Transcripts
1. Introduction: It's punch needle time. Thank you for joining me. I'm Jenni. But you can call me Jenny. I'm guessing that since you're watching this, you're curious about punch needle. Well, so was I. When I first saw Lisa Congdon's punch needle pillow that she had punched with her own design I thought that it looked so cool. but at the same time, I thought that it's probably a really difficult technique to do, so I did nothing. It took me a while to try it out myself. But once I did, I was hooked. I couldn't believe it was so easy and quick to do. And when I realized that the technique can be mastered super quickly, I thought, 'Oh my gosh!', people need to know how easy this is. I bet there are so many other people out there who think like I did: 'That it looks so cool but I bet it's really difficult', and they do nothing. But it's not hard. It's easy and it's fun. But when I started looking online for instructions, there seemed to be plenty of short tutorials scattered all over the place, but not a single place that would answer all the questions that I had. So I felt that someone needed to fix that. Yeah, moi! So, I decided to gather all that information and then some and give it to you in one neat package. And here we are. For the class project you are free to punch any design you like. But here's the one I'll be punching during this class, and I'll show you how to do it. You will not need any previous knowledge of the technique, and you do not need to be particularly handy or good at knitting or anything like that. This technique can literally be mastered in a swoosh by anyone, and I mean it, anyone. It's suitable for the whole family. I'm excited and ready to do this, so let's go.
2. Inspiration: To tickle your inspiration, I have collected some examples of what kind of projects you could be making real soon. But just so you know that although throw pillows might be tempting, they are quite a big undertaking, and I do not recommend it as the first project. It's best to familiarize familiarize yourself with your tools and the technique with a smaller and more simple project. First, here's an example of a simple design if you want to keep your first project super easy. However, for the official class project, I will be making and guiding you to create this design, a simple yet pretty little rainbow. You'll find both templates on the project and resources page. If you need or want more inspiration, you can check out a Pinterest board that I have put together for you. You'll find a link to it in the project description, and as a bonus, I have made these two templates that you are free to snatch for yourself by using the password: punchNeedle2 on my website. You'll find a link to them once again in the project description. Next up will be an introduction to the tools.
3. Tools Overview: So next up is the tools overview. So first, I'm gonna introduce you to the five essential tools that you'll need for doing punch needle. So you will need some fabric, preferably monks cloth You'll need a punch needle Here, I have two different kinds and a needle threader, which usually comes with the needle. You'll also need a frame, either a square one rectangle one or a round hoop. Then you'll need some yarn. So these are the essentials that you'll be needing. I'll go through them in more detail in a bit and also introduce a few other things that you might find helpful.
4. Frames and Hoops: Okay, let's start with the frames. You can get started with almost any type of frame. Here's a regular frame that you use for framing a piece of art. So I've just flipped this over and attached my fabric onto that. Another cheap option is to buy a canvas for painting and remove the painting canvas like I have done here. So you can still see the staples here, and then attach your punch needle canvas on it instead. So this is a really cheap option, and you can get them in so many different sizes as well as square ones. There are also frames that come with gripper strips on them, which makes the attaching of the fabrics much easier. But of course, they come with a bigger price tag. You could also make one yourself by attaching a gripper strip to a wooden frame. You can see the attachable strip in the picture, but that's another story, and I have no experience in making those. But if you're interested, I'm sure you can find tutorials for that on YouTube. If you're making a round piece, then I recommend that you get one of these hoops. It's called non-slip hoop. This one is by Morgan, and I ordered it from Amazon. The reason why it is ideal for punch needle is that you can, first of all, you can tighten it so that the fabric stays in. But even more importantly, it has a little groove here and on the other hoop there's a little ridge, so those things together prevent your fabric from slipping through between the hoops and becoming loose while you punch. So using one of these makes punching so much more pleasurable than using something that's not designed for punch needle, like these. So these are regular embroidery hoops, and I used these for framing my finished pieces, but they are not very good for punching. I do use them for punching as well, but and you can too. But just bear in mind that although you can tighten it and make it tight, make the fabric tight on the hoop. Once you start punching, this usually does become a little bit loose, and the fabric will start coming off. So you end up reattaching your fabric during your process. But they do look pretty on finished pieces. Here's a different kind of embroidery hoop. This is the one that I used when I did my very first punch needle piece and I can tell you it was a nightmare. This one, because it's plastic and because there's no hoop, I mean, sorry, no ridge or no groove, it kept coming off constantly. Even though I tightened it, it didn't help. So I spend almost as much time reattaching this to my fabric than I did actually punching it. So it was extremely frustrating, and I don't recommend using this kind of embroidery hoop, but at the time, that was the only thing I had. So I did my very first piece with this, but never again. Here I have another one that I had lying around. It's...ah... hoop that I got from my mom, which she has had for decades. She's never done punch needle, but somehow she had this. And although this does have... kind of has a groove and a ridge, it still doesn't work very well. It works better than these because this is kind of rubbery plastic and it provides a little bit of friction, so I have used this a little bit, but it's not ideal. You can't tighten it so the fabric does come loose a bit. But if you do have something already at home, I recommend starting with that so that you don't have to spend so much money. But if you then want to move onto tools that really served a purpose really well, I do recommend getting a no-slip hoop like this one. If you're making a round piece, obviously for a square one you will need to get a frame. So there. Next we'll move on to fabrics.
5. Fabrics: Okay, and next up is fabric. Here on the left I have two different Aida fabrics, which I don't recommend using. They can be used, but they're not ideal. This one is very stiff and, heavily starched. This is also stiff, but not as bad. This one, actually this was the one that I used for my very first punch needle piece, together with that horrible hope that I told you about. And that was a nightmare because it's so starched, it is harder to get it tight on your hoop, and it's also harder to penetrate with the punch needle. So I ended up getting really sore shoulders and hands from from trying to punch it. So, it's not ideal but can be done. Here's another fabric. This is pure cotton and works kind of nicely. It has relatively big holes, so you can see where you're punching, but it's not your number one choice. This one, however, is my number one choice. It's monks cloth. Kind of tightly vowen. This is more loose, as you can see, the holes are bigger and this one works okay as well. If you're ordering online, this particular one can be found at least on Amazon. So if you're ordering online, make sure you read the recommendations and see if people have used it for punch needle, and if they think that it works well because not all monk's cloth is as suited to punch needle as others. So do look into that before you order. I also have burlap, which can be used. I've used this only for one piece, and it worked fine. As long as you have the right size needle and right kind of yarn, it can be used, but it's a little bit messy. You can see that the bits of the fabric come off and you end up having it all over your your pants, or sofa, or wherever you're using it. But it does have, ah... lovely crafty look to it. Alright, that's it for fabrics.
