Transcripts
1. Welcome!: Hi, my name is Hillary and I'm the artist behind
age Leslie design. I sell embroidery
patterns and kits for beginners and
intermediate structures. Today we're gonna be doing
my peonies pattern is very beginner friendly
and you'll learn five different stitch
types in this class. I will also go over how
to prepare your hoop, how to transfer a
pattern onto the fabric, how to stitch, and then
how to complete your hoop. By the end, you will have this adorable little
embroidery hoop to give to someone or use
as decor in your house. Like, I'd be sure to
look down below four, a list of the color codes. For this particular hoop. You are absolutely welcome
to use your own colors. And you'll also find the
pattern down there in three different sizes depending on what size of who
you would like to use. This is a four-inch
hoop for today's class, but if you want to go bigger, that is absolutely fine. So let's get started.
2. Supplies: Okay, let's talk
about supplies first. I'm using a crayola
light tracing pad because my pattern is
printed out onto paper, you can also draw your
pattern digitally. If you have an iPad or a laptop screen that
bends all the way back, you can also use a
window with paper. Then you're going
to need some cloth. I'm using a viscous
linen blend from Joanne. And also from Joanne is a
bamboo embroidery hoop. They also make plastic. Then I have some fabric
scissors because I like to trim my fabric and a circle
before I start stitching. And then you're going to
need some embroidery floss. I use DMC exclusively. I think their colors
are absolutely beautiful and the
quality is top-notch. Then you might also like
some embroidery scissors. These aren't entirely necessary, but it is nice to
have a smaller pair around when you're working
with such small supplies. Then an embroidery needle.
3. Prepping Your Hoop: Now let's prep your hoop
for stitching first, you're going to unscrew
the top of your hoop and separate the inner and
outer hoops from each other. You're going to
place the inner hoop down on the table first, then put your fabric over that. And then the outer
hoop goes on top so it holds your fabric in
place very securely. You'll want to tighten
as much as you can go. And then you're going to
just stretch your fabric and make sure it's tight like
a drum all the way around.
4. Transferring Your Design: Now we have to get
our pattern from the paper to the actual
piece of cloth in your hoop. So in this demo, I'm going
to show you how to do this transfer process using a light tracing pad by Crayola. You can also use a light
table if you have one, a window, anything really
that has a light source. So put your hoop face down onto the patterns so that it's easiest to see and to draw with. I'm using a pilot friction
heat erasable pen. Because when I'm
finished stitching, I will be able to get
all the leftover marks with a hairdryer. These are great pens to have. You can order them
online and they might even be available in a
craft store near you. So what you're gonna do is
just trace the pattern, right as you see it. And then you are ready to flip your fabric right-side out. So we're going to do
what we did earlier. We're going to
unscrew the top to separate the outer
and inner hoops. Put the inside hoop down first, then the cloth with the
pattern facing outwards. Then the outer hoop over that so that you are ready
for stitching and you won't have to
transfer the fabric out ever again in
the whole process. Okay.
5. Threading Your Needle and Tying Knot: Now we're going to prepare
your needle for stitching. First, take your dark pink
floss and we're going to pull the floss out from
the bottom label end. So if you pull from this end, you won't get any tangles. But if you pull from the top, you're gonna get lots of nots. Sentence is gonna
be frustrating. So cut a length
about the size from your elbow to the tip of your middle finger
and more or less. And then you're going to take one end and put it through
the eye of your needle. So I like to hold it at the very bitter end and then almost push it through
the eye of the needle. Sometimes licking the
ends helps to get all six strands through
the eye of the needle. But just do what works for you. Then we're gonna go
to the other end of the piece of floss. You're going to wrap it around
your index finger like so. And then you're going
to roll it down your thumb, pinch and pull. And this creates a naught. It's super simple. This is a great trick to practice when you are
doing a lot of embroidery. It'll save lots of time. And then I like to snip the ends just to make
it really clean. Now you have your needle at one end and you're
not at the other.
