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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
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Learn the Satin Stitch: Embroidery Tutorial

     Anne      6 Comments

Welcome to another hand embroidery stitch tutorial! Today, we will be looking at the satin stitch, one of the most popular stitches used in hand embroidery. If you’re new to hand embroidery, this is definitely a great stitch to learn and start practicing!

 

satin stitch embroidery tutorial

 

To begin, you will need basic embroidery supplies: a piece of fabric (just a scrap is perfect for practicing), embroidery scissors, embroidery needle, hoop, and some floss of your choice. I will be using 3 strands of DMC #741 for this tutorial.

If you’d like more information on basic embroidery supplies, you can have a look at this post.

Once your fabric is sitting drum tight in the hoop and your needle is loaded, you will be ready to begin. The satin stitch is a filling stitch, intended to fully cover various shapes. I highly recommend starting with an easy one, like a square or a rectangle.

You will definitely want to draw this shape on the fabric to give you some guidelines. Use a pencil or water-soluble pen (or other marking tool if you prefer). I will be filling in a rectangle, which I drew on my fabric in pencil. I’m using 3 strands here, but you can use as many or as few as you want. The more strands you use, the “chunkier” it will look and the fewer strands you use, the more blended it will look. Keep in mind that using more strands makes it a bit harder for the stitches to lay very flat since the strands tend to twist on themselves. Using few threads takes longer to fill, but we’re in no rush!

 

rectangle shape drawn in pencil over fabric sitting in embroidery hoop

To secure your thread, you can use a knot if you’re just practicing. If you’re working on a project, you might want to start with anchoring stitches or a waste knot instead. I wrote a full post on how to begin & end your stitches if you need extra help.

 

Satin Stitch Tutorial

Normally with the satin stitch, you want to begin in the middle of your shape (with a square or a rectangle that doesn’t matter as much since the shape is the same all around). This is because it’s a stitch that closely follows the shape you’re filling and it’s often easier to begin in the middle than at the edge.

 

  1. Bring your needle up from the back at point A and go back down in B, forming a straight stitch. You can choose to work horizontally or vertically depending on what you prefer and the shape that you’re filling.
straight stitch going from point A to B to form the first satin stitch to fill rectangle

 

2. Choose to fill either the left or right side first. Here, I will be doing the left. Bring your needle up again at point C, directly beside point A, and go back down in D. You should now have two straight stitches laying side by side.

second stitch being made beside the first; point C directly beside point A and point D beside point B
second stitch laying flat beside the first to begin row of satin stitch

3. Continue in the same way until half of the shape is fully covered. Stitches should be nice and tight, one directly beside each other without overlapping or splitting, following the shape you’re filling. With a rectangle, each stitch should be exactly the same length, starting and ending right beside each other. Be careful not to pull too hard, or it will distort the shape. The stitches should just be laying on the fabric, tight against each other but not tightly pulled. You will definitely want your fabric held taught in the hoop.

half of the rectangle filled with satin stitch

 

Ideally, you also always want to work each stitch in the same direction. I prefer to work this stitch vertically from bottom to top, so I always start each stitch at the bottom edge and work upwards. But you can do the opposite, or work horizontally from left to right or vice versa. Sometimes it will also depend on what kind of shape you’re working with.

 

4. Once the first half is done, you can secure your thread and cut it to start anew, or simply drag it behind the stitches you’ve already lain to fill the other half.

Fill the second half just as you’ve done the first, working in the same direction!

rectangle completely filled with satin stitch

 

Filling a Shape With an Outline

Filling stitches often benefit from having the shape stitched with an outline first. Here I drew a crescent shape onto my fabric and outlined it with a splitstitch.

crescent moon shape outlined in splitstitch

This will help to give me a nicer edge, especially at the points. Each stitch begins and ends right outside of this splitstitch edge, covering it entirely.

 

Another thing I like to do that I find really helpful, is to place guiding stitches along the way and fill small areas at a time. In other words, I place stitches to split the area in smaller and smaller halves, and then fill them in. This is especially helpful to keep a shape like a crescent.

crescent shape being filled with satin stitch and guiding stitches to fill small areas at a time

 

When you get to the small points, take your time to make very small stitches that are still straight and flat.

crescent moon filled with satin stitch

 

Satin Stitch Pumpkin

While I was preparing this tutorial, I started embroidering a little pumpkin in this style and found it was a really great shape for practicing the satin stitch. I’ve been seeing a lot of them all over my Instagram and they’re really cute, though not exactly my normal stitching style. I tend to favour just an outline or the long & short stitch for filling my designs, but I decided to give this look a try and rather like the result! I couldn’t leave it at just the satin stitch though, so I added a backstitch outline all around it to give it more dimension (and hide my uneven satin stitch hahahaha!!). This outline was added after the satin stitch filling. I outlined the pumpkin with splitstitch first, then satin stitched to cover that outline. The backstitch was added last, as a finishing touch.