6. Yarn: Alright next onto the yarns. Those of you who know me a little bit know that I'm crazy about art supplies and I think it's fair to say that the same goes for yarns. I have gone totally overboard and I have hoarded a ton of different kinds of yarn. So, I'll have plenty of material to work with for years to come. So, here I have some woollen yarns which look a little bit different, but they're actually the same weight. They are both 50 grams per 70 meters, which is the same as 1.8 ounces per 77 yards. So, although they are the same in weight, they don't work just as well. So you do need to pay attention to also the texture of the yarn, not just the weight. So this one, as you can see it's much more rough, so it provides more friction when you're punching it into the fabric and that's why this one didn't work at all with any of my fabrics. It kept coming off the fabric. It didn't stay in the loops. So do keep that in mind. So I recommend to go with a smoother yarn like these. These two are a little bit lighter in weight. This one is acrylic, and this is also wool. So, for example, this Schachenmayr. Not sure if that's how you pronounce it, but that's how I said it. This one is much lighter. It's 50 grams per 133 meters, which equals 1.75 ounces per 146 yards. So, this one has been very nice to work with, with this monks cloth as well as this one. So these two, are my favorites at the moment and they're very nice to work with. I have also worked with cotton, and as you can see, this is much lighter in weight than any of these other ones and this requires a much thinner needle. So, for example, this one that I use with these it's way too big. You can see that the hole is much bigger than the yarn. So then you just need to work with a small needle, as well. So if you're just starting out and you don't know what kind of yarn to get, I recommend to start with a medium weight yarn, something like 50 grams per 130 meters or 1.75 ounces per 146 yards. Something along those lines and make sure it's relatively smooth. Not too rough. So you'll have... Ah.. nicer start. And next I'll go through the needles. Oh more thing. If you're gonna be creating something that needs to be ironed in the end, for example a pillow or a pencil case, and you need to iron some interfacing on it to make the loops stay in place. Then you have to avoid acrylic yarns, and you have to stick with woollen or cotton ones because the acrylic yarns will melt when you iron them, so do keep that in mind.
7. Needles and Threading Them: Okay, so let's talk needles. Here I have two different kinds of punch needles. There are many more on offer, but these are the ones I have. The main difference between the two is that with this one, you cannot change the size off the needle. It's always the same. However, you can buy this same needle from stores in a smaller size. So this one you can actually change between the three different sizes. Another difference is that with the larger one it comes with pre-settings. You can choose to have a really long needle or kind of short one. And what that means is that your loops that are formed when you're punching will be about half the size of the length of your needle. So this needle would produce loops that are about that tall, like that and with this one they would be about that tall. With this one you can also make the length off the needle different. However, there are no markings, which is...which is the only down side with this one. I think. So, it is a good practice to measure it and then write it down. Like, for example, I'm using one inch for this piece, for example. This was shorter, but just an example. So then, if it does accidentally come loose, then it's easy to just measure it again and make sure that you continue with the same length of the needle. Or if you're doing a different piece with the same needle in between and then get back to an older piece that you haven't finished, you can just check how long your needle was and get going without problems. This is my personal favorite because it's it fits nicely in my hand, but that really is a matter of preference. Other people like it to be much bigger, and have something more to hold onto, so that really depends. If you have a possibility to go to a craft store and try out different ones, that would be ideal. Otherwise you will just have to trust your gut and order online. That's what I did actually, first I ordered these both online. So this one, if you're interested in buying this one it's called Lavor. Lavor and... it costs about...less than $20, less than 20 euros, and it came with the threader and instruction booklet. Later on, I bought another one for my mother, which didn't come with the threader nor the booklet, and that was almost half the price. So, make sure that you check what's included in the package. This one is by Rico Design. I cannot remember the price for, but easily...you can google it easily. That also can be found on Amazon. Next, let's go through how to thread the needle. With the tall one you might have to do it in two phases, depending on what kind of needle threader you have. First, my needle threader was so short it only came out of the needle a tiny bit. So it was hard to thread. So, I had to do it in two steps. So, basically, I just slid the threader through the needle. Then I put the yarn through the threader like that. Don't pull too much of it through. A little bit like that will do. It's easier then to pull it through the needle, especially with the smaller needles. Then in the second phase, you put your hand on the bevel, the larger opening of the needle, and push the threader through. Once again you put your yarn through your threader and you pull it through the little hole like that. And there you have it. However, I use a quicker method because my threader is long enough to do it in one step. So I cover the bevel with my finger and I push the threader through the tiny little hole all the way through the needle. The rest is the same. You put the yarn through, you pull gently until it has come all the way through and Voilà ! Then you leave a little bit out, so, that when you start punching, you have, ah..- short piece that you then finish off later on. But you don't need to leave a lot of yarn out. It's enough to have a short piece. So that's it. That's so simple and this is actually the hardest part of punch needling. The rest is easy breezy. So yeah, can't wait to show you how to punch next.
