Embroidery is fairly easy to learn and relaxing to do,  not to mention the finished product is so pretty!

We’ve talked about things you can make for your hope chest, so this post is about 3 basic embroidery stitches, along with how to turn your embroidery into  a bookmark.    This is just a very teeny tiny start, and if you enjoy this,  I would encourage you to check out some books at your library, or buy a few books if you are serious about it to learn new stitches and find new designs.

One of my favorite books at the moment is Rebekah Wilson’s “Needlework Skills: Book 1″.  It has several simple but very pretty and easy-to-do patterns for you to follow in there, as well as  easy-to-follow instructions on some more embroidery stitches.

To get started, you will need the following materials:

2 pieces of cloth, approximately 9″x9″ square.  A thin white material such as muslin works well.  If you are using a slightly thicker material, one piece is enough.

4 inches of lace (approximately) to trim the bookmark with when you are finished.

an embroidery pattern for your design

an embroidery hoop that is 6″ in diameter

a pencil

needle

2 colors of embroidery floss (at least one color for the flowers, and green for the leaves)

The pattern I used:

Trace your design onto the white material with a pencil.  Then put the fabric into your hoop, making sure fabric is fairly tight. Below you can see a few of the pencil markings I made onto the cloth.  Most of the markings will be covered up by your floss, so don’t worry!

Embroidery floss is six strands of thread twined together.  Cut a piece about 20 inches long and carefully separate the threads so that you have only one strand.  Thread the needle and knot one end so that you are only sewing with one strand of thread.  The loose end you just keep hold of with your fingers as you sew to keep it from slipping out of the needle.

As you stitch, you do not have to do all the stems, THEN all the leaves, THEN  all the flowers.  I usually go by color, but you can do it however you like best!  When I did the flowers, I knotted off each one so that there wouldn’t be a lot of criss crossed threads in the back.  However with the green, I just followed along the vine and did a little criss crossing.  You just don’t want long lengths of thread across the back.

The Outline Stitch

The outline stitch is used to outline your design, or in this case, to make stems for the flowers.   Bring your needle up as shown in the picture, and then come back alongside the previous stitch.  This way your stitches are not end to end, but kind of overlap each other a little bit.

Lazy Daisy Stitch

This stitch is good for little leaves and flower petals.  Bring your thread up at the bottom of the petal or leaf, then push your needle down  beside where you first started, and back up again at the top of the petal.

Next, wrap the thread around the needle, as shown.

Pull your needle up and away from the edge of the petal or leaf, and then make a very tiny stitch to hold it into place.

French Knot

The french knot is very good for the centers of flowers as well as many other things.  Sometimes this is a tricky one!  But hopefully the pictures will explain it well enough so that you can get the idea!

First, pull the thread through right where you want the knot to be.

Wrap the thread around the needle (close to your fabric) two times.  Some people do it three times.

Push your needle down almost right beside where you came up, holding the thread taut with your other hand.

Carefully pull the thread down after the needle, taking care to still hold the slightly tight on top.

Your finished knot!

To finish your bookmark…

You may decide to do something different with your embroidery once it’s done, but if you’d like, you can turn it into a little bookmark.

Press the material to get out any wrinkles or creases. Trim the material around the design so that it is 5″ wide and 8″ high, with your design in the center.  Fold the fabric, right sides together (with the pretty part of the stitching on the inside).  Stitch a small 1/8th of an inch seam across the back.

You will now have a tube.  Turn the tube right side out and press the bookmark so that the seam is down the middle back.

Finish your edges by folding the ends in about 1/4th to 1/2 of an inch and stitch across.  Add lace to the end (or ends) if you wish.

Enjoy your finished bookmark!

Try embroidering a handkerchief,  some floursack towels, a baby bib…there are so many possibilities with embroidery!

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