6. Satin Stitch: Dark Pink Flowers: The first stitch
we're going to do today is the satin stitch. This stitch is great
for filling in larger areas and it gives
you a nice smooth look. So I personally like to start in the middle of this
section that I'm working on. So this particular petal, I'm going to start
in the middle of the petal and then
follow the outer lines. So you're going to come
up through the back of your fabric and then go down on the bottom
edge of the petal. So up on the top
part of the petal, down on the bottom
part of the petal. And you're going to repeat
this process along one edge. Then do the other
half of the petal. You can start on one side of the petal and go
all the way to the other. But I have found through
experience that for me, it's easier to start in
the center of the petal, do either side, and
then move along. One important part of the satin stitch to
keep in mind is to keep your stitches as
close together as possible with layering them. So if you go up through the same hole as the previous
stitch and then back down, it's going to create
layers and it's going to probably look a bit wonky. So you wanna get the
stitches very close together without them being
on top of each other. When you're done with one pedal, you're gonna do the
same process all over again with all the other petals. So I'm just going to do one-half and then the other half moved to the next puddle, do one-half, the other half
moved to the next petal.
7. Fastening Your Floss: So when you're nearing the end of your piece of floss
while stitching, you're going to want to
secure it to the back. So in this demonstration, I'm going to weave through my previous stitches so that
it gives it a flatter look. You can do this a couple
of different times in different directions
so that it's really secure without
having the not there. It's also perfectly
acceptable to have a knot, but it will make your back
a little bit messier. When you finished
fastening your floss, you're going to snippet
and then thread your needle all over again
with a new piece of floss.
8. Satin Stitch: Light Pink Flowers: Here's another look at
the sentence ditch, this time using the
light pink floss for the little flower
coming off the edge. So again, I like to start in the middle for my
satin stitches, you can see I'm going from the tallest part of the
flower to the bottom of it. And then I'm gonna go down one side before doing
the other side. Again, you want to make
your stitches as close together as possible
without them overlapping each other so that you have a smooth, flat look. I'm just going to
finish up one side. And then I'll do the other side. And then my original pattern, the other peony flower in the main bundle in the
center is also light pink. But you could do both of
these flowers in dark pink. You could do both of
them in light pink. You could do the opposite colors of what I have in the pattern. It's totally up to you.
9. French Knots : Next we're going to add French knots in the
center of each peony. Come up from the
back of your fabric. Hold the needle in your
right and the other piece of floss in your left and wrap it around your needle one time. Before going back down. Don't go through the same hole
that you came up through. Just go a little bit next
to where you came up. So let's do it one more
time with one twist. So up through the back. Twist around your
needle one time. Hold the tension with that piece of floss
and your left hand. Go back down. With French knots.
You can do one twist, two twists, or three
twists generally. So for the sake
of demonstration, I'm going to show you
now one with two twists, come up from the
back the same way. And now we're just going
to wrap two times, so 12 and then back down and make sure you hold that tension
with your left hand. Because that's what's gonna
get you the little not. If not, you're going
to end up with a big loop and it's going
to look a little weird. And these take a
lot of practice. So I find that it's easier to start with a one
twist, French naught. But then you can move on to two twists and twists
as you see fit. And as you're more comfortable, as you can see with the
two twist French knots, they do appear a little
bigger and bolder. But again, this is
such a tiny hoop. It'll probably be
easier with one twist. But go for it with two twists. If you mess up or
want to try again, you can just take your
stitches out and start over.