8. Punching: Alright, so, finally we get to punching. To get started make sure you have threaded your needle and you have put your fabric on your frame or your hoop and that you have enough loose yarn out of the skein so that you can get started. So what do you need to know about getting started is that the bevel, the larger hole in your needle, is always facing the direction that you're going. So if you're punching upwards, the bevel is facing away from you. If you're punching downwards, the bevel is facing you. This is to avoid punching into the yarn so that, you know, kind of to have ah... clear road ahead. So you punched the first hole, and then most people like to pull the yarn to this side, which will be the loopy side in the end. I tend not to do this. I just trim it often on the flat stitch side. But it does help you in a way that your first loop won't get so easily undone. But then again, if you have a whole bunch of loops like here, if one loop come comes undone, it doesn't really matter, but it's a good practice to do, to pull it to this side. So in the end, you then trim it to match the height of your your loops. Imagine that your horizontal line is your fabric. When you punch your needle all the way into it, your blue yarn will penetrate the fabric. And when you pull back your needle gently, a little loop of pull yarn is left behind. Once your needle is out of the fabric, you keep it close to the surface and slide it a little bit forward and punch again. Then you just keep repeating that. Because the fabric is tight and you have the right combination of yarn, fabric and needle, your fabric will hug the yarn and keep it in place. Okay, so let me demonstrate what I mean. So you punch your fabric, you pull out your needle very gently. You do your first flat stitch, you punch again, you pull it out very gently. You do another one, and your loops will start forming on the reverse side and on the front side, you'll get your flat stitches. So, when you pull the needle out, don't lift it in the air. Instead, just pull it out of the fabric gently and move it forward and create your stitch. If, however, you accidentally pull your needle too high up in the air, you will probably undo one of your loops. If this happens, don't worry. Just pull at the end of your yarn, ah... end of your needle, so, that all the yarn comes through and there's no loose yarn left between your needle and your fabric. And then you continue. So, it's not a disaster but it's just something you need to keep in mind not to pull your needle in the air only just barely out of the fabric and Voilà ! It's that easy. You also want to keep your stitches consistent so that the length of your stitch is pretty much the same. If you are doing a design where you're using the loopy side as the side that you're gonna display, you don't have to be as exact. But if you're doing a design where you're displaying this site with the flat stitches, then you want to be more careful. You might even wanna count the holes and punch in every second hole of the fabric. Like, if you, if I would punch here and then maybe count 1, 2, 3 holes, another punch, 1, 2, 3 hole three, another punch. but since I'm doing a loopy version, I'm not worried about being exact. Another thing you need to pay attention to is when you turn, that's when...once you are inside the fabric, you turn your needle so that the bevel is once again facing the direction that you're gonna go. If you don't know in what direction your needle is inside you can always check on this side, so that's OK, I need to turn it this way. It's a not total disaster if you make a mistake, but it is just to prevent you from punching into the yarn like I said before. Also, it's a good practice to first do the outlines of your section that you're working on. I am not doing a design here. I'm merely demonstrating how you punch. But let's say I was doing this piece. So, I would first want to punch the outline, for example, of this white section. So I'd punch here. Then I would start working inwards in a circular motion like that and eventually I would get to the end having punched the whole white area. Then I would change the color. Ah actually no, I wouldn't. I would punch the other white area and do the outlines and then work inwards in a circular motion, Then I would change color and do another section with a different color. Also, I recommend that you do a little test run before you start your actual piece that you're working on so, that you are sure that your fabric and your yarn and your needle work well together. If you have bought a ready-made punch needle kit, you probably don't have to worry about that, because they would have made sure that they all work well together. Okay, so here you see how I work it so that all all the stitches are nicely next to each other, so, that the end result is also nice and dense like that. Once you're done, again, you cut off the yarn on the loopy side. Then in the end, you trim them to match the height of your loops, like that. So the ends will disappear within, like between the loops. And here you have, a clean and flat stitch.
9. Stitches: Next up are stitches. One thing that many people are wondering about is how many stitches can you make with a punch needle. The answer is simple: one. So, although these stitches look very different from one another, they're actually made with exactly the same kind of stitch. The loops are the opposite side of the flat stitches, which are also known as the satin stitches. So, here you can give your work a different look by varying how you do the stitch but this stitch is still the same. So, here in the bottom one, which looks a little bit like it's machine made, I have kept the length of the stitch and the placement of the stitch exactly the same. So, I've gone...stitched all the way here and then on my way back, I'm punching exactly in the same spot as I have done on the first line, and I'm keeping the stitch length exactly the same. In the second one, I have kept the length of the stitch exactly the same, but I have varied the placement. So once I reach here, I don't punch next to the previous hole. Instead, I punch in the middle of the previous stitch. Therefore, it creates this masonry style layout. Here I have kept the same placement, but I have varied the length of the stitch. So, I have created a short one, long one, short one, long one. And then on my way back I have done exactly the same in the same order. Long one, short one, long one, short one, and placed them exactly in the same spot as on the previous line. And all three give you a different look. Same goes for the loops. You can get different looks by using different yarn. If you have a thicker yarn, even the same size loops will look different. Here I have short loops, medium ones and long ones. And the way I get them to look different is that for the short ones I have used a short needle and for the long ones my needle has been longer. So, very simple. If I want to take it further, I could cut these loops and I would get yet another look for the surface of the design. So, there are things you can do to give variation to your design. But essentially there is just one stitch that you're using and if you ever come across a different one, please, let me know.
