The Diary of a Northern Belle

Hand Embroidery

Easy Sewing

Introducing: EPP Mini-Quilt Project for 2022

     Anne      4 Comments

I have something so exciting to announce!

 

I’ve decided to embark on a mini year-long project combining English paper piecing and embroidery, and I’m going to share all the fun with you! How would you like to receive an embroidery pattern every month this year, straight in your inbox?

In 2021, I had the immense joy of discovering English paper piecing. Each month, I made what is called a “hexie flower”, featuring Mollie’s cute house embroidery patterns from the Wild Olive Kawaii Crossing series. I wrote at length on this already in this post here, showing you how I make my hexie flowers.

It was so pleasant to have a new pattern to look forward to each month, and to create something in keeping with the same theme over the course of the year. I loved it so much in fact, that I’ve decided to do it again! The project will be a bit different this year; still combining EPP and embroidery, but instead of making separate hexagon flowers, I will turn the embroidered hexies into a mini-quilt. And of course, I will be using my own embroidery patterns this time!

 

Here’s what I have in mind for the mini-quilt piecing:

mini-quilt template for english paper piecing with months of the year written in 12 different hexagons

 

Embroidery Patterns

The theme will be “Tea Party”, so think pretty pastels, delicate teacups, and delectable little treats…A celebration of all things soft and lovely. The embroideries will be quite small, designed to fit 1 ¼ ” hexies. Each month, I will send out the pattern to my subscribers, and you can choose to turn them into a mini-quilt like me, or use them for something else entirely!

embroidered teacup in a fabric hexagon with pins and a thimble beside it

Here is the design for January, a lacy, romantic little teacup featuring a darling bullion knot rose and polka dots. It was such fun to design and stitch up, and I really hope others will enjoy it too. The downloadable pattern includes thread suggestions and simple instructions. Previous knowledge of embroidery is recommended, but it is beginner-friendly. You can find a tutorial for every stitch I used in the Stitch Library.

close-up of an embroidered teacup with bullion knot rose and polka dots

 

The mini-patterns will be available in each month’s first newsletter (except this month) as a thank-you to my subscribers. For now, these monthly patterns will only be available via the newsletter, but new subscribers are most welcome to join in! You can subscribe to my newsletter right here, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

I look forward to seeing your beautiful creations, and I hope you will enjoy this little project. You can tag me on Instagram @northernbelle.atelier or reach out if you have any questions.

 

Here’s to a fun year-long tea party!!

 

Fondly,

Hand-Sewing Basics: Easy Whipstitch Tutorial

     Anne      4 Comments

Welcome to another stitch tutorial: the whipstitch! This one will be a bit different since it’s not exactly an embroidery stitch (though you can use it for embroidery), but more a hand-sewing stitch. It’s quite easy and so incredibly useful. Definitely a great stitch to learn for many uses.

 

hand-sewing tutorial the whipstitch

 

Whipstitch Tutorial

I’ll show you first how to do it on a plain piece of fabric, without joining anything together so you can better see how it’s done.

I prefer to avoid knots when doing this stitch, since it’s usually used to join fabric together and securing it with anchoring stitches is more secure than a knot. You can see this post for how to start stitches without a knot.

 

1. For practice, I definitely recommend drawing two parallel guidelines of the width you’d like your stitches to be. Mine is about 0.5 cm wide. I also prefer to work this stitch horizontally from right to left, but that might be different if you’re left or right-handed.

fabric in embroidery hoop showing drawn parallel lines in pencil and anchoring stitches to begin stitching

 

2. Bring your needle up from the back at point A. Guide your working thread to lay at an angle towards the direction you’re working (to the left, in this case). Bring your needle down at point B (the distance between A and B will be how long your stitch is), and back up again in C in the same motion. C should be parallel with A.

thread coming up at point A, laying diagonally to the left and needle going back down at point b
needle going down in B and C at the same time to create whipstitch
first whipstitch laying at an angle from a to b, and working thread coming out at point c

 

3. Continue in this way for the remainder of the line, making sure that your stitches are even and equally spaced out. You can add more guidelines to your fabric to help you with this if you need! The stitches will lay at an angle naturally as you keep the needle straight while going through the fabric.

two stitches lain down to begin whipstitch line
finished line of whipstitch

 

Where Can You Use the Whipstitch?