embroidered pumpkin in satin stitch and backstitch outline
embroidered pumpkin in satin stitch view from side

Here is the mini-pattern I used, if you fancy practicing your satin stitch and you’re still in the mood for some fall stitching! I’m terrible at drawing anything directly on fabric and like a good pattern for everything, so here’s this sweet pumpkin I made:

pumpkin outline for satin stitch practice

Feel free to print it if you want to use it, and let’s see that satin stitch! 😊

 

I hope you found this tutorial helpful, and as always don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions!

Fondly,

learn how to do the satin stitch
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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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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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French Knot Made Easy: Stitch Tutorial

     Anne      Leave a Comment

Hello and welcome to another stitch tutorial! Today we are going to be looking at one of my favourite stitches ever, The French Knot. I know some people strongly dislike it or aren’t inclined to try it, but it’s really easy once you get the hang of it! And it’s SO useful. Not only does it add texture, but it’s also perfect for small details such as eyes or flower centers. I use it in nearly every project I make!

 

easy french knot tutorial

 

Last week I shared a raspberry embroidery project, where I combined French knots and beads to create the berries. The effect was wonderful, I thought! It made the fruits very dimensional, and the French knots are quick and easy to work. And this is coming from someone who struggles with hyperhidrosis and has a lot of trouble with bullion knots. I wrote a good hack for that one in my post Awesome Bullion Knot Hack. 😉 So anyways, the French knots are your friend! Even if your thread gets all wet like mine because of sweaty hands, they are still very manageable. (Right, so it’s very unpleasant to stitch with hyperhidrosis sometimes, but it’s doable!!)

 

Let’s Begin

Without further ado, let me show you how to work those fabulous French knots! First, you will begin by threading an embroidery needle and hooping your fabric. Then, anchor or knot your thread and you’ll be ready to begin.

For a list of embroidery tools you need to get started, check out this post: The Only Embroidery Tools You Need

For tips on how to start and end your stitches, check out: How to Start and End Embroidery Stitches

I used 3 strands of floss for this tutorial.

 

French Knot Tutorial

 

Bring your needle up from the back once it’s threaded and anchored.

With one hand (I’m right-handed so I’ll do this with my left hand because my dominant hand will hold the needle), hold the thread up a little, slightly above where it came up the fabric. With your dominant hand, hold your needle behind the thread, perpendicularly.

 

hold the needle behind the thread

 

Wrap the thread twice around the needle. For best results, you always want to wrap only twice. If you want your knot to be bigger or smaller, reduce or add the number of strands you work with. Wrapping more than twice usually only creates a mess. You can wrap clockwise or anti-clockwise, it doesn’t really matter.

 

wrap thread twice around needle

 

Pull the thread to tighten the wraps a little. You want them to be tight enough that they both rest against each other, but loose enough to be able to move the needle.

While still holding the thread with one hand, let your other hand guide the needle to go through the fabric again. Position the tip of the needle just beside the point where you first came up. You don’t want to be in exactly the same hole, or the knot won’t hold, but you want be as close as you can get.

 

tighten the wraps and angle the needle to take a stitch

 

As you angle the needle upwards to go through the fabric, relax your hand holding the thread just a little, allowing the loops to slide down the needle.

When they get to the bottom, hold the thread tight to tighten the loops against the needle shaft again, and keep holding the thread! Usually at this point, I like to use one finger to hold the thread down against the fabric to make sure those loops stay wrapped tight around the needle.

 

hold thread with one hand and pull the needle through with the other to make french knot

 

While you hold the thread, pull the needle through. It will go through the loops and the fabric. Hold on to the thread with your finger until the needle goes through completely. You can let go once the needle is fully on the other side, and just keep pulling the thread all the way.

pull the thread all the way
thread being pulled to form French knot

Once the needle is pulled all the way, you end with a beautiful, tidy knot like this!

finished French knot

 

You can repeat the steps to create as many knots as you want, all close together, or further apart depending on what you’re stitching.

 

clusters of finished french knots

 

When I worked on my raspberries, I wanted my French knots to be close enough together, with a few spaces for adding beads later.