10. My Favourite Tools: Here's a glimpse to the tools that are my favorite at the moment.
11. Q&A: It's Q and A time. When I first started to learn punch needle, I had so many questions and no single place to find the answers from. I wondered: Why don't my stitches stay in? How long does it take to punch one project? How much yarn do I need? The list went on. So, to save you the trouble, I have tried to gather all the big questions and answer them here for you. So here goes. So, let's start with one of the biggest questions I had in the beginning. How long does it take to actually complete something? Like, can I create this in one evening? Well, the answer is yes. That's the beauty of punch needle is that it is pretty fast to do. Unlike knitting or crochet, which takes me forever to complete something. With punch needle you can make something in just one night. So, for example, this piece that we're gonna be creating in the class project, this would take me less than an hour to punch. Obviously, it will take a little bit longer for a beginner because you're still figuring things out. You're making mistakes, you're trying to figure out what needle, yarn and fabric go together and so on. But in general, it's really fast, and obviously you need to reserve a little bit of time also to drawing your design and transferring it onto your fabric. So, overall this would take more than an hour, but definitely a piece that can be done in one evening. So, that's one of the things that got me super excited about punch needle work is that it's just so quick to complete. Okay, another thing that I was wondering about is: How big should I make my loops? You might be able to check this from your instructions. They might tell you what size needle to use but often times you have to figure it out for yourself. So, I have made this little example for you guys, where I have used all the four different settings that come with the Rico Design punch needle. So, the shortest ones are created with the shortest setting: setting D. The second one is done with setting C this one. The second longest ones are done with setting B then the longest loops are done with setting A. So, you can see that the needle's pretty long On the other side, the stitches look pretty much the same. I have used the same stitch length. So, let me show you. This is now the longest setting. So, let me show you how that works. I'll start another row, I'll do a couple more so, as you can see it's creating pretty long loops. And this could be really nice, for example, for a pillow or a piece that you could hang on the wall. So, this is really a matter of preference as well. Obviously, if you're doing something that you're gonna be using, you might want...like a pencil case or a piece that you're gonna attach to a garment, for example like pockets or something that you might want to keep your stitches pretty short because there's less risk of getting them caught in things, because this loop would very easily get caught in your nails or zippers and stuff like that. So, keep that in mind. One question, that at least I had when I was first starting out is: Can you use your scrap materials? Like here, for example, I have one meter of yarn. So that's about 40 inches of yarn. And the answer is absolutely yes, You can use all your scrap leftover yarns as long as they are not too thick and they work well with the other yarns that you're using for the same piece. And then related to that. How much can I produce with certain amount of yarn? Like if I have one meter / forty inches. How much will that result in, like what kind of end result will I get with it? So with this yarn, I was able to punch a little petal for a flower, for example. This is also done with one meter, 40 inches of yarn, and so is this. This is 17 centimeters, which equals about 6.7 inches. So, this amount of yarn results in this. Obviously it varies a little bit, depending on how long your loops will be. So, if you're making really long loops, obviously it will be a shorter section that you'll be able to do or a smaller part of the petal. So, here I was using my four centimeter needle, which is about 1.6 inches. So, if I was using a shorter needle, I would have gone even longer. Okay. So, the number one question is probably: Why do my loops become undone? That is probably the question that causes the most bafflement and anger when you're punch needling, like why on earth don't the loops stay in and what...why are the stitches becoming undone? Well, there are a number of reasons why this might be happening. You might be leaning on the yarn. So, that when you're punching, eventually, once you've punched long enough, it will stop running freely because you're leaning your hand on it or you're holding it in your hand without realizing it. Like I might have it in my hand here and then I'm punching away and all of a sudden it stops running freely. Same might happen if you have accidentally dropped your skein on the floor. So, you might be stepping on it without realizing it. So, make sure that, you're not doing that. That's probably the most common reason. Another one is that there might be a knot in your yarn. It could well be that the knot has already entered the needle because the hole here is bigger than in the other end. So it might be that it got in the needle, but it can't come out. So that's easily tested by just trying to pull it and see if it doesn't work then you got a knot inside and you need to sort that out. Also, there might be a knot inside the skein. So, that it's not coming out freely from there. That also can be just tested by pulling, pulling the yarn and seeing if it comes out nice and easy. Also, one reason might be that your yarn is too big or too thick for your needle. So, if it doesn't run nicely through the needle, then that might be the reason that it's just too thick for the needle you're using. So, try a bigger needle size or thinner yarn. It could also be a combination of your fabric, your needle and your yarn together. So, by changing one of those elements, your loops might start staying in. So, do try switching the components and see if that solves the problem. So, those are the main things that I can think of that might cause you to have you loops becoming undone. I hope these explanations help you and you will have less of those frustrating situations So, how much yarn do you need? Well, that depends on several things. First of all, the thicker your yarn, the less of it you will need, depends on your design. If you have a design that, for example, has just something small in the middle. And then the edges of your design is just plain fabric like this, that you're not punching from one side to the other. So, then you'll obviously need less yarn. Also, if you're doing really big loops, you'll need more yarn, than if you're doing short ones like these that just barely come out of the fabric. So, it varies a lot, for example, for this piece, which was my very first piece that I ever did with this horrible stiff Aida fabric and that ridiculous blue hoop that I told you about. So this one, which is about 20 centimeters in size, that equals eight inches. So, this one took about 100 meters, which equals about 109 yards of yarn. And that basically is about one skein of yarn if it's medium weight. So, it really depends on many things. But I advise you to have a look at the instructions if you have some. They should tell you how much yarn you will need. If you don't have instructions, you can always look at instructions for a similar piece that you're doing. Like may be another piece that has the same size, even if the design's different and then you can guess from there. Ideally, you can go back to the store and buy more of the yarn you've needed. What if you make a mistake? Is it hard to undo the stitches? Absolutely not. It is actually very satisfying to undo punch needle stitches. So, to just get the ending or the beginning out, and then you just pull. This is really nice to do. Here, you can see that I have punched into the yarn, probably on my way down when I was punching next to the first line. So not to worry. I can just start undoing in a different section and then the whole thing will come off. You can fix the fabric to get rid of the holes that you have punched and there. Then you're ready to start over again or you could be just undoing a little short section and then continue without even taking the yarn of your needle. So easy peasy. I hope these explanations and answers help you figure out what the problem might be if this is happening to you. So happy punching and... Let's move on.
12. Pro Tip: If you really get into this you might discover that your hands, wrists and shoulders might become sore from all the punching. One way to ease that is to use a special punch needle hoop that has a build-in lap stand like this. Google and Amazon will be your best friends if you want one of these. At least, Morgan produces them. For a cheaper option, this Ikea laptop support is what I have recently started using to help me have a little bit better posture while punching. I know it's not perfect, but it has definitely helped me work in a more ergonomic position. And since Ikea can be found almost all over the world, many people will be able to access these.
13. Class Project Introduction: Yes, it's finally time to start the project. Remember that you can find the brief written instructions on the project and resources page. That's where you'll also find the template for the class project The Little Rainbow. For the bonus templates, you'll find a link in the class description, and the password can be found in the Inspiration video. Next, I'll go through all the steps with you from setting everything up to punching the actual design and finally to finishing it. I hope, you post your process and your final project in Skillshare so, that others can be inspired by what you have created. You can also post them on Instagram and tag them with #skillsharewithjeah jeah with a J and they might end up in my Instagram stories, but now, let's go.