As I mentioned earlier, the whipstitch is more often used as a hand-sewing stitch. Back before sergers came along, it was often used to overcast raw fabric edges by hand. I’ve done it on velvet and it works incredibly well! A bit time consuming compared to using a serger, but it’s actually a really neat and efficient way to finish an edge. The whipstitch is also used to join fabrics together, often along fold lines or when using felt. It’s widely used in appliqué and English paper piecing as well (two crafts I’ve become enamoured with this year haha!). It’s not invisible like the slipstitch though, so it can double as a decorative stitch too!

Below are a few different examples of the whipstitch in practice. I really love this stitch and find myself using it pretty often :).

 

Joining Felt and Creating a Border:

Last week, I shared a scissor case I made out of felt, where I used the whipstitch both to sew my pieces together and create a nice border. I used embroidery floss instead of sewing thread and it worked really well.

needle going through two pieces of felt to whipstitch the pieces together
flat lay view of finished scissor case surrounded by dried plants, lace, a red bow, and small copper kettle

Joining pieces together for EPP:

Here I used the whipstitch to join two hexagons together in EPP style (English Paper Piecing). The hexagons are fabric-covered cardstock, but I only sew through the fabric. A full tutorial on how to make a hexie flower using this method is available here.

two hexies held good sides together, needle going through the folds along one edge with a whipstitch
the two hexagons seen from the good side, sewn together along one edge

Finishing the back of an embroidery hoop:

A bit similar to EPP, here I’m using the whipstitch to join a fabric-covered backing to the back of an embroidery hoop. The fabric from the backing is whipstitched to the hoop allowance of the main embroidery project. I also shared a tutorial on how to finish your hoop like this in this post.

close-up of needle whipstitching backing to the back of embroidery hoop
close-up view of finished embroidery hoop back to show the whipstitching all around

To appliqué a piece of lace:

The whisptitch is super useful for appliqué, especially since in this case the edge of the lace is further covered with stem stitch in yellow thread. But in order to secure the lace to the fabric, I first ran a whipstitch all around. I kept my stitches small and close to the edge so they would be as invisible as possible. For a closer look at this project, you can have a look at my Wisteria Embroidery Inspired by Literature post.

lace appliqué being sewn on main fabric
stem stitch outline worked around lace appliqué

As you can see, the whipstitch is a super useful stitch to know and can be used in so many projects. It’s also a great alternative to the slipstitch for closing openings. I find it much faster to work, but it’s not as invisible, which is why it’s nice when it serves a decorative purpose as well.

I hope this whipstitch tutorial was helpful, and don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions. Happy stitching!

 

Fondly,

P.S. – Have a stitch you’d like to learn, or questions about hand embroidery in general? I’d love to help! You can send me an email at anne.marie@diaryofanorthernbelle.com or message me on Instagram!

learn how to do the whipstitch
Pin to save for later!

Making a Scissor Case With Victorian Embroidery

     Anne      2 Comments

Back in the spring, I found myself very inspired by strawberries. There were, naturally, too many projects to fit in that season and too little time. One of these hopeful projects had been a scissor case featuring a beautiful Victorian strawberry design. Strawberries may be out of season now, but I’m bringing them back in this unintentionally festive-looking project!

 

scissor case project with historical embroidery

 

I came across a beautiful strawberry pattern while browsing through a Briggs & Co. collection of patterns to transfer from the 1880’s. I immediately thought that it would be perfect to embroider on a scissor case. If you didn’t know, Internet Archive is FULL of historical books about needlework, embroidery, floriography, and so much more! There are some absolute gems to be found there. The Briggs & Co. embroidery designs for transfer are definitely among them.

 

flat lay featuring dried brown sprigs, lace, a pincushion, a mug of foamy drink, a teacup full of embroidery floss, a red bow, an embroidery hoop, and embroidered scissor case in the center

 

The Briggs & Co. Embroidery Patterns

“Universally known” by the 1880’s, these embroidery patterns were all the rage because they were ready to be transferred with an iron “on any fabric” (clearly they did not have polyester felt back in the 1880’s, haha!). This obviously sped up the process and lowered the costs for ladies’ embroidery projects. The particular book I’m referring has a large selection of floral and ecclesiastical patterns, as well as village scenes illustrated by Kate Greenaway. We are big fans of Greenaway here on this blog and I reference her Language of Flowers dictionary often. 😉

I absolutely love working with historical designs and knowing that somebody else also embroidered it a long time ago. (I like to imagine a fancy lady sitting at her embroidery frame, flowy skirt billowing about her, and intricate fire-screen shielding her from the fire, while I’m here in my pjs stitching in bed…lol)

The strawberry pattern can be found on p. 37. I’ve adapted it to fit on my case by only transferring part of it, and moving a few elements slightly.

