Freehand Embroidery Hoop Art

1. Intro: e name is Nico, and I'm an artist. I'm gonna be teaching you how to embroider on tiny little hoops. My personal aesthetic is really messy and in perfect. And I'm really interested in that messiness and imperfection in art. So in this class, I'm not going to be trying to get you to make anything perfect. You want to be learning a new skill, which means messy stitches, uneven lines, wonky shapes. All that is wonderful. I just want you guys have fun. Feel like a kid Agan not worry about trying to make a perfect art object. Just have some fun. This classes for absolute beginners to sewing and to arts in general. So just get ready to try something new. 2. Class Outline: So in this class, I'm gonna teach you first what materials you need and where to get them. A little bit about color theory and a few different reversal stitches. To get you started on your project, your project will be creating an embroidery hoop artwork, and you're gonna post a photo of that project on the class page. Embroidery is really fun and relaxing, and I hope you guys really 3. Materials: so you need to pick up a few materials before we get started. All of these can be purchased at a craft store like Michaels or Jo Ann Fabrics or on amazon dot com, which is where I got. I get a lot of my stuff there. Just it's cheap and I don't have to leave the house first. You're gonna want an embroidery hoop such as this. They come in both wood and plastic, and some of them have these tight ners on the end, which keeps the fabric in place. I like to use these cheap ones from Michael's. They cost, like, $2 they come with the tightness, which is really helpful. You're also going to need an embroidery. Needle just looks like a regular needle, but it's a little bit bigger than our state. So a needle just so that the embroidery thread will actually fit through the eye. You're also gonna need embroidery thread. I keep mine in a little cute bucket and for my embroidery thread. Usually it comes on these long sort of spur bluey things with paper after on them, and I find that get tangled up really quickly, so I wind them along these plastic do dad things that I have also a lot of Michael's. I'm not sure what they're called bombings or something. Um, yeah, I just kind of helps it from getting tangled, and you need a pair of scissors. This one is I like that small, smaller. This is even for embroidery, and you need a piece of fabric. Actually recommend skipping the fabric store and just finding something in your closet or the goodwill to cut up. This fabric is actually from Michael's that I bought. I do that, too, but it's kind of fun to get something that's a unique texture, a unique color pattern. Just toe help you get started and kick start your competitivity. Just make sure that it's a tightly woven fabric. So you wanted to be really smooth and no holes in it. Not like a knitted sweater, cause that's gonna be really difficult to bring Iran to start with. And also, if you prefer a plane based for your work, you can choose something like those Michael cells thes. You could just grab any old fabric from any crossed or really they've got constant everywhere. Just be aware that your choice of fabric hopes determined the feeling in the look of your final piece, so just keep it in mind while you're choosing, You can also choose to set aside certain drug colors to limit your palate. From the start. I'll talk about that more in the next video. Choosing colors that look good together will help ensure that your piece looks cohesive and your color choices look intentional. But it can also be really fun to go crazy and issues every single color in your kit. So either way points to have fun. And just remember that your color choices happen Effect on the viewer. If you're trying to communicate some kind of a feeling, think about the color in the next video. I'm gonna talk about color theory, and that might help you choose which Patrick and tried colors you want to use. So don't worry about it just yet. 4. Set Up Hoop: Now that you've chosen your colors and fabric, it's time to set up your materials. First, open your embroidery hoop and place the fabric on top of the inside who spread it as flat as you can. Then take the outside hoop and place it on top of the fabric, pushing down so it fits around the inner who then cut off the edge of the fabric, leaving roughly a two inch border. Pull out the edges of the fabric until it's as flat and tight as it can get. This step may take a little while. Now choose a color to start with and thread your needle. It helps toe like the end of the threat and flatten it with your fingers. Tie a tight knot in the end of the threat. 