10 Things to do with Embroidery Hoops: Unique and inspiring projects to decorate your home

By Kirsty Neale

From the introduction:

Framing a piece of embroidery or an appliqued picture used to be a tricky and often prohibitively expensive business. The concept of framing an unumbellished piece of fabirc just because you liked the pattern was pretty much out of the question. I'm not sure when I first noticed people sharing pictures of embroidery displayed in the same hoop used to stitch it, but right from the start it seemed like the smartest of solutions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David & Charles
• Release date: Jun 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781446360248

Kirsty Neale

Kirsty Neale is a freelance writer, illustrator and designer-maker based near London. She is an author of children's fiction and non-fiction books and regularly designs creative projects for magazines and her Etsy shop (www.etsy.com/shop/helloclementine). She has contributed projects to several craft books, including the D&C title 101 Ways to Stitch, Craft, Create. She loves to use vintage, recycled or repurposed pieces in her work and has developed her own trademark style.

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Materials and Equipment

You may already have many of the tools needed for general sewing and crafting projects. The list given here covers those needed to make the projects in this book.

Materials

Fabric: Plain and patterned, new or vintage, in just about any colour or weight you want to try.

Felt: For covering the back of hoops, as well as using in projects.

Fusible web: This is a type of heat-activated dry adhesive, sold in sheets with a paper backing and used to join two pieces of fabric together. It’s often sold under a brand name such as Bondaweb, Heat’n’Bond or Wonder Under.

Interfacing: Fusible (iron-on) in medium and heavy weights.

Paper: For collage, e.g. patterned tissue, gift wrap, old book pages, scraps torn from magazines or catalogues.

Ribbon, braid, lace and other fancy trims: Short lengths of various trims will be useful for some of the projects.

Threads: Stranded embroidery threads and reels of sewing cotton.

Yarn: For wrapping and crochet.

Equipment

Wooden embroidery hoops: Various sizes, round or oval.

Scissors: A small pair for threads and embroidery, a large pair for cutting fabric and a separate pair for cutting paper or card.

Needles: Embroidery needles, sharps for general stitching, crewel or tapestry needles for stitching with yarn.

Pins: Dressmaker’s pins for temporarily fixing fabric pieces together.

Erasable fabric marker pen: For transferring patterns onto fabric. Remove the lines with water and a small paintbrush, or alcohol-free baby wipes.

Ruler and/or tape measure: A normal desk ruler and standard tape measure will be fine.

Screwdriver: For adjusting and tightening the hoop screw.

Pencil and tracing paper: For copying and transferring templates.

Adhesives: Fabric glue or good quality PVA for general use and finishing the back of your hoop, double-sided tape for yarn-wrapping hoops, Mod Podge™ for collage and spray adhesive for fixing felt to the back of hoops.

Iron and ironing board: Always press your work as you go along. It gives a much smarter finish and is well worth the small amount of extra time it might take.

Sewing machine (optional): Most projects can be stitched by hand and even those that specify machine stitching can be adapted to work as hand-sewn ideas.

Disposable nail file or sandpaper: For smoothing rough hoop edges (often in the join below the screw) so they don’t snag fabric.

Washi or similar decorative tape: For decorating hoops.

Paint: Acrylic paint is tough and easy to use, but tester pots of household emulsion also work.

Wood