For some reason, I was really set on making the scissor case out of felt, so I had to find a good way to transfer the pattern… Since you know, as fabulous as these patented designs for transfer are, I sadly don’t have access to a physical copy. I love embroidering on felt (although I don’t do it very often) because the needle glides through so easily. It’s not so easy to transfer a pattern on it, however. I decided to give the tissue paper method a try, and it worked SO well! Definitely recommended it if you want to transfer something on felt.

 

Transferring the Pattern…the “old-fashioned way”!

I just used a piece of white tissue paper (the kind for gift-wrapping), and transferred my design on it with a pencil. Then I pinned the paper in place over the felt and started stitching my design right through both felt and paper. It tears a little as you go, but that’s ok! I was able to follow the pattern pretty easily. I only stitched the necessary outlines, leaves, and sepals before pulling the rest of the paper away.

 

tissue paper with transferred embroidery pattern pinned aver hooped piece of felt
close-up view of embroidered strawberry pattern over tissue paper and felt

Lovers of fancy work cannot but remember with a sigh how much money and trouble they have been obliged to expend over their designs in past days. If they wanted a braiding pattern they either had to tack on strips of tissue paper, and after stitching the braid on to pick the paper out laboriously with their fingers […]

Ladies’ Pictorial, May 6th 1882, in Briggs & Co. Patent Transferring Papers.

 

Well, excuse me, Ladies’ Pictorial, but removing the tissue paper was an immensely satisfying step! I used a pin and a pair of tweezers to grab the little pieces of paper stuck under certain parts of the stitching. Now there’s no trace of tissue paper anywhere! Plus, it leaves no visible pencil or water-soluble/heat-erasable pen marks, which is really nice. (I only traced the outline for the scissor case piece in water-soluble ink, and that washed away very easily.)

 

close-up view of strawberry embroidery outline once the tissue paper is removed

And now I feel as though I’ve completely defeated the purpose of using a pattern from genius groundbreaking 19th century innovative embroidery technology, by reverting to the method which these patented transfers were intended to supplant. Oh, dear.

 

Stitching the Design

I kept the stitching very simple for the most part; the stems are done with stem stitch, the leaves and sepals with satin stitch, and the flowers with satin stitch and French knots. I outlined the strawberries with backstitch before filling them with trellis stitch. Needle-painting was quite popular in the 1880s, so it’s very possible that the design was intended to be stitched that way, but I went for a quicker route.

 

view of finished strawberry embroidery on scissor case pocket piece
close-up view of embroidered leaves with satin stitch
close-up view of embroidered strawberry flower

 

For the strawberries, I was partly inspired by a series of posts I saw on Mary Corbet’s Needle n’ Thread. She used some lattice work over satin stitch for one of the strawberries in her sampler. The effect was so lovely and such a good idea for filling a berry! I skipped the satin stitch and just did the lattice work (trellis stitch). I used one strand of gold DMC metallic thread for the little “x”s anchoring the lattice. It adds such a nice touch and I love it!

close-up of embroidered strawberry with trellis stitch

 

Making the Scissor Case

I designed the case myself, and it’s 2 very simple pieces designed to hold a pair of small embroidery scissors. I used my 4 1/2″ long stork scissors for reference.

two pieces of scissor case side by side with snips and embroidery floss bobbin
close-up of lace bordering the top of scissor case piece

 

After adding a bit of decorative lace to the top of the pocket piece, I simply laid this piece atop the bigger one. Then I sewed them together with a whipstitch. I used 2 strands of floss instead of sewing thread to create a nice border, and it worked really well! The best thing about felt is that the raw edges don’t fray, so there’s no need to worry about seam allowances and how to finish edges.

finished scissor case over lace background

 

Because I used rather thin felt and the scissors are very pointy even when closed, I reinforced the bottom with a bit of interfacing. (Applied to each case piece before I sewed it together.) And to prevent the scissors from slipping around, I also added a little ribbon to hold them in place with a bow. All I did was poke two holes with a tailor’s awl on the back piece just above the pocket, and thread the ribbon through. When the scissors are in, you can easily tie the ribbon in a bow to hold them in place 😊.

flat lay view of finished scissor case surrounded by dried plants, lace, a red bow, and small copper kettle
flat lay view of embroidered scissor case with dried plants, lace, embroidery hoop and red bow

 

And that’s all there is to it!

