And now I have a video showing how to prepare your embroidery for framing in any standard frame.
If you use this method you don’t need to cut into the fabric at all, and you don’t need to use potentially damaging glue or tape. It’s a great way to display – while still preserving – any fabric art you like.
So dig out some of your favorite embroidered pieces (or applique – this technique works for all fabric art) and display them proudly in a frame. Hang them somewhere you’ll see them every day so they can make you happy. 🙂
Here are all the posts about finishing embroidery projects.
Here’s a super simple Easter embroidery pattern – easy enough for even the littlest kids to stitch.
I originally published this back in 2011 – but now it’s updated with new images and links to video tutorials. I can’t wait to see the new chicks you make!
Back when I released the chickens embroidery pattern, people said they especially liked the little egg-shaped chicks with big feet.
I told you they’d be back again and here one is – sized a bit bigger – as a free pattern. 🙂
It’s lots of fun to decorate that egg-shaped body for Easter!
Of course, you can fill in the shape with all kinds of stitching in any design you like – but there are a couple of other options that are a lot faster.
For a really fun option, you can color the egg with colored pencils before you stitch. There’s a video here showing that technique in complete detail. In a nutshell, fuse some freezer paper to the back so the fabric behaves better, then color it in just like paper. If you’re going to hang the finished chicks on the wall you don’t need to worry about heat setting the pencils or anything like that. Stitch the outline after you’re done coloring and hoop it up for framing.
Look at the cute little Easter chicks my daughter made that way! (The other two chicks are from the chickens embroidery pattern.)
I love framing each tiny chick in its own hoop. They make a really cute Easter decoration hanging in a cluster.
Remember – it’s a cute Easter embroidery pattern – but chicks are cute all year long! You can stitch this to a baby onesie, applique it to a receiving blanket, stitch it on a tea towel or baby bib and more. Have fun with it!
Want to learn the basics of hand embroidery with an easy online workshop – totally free?
Sign up for Embroidery 101 here. You’ll learn how to get started, the tools and supplies you’ll need, the four most basic stitches, how to transfer your pattern and how to display your work.
If you already know the basics – sign up for Embroidery 201. It’s also free! You’ll learn how to stitch on specialty fabrics like felt and stretchy T-shirts. Plus you’ll learn lots and lots and LOTS more stitches – all my favorites!
You know how I talk ALL THE TIME about how much I love handwork because it’s so portable?
Would you like to see just what I keep in my handwork bag? I’ll show you what tools are inside and how I keep everything organized so I can pull out my work whenever – and wherever – I have a few minutes to stitch.
All right then!
I’m currently working on two projects – hand quilting the Controlled Chaos quilt (not portable – I do this on the sofa)
The quilt won’t fit in it 🙂 but the 7 inch hoop does. I work on both projects on the sofa – but I also carry the hoop with me for random moments of handwork.
I love having a metal tin so I can store sharp objects inside without fear of them poking me or poking through my bag. Here’s what’s inside the tin. . .
My bag is always packed and sitting at my sofa spot, ready to grab and take along in case I’m going anywhere I might have a few extra minutes for some handwork.
1. You can draw on the eyes with a marker. This is totally ok to do! But please test your marker first – and test it on every fabric you’ll be using because the results can vary. For bigger eyes (like all my animal quilts) I like my Marvy fabric markers. For smaller eyes like these paper dolls I get the best results with a small Sharpie. The worst bleeding I’ve ever had was with official “laundry” markers – go figure. (I share my favorite markers and paints here.)
2. You can embroider the eyes by hand.I really like this stitch for eyes. If you’re using Quilt As You Go you won’t even need to worry about a visible thread carry between the eyes because the batting should completely block it – even with a light color background block and skin color.
3. You can machine stitch the eyes. By machine! And you don’t need an embroidery machine, though it will need to have some fancy stitch options.
I’ve heard from a lot of you who have arthritis and appreciate as many machine options as possible – so I think a lot of you are really going to like this method. I loved it!
Here’s how I did mine. . .
Scroll through your decorative stitches and find one that is a series of round or oval satin stitches.
On my Bernina it’s stitch #407. My much-less-fancy Pfaff has an identical stitch #26. Most machines with decorative stitches will have something like this.
Now comes the slightly tedious part. Start playing around with the length and width of the stitch until you find one that’s right for your project. Once you find the settings you like – write them down! I actually make a little sample of the stitch on white fabric and write the settings directly on the fabric.
