Embroidery is a craft that uses thread to decorate fabric (and other materials). Itâs a great way to spruce up a garment, customise objects, and to hide mends youâve made!
Embroidery is usually done with embroidery floss, but depending on the base material youâre working on, you could also use yarn, ribbons, or plain old sewing thread. Donât be afraid to experiment!
Embroidery is easier to do on taut fabric than limp fabric. Thatâs why most people use embroidery hoops. While not strictly necessary, a hoop will make your life so much easier.
Using the right needle will help, too. Use a crewel needle if youâre working with embroidery floss, a chenille needle if youâre working with ribbon or yarn, or a tapestry needle if youâre doing cross-stitch embroidery on open-weave fabrics.
While there are many types of embroidery from all over the world, this post will focus on some basic stitches you can use in your own work.
Basic embroidery stitches:
For a more thorough overview of embroidery stitches, check out these embroidery tutorials by Mary Corbetâs Needle ân Thread.
The following images show some of the most basic stitches:
The 16 stitches in the images above can be combined into any shape or form you want. You might recognise some from my hand sewing post: embroidery is a type of hand sewing, after all.
You donât need to know all of these to be able to make beautiful things. Even just one of these is a great start for a project.
This sampler by Sew Nancy shows how these basic stitches can be used to outline shapes or form flowers, for example.
Fiorelila used a combination of the stem stitch, satin stitch, lazy daisy, and french knots to spruce up this sweater:
And this person used lazy daisies to add some flair to their jeans:
Embroidery for visible mending:
Embroidery is a useful tool to hide mends youâve made, or to even accentuate them if thatâs your style. This is called visible mending. While this is a topic that deserves a post on its own, here are some quick examples:
Like this fix by Redditor Takemythyme who embroidered a rose over a hole in a knit fabric:
Or like how this person has spruced up their jeans repairs with embroidery:
In this example, The Woolery Guy chose to use flower embroidery to make a hole in a knit fabric look like it was there by design:
For more examples, check out Pinterest or VisibleMending.com.
Embroidery is a useful skill to give new life to your wardrobe. You can use it to give some flair to items youâve grown bored off, or even to mend your clothes.
Once youâve got a few basic stitches under your belt, the possibilities are endless. Be creative and have fun with it!
Good luck and feel free to show me your work!
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