It was a pretty quick project, perfect for a day of quiet stitching with warm coffee, watching the snowflakes flurrying outside. The red, green, and gold were a nice festive bonus! On its own the case doesn’t look strictly “Christmas” and works year-round, but it was fun to work with holiday colours at this time of year.

I hope you enjoyed this little project and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you also have a scissor case? What do you think of the trellis stitch? I can’t wait to stitch another Briggs & Co. embroidery pattern, they’re so beautiful. (And read what other snarky comments such periodicals have to offer!) Again, you can find the book where I found the strawberry pattern here.

 

Fondly,

victorian embroidery scissor case project

How to Finish the Back of an Embroidery Hoop For Framing

     Anne      2 Comments

You’ve just placed the very last stitch on your embroidery project and now you wonder – what to do with the finished piece? Likely, a lot of hard work went into it, and it surely deserves a place of choice. There are many different ways to use and display embroidery pieces, and one of the easiest ways to do so is to simply leave it in the embroidery hoop. By neatly finishing the back of the hoop to hide the wrong side of the embroidery and encase all seam allowances, you can turn a useful embroidery tool into the perfect frame!

 

how to back embroidery hoop (without glue)

 

Embroidery Hoop as a Frame?

The “hoop art” look is not for everyone, and I’ll admit that I wasn’t the biggest fan of it when I first started embroidery. To me, the embroidery hoop was only temporary, a tool to help me as I embroidered, but nothing more. I much preferred framing my pieces in real frames. It takes a bit more time and it can get more expensive, but it looks really stunning and suits certain styles of embroidery a lot better. Over time though, I’ve come to appreciate a good hoop as a frame.

For one thing, embroidery hoops are generally much cheaper than traditional frames, and for another it really is easier to leave it in. The fabric is already all nice and taut, and the placement of the screw allows you to hang it on the wall very easily.

I also came across beautiful faux wood hoops recently, and they are definitely a wonderful option for displaying embroidery! Prettier than normal bamboo hoops, they are more made to be hung on the wall than to keep the tension even as you stitch. They come in different sizes and shapes too, and you can find some in Michaels stores.

 

How to Finish the Back of a Hoop (Without Glue):

Again, as with many things regarding embroidery, there are many ways to finish the back of an embroidery hoop. Some like to use hot glue, a piece of cardboard, felt, a piece of pretty fabric, etc… There are many options. I personally prefer to stay away from glue if I can, and use a needle and thread. My method is a bit lengthier than many I’ve seen, but I find it neater.

To show you how I do it, I’ll be finishing my Blackberry Branch project from my Venetia post in one of those faux wood hoops I mentioned earlier.

flat lay showing finished blackberry branch embroidery in finished faux wood hoop, with haberdashery items, vintage teacup and dried plants in the background

The easiest way to back a hoop without glue is to use a piece of felt. Felt doesn’t fray, so you don’t have to worry about raw edges and it’s quicker to sew to your hoop. But what if you don’t have felt, or you’ve ransacked your stash and can’t find a suitable colour? Yes, this is what happened as I was preparing this tutorial. I couldn’t find a decent piece of felt that I liked for this hoop, so I came up with a different way to finish the back. It’s a few extra steps, but it looks amazing!

 

The Tutorial

1. First, there are two measurements we need, from the inside hoop ring. Gently pull it out from your work (or if you happen to have a second hoop of the same size, use that one!) and trace around the outside on a piece of light cardboard or cardstock paper. Cut the shape along the line you just traced and set it aside for now.

inner hoop ring placed on piece of carboard for cutting with an arrow drawn to show to cut on the outside of the ring

 

2. The second measurement we need from the inside ring is optional. Since I’m finishing a piece of rather heavy embroidery because of the beads, I’ve decided to add another layer of fabric to the back. I traced the inside circumference of the inner ring on a piece of felt (the felt I deemed too bright to show on the back) and cut it out. We can also set it aside for now.

inner hoop ring placed on felt piece with arrow pointing to cut along the inside of the ring

 

3. Now we need to trim the hoop allowance of the main fabric to about a ½” seam allowance all around.

embroidery hoop seen from good side with lots of hoop allowance all around
embroidery hoop seen from the wrong side with proper seam allowance for backing

 

4. Once that’s done, flip the hoop to the wrong side and place the piece of felt inside the hoop if you’ve decided to add it.

embroidery hoop seen from wrong side with cut piece of felt placed inside

 

5. Then, run a gathering stitch (running stitch) around the seam allowance to gather it against the inner hoop. Secure your thread and snip.

close-up of running stitch being sewn all around hoop seam allowance
hoop seen from the back showing gathered seam allowance towards the inside of hoop

The raw edges of the main linen fabric will continue to fray and I don’t like leaving the gathering visible, so I will further cover the back.

