Doodle Stitching Embroidery Art: Move Beyond the Pattern with Aimee Ray

By Aimée Ray

Learn to use floss like a boss with these twenty original embroidery art projects, from the bestselling author of Doodle Stitching and Patchwork Embroidery.

Create one-of-a-kind embroidery art using simple techniques! Bestselling author Aimee Ray of Doodle Stitching fame is back with the fresh motifs and contemporary inspiration her fans have come to love. With Aimee’s help, you'll move beyond the pattern to reflect your artistic self?making hoop framed embroidery art, decorative keepsakes, pillows, patches, charms, and fabric scrapbooks. Create artwork you'll display in every room of the house! Mix and match motifs and personalize wall art with lettering and numbers. With twenty projects to personalize, Doodle Stitching Embroidery Art will intrigue both beginners and seasoned embroiderers.

• Sew 20 original embroidery art projects with bestselling author Aimee Ray
• Express your individuality with exciting ideas for beginners and skilled stitchers
• Personalize your projects with fun embroidery motifs, words, and dates

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Aug 25, 2020
• ISBN: 9781644030189

Book preview

Embroidery Essentials

EMBROIDERY IS ONE OF THE EASIEST CRAFTS TO LEARN AND REQUIRES ONLY A FEW SIMPLE TOOLS THAT ARE EASY TO FIND. BEFORE YOU START EMBROIDERING, YOU’LL NEED TO TRACK DOWN A FEW BASIC ITEMS AND LEARN SOME EASY STITCHES AND TECHNIQUES.

MATERIALS AND TOOLS

You can start stitching with just some fabric, floss, an embroidery needle, and a hoop, but you might find it useful to have additional items on hand. Plus, there will be certain tools you’ll need to complete several of the projects in this book. All the materials and tools are relatively inexpensive, and chances are good that you already have some of them on hand. If not, you can find them all at your local craft store.

Embroidery Toolbox

•Embroidery hoop (check the individual project instructions for suggested sizes)

•Embroidery and sewing needles

•Embroidery floss

•Fabric stabilizer

•Iron

•Ironing board or towel

•Needle threader

•Nonpermanent fabric marker

•Pencil

•Pincushion

•Ruler

•Scissors

•Straight pins

•Thimble

•Tracing and transferring tools (such as dressmaker’s carbon paper)

•Tweezers

Fabrics and Other Materials

The most common fabrics used for embroi­dery are quilting cotton, linen made for handwork, and Aida cloth (a heavy fabric with a large, even weave). However, almost any fabric is suitable for embroidery. Here’s my general rule: If you can stick a needle through it, you can embroider it. (That includes vinyl, heavy paper, balsa wood, and many other unconventional materials!) For the projects in this book, I mostly used quilting cotton, linen, and canvas.

Delicate materials such as chiffon, silk and sheer fabrics may require an extra bit of care when you secure them on a hoop so that you don’t distort or stretch the weave. Fine fabrics and stretchy fabrics like cotton T-shirts usually behave better if you apply removable fabric stabilizer (see Stabilizer) before you start stitching. Craft felt is a sturdy fabric that can easily handle hand stitching and gener­ally won’t pucker when embroidered. You may not always need a hoop when stitching on felt, especially if you’re using small pieces. Felt is also perfect for finishing up the backs of your finished embroidery hoop art. Transparent stitchable mesh will give you unique results when used for embroidery and is fun to experiment with. If you’re just starting to embroider and need some fabric, take a look at your wardrobe or linen closet. You never know what inspiration you might find.

Floss

You can embroider with just about any thread, but the most common type used is embroidery floss. Floss is sold in a small bundle, or skein and comes in any color you want. Most floss is made from cotton, but if you’re feeling adventurous, look for specialty flosses made of linen, metallic, silk, or wool strands to add a special touch to your stitching.

A length of floss is made up of 6 threads that are twisted together. You can use all 6 to stitch a thick line or divide them up and use a smaller number for thinner lines and fine details. Check the instructions for each project to see what number of threads is suggested. Typically, 3 threads is a good quantity. However, you may want to stitch small interior details with fewer threads and main outlines with more threads. Varying the number of threads on your project is one way to add dimension to your work.

Every skein of embroidery floss comes wrapped in paper with a different number for each color. Each floss manufacturer has its own unique numbering system for their colors. For each project in this book, you’ll find numbers for DMC embroidery floss. It’s easy to find conversion charts if you switch between brands. Check with specialty shops or search the Internet for embroidery floss conversion chart. When you’re starting a project, it’s a good idea to jot down the numbers you’re using in case you need to get more floss later.

The more embroidery projects you make, the more floss you’ll accumulate. You might find it useful to organize the floss by wrapping each color on a plastic or cardboard bobbin. Write the color number on the bobbins and then store them together in a box. You can buy special sectioned containers at craft stores, but ordinary fishing tackle boxes also work great.

TIP

Don’t toss all those pretty bits of scrap floss when you’re done stitching, save them up in a glass jar! You can use them for artwork too (see Scrap Floss Art).

Needles

A good embroidery needle is medium-sized (size 5 is my favorite) and has a sharp point and long opening, or eye, at one end. Larger needles are helpful when you’re using all 6 threads of floss, and small ones are ideal for hand stitching with a single thread. You can purchase a pack of several different sizes so you have any size you need on hand.

Embroidery Hoops

An embroidery hoop is a 2-piece frame with an inner and outer circle. The circles fit together and keep your fabric taut as you work, giving you a tight, smooth surface to stitch on. A 6˝ (15.2 cm) plastic or wooden hoop is a good standard size that you can reuse over and over. Small designs will fit inside the circle, and for larger designs, you can move the hoop around as needed.

Many of the projects in this book call for a wooden embroidery hoop, which will become a perma­nent frame for your artwork when you’re finished stitching and can be hung right on the wall. Wooden hoops are inexpensive and come in lots of sizes to fit any project. You can use one to hold your fabric as you embroider and then decorate your hoop (see Hoop Framing). Mini hoop frames, 1˝–2˝ (2.5–5.1 cm) diameter, are fun for displaying very small motifs. You’ll first need a larger hoop for embroidering and then put the designs into the smaller hoops for display.

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Reviews for Doodle Stitching Embroidery Art

[Amy MacDonald · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Such beautiful, fun patterns--I'm feeling inspired to start embroidering again after 30 years away from it!