14. Templates: To get started with the class project, you first need to either print the template out or draw it. I will start by saying a few words about using the templates and then in the next lesson, walking through the drawing process. You'll find the rainbow template on the projects and resources page. That's where you also find even more simple Color Blocks template. If you want to start with something super simple. Printing the template out will be the simplest and quickest way to get started. I recommend watching the drawing lesson, though, as I've included some important information that you might find useful. Especially if you do end up drawing a design or two by hand, once you get really hooked into punch needle, like I have. Next, I'll show you how to draw your design in case you can't access a printer or just prefer drawing. I will also tell you why you need to use the mirror image of your design if its direction dependent, like a letter.
15. Drawing the Design: Let's draw. I'm going to start by grabbing some grid paper and placing my hoop onto the paper. Then I will draw the shape of the hoop here. So, I know where... how much room I have to draw on. Yes, I know this is not an ideal hoop for doing punch needle but this is the one that I'm gonna be using for this rainbow design. I know for a fact that it's probably going to come off when I start punching but since it is a small design, I'm willing to take that risk. Here, you'll see me drawing the rainbow in random order, as I have already sketched it very lightly onto the page. But I do recommend drawing it in certain order. So, in case, you're drawing your own rainbow, I recommend taking a look at the template anyway. To make your drawing process quicker. As you can see, I have added short instructions on the template about drawing it, the main point being that it's easiest to start with the smallest arch and work outwards from there. So, once you're somewhat happy with your design, you can draw on top of it with a pen, so, that you can then see the lines a little bit better when you start transferring it onto the fabric. Don't worry about making your design absolutely perfect. Since it's transferred to the fabric, you won't be able to make it extremely detailed anyway. The more simple your design, the better it is in the beginning especially, you don't want to make it too complicated. So, once you punch, it doesn't matter if your line is dead straight or a little bit wonky. the loops will be very forgiving once you punch them in. So... no stress. Okay, here we go. So, here's my design. Next, I'm gonna transfer it onto the fabric. There's one extra step that you need to take if your design is direction-dependent. What I mean by that is that if you are punching a design that has a letter or some text on it you need to draw the mirror image on your design. The reason you need to do this is if you transfer this onto fabric and you punch it. The loops will be formed on the backside, and once you're done, the backside is the one that you're displaying. The loops would be on this side. So, you would realize that your letter's wrong way around. So, to do that, all you need to do is place your design on a window. You can already see it through here, but you'll see it even better if you put it on a window and then just transfer your design to the other side. And then you use that side, your mirror image side, to transfer the design onto your fabric.
16. Transferring the Design: Okay. I have decided to use monks cloth for this design. So, I need to measure the right amount. It will be a good idea to iron this before I get going. So, I want to cut a piece so that I have about an inch or so maybe four centimeters on each side. So, there's enough fabric to do the final touches, like maybe attach the sides to a hoop or sow them if I put it on a wall without a frame. So yes, I'll leave a little bit extra on the sides like that, and then I'll just cut it here. Now that the fabric is cut, I will add some masking tape to the sides...to the edges to stop it from fraying more. Monks cloth frays really easily, as you can see it starting to fray like that. Alternatively, I could just do a little...sow a little zigzag but this is a quicker method. So, I'm doing this, but it's up to you. Or then you just cut even a little bit more. Then you have room for the fraying and then you can cut that part off once you're done with your project. But this is what I usually do. It's quick and easy. You could do it on both sides, but I have noticed that doing it on just one side usually is enough. To transfer my design onto the fabric, I have decided to use a window. I could be doing this also with a light pad, but since it's pretty light outside the window will do. It'll be a quicker method. I don't need to dig out my light pad. So, make sure that your design is approximately in the middle of your fabric so that there's enough room on all sides. So, once you attach it onto the frame that you don't realize, Uh oh! I drew it in a wrong spot. I recommend using a pencil. That way you might be able to fix it if it doesn't go perfectly. It is a little bit hard to erase from fabric, but if you draw with the pen, then absolutely nothing can be erased. And if you need to, you can then in the end, make the lines more visible by going over the lines with a pen. But this is not an exact science. Okay, that'll do.