 

6. Using the cut out piece of cardboard from Step 1, place it over a piece of decorative fabric of your choice, on the wrong side. Add ½” seam allowance before cutting the fabric.

close-up of cardboard backing placed on wrong side of fabric for cutting

Note: If you want to finish the back of your hoop with felt, you don’t need the cardboard or cardstock. Simply cut out the felt to the size of the inner hoop without seam allowance.

 

7. With an iron, press your cut out piece of fabric to make sure there are no creases.

 

8. Working on the wrong side, center the piece of cardboard on the fabric. Sew a gathering stitch around the seam allowance. Pull to gather around the cardboard.

close-up of cardboard over fabric showing where to place gathering stitches along seam allowance
view of cardboard and backing fabric from the wrong side with running stitch sewn all around the seam allowance
gathered fabric around cardboard shape for backing hoop

 

9. Once you’ve secured and snipped your thread, we are ready to attach this piece to the back of the hoop. To do this, we will whipstitch the cardboard-covered fabric to the gathered seam allowance around the inner hoop ring. Use matching thread or contrasting thread to create a nice border if you have confidence in your whipstitching abilities. 😉

unfinished hoop lying wrong side up with backing fabric-covered beside it, right side up
close-up of wooden spool of brown thread against embroidery hoop
close-up of needle whipstitching backing to the back of embroidery hoop

 

And the hoop is now fully finished with a beautiful back and ready to be hung on the wall! I like knowing that there’s a pretty back behind the embroidery, even though no one will likely see it haha! Which is funny because I have a very different attitude when it comes to the back of the actual embroidery…if it’s going to be hidden, who cares about a neat back? Lol.

flat lay view of finished embroidery hoop with fabric backing seen from the back, with haberdashery, a teacup and dried plants in the background
close-up view of finished embroidery hoop back to show the whipstitching all around

 

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, there are many variations on how to close the back of an embroidery hoop. Instead of gathering stitches, you could use glue, just cardboard or cardstock and no fabric at all, just felt, etc. I don’t like using glue because I find it messier and knowing me I’d probably end up with an ugly glue smear all over my embroidery. I prefer to use needle and thread when I can, but using glue is not “wrong”. It’s certainly quicker! Note that it is harder to stitch over glued fabric. If you glue down your seam allowances instead of gathering them, it becomes harder to sew the back fabric to it if that’s how you wanted to finish the hoop.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful, and I’d love to hear your thoughts! Do you have a different method for backing your hoops? Glue or no glue? If there’s another way to back that you’d like me to cover, I’m very open to suggestions.

 

You Might Also Like:

embroidery success: 10 tips before you begin a project
how to transfer an embroidery pattern
how to start and end embroidery stitches

 

Fondly,

how to back embroidery hoop
Pin to save for later!

Cozy Sweater: How to Mend With Embroidery

     Anne      6 Comments

“It was November – the month of crimson sunsets, parting birds, deep, sad hymns of the sea, passionate wind-songs in the pines.”

L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

 

And with parting birds and sad sea hymns, what better way to stay warm and cozy than with your favourite woollen cardigan and a hot cup of tea? But alas, those pesky moth holes have appeared out of nowhere and your favourite sweater has been relegated to the back of your closet or your ever-growing mending pile.

Perhaps you’re not too sure how to mend the sweater hole or you just haven’t found the motivation to do it. In this week’s post, I will show you a really quick and easy way to mend a knit garment with a little embroidery. The possibilities, as is always the case with embroidery, are pretty much endless. So grab that cozy sweater, and let’s mend it together! You can even skip to the embroidery part if your garment doesn’t need mending but you’d like to add a little decorative stitching to it.

 

cozy sweater embroidery: creative mending

 

I will be patching up one of my favourite cardigans, this sweet blue cashmere vintage piece I thrifted a few years ago. It has indeed been sitting in the mending pile forever, since I bought it at a really low price but sporting several moth holes already. As you can see, there’s a big one on the back that really needs fixing!

