Embroidery Hoop Art Project

 

In amidst the excitement of several deliveries of new stock this week, we've been getting ready for a very special lady's 80th birthday this week. As we're having a formal party in a function room, we thought it'd be nice to add some homemade touches to the decorations, so we had a go at some embroidery hoop art that we'd seen on Pinterest - what a result! We thought we'd be generous and share our little projects with you lovely lot to get you inspired ;)

 

                                     

                                                    

 

 

Six beautiful little pieces we managed to get done in just one day, using a variety of techniques. Really, it's all about letting go and unleashing your creativity! As we had a specific theme in mind, we were a bit more limited but we think we did alright! Maybe next time we might add a little more appliqué to them, but sadly we were pushed for time this week and had to make-do with what we could do in a day.

 

Our first design was relatively simple, just a pretty 80 appliquéd on using freehand machine stitching to create an outline in a contrasting colour. This is not too hard once you've practiced it a little, but you need to get a special foot for your machine in order to do it, and stabilise the back of your fabric with some interfacing. We cut out a few flowers from the floral fabric we used and just glued them on for a bit of detail. As it was our first one, we decided less was more after spending about 10 minutes trying to decide whether /how to add extras.

 

 

Next, we got a little bolder and decided to try out a bunting design, cutting out some triangles from some scrap fabric in complimentary patterns and colours. We glued these on, and used the free stitching style again to add the bunting string. This time, we wanted to add some lettering so went for some printed stuff - super easy and effective to do! We bought a set of rubber A-Z stamps from a stamp shop (you can get them online too) and some all-purpose ink, and it couldn't have been simpler - the hardest part was spelling and trying to align the letters!

 

As we had to make six, we thought it would be even more fun to get a bit more daring and try out using a patterned material for a background (crazy, i know!). We had this beautifully subtle little pink floral fabric that wasn't too loud. Having recently acquired a beautiful embroidery machine, we decided to put it to use on these and programmed in some fun birthday lettering in cream thread. The machine whizzes away at a speed that would normally have you worried on your usual sewing machine, but we're coming to learn not to get panicked by the sound! 

For these two, we did a little more free stitch style and appliqué to add more detail, including a lace overlay that we stitched down on one design.

 

By this time we were running a bit short of hours in the day, and so decided to repeat the free stitch style for a lovely girly shoe design (as the birthday girl is partial to a bit of shopping and shoe enthusiasm). Beware! This sort of satiny fabric was very slippy and a lot harder to sew, so we definitely needed the interfacing underneath! The reflective surface also stopped the stitching from showing up so much, so we found that you have to go over it a few more times than on other fabrics. We got back to some stamping fun on this design, as we wanted to keep at least one after the event, that wouldn't all be birthday themed!

 

So there you have it - our little collection of embroidery hoop art! As you can see, they aren't too tricky to have a go at, and they really can be as simple or complex as you're comfortable with. They make great alternative party decorations as you can personalise them a lot more and make use of all your scraps of beautiful fabric. We can't wait to hang them up at the weekend!