter you pull, the thinner the petal will look. The looser you leave it, the more the ribbon will arch to form the petal.

 

single straight stitch to form a lily petal

 

You can also place the ribbon however you want it before bringing your needle back down. For example, the second petal to the right (from the top) was folded on itself before I ended the stitch. This gives the flower more dimension and a more realistic appearance. I also alternated between my two ribbon colours to vary the petal shades.

 

lily ribbon petal folded on itself to create realistic effect

 

Next, I added a little flower bud near the leaves. I also used straight stitches to create it, one stitch overlapping the other to create the appearance of folded petals.

 

ribbon work lily leaves

 

I worked the two leaves with straight stitches again, but with a thinner ribbon (that actually fit through the needle’s eye!). The ribbon was from my stash, but it was exactly the shade of green I wanted. 🙂

 

making a straight stitch with green ribbon for the leaves

 

Flower Details

Once I was satisfied with all this, I stitched the stem, using two strands of DMC #3346. I used long & short stitches with longer stitches than usual, and did a bit of whipping at the top where the stem was thinner. “Whipping” is when you weave your thread behind existing stitches without going through fabric. It creates a nice twisty look.

 

view of the full bouquet so far, to show the lily stem

 

I also added a few straight stitches (in floss) around the bud for the sepals.

 

close-up of lily bud to show embroidered sepals in embroidery floss

 

And finally, it was time to add more dimension to the flower and really make it look like a lily. I used one strand of DMC #734 and one strand of Brillanté d’Alger #511 (DMC #3779 is a close match) at the same time (so two strands in my needle, one of each colour) to create the filaments. I started from the flower center and just made straight stitches into the upper petals.

 

lily center with embroidery floss and straight stitches

 

Then I used two strands of Anchor #357 (DMC #433) to make smaller, slightly curved stitches to create the anthers above the filaments. (Yes, I had to google all these flower parts :P)

 

Finishing Touches

To secure all my dangling bits of ribbon at the back, I un-hooped my work, threaded a sewing needle with matching pink sewing thread, and sewed down each bit to anchor it.

 

backside of embroidery work to show the ribbon ends to secure

 

I also did a bit of sewing on the good side, to really place my petals as I wanted them, anchoring a fold here and there. To do this, you want to take very small stitches underneath the folds you wish to create so that the thread won’t be visible. It was also necessary to anchor a few petals down. Their arching form revealed the pencil marks underneath (and unfortunately this isn’t a piece you can wash easily – if at all).

 

complete ribbon lily flower

 

Voilà!! Now you know the secrets to stitch a beautiful lily flower with ribbon. I used to do a lot more ribbon embroidery a few years ago, and hope to get back into it. Each stitch is so satisfying, so lush, so beautiful!

 

view of completed bouquet so far, showing embroidered roses, currants, raspberries and lily flower in ribbon

 

With the lily now complete, my bouquet is really starting to look like something! All we have left are the little yellow daisies, the title, and a few finishing touches. I’m already prepping Part 5 for you 😊.

 

If you need to catch up on Parts 1, 2, and 3, here they are:

garden bouquet project part 1
Garden Bouquet part 2: wild roses
beautiful berries garden bouquet part 3

I hope you enjoyed embroidering a ribbon lily with me! Which has been your favourite part so far? Do you prefer needle-painting, stumpwork, or ribbon-work? Let me know in the comments!

 

Fondly,

ribbon lily garden bouquet part 4
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Make Darling Embroidered Buttons: Tutorial

     Anne      Leave a Comment

Hello and welcome back to my blog! In today’s post, I have a new tutorial for you – we’re going to make embroidered fabric-covered buttons. 😊 They’re soooo much fun and very easy to make.

 

embroidered buttons step-by-step tutorial

 

One of the things I love the most about embroidery is how easily you can weave it anywhere you want, especially on clothing. The endless possibilities for embellishing your clothes with embroidery are mind-blowing. What better way to create something absolutely uniquely yours. In my last year of Costume Studies, I tried to incorporate embroidered touches as much as I could in the projects we got to make for ourselves.

 

Buttons on a Dress

 

I designed and sewed this cute lilac dress for an assignment in Draping, and couldn’t resist the opportunity to add a bit of embroidery.