I stitched up one eye and made a note of the stitch number, the length and the width. See how this matches the settings on the screen above? Now I can make eyes all the same size whenever I want – and skip the playing around with settings step. 🙂
I have a whole stack of these swatches for any decorative stitch I think I might possibly use again.
When you’re ready to machine stitch eyes, you’re all set!
Check to make sure your bobbin is full. You don’t want to run out in the middle of an eye.
Put your block in the sewing machine and carefully lower the needle right into the top of the eye.
Lower the presser foot.
Stitch one oval. Watch carefully and stop stitching when it gets to the bottom of the oval. Backstitch just a stitch or two and remove it.
One eye done! Pause to admire the neat (easy!) stitching and be excited that we live in a time when such wonders are possible. 🙂
Repeat for the second eye.
Troubleshooting tips. . .
The combination of fusible adhesive and batting behind the block makes a great stabilizer. If you’re not using those (of if you find the fabric is bunching up under your eyes) use a stabilizer behind your stitching. It can be as simple as layering a piece of tissue paper behind the block. You might also need to adjust your tension.
Don’t push or pull or hold back the fabric going through the machine. You really need to just let it go through on its own or you might find that you are making the eyes longer or shorter than what the stitch really should be – and it will be nearly impossible to match every time. Just let those feed dogs do their thing. 🙂
That’s it!
The examples in the post are from the Paper Dolls quilt pattern – but you can use this method to machine stitch eyes any time the eyes are really tiny. In the cover image for the Peekaboo Mouse pattern you can see I used applique eyes on the cat, and machine stitched eyes on the little mice.
Here are links to all the posts showing how to applique with fusible adhesive – my favorite method. It’s fast and easy and (with the right materials) it holds up beautifully to rough use and repeated washing.
I rely heavily on three products/stabilizers for the work I do.
Freezer paper
Sulky Sticky Fabri-solvy
Heat & Bond Fusible Adhesive
(You can find links to sources for all of these – and all my other favorite tools and supplies – here.)
I recently had someone ask when I use each one – and that’s a great question.
Here’s the rundown. . .
Freezer Paper
Freezer paper is an excellent stabilizer.
I use it most often to cut out felt pieces. I print the pattern pieces directly onto the freezer paper. (You can trace if you’re not as lazy as I am.) I iron the paper to the felt and then I cut the pieces out – cutting through the felt and the freezer paper at the same time. Since I label all my pieces it means I have a nice pile of labeled felt pieces, cut perfectly accurately, waiting for me to stitch them together. Awesome!
Freezer paper also works this way when cutting out regular fabric, but I only use it on fairly small pieces – so small that I can’t use pattern weights. I use it for ALL my felt cutting.
Freezer paper is also excellent for fusing to the back of any fabric that you’re going to draw or paint on. If you’ve ever tried to do that without a stabilizer, you know that the pen or marker will tend to drag the fabric along with it. It can be really hard to keep it flat and smooth. Freezer paper makes the fabric act like paper. Handy!
In all cases – the freezer paper will peel right off when you’re done. It doesn’t leave any residue behind, and you can reuse it a LOT of times before it loses its ability to fuse.
You can find rolls of freezer paper in the grocery store, or shop for printable sheets.
I use it to transfer embroidery patterns to EVERYTHING. There are other products you could use to transfer a pattern to light-colored, smooth, woven fabric – but Sulky Sticky Fabri-solvy makes embroidery on every surface possible. And it makes stitching on smooth woven cotton easier and better.
With this stuff you can embroider stretchy fabrics like T-shirts and baby onesies (no extra stabilizer needed). You can embroider dark fabrics. You can embroider nappy fabrics like velvet and terrycloth and fleece. You can embroider felt. Oh! How I love embroidering on felt!
I freehand all my quilting designs – but if I did anything fancy I would print or draw it on this and stitch through it, then soak it away later.
Freezer paper vs. Sulky Sticky Fabri-solvy
I think this is where most people get confused, because I use both of them extensively when I work with felt.
If I’m just cutting the shape out – I use freezer paper. It’s cheaper and doesn’t require soaking to remove.
If I’m embroidering something on the shape and then cutting it out – I use the Sulky Sticky Fabri-solvy. Sometimes you’ll see me recommend both things in one project – like this snowman ornament.
The hat, hat band, and carrot nose have no embroidery on them. Neither does the back of the ornament. I cut all of those pieces out with freezer paper.