10. Fishbone Stitch : We're going to use the Fishbone stitch to create these leaves. So start at the point of
your leaf and then go down a couple of centimeters
to meet the middle line. Then you're just going to follow the outside line back and forth all the way down the leaf. So go up through
one side and then put your needle back down on the center line a little farther than where you came out before. And then switch to
the opposite side. So now we're on the right side. Go up following
that outside line, and then go down a
little bit past where your previous stitches
and then just keep flip-flopping
back and forth. So now we're back
to the left side and then go back down
on the center line. And now the right side. And then back down
on the central line, you can see that it's already
creating a leaf-like look. So just keep going
back-and-forth, back-and-forth,
all the way down. We're going to use
the exact technique on the other leaves
in this piece. So I'm going to show you
one of the smaller leaves. So again, start at the tip
of the leaf and then go down a couple centimeters
and then start on one side and then goes back down through
the middle a little farther than where you ended your first stitch and
then alternate sides. So now go to the right side, a little bit farther
down in the center. And then the left side
following that outside curve. And then back down
through the center. And keep alternating until you hit the bottom of the leaf.
11. Back Stitch: For the backstitch,
you're going to come up through the back of
your fabric a little farther away of where
you want to start your line and then go back down. And then you're going to try
to recreate the same length on every stitch as you
continue down the line. So in this case it's only a
few millimeters of length. And you're gonna go out farther away from where you
want the stitch to go and then meet back down where your
previous stitch was. And you're going
to just continue doing this all the way down.
12. Straight Stitch : Straight stitches are nice
and easy because they're basically like the
backstitch, just longer. So you're going to
come up through the back of your fabric and then down the entire length of the line that
you want to create. So we're going to
come up through the back of the fabric and then down all the way to
the end of the line. And that's your straight stitch. So you can add as many of these as you like
in this pattern. If you don't want to
use back stitches, it's totally up to you.
13. Finishing Your Hoop : Okay. You're almost finished. So if you see any
leftover markings and used a heat erasable
pen like I did. You can use a hairdryer to
get rid of all of them. If you used an air erasable pen, you can simply leave
your hoop out for 24 to 48 h and it should
disappear on its own. Now we're going to
finish the hoop. So I like to trim just
a little bit more of the excess fabric before
I finish up my hoop, I find that this gives
it a cleaner look. As you can see, there's a
little bit of fraying going on after moving the
hoop in and out of the hoop holder During
the stitching process. So I'm just gonna
get rid of that. And then we're going to
use a running stitch. So prepare your needle as you
would for any other stitch. And then go in the
middle so that the NADH is on the
inside segment. And you're simply going to
go back and forth in and out of the fabric all
the way in a circle. So just back-and-forth, back-and-forth and
then pull through. So we're going to
essentially synch up all the rest of the fabric so that it holds it in so that it's not
visible from the front. Some people finish their
hoops in other ways. I've seen other artists glued down the excess fabric
to the inner hoop. In my other hoops, I also put a piece of felt in the center before
I do the running stitch. So the running stitch
holds the felt in place so that you don't see
all the knots in the back. But if you're going
to display your hoop, no one's really going
to see the back anyway. It just becomes a
personal preference, whatever you prefer. So as we near the end, you're going to go back
down towards the center. And then I like to
trim it a little bit before I time I not, I just find that it's easier
to work with that way. So now you're going to hold
the tension as well as you can and simply tie
a knot as close to the fabric as possible
so that it really holds all of that excess
fabric in a synched position. So I do two or 3 kt
in this segment, just so it holds it
in place really well. And then trim it. And you're done.
14. Thank You for Taking my Class!: Thank you so much for
choosing my class today. I hope you had a lot of
fun and learned a lot. And I hope that you're
proud of yourself for creating this beautiful
little peony hoop. If you have a photo of
your finished hoop, I would love to see
it if you include it in the comments in the class. And if you have any questions, please feel free to
reach out to me. You can message me here on
Skillshare or you can reach out on social media
through H Leslie design. I hope this inspires
you to create your own patterns and continue
the embroidery process. It's really fun and there are just so many options out there for patterns
that you can create. The world is your
oyster as they say. So. Again, thank you so much and I look forward to seeing
your finished product.
Hilary Leslie, Embroidery Artist