 

blue cashmere cardigan hanging on closet handle, seen from the back to show a moth hole near the left sleeve
close-up view of moth hole on cardigan back

 

Since this hole is on the back of the cardigan, I’m able to use an embroidery hoop to keep the tension even. If you want to fix a hole that’s in a more awkward spot, like on a sleeve or the heel of a sock, use a darning egg or mushroom if you have one, or another object that you can slip under the hole to give it a hard surface underneath. I really love the mushroom because it’s easy to hold while you stitch. Etsy has a nice selection of them if you’re interested in getting one!

hand holding a darning mushroom with cardigan in the background
cardigan sleeve wrapped over darning mushroom, hand holding the handle, with embroidery hoop and blue sewing thread in the background on an embroidered table runner
Darning mushroom placed in the sleeve where there is another hole.

 

Mend a Sweater Hole

 

1. We’ll start by flipping the garment to the wrong side and threading a hand-sewing needle with matching sewing thread. This is a time when you really want as close a match to your garment fabric as you can find. I like to double the thread for this, and tie the end with a knot.

close-up view of cardigan hole with threaded needle lying beside it

 

2. Then, we will do a running stitch around the hole, a few millimeters away from the edge. Your needle should be going under and over the knit stitches. Do not pull!

close-up view of needle doing a running stitch around cardigan hole
close-up of cardigan hole with drawn dashed line running around it to demonstrate running stitch

 

3. Once you come back to the point where you started, do the same thing going vertically. Run your needle over and under the knitting to start covering the hole. The running stitch you made in step 2 is a good guideline for where to start and stop your stitches.

close-up view of cardigan hole with vertical dashed lines drawn over it to demonstrate running stitches

 

4. Essentially, you want to bridge the gap caused by the hole and bring the two edges together. Once you’ve done a few vertical rows of running stitches, pull gently to help close the gap. A good 1950’s housewife would probably frown at this because I don’t think you’re actually supposed to pull, but since we’ll be adding embroidery to this, I think it’s fine. 😉 Just don’t pull too hard or the fabric will pucker!

close-up view of cardigan hole with needle going through to cover the hole

 

5. Continue to run vertical rows of running stitches until you get to the end and the hole is hidden!

view of mended cardigan hole

 

6. Usually, you’d now weave rows of running stitches horizontally to really make the hole disappear and strengthen the area, but it won’t be necessary here. (My inner ‘50s housewife is now deeply, deeply frowning). Feel free to do it though, if you don’t want to add embroidery or you want it extra sturdy.

close-up view of covered cardigan hole with dashed horizontal lines drawn across to demonstrate running stitches

 

7. When you’re satisfied with your darning, secure your thread by weaving it among the stitches a few times and looping it into a knot before clipping.

thread looping on itself to form knot to secure it

 

Adding the Embroidery

 

8. We will be embroidering a little lazy-daisy flower right on top of this mended hole, and I like to give myself a few guiding lines for this with a water-soluble pen.

snowflake shape drawn with water-soluble pen over covered hole in preparation for embroidery

 

9. Next, thread an embroidery needle with three strands of white embroidery floss. Anchor the thread by weaving it among the mending stitches and make a lazy-daisy stitch to form a flower petal. Start in the middle of the shape, going outward.

cardigan in embroidery hoop with lazy-daisy stitches being worked over the mended hole

 

10. Continue working lazy-daisy stitches all around to form your flower. Add 3-4 French knots to the center.

lazy-daisy embroidered flower over the mended hole

And now you have a cute little cloud-like flower where there used to be a nasty hole!

 

I repeated these steps anywhere there was a hole on this cardigan (turns out there were a LOT!). The result is that my flowers are quite randomly scattered, but I love it!! You can definitely choose to make it symmetrical if you prefer, and just embroider where there’s no hole. 😊

flat lay showing the embroidered cardigan seen from the front side, laid over an embroidered table runner, with various supplies around the garment; embroidery hoop, small scissors, thread, darning mushroom

 

I hope this was helpful and that it makes darning a little less daunting! It’s always so satisfying to add embroidery everywhere. And even though this is probably not the most “correct” way to mend a sweater, it definitely works and I’m so happy with my cozy cardigan. It feels like a whole new garment!

person seen from neck to hip wearing the blue cardigan, holding a colourful mug

Let me know what you think in the comments! Do you have other methods for mending holes in clothes? Where else would you like to add embroidery? Give me your ideas and I’d love to write a post on it.

 

Fondly,

mend your favourite sweater with embroidery
Pin to save for later!