 

first embroidered raspberry with french knots

 

Final Thoughts

There are so many possibilities with this stitch, and I think you will have a lot of fun with it if you try it and practice a few times!! I know it sounds a bit convoluted when detailed out like this (this is a stitch that is very quick to make, but writing it out makes it seem a bit long!), but it’s really not as bad as it might sound.  A video tutorial would probably be best suited for this stitch, and I hope to make one someday soon! I’m not very equipped for making videos at the moment, but it’s something I’d be interested in trying if there’s enough interest. Let me know if you think that would be helpful for you!

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial, and please let me know if you give it a try! If you already know how to do it, do you also really like it? What other stitches would you be interested in learning? Let me know in the comments!

In the meantime, check out my other stitch tutorials!

 

the chain stitch easy tutorial
Chain stitch & lazy-daisy stitch
Straight stitch, running stitch, backstitch, stem stitch, & split stitch

You can find all stitch tutorials under the “Tutorials” -> “Stitches” section in the menu, or by clicking the images above.

Happy stitching my friend, and I hope you have fun with the French knot!

 

Fondly,

learn how to do the french knot
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Ripening Raspberries: Embroidery & Pressed Leaves

     Anne      2 Comments

Let’s go berry-picking together, shall we? My embroidered raspberries are ripe and ready to be plucked! I had so much fun working on this week’s project. I’ve been playing with combinations of pressed botanicals and embroidery over the last few months, and I LOVE the results! I think they go so well together. It’s also much faster to finish a project since you save on embroidery time!

 

raspberry embroidery beads and pressed leaves

 

I don’t think a summer goes by where I don’t eat a copious amount of raspberries, even if it’s the store-bought ones. They’re one of my favourite fruits and it doesn’t feel like summer without them! Unfortunately this year, our red raspberry bushes only produced about five berries. ☹ They’re supposed to produce twice, so fingers crossed for the end of summer/beginning of fall. On the other hand, our black raspberry bushes were incredibly generous for their size! We didn’t have quite enough to bake desserts or make jam, but there was enough to stuff my face whenever I went out to pick them 😉. They’re smaller and firmer than red raspberries, but they’re really good, especially when picked under the warm sun.

 

black raspberries in nature

 

Ripening Raspberries

 

To fill the void left by the absence of red raspberries, naturally I had to embroider some. There’s an abundance of wild raspberry bushes at the edge of the woods on the way to the forest (which don’t produce much fruit either), and last spring I gathered a lot of leaves. Some were left to dry to make tea blends, and others were pressed with every intention of using them in such a project as this at some point. I really love the idea of combining embroidery and pressed botanicals in the same project!

 

flat lay view of raspberry embroidery finished piece, pressed raspberry leaves and teacup filled with black raspberries

 

The vision in my head was that of a branch laden with juicy berries and beautifully pressed leaves. I knew I wanted to use beads to make the raspberries sparkle. So I got my herbarium and my sketchbook out and began to design…

 

finished raspberry embroidery piece with red thread

 

Embroidered Raspberries ~ My Creative Process

 

1. Designing the Pattern

rough sketch for raspberry embroidery pattern

 

Confession: I don’t like designing. The sketching of what I want is my absolute least favourite part of the whole process. I’ve never been very good at drawing, so I find it frustrating not to be able to reproduce the wonderful idea in my head on paper. I’m working on it and trying to sketch more to get better, but it can be a real struggle sometimes.

Fortunately, you don’t need a great sketch to produce a beautiful piece of embroidery. The needle and thread do all the work. In fact, you really just need a rough outline of what you want to stitch. And I didn’t even have to worry about the leaves since I wasn’t going to embroider them. All I had to plan was their placement (which ended up changing anyways!). So anyways, step 1 is to sketch/plan where you want each element to go. As you can see this is a super rough sketch, but it’s all I needed for this project, thankfully.

 

2. Transferring Pattern on Fabric

raspberry pattern transferred on muslin fabric

 

I chose a piece of muslin for this project, because it’s a bit thicker and sturdier than my usual go-to factory cotton or linen. I knew the berries would end up being a little heavy with all the knots and beads, so I chose something more suitable than thin cotton. The off-white colour was also perfect for the colour scheme I had in mind. I used my lightbox and a mechanical pencil to transfer my design from my sketchbook to the fabric. Again, all I really needed was the main branch, a few stems and peduncles, and I just drew circles where I wanted the berries to be. The fewer markings on the fabric, the less you have to cover with thread later if you change your mind about something. I made the berry outlines smaller than their intended sizes to ensure they would be fully covered.