5. Choosing Colors: most of color theory is based on the standard color wheel, which divides colors into groups so we can understand the more easily for our purposes. It's mostly just important to be familiar with how the color wheel looks. The color wheel tells us which colors air, warm or cool. The warm colors are red, orange and yellow. These colors tend to feel energetic, happy or possibly angry and bright, and they pop out of the viewer. The cool colors are blue, green and purple. He's appear more calm, maybe melancholy and more subtle. They're less eye catching when choosing your colors for your piece, consider what mood you want to express. The easiest way to make sure your colors look great together is by choosing a color scheme . There are many types of color schemes, but I'll just discuss one. The analogous color scheme. This is the color scheme I usually use when making embroidered work. Analogous colors are next to each other on the color wheel, for example, blue and green or red and orange. This color scheme is comfortable toe look at and makes a nice, harmonious feeling. It's also nice to add a contrast in color to your palate, such as black or white, or a really bright or dark color, so that your design doesn't look too plain. For now, I'm going to set aside a limited palette for myself, making sure I have a good range of light, medium and dark colors, all within one range. I'm also going to make sure these colors look nice with my fabric, which is a neutral white just by laying them next to each other. 6. Seed Stitch: seed stitch is similar to the running stitch, but instead of making all your stitches in one line, you do the randomly so they look like a bunch of seeds scattered on the ground. This stitches really simple but extremely versatile. You can use it to blood colors together or to create a unique texture. 7. Running Stitch: thistles, the absolute, most basic stitch, and it's the foundation for everything else. It's like when you first learned to draw a line on paper, and after that you could learn to write your alphabet or draw anything you want. You push the needle through the fabric, starting from underneath and pull it all the way through. Then push the needle back down through the fabric and pull fear again, leave a small space and pull the needle up again and down again. You keep repeating this, and that's your first line of stitches. Once you can do this, you could basically do anything. But I'll teach you a few more techniques so you can get fancy. 8. Back Stitch: back Stitch is useful for creating an unbroken line. It's like the running stitch, but without the spaces in between stitches, it begins the same way as a running stitch. First, you pull the thread from underneath the fabric, like always to hide the not. Then pull it back through, leave a large space and pull the thread up again. Then pull it back down at the end of the first stitch so it connects the two, then simply repeat this motion until you have as many stitches as you want. You can use this stuff to create lines, circles or really any kind of shape. 9. Cross Stitch: cross stitching is basically when you make one stitch and do another stitch over the top of it to make an X. There's a long tradition of people creating art using only the cross stitch, usually with happy household imagery and kitschy things. I like to use the cross stitch in combination with many other stitch types, to call attention to the connection between my work and traditional stitch work. 10. Lazy Daisy: Lazy Daisy stitch is a bit more complicated. You begin by pulling the thread from underneath, then pull the thread back through the same hole, but not all the way. Leave a small loop hanging out on the front of the fabric, then pierce your needle through the back of the fabric again, pulling the needle through the inside of the loop. This creates the beginning of your daisy chain. Repeat that stitch over and over, and you will have a long chain of connected loops. 11. French Knot: French not is used to create small dots on your bravery artwork. You can use it to cover a large area and make an interesting texture. Or you can use it as a single stitch or in small groupings to highlight a part of your piece way. Pull the thread from beneath and using your hand, wrapped the threat around your needle two or three times, then push the needle back through the same hole or right next to it all the way through. This should create a tiny ball like stitch. It may take a few tries to get this stitch right, so you can always just one thread your needle and pull your stitches out to try again. 12. Finishing Your Hoop: to finish your hope, you'll need Elmer's Glue scissors in a cheap, small paintbrush, like the kind from a watercolor set. First, pull your fabric really tight to make sure there are no loose or baggy spots, especially at the edges. Then trim your fabrics of the part. Hanging off the edge is only one or two centimeters long. Now cut the fabric every centimeter or so in a fairly even spacing all around the edge of the hoop. Use your Elmer's glue and paint brush to glue the fabric onto the inside of the hoop way. Now you're all done. Congratulations. Take a photo of your work and post it to the class project page. I hope you enjoy this class, and please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.