Scrap Fabric & Hoop Art – Take Two

I know, I know; I’ve already done a post about hoop art … but I’m doing another one. I actually used a needle and thread on my latest hoop so I have to share, right? I mentioned in my first hoop art post how much I love scrap fabric. Well I still do, and since that post I’ve accumulated much more and I was really crushing on the patterns I used in this last creation. I still don’t know all (any) of the stitches, or really how to even stitch correctly, but I was able to produce stitches in the shape of letters and you could tell what the letters were, so I was content.

Two of my dear friends recently started up an event planning business – www.piliandtalli.com – check them out if you’re ever in need of an event planner. They are two of the nicest, funniest, most down-to-earth girls you will ever meet, and better yet they rock at what they do. And no, I’m not just saying that because I like them. I actually pinky swear you. Is that still a thing or am I telling my age? Anyway, they asked me to create some hoop art for their latest bride & groom who got married in September, so needless to say I was beyond flattered and I was determined to make something I could be proud of because let’s face it – it’s one thing to craft something for yourself, but it’s a whole other thing to craft something for someone else. Yikes. The pressure was on.

materials

• 4″ embroidery hoop
• scrap fabric for background
• scrap fabric for heart applique
• thread for letters
• thread for exterior stitches
• stencils (heart and letters)
• embroidery transfer pencil
• fabric scissors
• mod podge
• paint brush
• needle
• felt

step 1

take embroidery hoop apart and lay scrap fabric (for background) on top of the interior hoop. fit the exterior hoop around the outside and tighten. you may have to adjust fabric so there are no wrinkles

step 2

use transfer pencil to trace around heart stencil onto scrap fabric (for applique) & cut out heart shape. top secret – it’s really handy to have one of those tiny pairs of scissors to work with small shapes like this.

step 3

apply a very thin layer of mod podge to the heart applique with paintbrush and glue heart onto background fabric. this might be cheating, but I wanted to be darn sure that heart stayed in place when I stitched around it.

step 4

using a needle and thread, stitch around edge of heart. I wish I could be a little more specific here, but I just did a very basic stitch – obviously I’m not perfect though, so neither are the stitches. I honestly didn’t try too hard to make these stitches perfectly even – I feel like it looks kind of cool with the imperfect & uneven stitches (or maybe I just told myself that enough times that I finally started believing it). I started on the backside of the hoop and stitched upwards into the heart shape, and then I placed a stitch right outside the edge of the heart going down to the backside of the hoop. does that even make sense? a “running stitch” maybe? I apparently need some Stitching 101 classes.

step 5

use transfer pencil to trace outlines of letters onto background fabric. I didn’t have a ‘plus sign’ stencil so I just drew out the shape myself.

step 6

using a needle and thread, fill in the letters with more basic stitches. It’s way more important to get these stitches close together (I even did some stitches partially on top of other stitches to give it a more filled-in appearance).

step 7

cut excess scrap fabric and glue remainder onto back of hoop so edges don’t show. I used clothes pins to hold the glued edges in place until dried.

step 8

cut piece of felt to fit inside back of hoop – this helps hide the ugly stitches and helps the fabric not be see-through, if that’s an issue.

Flip it over and there you have it!

You’ll notice from the very first picture that I originally planned on using three different fabrics. The khaki colored fabric was meant to be for letter appliques, but I later decided to stitch the letters instead – I thought the contrast between the stitching and the applique would be a bit more fun 🙂

I also mentioned in my last hoop art post that I get scrap fabric from all sorts of places. The background fabric used on this hoop came from the packaging that my bed sheets from Target came in. Have you bought any from there? I believe it’s the Threshold brand that packages the sheets up in cute little fabric pouches, complete with a velcro closure. You’re crazy not to keep it. The fabric used for the heart applique came from a bundle of fabric marked way down (and I mean WAY down) at Hobby Lobby. That’s a great place to check from time to time to get a random assortment of cheap fabric.

Happy scrap-fabric-hunting, hoop-art-making Monday to you!