The snowman front and the scarf both have embroidery on them, so for those I printed the pattern on Sulky Sticky Fabri-solvy, stuck it to the felt, embroidered the details, cut it out on the lines, and soaked off the stabilizer. (You can see how this works in this post.)
All of my patterns tell you which product to use where.
I hope that answers your questions about which product I use in which situation! Let me know if you have any other questions about any of them. I love them all and I’m always happy to share info about products that make your crafting easier and more fun. 🙂
These links go to all my posts about quilt supplies.
As soon as I found out that Mollie Johanson from Wild Olive was writing a book, I knew it was going to be wonderful. She’s incredibly talented and one of my very favorite designers. Everything she makes is just so amazingly CUTE!
This book is everything I hoped it would be – and more!
Let’s start with this line on the cover. . .
“Cute Kitties and Cows and Cubs and More. . . and a Yeti.”
Because Yetis! I love Yetis! I was excited before I even opened the book. 🙂
Inside there are terrific projects to sew and embroider – very simple projects that don’t require any advanced skills. I especially loved this rooster apron. . .
Look at the extra sweet detail of the footprints on the waistband!
And these reversible placemats are great!
On one side you stitch the cute critter – like that adorable bear. On the reverse you stitch what that critter likes to eat – that sweet smiling honey pot. What a cute idea! And lots of fun for kids. 🙂
I also loved this cute furoshiki – a Japanese-style gift wrapping cloth.
And that mouse? He’s shown with a birthday hat and gift, but Mollie provides patterns for a whole bunch of different hats and things for him to hold, representing all the major holidays of the year. So clever!
I can’t believe I’m saying it, but one of my favorite projects was this possum.
I don’t like actual possums. We have a really persistent one right now who keeps getting into the chicken coop to eat their food. How do I know when he’s in there? Because the chickens go into absolute panic mode. (They’re such a bunch of. . . chickens.)
But this possum sachet is adorable! I love how you loop the tail around a hanger to hang it in your closet. It’s just – fun!
So all of the projects are great. Easily doable for beginners, relaxing and fun for more experienced stitchers. Exactly my kind of projects.
But the real gem of this book comes later – in the pages and pages and pages of embroidery patterns. Over a hundred of them! And every one of them is incredibly cute! Here’s just one page. . .
That tree sloth! And the baby elephant! And the orangutan! Mollie has them grouped by theme – wild animals, pets, farm animals, mountain and prairie, etc. so you really have every reason to use them in clusters.
Of course, my first thought when I see a group of cute animals is to make a quilt out of them. So that’s what I did!
I didn’t make a whole quilt – but I made a single block that can be used in a pillow, tote bag, T-shirt or anything else you want to add a dinosaur to. 🙂
What a cutie, eh?
I’ve got a tutorial here showing how to enlarge or reduce any digital pattern, and one here showing how to use an embroidery pattern for applique.
So if you get this book you not only get 25 sewing patterns and over 100 embroidery patterns, you also get a ton of applique patterns! What a deal! 🙂
I should also mention that the book has an excellent instructional section that details all the basic sewing and embroidery tools, illustrates the embroidery stitches used in the book and any sewing skills you’ll need for the projects. The templates for most of the sewing patterns are not printed at full size – which is usually an irritation for me – but there’s a link to get them all at full size online, which I’ll take over tracing any day! 🙂 It’s all in here!
The book is called Stitch Love and it’s terrific! Buy it! Make cute things with it! Give them to people you love and make them smile!
Mollie from Wild Olive knows how excited I am about her new book, Stitch Love: Sweet Creatures Big and Small. I’ve got it in my hot little hands right now and there will be a full review coming in a couple of weeks after I have a chance to make a project from it. In a nutshell – it’s exactly as fabulous as I thought it would be!
In the meantime, I jumped at the chance to be a part of this Valentine’s Day blog hop in celebration of the new book. Mollie is giving away a few special patterns that are like the patterns you’ll find in the book – but completely new and getting ready for Valentine’s Day. And a few bloggers got to play with them first!
I chose this little otter/ferret. 🙂
Mollie thinks of him as a ferret – I think of him as an otter. My way I get to make a terrible otter pun. 🙂
I immediately saw that envelope as a 3D pocket, with the whole thing appliqued in felt – so that’s what I did!