17. Attaching the Fabric: For my project, I'll be using a round embroidery hoop. And yes, I know it's not ideal, as it will probably come off the fabric a few times, but it is the perfect size and since the project is small and quick, I'm gonna take my chances. If you have a small non-slip hoop, I recommend to use that or a small square frame will also work fine. So, you start by placing your smaller hoop under the fabric and the larger hoop on top of the fabric. Try to get your design right in the middle of your frame. Once you're happy with it, you tighten the screw a little bit. Then you pull the fabric really tight and lastly, you tighten the screw as tight as it can go. Maybe with the help of a screwdriver. And remember, when you pull the fabric, be careful that you don't pull, pull it off the hoop which happens very easily. Then you just start all over again. Once you're happy with your design, you can do the bounce the coin test to see that it's tight enough and that's it. Oh, before we move on, I want to show you two more things. You might want to tape the sides of your fabric to prevent it from fraying. Your other option is to leave about two inches or 4-5 centimeters of fabric around all the edges, so, that you can cut the frayed bits off at the end. Leaving a bit of extra fabric around the edges also gives you the possibility to sew the sides afterwards or fold them neatly behind your project before displaying it. Next, I'm going to show you how to attach your fabric onto a square or rectangular frame. I'll be using studs as they are easier to detach once your project is done. You could be using staples as well but those are pretty hard to detach in the end, when you're done with punching and let me demonstrate why that's important that you have that option to detach your fabric. So, here we have one project, which is in the punching mode, so to say. So, that if you can see the difference, let me show you that finished side. So, this is the loopy side that I wanna display in the end, and when I punch it, my fabric is placed in the frame so that the loops will be kind of at the bottom, of the frame, if you will. And here, once I'm finished with the project, I have turned it around and re-attached it to the frame so that the loopy side is actually levelled with the top part of the frame. Can you see the difference? So, when I'm punching, the flat stitch side is levelled with the top part of the frame. And when I'm done with it, the flat stitches are at the bottom of the frame, if you will. So, you are very likely to detach your frame from your fabric once you're done. So, that's why I recommend using studs. Okay. So, I'm attaching the fabric to the flat side of my frame. Not here, because it's much easier. For demonstration purposes, I'm using a little piece of AIda cloth which is not very good for punching. But this is just to demonstrate how I do this. So, I start by attaching two corners. I try to make it tight. Whenever I put a stud in, I try to make it tight. You will want to use a soft frame, as soft as possible. Pine is one of the softest trees. So if you can find pine or even spruce frames, that's great. It makes it easier to penetrate the wood. Okay. So, now I'm done with the first side. Next, I'm gonna work on the opposite side and every time I put a stud in I try to make the fabric as tight as possible. Now, you want to be really careful with your last side because that's the last chance to make the fabric really tight. The tighter your fabric, the more fun punching will be because the needle will penetrate the fabric really easily. So, you can test if your fabric is tight enough. You're supposed to be able to bounce things off it. Yeah, it's pretty good. But if you're not happy with it There is one thing that you can do. I'm gonna demonstrate how to do that with the larger frame. Okay, so here's one more thing you can do if you're not happy with how tight your fabric is on your wooden frame. So, just like with regular paint canvases, you can use these wedges to make your frame a little bit larger, which then at the same time stretches your fabric tighter on the frame. So, as I'm using a canvas, painting canvas that I've just detached the canvas from, I also have these wedges that came with it. So, all I need to do is put them in. Just the same as I would if I was doing this to a painting canvas. So, as you can see, there are two holes in each corner and you push the wedge into the hole like that and then you just show them a little bit of hammer and this stretches the canvas a little bit tighter to your... ...thing So, a very simple trick. This should help at least a little bit and Ta dah! Your canvas is stretched.
18. About Choosing Colors: I'm not going to tell you what colours to pick, as it's a matter of preference. Instead, I'll give you a tip. Here are the colours I have chosen. To make sure the colours look good together, I have done a little test. To be honest, I have never done this before, but I have paid the price for it. As it happens, sometimes colours look nice together when they're on the table, but end up looking less good once they're punched into a design. And this has happened to me a few times. So to avoid time-consuming mistakes, you can test how the colours look together in a design by punching a little test piece. It's not an idiot-proof method, as the size of the area that you punch with any given colour will also affect how it looks together with the colours next to it. But, at least, you can minimize the likelihood that you need to undo a part of your design because the colours just don't work and another benefit of the test piece is that you know whether or not your yarn, fabric and needle will work well together. So, I do recommend you give it a try.
19. Punching Part 1: Arches: Yay! It's finally time to start punching. So, make sure you got all your tools ready. Your needle, your hoop with your design on, a threader and... then get enough loose yarn from your skein, so, that it can run freely and it'll be nicer to work. I will also have my main ingredient, some coffee, to keep me going and then I'm ready to start. So, I'm gonna start by threading my needle. As you probably remember, I'll block the bevel with my finger and insert the threader from the tiny hole on the top of the needle. Then I'll insert the yarn through the threader and gently pull it through the needle like that and I'm ready to go. I'm gonna do the outer arch first and I'm gonna go it with this peach...peachy rose colour and then I'm gonna use the mint for the middle one and the blue one for the smallest arch. So, I'm gonna start by facing the larger hole of the needle away from myself because I'm gonna be punching in this direction and I'm going to do the outlines first and then work inwards from there. So, here we go. I am turning my hoop as I go. I could be also just keeping it still and turn the needle. But since my hoop is so small, I find it easier just to turn the hoop around a little bit. So, that I can keep my needle in the same position all the time. Oh! One thing that I did forget to do is measure how tall my needle is. I'm gonna measure mine now, so, mine is four centimetres. So, that is 1.5 inches approximately. Pro tip! If you use masking tape to prevent your fabric from fraying, write your needle length or setting on that and you'll never lose your note. It's a little bit hard to punch when I'm working on this side and it's so close to the table. So, I keep hitting the needle on the table. So, I might wanna turn it a little bit to avoid doing that. I'm also noticing that my design is not...the first arch is not perfectly the same width throughout. So, it's much thinner here than here. That's not a problem. I can just do a little bit more here or fix it on this side once I have finished it. So, punch needle is very forgiving in that way, that you can just have a look how it looks and then adjust it as needed. This is me punching in real-time. Now, I'm gonna try to do it so, that I'm punching towards myself. because last time I noticed that I kept hitting the table since I'm holding it, I'm right handed and holding the hoop, so that the right side is leaning on the table. So, I think this way I will avoid hitting the table all the time, while on this side of the design Ok, get some more loose yarn. This time I'm not pulling from inside the skein because I accidentally started pulling it from outside. Usually, I try to get it from inside the skein. So, that way, the skein doesn't rotate all over the place when I pull more yarn and it's less likely to fall on the floor. I just love the sound of the needle penetrating the fabric and doing this crunchy sound. Remember that the large bevel is always facing in the direction where you're punching This way you will avoid punching into the yarn as you go. Okay. So, now I'm noticing that my flat stitches are covering the whole area that I have here, but here it's not. So, instead of forcing it and punching between here, I will just cut the yarn and continue from here. If I punch in between here, I will probably make it too crowded and it will show on the loopy side. So, now it looks nice and even so, I don't want to ruin that. So, instead, like I said it's thicker here than it's here. I'm gonna fix that by doing a little line of stitches on the outer edge here later. So, for now, I'm gonna cut my yarn here like that, and then I can either fix it immediately here or then leave it until the end and then cut all the loose ends in the end and the same goes for this Many people prefer to bring the loose end here when you start... but I sometimes don't bother and just leave it on this side. This might actually be fine if I