 

3. Choosing Thread Colours (and other materials)

embroidery threads and seed beads chosen to embroider the project

 

I had already picked some pressed raspberry leaves and played with them in Step 1 to determine where they would go on the finished piece, but there were still the threads to be chosen and the beads to find. I didn’t go out of my way to get anything specific and just used what I already had on hand. Consequently, I dug around in my floss box for thread that looked raspberry-coloured and found some slightly darker than what I envisioned, but still suitable. They’re from an unknown source (I have a lot of random thread bits in my box!) but their closest DMC matches could be #304 (Christmas red medium), and #777 (very dark raspberry). For the branch, peduncles, and sepals I used #937 and #3347. And finally, I located the perfect beads, a tiny bag hidden away with just enough for my project!!

 

4. The Stitching: Branch & Peduncles

embroidery in progress: main branch and stems

 

The first thing to embroider was the main branch and the little peduncles, since they are the elements the most in the background. I stitched a short stem where I knew I wanted to place a pressed leaf that didn’t have a stem. Near the bottom of the branch I left my pencil marks, since the leaves going there did have a stem already. I didn’t embroider the little thorns at this point, just the main outline. I used a split stitch and DMC #937, and made certain areas look “thicker” by doing two rows. This was to make the branch look more natural and less uniform. I stitched everything using two strands of thread, unless otherwise noted.

 

5. Embroidering the Raspberries

first embroidered raspberry with french knots
embroidered raspberries in french knots

 

Normally, the leaves would be next, but since they’re not embroidered, they will be placed at the very last, otherwise they will certainly break as I manhandle the hoop to get the berries done. So berries it is instead! I used French knots first, starting with #304 and ending with #777. I didn’t completely fill the areas to leave a bit of space for the beads. Once I was satisfied with that and each berry was filled with French Knots, I added a few more details to my branch.

 

6. Branch Details

straight stitches along the main branch for thorns

I did a few straight stitches using only 1 strand of thread along the main branch to represent the thorns (still in DMC #937). I also stitched the little sepals on top of the raspberries in lazy-daisy stitches using DMC #3347.

 

7. Adding Beads

embroidered raspberries close-up showing the beads used to add detail

 

Once that was done, I went back to my berries to add the beads! This was definitely the most exciting part of the project!! I used seed beads; some red, and others in this iridescent pink and red with touches of yellow. I’m so happy with the result of this!! I used silk sewing thread (not necessary, but the colour was the closest match to the berries). The seed beads are pretty small, so I needed a beading needle to be able to stitch them on. They’re long and have a very thin shaft so that the beads slide through no problem!

I stitched my beads on very randomly, switching between the two kinds and adding them where I had left space in between my French knots and in other little spots where it looked like one was needed. I absolutely love how ripe and juicy they look!! Beads really make such a difference in embroidery, I love it!

 

8. Adding the Leaves

pressed raspberry leaves glued on with elmer's glue and paintbrush

 

And now for the finishing touch – the leaves!! I ended up adding more than I originally planned and slightly changed the placement of some, but I’m SO happy with the result!! I added another little 3-leaf cluster at the very top and love the effect. Its leaves weren’t pressed completely flat, but that small detail adds a bit of dimension to the piece. I’m so glad I pressed a few of those! I had many larger leaves, but only two smaller clusters. I used Elmer’s transparent school glue and a paintbrush to glue the leaves to the fabric. I’ve tried this before with other pressed florals and it seemed to work, but if anyone knows of a better way (or better glue) to do this, please let me know!

 

close-up of finished piece
close-up of embroidered raspberries and pressed leaves

 

Finishing the Piece 

Now I just need to find a good way to frame/display the piece that will protect the dried flowers! Again, suggestions welcome. It’s a bit tricky because the leaves are flat but my berries are pretty 3D. I fear a glass frame would crush them. A shadow box might work? I shall have to experiment a bit and figure something out :). There has to be a good solution to this.

 

full view of finished piece
side view of finished piece
finished embroidery work with black raspberries
I managed to find TWO red raspberries for my photos LOL!

 

I hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at how I embroidered my raspberries! What do you think of the embroidery/pressed leaves combination? I’m hoping to make more of this sort of thing in the future – maybe next time I’ll use pressed flowers and embroider the leaves. I know I’ll most definitely be using beads again, they add so much charm and life! I fell in love with beads and embroidery when I worked on my Loving Lilacs Inspired from Jane Eyre, and I knew I had to try it again. My next project involving beads will probably feature blackberries…the time for picking them is fast approaching and those bushes are looking much more generous than the raspberries! 😉

 

Thank you so much for reading my blog and I wish you a lovely day! You can also find me on Instagram and Etsy!

Fondly,

ripening raspberries: an embroidery project
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