Tuck a bit of the ears and tail behind the body, and then whipstitch all around each piece. A tiny dab of fabric glue on the back of each piece holds them in place while you stitch. No irritating pins to grab your thread!
Now add the envelope. I traced it as one piece so I could fold it into a little pocket. Flat it looked like this. . .
And then I folded it and stuck it on the otter like this. . .
Stitch all the way around the outside edge of the envelope.
Next I added his paws so it looks like he’s holding the envelope instead of having it float in front of him. 🙂
Just cut them out, stick them in place, and stitch them down. They’re tiny. 🙂
I’m a morning person. I really do wake up most of the time happy and excited to start my day.
I know this can be super annoying. I live with two not-morning people who speak in grunts for the first hour they’re up. By the time they wake up I’ve usually been working for a couple of hours and I have all kinds of things I’m excited to show them. I’ve learned to restrain myself until they’re past the grunting stage. 🙂
As Polyanna as it can be – my eternal optimism is part of who I am. It’s a part of me that I like – and a part that I fully embrace in my work. So my studio is a great place to hang this happy reminder of how I like to start every day!
I love happy words, felt applique, and embroidered details – so you KNOW I had a ton of fun stitching up this project. 🙂
I printed the reversed version of the pattern onto a sheet of freezer paper, then cut the letters apart and fused them to some of my smallest felt scraps. I cut out the letters and the freezer paper at the same time – it’s the best way to accurately cut small, detailed pieces like this.
I colored in the regular (not reversed) version of the pattern with some crayons first to help me choose a good balance of colors and make sure I didn’t end up with consecutive letters in the same color.
My scraps were ruby red slippers, loden, periwinkle, love bug blue, old gold, and copper. Use what you have! Your scraps will be in colors you love!
Arrange the letters carefully on your base fabric. I used black cotton twill.
The pattern shows the letters arranged in an 8-inch circle, with a dotted line showing the vertical and horizontal centers. That line can help you eyeball the arrangement of your words. I used a 9-inch hoop for a little extra breathing room – plus it’s what I had on hand. 🙂
You can pin the letters in place, but it drives me bonkers when my embroidery thread catches on the pins, so I glued each letter in place with a tiny dab from a fabric glue stick.
I love the look of whipstitch in matching color thread, but an outline in blanket stitch in contrasting thread would also be really nice.
I could have stopped there – and I almost did. I thought there was a real charm to the simple refrigerator-magnet-letter look. But I couldn’t resist adding a bit of extra fancification. 🙂 I did keep the extra stitching tone-on-tone so the effect wouldn’t be too wild or overwhelming. And I love the texture it adds!
Sometimes I just did little straight stitches across the letter.
Sometimes I made little stars out of simple straight stitches.
Sometimes I backstitched a stick letter right in the middle of the block letter.
And sometimes I did some extra little stitches across the backstitched letter for a “Frankenstein stitches” kind of look. 🙂
For the two i letters and the exclamation point, I stitched a star in the dot and a row of three backstitches in the line.
I didn’t plan anything out – I just did what would be easiest in each letter and tried not to do the same fancification in two letters right next to each other.
Want to learn the basics of hand embroidery with an easy online workshop – totally free?
Sign up for Embroidery 101 here. You’ll learn how to get started, the tools and supplies you’ll need, the four most basic stitches, how to transfer your pattern and how to display your work.
If you already know the basics – sign up for Embroidery 201. It’s also free! You’ll learn how to stitch on specialty fabrics like felt and stretchy T-shirts. Plus you’ll learn lots and lots and LOTS more stitches – all my favorites!
I love snow!
Especially when it’s big fat flakes coming down on a not-too-cold, not-too-windy day. 🙂
And I love snowmen too! Especially this snowman with his chubby face and stubby snowball arms.
This free snowman embroidery pattern is small – just 2 1/2 inches wide and a little over 3 inches tall.
You can see him above in a larger hoop for a wall hanging – with lots of snowy white space around him. But you can also put him in a smaller (4 inch) hoop to make a tree ornament, like this. . .
If you want to skip the hoop you can stitch him on a tea towel, a gift bag, a stocking, a T-shirt or baby onesie. Have fun with it!
It’s super easy – just a few of the most basic stitches! The pattern has links to videos teaching you all of them.
Want the pattern? Here’s the link to download it – free!
If you like this pattern, sign up for the Shiny Happy News! Members get a weekly email full of sneak peeks, free patterns, discounts, and happiness. 🙂