leave this unstitched, but you can check that, check that from this side and see if it looks like... you can see the fabric through. I think it's actually dense enough, so, I'm not gonna complete that. And now as you can see, my design is going all the way to the edges. So, it's impossible for me to punch more onto the outer edge because it's already touching the side of the loop... the hoop. Sorry. So, I'm gonna do that once I've finished the rest of it and then just move the design a little bit or put it in a larger hoop to fix that bit. So, that means that I need to change the colour of the yarn. Where's my threader gone? Here it is and we're ready to go again. I will leave a little gap in between where I will punch a little bit of white. I'm gonna pull my yarn to this side and then get going. I try to make sure that I do leave that gap. That it doesn't get too crowded and there will be enough room to do one line of white stitches. Okay, this wasn't working...very well. What's happening here? The yarn is becoming messy. I think there's a little... Yeah, there's something in the yarn here. Some kind of...it feels like it's There's a little bit of glue or something in there. So, I'm just gonna cut that loose and start over again and I'm gonna pull the last loop, that I made, to this side so, that I can finish it off nicely. And where are you loop? You could've just cut the whole thing on this side. The worst thing that would happen is that you would lose one loop on this side later on if the end of the yarn would run through. So, it really is no big deal if you do that. So, there I immediately noticed that the yarn wasn't flowing freely that something was up but I couldn't see a knot there. And that was because there wasn't a knot. But there was something in the yarn that had ended up there in the factory where they made it. It felt like it was some kind of plasticky gluey bit that had dried up in the yarn which prevented it from flowing freely as it wasn't smooth. Oh! See, that's where it happened. My needle accidentally went in. So, this is the reason why I want you to measure your needle before you start punching. Because now it would be impossible for me to know exactly what length my needle was and if I hadn't measured, I would just have to try it out and see when do I start getting the same-length loops on the other side? So instead, I can just measure. It's almost exactly four centimetres. I have already learned to kind of estimate. Yeah, it's four centimetres and now make sure that it's tight. Okay, here we go. So, that was a great thing to happen, so you could actually see...how it can go. But of course, that's not a problem if you're using a needle that has fixed settings like this, this one doesn't slide shouldn't at least slide inside the handle, no matter how hard you punch or if you have knots in your yarn. Okay, time for the last arch with the blue. So far, the design has taken me about half an hour to punch. So, all these three arches so far. And that actually includes a few minutes for pondering and wondering how I'm gonna go about it. So, less than half an hour as you can see... Oh, I don't know if you actually can see but I can tell you that because I have done the outlines first now it gets easier to...and faster to punch inside the outlines. for example, if I was watching TV now, I wouldn't really have to pay that much attention to where I'm punching because I just follow the previous line and I can't go too wrong. So, it definitely is a good practice to do your outlines first. Oh, it happened again. Next, I will hop onto the punching part 2 lesson and continue from where I left off here.
20. Punching Part 2: Cleaning up & Finishing: Okay, as you can see, it's not perfect from this side. But that doesn't matter, because this is the side I'm gonna be using for displaying. I'm gonna finish by cutting all the loose ends. Just match them with the height of your loops. There's one. And now, before I punch the white between the arches, I want to go through these areas where the colours meet. Because as you can see, I have some of the stitches...are punched into each other. So not all the peachy colour is on this side. Some of it might have ended up in between the mint colour. For example, here, I hope you can see it. I have punched it so that they're a little bit intertwined here. Oh, that's tricky. So, I'm trying to separate them so, that I won't punch even more into the yarns when I do the white. It doesn't matter if you do it. It's just...it just looks neater if all the colours are on their own side or in the section where you were punching them and they're not mixing here. But that's a matter of preference. You don't have to do this bit if you don't mind the mints...ah mind the colors mixing with each other. And when you do this, just be careful not to pull the yarn too heavily, because you will also pull the loop out. It's not a disaster if that happens, but you don't want to be pulling a lot of the loops out. Then it will start affecting the look of your project, so, be careful when you do it. That's all I'm saying, Oh, hi! I thought I'd drop in to say hi, as it's probably really boring to look at my hands all the time. Let's see, here's...here's a good example. I hope you can see it. I...the peachy colour is completely going over the mint loop so, I'm gently trying to pull the mint back through like that. So, that it's no longer intertwined with the peach loop. Same here. I'm pulling the mint out from the peach loop here's one as well the peach loop is completely gone under the mint loops here. So, one out, then there's another one. Which way? I think three mint loops were intertwined with just this one peach loop. Wow, I think that was a record. So, this can take a little bit of time if you decide to do this. So, if you wanna finish something fast, you might just want to skip this whole step because you can. I'm just a little bit of a perfectionist, as some of you might know. So, I cannot leave it at that. I just have to fix it. Okay. So, now the arches are ready and cleaned up, and now...now that I'm looking at it I'm noticing that I'm not a big fan of the colours after all. Although I did try them out here and I thought they look fine together. But now I can see that this is so much darker than these two that it's kind of bothering me a bit. But yeah, that's what happens and that's why it's important to test your colours. It's not too bad, but let's see if it helps at all if I add the whites in between the arches. Here's an earlier piece where the colours are more balanced in my opinion. It could've helped if I had placed my darkest colour in the middle with my class project but it's too late now and I'm fine with it. Another thing I could do is to... I could add a darker shade or any shade that would balance them off to the rest of the design. But I'm not sure I want to do that. So, we'll see. I'll do the arches first. Yeah, I like that. I like how that kind of separates the arches from each other. One of my favourite things about punch needle is that you don't have to tie a knot to the loose ends of the yarn. That's something that really bothers me when you're doing other type of sewing or knitting or crochet. I hate finishing off the endings of the yarns. So, I love it that you don't have to do it with punch needle. There, it's that quick. I love it. Okay, and then the other one. Okay, what's happening? Ah, it's not running freely. There's something in there. I'm pullingit. It's not coming out. So, I'm guessing that there's a knot. Yeah, there's something. Yep, a knot. That's an easy fix. I just thread the needle again and off I go. That's the beauty of punch needle. Another thing that's super easy. You can just cut your yarn and start going again real quick, like it's...I love it. So simple. So, the minute you notice that your yarn's not coming through nicely, you can check that is there a knot, are you leaning on your yarn, standing on your yarn? And most likely, you'll figure it out pretty quickly why the yarn is not running smoothly? Alright. Okay, I can see that... Yeah, that was where my knots...There was a knot and apparently, that pulled out the loops from this side. So, I need to redo those. You can see that there's a gap in the white loops here. So, I'll redo those. Yeah, that section didn't come through very nicely, but I'm thinking that I actually wanna have two sets of loops all the way. So, I'm just gonna punch all the way till the end and then redo the beginning. So, that I have two lines of white loops So, that you can distinguish them a little bit better. So, now I have done two rows of white stitches between the different colours and I think that looks better. It even helps a little bit with the dark blue versus the light pastel...other colours. So, I'm happy with that. Next up, I will take the loop off and reattach it. So, that I can fix these sides to make them a little bit more even. Okay, so now I have fixed the sides of the largest arch. As you can see now, they are the same width here as they are up here. So, what I did was I just added a row of extra stitches from here to here on this side and same here from from the bottom all the way here and now the arch looks much better. So, it's a very easy fix if you realize that some shape is not as you planned. You can just add stitches to it at a later stage. So, there. I also detached the previous hoop. I was using this size hoop when I was punching but I realized that's too small. I made this arch a tiny bit larger than this one. I mean, this rainbow a bit larger than this one. So, I put it on a larger hoop for framing. So, this is the...actually going to be the frame for the final piece.
