Ideas and Solutions

Small Embroidery Single Strand

Recently I started working on small embroidered pendants. At the same time I’m testing out working with just one strand of floss. I’ve been wanting to try my hand at needle or thread. When I read some of the writings from these types of artists they said they used only one strand at a time. Hmmm. I’ve used two strands a lot but never one. Last year I took an online class where we were encouraged to use all six strands at once. I had never done that either. So from one extreme to another. I wanted to try something small to see if I liked using just one strand (didn’t really like using all six). I do! So I think I’ll try a kit next and then venture out on my own.

Handi-Wipe

While checking out other artists I came across one on Facebook who was using a Handi-Wipe to protect her work. She said it was to protect the fabric from the hoop. She made it twice as long as the width of the hoop plus some extra, the width was wide enough to fit in the hoop with a little extra. After placing it on top of her fabric and then into the hoop she cut out the middle of just the Handi-Wipe so the fabric where she wanted to do her stitching was exposed. When she put her work aside she laid the extra length over the hoop to protect her work. I thought this was interesting.

Finished Pendant

When I started working on my pendants I was marking the outline of the part that the embroidery would cover on my fabric. After assembling a few of them and seeing how close my embroidery was coming to the edge (and sometimes even being covered) I realized the problem was I was using the inside insert rather than the top frame. The top piece had a rim around it which of course covered up the edge of the fabric. Solution: use the inside of the rim of the top piece for marking the area available for embroidery.

Pendant Frame and Insert

Solution

My next concern was marking this area. I didn’t want to risk having some of the marking showing when I was finished. I knew I could mark it lightly on the back and then do a running stitch around it and follow that stitching on the front and then remove it when I was finished. But that was extra work and I wanted to streamline my process. And then the light bulb went on!

How about using the Handi-Wipe and cut the center out to fit the inside of the frame? Perfect! I might try using some nonwoven sew-in interfacing next and see how that works.

Love finding solutions to problems and faster and better ways to do things!

Happy Stitching!

Rose