 

girl in a field wearing lilac dress with embroidered buttons
girl in field wearing lilac dress holding flower bouquet up to her face

 

I had previously discovered (and became enamoured with) fabric-covered buttons while working on an assignment for another class. They were so fun and easy to work that I knew I had to get my own kit for making them.

They don’t have to be embroidered of course, you can definitely just cover them with any fabric you like. But everything is better with embroidery, so I just had to give it a go. I love how they look on this dress. They’re so cute and dainty and exactly what I had in mind.

 

close-up of embroidered buttons on dress front

 

Embroidered Fabric-Covered Buttons Tutorial

 

Without further ado, let me show you how to make your own! It’s very easy and adds such a detailed personal touch. The embroidery is very small though, so it might be a bit challenging in that respect, but it also means the design isn’t very detailed.

The tiny flower cluster I went with is very easy to stitch. Here we go!

 

Materials

 

First, you will want to gather the following supplies:

materials for making the embroidered buttons; button kit, fabric, paper scissors, fabric shears, snips, embroidery hoop, embroidery floss, needles, marking tools, wood block

 

You will need fabric, either to match an existing project, or something different entirely. The lilac fabric I used for my dress was 100 % cotton, and the pale turquoise I’m using for the tutorial is a cotton as well. I recommend using a medium weight fabric, or a thinner fabric with interfacing. You will also need fabric shears to cut the fabric.

 

Next, you will need basic embroidery supplies:

  • Snips
  • Needle (I used DMC #9 embroidery needle)
  • 3 1/4″ inch embroidery hoop (you can use a bigger one too if you’re making many buttons on the same piece of fabric)
  • Floss: for the tutorial, I used DMC #3347, #744, #402
  • Marking tools: A water-soluble pen (or any other “erasable” pen) is useful for this project and/or a pencil.

You will also need a button-covering kit. These can be found in fabric stores such as Fabricville (Canada) or Jo-Ann’s.

 

Inside the kit you should have:

 

  • Buttons to cover
buttons to cover

 

They have two parts. The top is shaped like a dome and has a smooth surface, and the back is a little disk with the shank on top.

button to cover separated; smooth surface top and bottom with shank

 

  • A plastic holder
plastic holder for covering buttons

 

  • A “pusher”
plastic pusher for covering buttons with fabric

 

  • Instructions and template

Don’t throw out the packaging! Likely, the kit’s instructions will be written on it. You will need the templates that are printed on the back of the package.

back instructions and templates for fabric-covered buttons

 

The kit you buy will tell you what button size is included. The one I got was for #24 buttons, so that means I will cut out #24 circular template on the back.

bottom of packaging shows what size of buttons and template to cut
circle template cut out from back packaging
The cutout template here is from another kit.

And lastly, you will need paper scissors to cut out the template, and an optional piece of wood (or other smooth and slightly heavy object) to help with making the buttons.

 

The Tutorial:

 

  1. Cut a piece of fabric to fit inside your embroidery hoop. Consider how many buttons you want to make. If you’re making the #24 size, you will need approx. 5/8” in between each.

fabric cut to fit inside small embroidery hoop

 

2. Mark the size of the button on your fabric to determine where to embroider. Normally markings are made on the wrong side of the fabric, but in this case that wouldn’t be very helpful. This is why an erasable pen works well, because you will be able to get rid of the mark easily. You can also use chalk or a heat-erasable pen if that works for you.

trace the button size on your fabric

 

3. Make any markings you might need for your embroidery design. Because it’s so small you might prefer not to mark anything. I used a 0.5 mechanical pencil to lightly mark the stem and leaf placement of my flower. If you want to make the same design I did, simply draw a vertical line for the main stem. Add two little lines at an upward angle about the middle of the stem, one on each side for the leaves. I also added two slightly longer lines angled upwards at the top of the stem for more “leaves”. You can definitely do all this with your thread though, and skip the markings entirely. I work more steadily with markings so I prefer to do it.

make any markings you need for your embroidery within the button size

 

4. Embroider the design. Place the fabric inside your hoop and tighten the screw until the fabric is nicely taut. Thread your needle with 2 strands of DMC #3347 or the colour of your choice. I’m using a knot to secure my thread because it makes the most sense for such a tiny area. See this post on how to start & end your threads for other methods.