21. Framing the Project: At the end of the previous lesson, you might have seen that I had already attached my design to a new and final frame. But before I get into showing you how to frame your design, I want to show you a project where I have used fusible interfacing. This here is a throw pillow that I'm making and I have ironed the fusible interfacing on the reverse side of the design to make sure that none of the loops will come off when the pillow will be in use. For pieces that you hang on the wall, you won't need to do this. Another option is to use textile glue. It's very simple. You just spread the glue to the back of your design with a brush like I'm doing here. So, when do you have to do this? Well, gluing or interfacing is a good idea if you're making throw pillows, pencil cases, bags, pouches, toys or anything that would get handled a lot. That's the basic rule of thumb, and now we're finally ready to frame. Since I already framed my rainbow project, I will use this Hills design to show you the framing. So, you start by detaching your design from the hoop or your frame you turn the fabric around. Then you place your smaller hoop under the design and the larger one on top. Try to center your design in the middle of the hoop and push the hoops together. When you're happy with it, tighten the screw a little bit or as much as you can with your fingers and then you tighten the fabric. You don't have to make it super tight this time because we're not punching anymore. So, just tighten enough so that it looks nice on the frame and when you are happy with it, then you tighten the screw as tight it goes so, that the frame doesn't accidentally come off when you hang it. And when you're done, you can move on to the final steps. So, next what, I'm gonna do is... I'm gonna add some two-sided tape and I'm gonna glue it here, to the inner side of the hoop, and then I'm just gonna attach the leftover fabric to the tape as I have done here. I have also cut the fabric, so, that there's not too much extra fabric in the corners. So, I'll cut that a little bit. If you want to, you can add some tape here as well, the same kind of tape as I've used here, if you're worried that it will start fraying. But if you are using your final project to hang on the wall, it's very unlikely that it will fray much more because no one's gonna be touching it. But it's up to you. It's not necessary, but it can be done. So, I'm just going to start glueing the tape here. This is then, just so you know, this is something that I'm not gonna undo. So, if you're planning to use your frame for something else later, I recommend you don't glue it onto the sides. You could...also...instead of using two-sided tape, you could just use fabric glue or any glue that's suitable for wood and fabric. So, another option would be just to maybe tape them lightly with any tape washi tape or masking tape to the backside of your design. So, that they hold inside the hoop and don't show if you're hanging it on the wall. So, it doesn't have to be a permanent thing like I have done here. Of course, this could be undone as well, but the glue from the tape would probably not come off. So, it would not be ideal for using another time. So, but that's up to you. But I'm going to continue glueing the tape to the sides. Okay. So, once it's glued onto the hoop, then take off the paper, peel off the paper. If you are using some kind of glue, just be careful that you don't get it on your...on this part of the fabric because it could potentially stain it and show through on the front side. So, keep that in mind. Be careful with the glue. Okay. So, now I'm gonna carefully start attaching the fabric onto the hoop, and as you can see, I'm skipping...skipping parts of the fabric, so, kind of like...try to attach it every few inches, and make it as tight as possible, and then finish the other loose bits. This one actually...reach all the way. So, I shouldn't have actually, but the tape here. Maybe I can put this to prevent all the dust and what not from getting glued onto the frame Not that so much dust will get in there. I mean, this will be hanging against the wall, So, here we go. Oh, okay. So, now you can see little bumps on this side. So, to get rid of those, Well, you can just push it from this side and also here, you can make sure that... just have to try and see, like straightening it out on this side and then see if it's still bumpy on the front. It's not hard to fix. Okay. So, here's the finished piece. The total time that I spend on this would probably be about an hour, including the sketching, finishing, glueing the edges. So, all of it, and even for a beginner, you can definitely complete this in one evening. It's so easy and quick to do. I hope you had fun completing this project with me and I really hope that you share what you created in the project section. So, everybody else can see what kind of things people have been working on and also to give inspiration to others. So, thank you for joining me.
22. Thank you: Oh my gosh, I can't believe we're done. I hope you fell in love with punch needle as much as I have. It's such an easy and fast craft to do and there are so many cool things that you can make. I would love to hear your feedback on the class both the good and the bad. But please be kind and please, please, please post your process and your final project onto the project and resources page. Why? Well, because it's exciting for me and other students to see what you made. It could be super useful for others to see what kind of ideas you came up with. Ideas that maybe I didn't think of, like new designs or colour combinations or ideas on how to use your final punch needle project. It's also eye candy. If you like you can post your images to Instagram and tag me with #skillsharewithjeah So, I can cheer you on there as well and finally, I'd like to thank you for taking this time to hang out with me. Happy creating. Bye, until we meet again.
Jenni Ahlberg, Illustrator, Hand letterer & Designer
