February 08, 2012

d.i.y. embroidered valentine

 
 

Sent to you by nunok via Google Reader:

 
 

via Fossil Blog by ahunsaker on 2/6/12


If you've seen our D.I.Y. project featuring our Mason handbag, you know that we love cross-stitching and embroidery.  With Valentine's Day coming up, what better way to show our love for hand-crafted design than to put it on paper in the form of a sweet Valentine's card?

Materials:

Cardstock (or any thick paper you want to put your design on)

Graph Paper

Tape

Embroidery Thread and Needle

Pencil

Step 1.  On your graph paper, make an outline of the size you want your card to be (We made ours 4×6 so we could easily find an envelope to send it in), and draw your design within the border.  We decided to play with the graphic from our "Say Love" graphic tee.

Step 2.   Cut your graph paper down to the size you outlined and tape it to your cardstock.  Make sure the good side of your paper is face-up so you don't end up with a mirrored image!

Step 3.  Using your embroidery needle, poke holes through both layers of paper, making sure to follow your design.  If you make a hole at every spot where the grid intersects, your design will ensure an even stitch length later.

Step 4.  Remove the grid paper from your cardstock, but keep it close by to reference since a card full of holes is a bit confusing to work with.  Pick which colors to use in your design, and embroider away!  We found it helpful to embroider all of the outlines first to help keep track of our design.

Step 5.  Explore different techniques by adding some fun filler designs within other shapes; get creative with it!  Because we used so many threads, we just taped the beginnings and ends on the back instead of tying a bunch of tiny knots.  Don't worry—you can hide it later.

Step 6.  Once your embroidery is finished, add a fun, personal message with a marker. We used a metallic gold paint marker.

Step 7.  To hide the backside of your embroidery, attach your work to a blank card or to another piece of thick paper, and you're ready to send off your handmade card to a special someone…sealed with a kiss, of course!


 
 

Things you can do from here:

 
 

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