Super Cute Hexie Flowers: Easy English Paper Piecing Project

     Anne

Hello dear friend, I have a really fun post for you this week! I’m going to show you how to make a super cute hexie flower with the easy English paper piecing method.

 

how to stitch a hexie flower with english paper piecing

 

What is English Paper Piecing (EPP)?

English Paper Piecing (or EPP) is a way to create and assemble various shapes using fabric and paper. Often done entirely by hand, EPP allows you to arrange shapes one by one to create different designs. The method is often used for quilting, but the possibilities with EPP crafts are nearly endless. The most famous shape to make is the hexagon, and that’s what we’ll be working with today!

I discovered EPP earlier this year and instantly loved it. It’s absolutely perfect for using pretty fabric scraps and the hand-stitching involved is simple and relaxing. I was utterly amazed at how neat and pretty seams look when joined with EPP! So much less aggravating than trying to sew tiny pieces of fabric at the sewing machine. (I do have to say that the sewing machine and I don’t get along very well when I try to sew small things.)

 

finished hexie flowers and basted hexagons, as well as a pile of square fabric scraps, snips, and pins

 

If you follow me over on Instagram, you might have seen that I’ve been making a new hexie flower in EPP style each month. I love embroidering Mollie Johanson’s designs (which you can find on her blog Wild Olive, and also on her Etsy shop) and she’s been releasing the cutest little house patterns every month. Those patterns are completely free to download, and she even offers matching wallpapers and a cross-stitch chart for free as well!

It’s been tons of fun to turn these adorable houses into hexie flowers every month, so today I’m going to share my process with you! I will be turning the October Corn Shock House pattern into a decorative hexie flower. EPP is very addictive though, be warned, and so are Mollie’s patterns!

 

Materials to Make Your Hexie Flower

 

materials needed for epp hexie flower: fabric, embroidery, various scissors, cardstock paper, pencil and ruler
  • Wild Olive Kawaii Crossing embroidery pattern (I linked the one for October, which is the one I’m using for this tutorial, but feel free to use any other one! Her website is full of them.)
  • Embroidery floss (DMC colours are listed on each Kawaii Crossing pattern)
  • Scrap fabric in white/off-white colour for the embroidery
  • Small embroidery hoop (3”)
  • Needles: 1 embroidery needle, 1 hand-sewing needle
  • Pins
  • Scissors: embroidery snips, sewing shears, and paper scissors
  • Cardstock paper (enough to cut 7 hexagons 1 ¼” long)
  • A pencil and ruler
  • Fabric scraps to match your embroidery (I like to use 2 different fabrics)
  • Sewing thread to match your fabric

Optional: A piece of felt for backing

 

The Embroidery

 

1. First, let’s print the pattern! When you download the Kawaii Crossing house pattern of your choice, you will notice that they include 3 pages. We only need the first page since we are making a really small embroidery. Scale the page to 75% using your printer’s settings and print.

2. Transfer the pattern onto a piece of off-white fabric (I normally use scraps of cotton muslin). If you’re not sure how to transfer the pattern, you can check out this post.

3. Embroider the pattern following the DMC recommendations, or change up some colours to suit your fabric choice. For this October pattern for example, I made the scarecrow orange instead of the original purple. I like to embroider these patterns with the satin stitch as much as possible, and add the little details with straight stitches, or a backstitch. To see how to embroider the faces, Mollie put out a really helpful YouTube tutorial on how to do it!

embroidered October corn shack house design onto cotton muslin scrap fabric

 

Preparing the Hexagons

 

Next, we will cut out some cardstock to make our hexagons. I like to use 1 ¼” size hexagons (2.8″ wide). You can use a template to trace these out or make your own with graph paper.

4. Trace and cut out 7 hexagons for one hexie flower (I’m making more here in preparation for my next project).

sheet of cardstock paper with hexagon shapes traced on it, ruler, pencil and scissors laying beside it, and a few hexagons already cut

 

5. Gather up your pretty fabrics, and turning them to the wrong side, pin the hexagon shapes in place. Make sure they are centered however you want if using patterned fabric. Cut around the hexagon, leaving a good ¼” seam allowance. I like to use 2 different fabrics to make 3 hexagons of each. Since the shapes are big enough, I prefer to use pins to hold the paper onto the fabric and avoid using glue, but there’s a glue pen you can use for EPP if you find that easier.

a cut fabric hexagon held in place with pin to cardstock hexagon shape

 

