Oops, today is already Mother’s Day, but if you’re like me, and constantly running late for everything, then this tutorial is for you!
Here’s a easy, semi-quick card project –> How to embroider a card!
This is my first thing I’ve ever embroidered, and I’ll be honest, I’m hooked! What a fabulous craft. You can do it anywhere (I chose to completely these cards while watching Downtown Abbey). I definitely think I need to invest in some more embroidery materials.
Anyways, this craft is easy & cheap, all you need is:
- a blank card (make it from card stock)
- a pencil & eraser
- a needle with a large eye
- some embroidery floss
Since I’m new to embroidery I checked out this Embroidery 101 Tutorial on Instructables, which was really helpful and sent me off in the right direction, armed with a couple basic stitches.
First sketch our your design on the card. I chose a vase of flowers, very simple. Next, with some patience, thread your floss through the needle, and tie a double knot at one end, leaving the other end short and free.
Now comes the fun part, doing a basic Backstitch, outline your pattern. Starting from the inside of your card so that the knot is hidden, pierce the paper with your needle and bring it though, and making a new hole a few mm away, come back down again. Continue on using you Backstitch, changing threads when necessary, until you are all finished your outline.
A word of caution; don’t put your holes too close to each other, or they may tear into each other forming gigantic hole (which looks awkward). Ensure that there is some space between them so that they can provide enough support for your design.
Once your outline is finished, fill in the design with a satin stitch. Try to re-use the same holes as much as possible, as to avoid creating more hole craters.
Tie off & clip your loose ends, write something nice of the front, and fill the inside with words! Done!
Here’s the 2 I made, one for my mom, and the other for my mother-in-law. Personally, I prefer the “Alles Gute zum Muttertag” one, but I think they both look nice.
After I completed these, I then searched the interwebs to see if other people have made embroidered cards – apparently this idea wasn’t too original. Oh well. I did learn though, that most people actually make the holes in the card for the design first, and then once it’s all laid out, will weave the thread through. I think this technique would help prevent the creating crater-holes when you accidentally make two stitches too close together. I think I will try this approach on a future embroidered card.
Obviously I put these in the mail late, as usual. You can to! Bust out a quick Mother’s Day card asap, since it’s better late than never.
Studio Nico 