Embroidery Tutorial

I love embroidery and have since I was a child. I grew up watching my grandmother ply her needle; she was the one who taught me to sew. Historically, that is how many embroiderers get started: a craft passed on from mother to daughter. Sadly, those days are not as prevalent as they used to be. People have become too busy or opted for the ready-made route. The possibilities to use this skill are still there, just waiting for someone to pick them up.

You will need a few essential tools to get you started in this art. When you first begin, you do not need to spend a lot of money or have a large variety of tools. Though it is tempting when you are in the craft shop and see the lovely array of gadgets, threads and books, to leave with an arm load, do try to get your feet wet first. As you increase your skill you'll have a better idea of what direction you want to pursue. This article will give you the essentials plus a few options to build a beginner's kit with everything you need to start embroidering.

So, let's get started with the beginner's embroidery kit:

- You will need an embroidery hoop, which can be found at your local craft store. These come in a variety of sizes and styles, but the 5' or 6" hoop is a good general size to start with. Wooden hoops will work fine and are usually less expensive, but I prefer the plastic hoops with the metal spring-type inner hoop. I find it easier to move around and quick to adjust.

- One "must have" is a very sharp set of scissors. The perfect ones for embroidery are the very small snipping scissors, sometimes found in fancy shapes like storks. Their purpose is to clip threads and a sharp set prevents frayed edges. A frayed edge on embroidery floss makes it almost impossible to thread a needle.

- When a beginner looks at the array of needles in a craft store, it can be very confusing as to which one to use. The three needles which look similar but do different tasks are the tapestry needle, the embroidery needle and the cross-stitch needle. All of the needles used in embroidery, crewel or cross-stitch have a larger eye (the hole where the thread goes) than a general sewing or quilting needle. The tapestry needle is the largest with a biggest eye and is used for crewel or work with yarn instead of floss. The cross-stitch needle is closer in size to a regular sewing needle but has a rounded point instead of a sharp point. This allows the cross-stitch needle to go between the threads since in counted cross-stitch you "stitch in the holes" not in the cloth. The embroidery needle looks much more like a regular sewing needle, still skinny enough not to make large holes in your cloth, with a sharp point for piercing the fabric, but has a long eye to accommodate the embroidery thread strands.

- Embroidery floss comes in an enormous range of colors and several different brands. There are two ways to go about this. If you purchase a kit, like a stamped set of pillow cases, or baby sampler, they will have a chart on the back listing the colors you need to purchase. These will have a brand name, a number and a color listing. If you want an exact match to the picture, you need to purchase the brand and numbers the kit indicates. The other way is to select your own colors as close to the colors requested in the kit or purchase one of the assortment packages you often find in craft stores. This will be a general selection of a variety of colors most often used in embroidery kits. Whichever way you go is fine and will depend on your own tastes in colors.

- To thread your floss into your needle, many individuals like an optional needle-threader. These come in a couple of styles but when you start out, the very cheapest, little tin needle-threader is the one I would purchase.

- A thimble comes in various sizes. It is optional but many beginners and many advanced embroiderers won't work without one. Wearing a thimble may feel awkward at first but it does prevent punctured fingers from trying to push a needle through the cloth. The thimble goes on the middle finger of your dominant hand (if you're right handed, then it goes on your right hand). There is also a product out that looks like little dots. These sticky pieces of plastic go on the tip of your finger and act like a thimble would. Some individuals like these much better than a thimble. One size fits all with these dots. If you do go with a thimble, make sure it fits snugly on your finger but not so tight as to be uncomfortable.

- Of course you'll need a pattern to embroider by and the cloth to embroider it on. Here you also have options and even more depending on which type of embroidery you want to try. This particular article will deal with regular embroidery and not counted cross-stitch. Cross-stitch will be covered further in a separate article.

For regular embroidery, one option is to purchase a stamped embroidery kit (pillow cases, tea towels, pillows, baby bibs, baby samplers and a number of others). The kits come with the fabric pre-stamped with the embroidery design and instructions for both threads and stitches to use. Some kits even come with the embroidery floss and needle to use.

If you don't want to go with a kit, you can purchase your own blank fabric and have two other options for your pattern:

You can either purchase a package of iron on transfers, which come in a variety of designs, available at your local craft store, or you can use an embroidery transfer pen and create your own designs. Which you choose will depend on how much creative control you wish to have over your pattern. Both options work well and both contain instructions for transferring your pattern to the cloth . The transfer pens come in light for use on dark cloth and a dark pen for use on light colored cloth. One thing to note: Designing your own pattern with the transfer pen or the iron on transfers, will not give you instructions on which stitches to use or which color threads to use. You will have to make those decisions yourself.

- A container to keep your supplies and projects together is also a wonderful option. There are many different types of containers available. Personally, I have a large sewing box to contain the majority of my supplies but for the individual project I'm working on I simply use a gallon plastic freezer bag for my project, hoop and instructions. I use a smaller bag to keep my threads, thimble and scissors separate and both of these bags go into a canvas tote bag. It's cheap, portable, keeps my project together and I have all I need to finish one project at a time.

- I use a plastic pill container as a needle case to keep my needle in though there are some really pretty needle cases in craft stores. It is not a good idea to store your needle in your project's cloth as needles will rust. I make a habit of putting that needle away in my needle case and then throwing that in my tote bag. It prevents my needle from ending up in the couch or on my rug and it's easier to dig out the container than the needle itself.

- One other optional item is another pill container with a piece of damp sponge in it. Take a regular, clean kitchen sponge and cut it into a rectangle that will fill the pill container. Dampen it slightly and close the lid. This can be used to run the floss over before threading the needle. It will take out the twist of the floss and help your threads to lie flat. This technique will be covered more thoroughly in a separate article.

- The last thing I would add to this kit is a small embroidery stitch reference booklet. These are usually found near the floss sections in the craft store and really are more like pamplets than books. They show a variety of embroidery stitches are quite handy to have around.

If you assemble all these items, you will have all you need to start your embroidery, or the perfect gift to give a beginner embroiderer.