6. Do the same with your piece of embroidery. Center a cardstock hexagon on the wrong side of the fabric, and pin in place. This one usually takes a bit more fiddling to get well-centered. Cut around the hexagon with a ¼” SA. Don’t take the pins out yet!

embroidery piece cut into hexie shape held to cardstock shape with pin

 

You should now have 7 cut out hexagons looking like this:

7 cut hexagons in fabric held to cardstock with pin

 

7. The next step is to baste each hexagon around its cardstock shape. Working from the wrong side (cardstock facing you), fold down one side of the hexagon’s seam allowance around the cardstock. Hold it in place with one hand while you fold the next side to create a nice sharp corner.

hexie being held up with one side of the seam allowance folded towards the cardstock
hexie being held up with seam allowance folded on two sides to create folded corner

 

8. Thread a hand-sewing needle with matching thread and stitch this corner in place, going through the fabric only. I usually take 2-3 small stitches just to anchor the fold in place.

needle going through the fold at hexie corner to stitch it in place

 

9. Once your corner is secure, drag your thread to the next corner and fold the seam allowances in the same way. Stitch in place, again just taking 2-3 stitches to secure the fold. Continue this way until all the seam allowances are folded and secured to the wrong side. Remove the pin.

view of basted corner & sides of the hexagon
fully basted hexagon

 

10. Repeat these steps for the remaining hexagons, until you have 7 happy little hexies looking like this:

7 basted hexies seen from the good side of the fabric

 

Making the Hexie Flower

 

Now we are ready to assemble our hexagons into a flower shape!

The embroidered hexagon will be the center, and then you can arrange the remaining ones in the order that you prefer. I like to alternate between my two different colours.

hexagons arranged to form hexie flower shape

 

11. To assemble them together, I like to start by attaching the top hexagon to the center one. Place them good side together and grab your needle and thread. This is where the really fun part comes in! Instead of sewing along one side with a seam allowance, you will sew the hexagons by whipstitching them together at the very edge.

top hexie and center hexie will be attached together

 

12. Start at one corner and anchor your thread (use a knot if you like), then run a whipstitch along the edge, again going only through the fabric. You should be going through the fold on either side without catching the cardstock. The whipstitch is my favourite stitch for this, but you could also use the ladder stitch or the slipstitch.

two hexies held good sides together, needle going through the folds along one edge with a whipstitch

 

Unfold the two hexies and tada, they’re attached and the stitching is barely visible! (I’m using white thread for all my hexagons because I’ve used the same thread for all the hexie flowers in this collection, but I do recommend using matching thread).

the two hexagons seen from the good side, sewn together along one edge

 

I find this method of handstitching so much more calming and easier than the traditional way! The cardstock makes everything nice and sturdy, the stitches run smoothly and aaaahhh it just looks so neat! It’s longer than machine-sewing, but it’s so pleasant to do.

 

13. Attach the remaining 5 hexagons to the center one in the same way, good sides together, stitching along the edge through the fabric folds.

hexie flower with arrows around center hexie to show which edges to sew
close-up view of hexie center attached to the 6 sides hexies

 

14. Then, all we have to do is attach the remaining hexagon sides.

hexie flower showing directions of edges to sew with arrows

 

To do this, you will have to fold your hexie flower a little, and pinch the corner closest to the center to be able to get your two hexies good sides together.

hexie flower folded along one edge to hold to hexies against each other

 

And that’s it! You just made a hexie flower! 😊 It might need a little pressing after all that folding to get it nice and flat.

finished hexie flower with stork embroidery scissors and pile of square scrap fabric held with piece of cord

 

Since I’ve been making these just for myself as wall decorations, I leave the back unfinished and I also leave the cardstock paper in for some extra sturdiness. If you want to use your hexie flower on a quilt or as an appliqué on something else, you can remove each piece of cardstock and it will keep its shape! If you also want to use it as a decoration but would prefer to finish the back, I recommend cutting out a piece of felt of the same size and shape, and whipstiching it all around. That way the back is all nice and neat, and felt doesn’t fray so you don’t need to worry about enclosing seams or leaving seam allowance.

I sincerely hope that you’ve enjoyed this tutorial and that you’ll want to give EPP and hexie-flower making a try! It’s been so therapeutic to do this year and I’ve been really excited to share the many joys of it with you all.

Happy English Paper Piecing!

 

Fondly,

how to make fabric hexagons english paper piecing basics
Pin to save for later!