 

a) Stitch the main stem and upper “leaves” with a splitstitch or other outline stitch of your choice. The leaves are so tiny that they’re just a small straight stitch.

b) Work French knots above the stem using two strands of DMC #402 and #744 to create the flower cluster. There is no real order to this, just scatter the knots as you wish to create a flower head or cluster form.

 

tiny flower embroidery tutorial

 

Embroidery is done! Secure your threads at the back and un-hoop your fabric.

 

5. Cut out the appropriate template at the back of your button kit packaging (I’m using size 24) and place it evenly over your embroidery. You can do this at the back too, but I find it’s more accurate to do it on the good side. Trace the template with a pencil or erasable pen. This creates the seam allowance necessary to cover the button successfully.

place the circle template over your embroidery to cut seam allowance
seam allowance added all around the emroidery

6. Cut out your fabric along the template line you just marked.

cut out button cover with seam allowance

 

7. Take the plastic holder, and center your embroidered fabric over its hole. The original marking you made of the button top should fit right along the edge of the white thing. You can also center the white thing on your fabric right side up first if that’s easier, then slowly turn it around so that the fabric is closest to you, good side facing the hole.

place the plastic holder right over the embroidery, the original button marking right around the edge of the holder
flip the holder over so that the fabric rests good side down against it

8. Place the button top smooth face down on the fabric. Make sure it’s well centered over the embroidery.

button dome face down over embroidered fabric

 

9. Push down with your thumb, or the pusher provided in the kit (I like to use a piece of wood to push down on the pusher to make it even easier). The button top will end up at the bottom of the holder and the seam allowance will fold on itself around the dome. If you see that the button isn’t straight, that there is too much fabric on one side and not enough on another, you can pop the button out and start again, re-centering your fabric better.

thumb pushing the button to the bottom of the holder
pusher is put over the button piece, and a block of wood used to push down on it

10. If you’re satisfied with the eveness of the seam allowance, push down gently on it even more to make sure none of it sticks out. Add the button back, shank facing up atop the folded seam allowance.

seam allowance folds on itself around the button dome inside the holder
button back placed atop the folded seam allowance, on top of the holder

11. Here is where the pusher is definitely useful! Place it over the shank (the hole covering the shank) and push down until you feel it sink in to the button top. I like to use the piece of wood again to push down, but you can do it with your palm or another object.

pusher placed over the shank of the button back
hands pushing a wooden block on the plastic pusher to secure button back

12. Pop the button out of the holder.

hands pushing the covered button out of the holder

 

13. Pray and hope the embroidery is well-centered.

embroidered fabric-covered button

 

14. CONGRATS, YOU DID IT!!!!! Look at that cute little button!

finished embroidered button seen from the front

And that’s it! Now you’re ready to cover everything with embroidered buttons. 😉

 

how to make a covered button step-by-step tutorial

 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and that it will give you some inspiration for adding subtle and delicate touches of embroidery to your work. The good news with this sort of embroidery, too, is that it doesn’t take long at all, but really pulls an outfit together.

The lilac dress would be very different without the embroidered buttons.

 

lilac dress close-up on embroidered buttons down bodice front
close-up of top embroidered button on lilac dress bodice front

 

I added embroidery to the back as well, but not because I wanted to add more delicate touches. No, I added embroidery there BECAUSE I CUT A HOLE WITH THE SERGER. A big, super noticeable gash right in the middle of the mid-riff section, just before my project was due. If you know me, this is EXACTLY the kind of stupid mistake I often make and there is zero surprise in this happening, BUT IT WAS A SAD MOMENT.

 

view of embroidered bodice on lilac dress back

 

Thankfully, embroidery is here to solve all your problems, so I just mended it with matching thread first, then covered up the ugly scar with a little branch of some nondescript purple flower.

HA! TAKE THAT, SERGER.

 

model wearing lilac dress in field leaning forward with flower bouquet

 

Thank you for coming to “Part 75 Why Anne Will Never Buy a Serger”.

Have a lovely week and happy button-covering!

 

Fondly,

learn how to make embroidered buttons
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