A few weeks ago, I wrote about how excited I was to have my Thread Spools Pincushion featured in Annie's Weekend Sewing. In this week's post, I'm sharing a tutorial on how to use a tissue paper template to embroider that project. Big news--this post is going to be shared on both the Annie's Craft Store and Quilter's World Facebook pages. Welcome to all! Now let's get started.
You can find complete instructions for the Thread Spools
Pincushion project in Annie’s Weekend Sewing (on page 26). For this tutorial,
I'll expand on the first step of those instructions and show you how to create
the embroidered thread lines that frame the front of the pincushion. I love working with felt, but since it isn't very receptive to fabric marking pens I use tissue paper templates as a guide when I want to embroider my wool felt designs.
Here's what you'll need:
6 ½" x 8" piece of wool
felt (I used WoolFelt from National Nonwovens)
Six-strand embroidery floss
White
tissue paper
Transparent tape
Fine-point permanent black marking
pen
Straight pins
Sewing needle
Scissors
Tweezers
1. Click here to download and print the full-size "Thread Spools Pincushion Placement Diagram & Embroidery Template." Just click on the "Download Revision" link under the image of the Annie's Weekend Sewing cover; the template is on page 2. (Save
your color ink; a black and white copy is all you need.) The printed template should measure 6 ½" x 8"--the same size as the wool felt piece you're
going to embroider.
2. Tape the template to your work
surface. Position a piece of tissue paper over the template and tape it in place to keep the tissue paper from shifting. With the fine-point
marking pen, mark the corners and trace the dash lines from the template onto the tissue paper.
3. Remove the tissue paper
carefully from your work surface and position it on top of the wool felt piece,
aligning the corners. Pin the tissue paper template to the felt, pinning at the
corners and along the edges and stitching lines. Don't be stingy with your
pins--you don't want your embroidery stitches to go astray.
4. Thread your needle with a
doubled strand of embroidery floss and knot the end. Push
the needle from the back to the front, stitching through the felt and tissue paper. Backstitch
along the dash line, maintaining a firm tension so you don't end up with gaps
between the floss and felt when you remove the tissue paper.
5. Repeat this process to embroider
along the remaining dash lines, as indicated in the pattern instructions.
6. Now comes the fun part! When all of your embroidery is
complete, gently tear the tissue paper away from the stitches.
7. Use tweezers to remove any
stubborn bits of paper that remain snagged in the stitches.
8. When all remnants of the tissue
paper template have been removed, your embroidery is complete! If you traced and pinned properly,
your stitching lines should look like the dash lines on the template. You can use this method to embroider the lines on the large thread spool as described in Step 5--or for any embroidered felt project.
Thanks so much for stopping by! I
hope my tutorial was helpful. Be sure to come back next week when I'll be
sharing a pattern for a springtime pillow that combines piecework, felt
applique, and some simple embroidery. Until then, happy stitching!