Learn to Sew These Simple Embroidery Stitches For Beginners

Learn to Sew These Simple Embroidery Stitches For Beginners Basic Embroidery Stitches and Techniques for Beginners ChaptersSimple Embroidery Stitches and TechniquesDrawing with Needles: Types of Stitches and Embroidery WorkEmbroidery Techniques from Around the WorldThe reason embroidery is not simply colourful plain sewing is that is uses more than the three or four stitches of hand sewing. Most embroidery stitches are decorative in their own right, while others best show off their advantages when colouring in a surface on a motif.Or nué: couching stitches in coloured silk over laid gold thread to create scenes and patternsCrewel work: colourful, usually floral motifs over a large surfaceBlackwork: patterns in black thread, usually in Holbein https://hands-across-the-sea-samplers.com/double-running-or-the-holbein-stitch/ stitch.Learn our best tips for embroidery for beginners...Drawing with Needles: Types of Stitches and Embroidery WorkEmbroidering a scene or motif onto cotton or linen can be likened to drawing. First you need your line drawing, then you can colour it in. For advanced artists th ere are more complicated techniques such as stumpwork or couching stitches; for those who like paint-by-numbers, there is counted work.Line StitchesLine stitches are used for contours and simple decoration, along the edge of a tablecloth, sleeve cuff or shirt neck. However, just because you are sewing in a line doesn't mean you can’t fill in surfaces with a stem stitch or a chain stitch - many early pieces of embroidery do just that. A few simple line stitches are:Stem stitch:Stem stitch. from Samplers and Stitches, a handbook of the embroiderer's art by Mrs Archibald Christie, London 1920if you look at a hand-sewn backstitch from behind, you will see a stem-stitch. But unless you want to embroider all your work on the reverse, The Spruce has a simple guide. Stem stitch takes its name from flower stems, for which it is often used in needle painting and crewel work.Chain stitch:Chain stitch. By Grace Christie (Mrs. Archibald H. Christie) [Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsA chai n stitch will be worked just on either side of a line. You can make it more or less open depending on how far apart you enter and exit your needle.Split stitch:Split stitch. from Samplers and Stitches, a handbook of the embroiderer's art by Mrs Archibald Christie, London 1920A split stitch is much like a backstitch, only you come up within the last stitch and split it as you come up.Threaded running stitch: sewing this stitch with threads in two contrasting colours gives a vivid and eye-popping effect with very little effort. Simply sew a running stitch (keep moving forward with your needle so the thread leaves gaps along the line), then take your second colour and weave it in and out of the visible stitches in a wavy line. Note: you are not piercing the fabric with the second thread. You can also use this method on backstitch.Immerse yourself into the lengthy history of embroidery!Surface stitches for filling in shapesYou will not only need to draw the shapes, but fill them in. Her e are a few stitches that can help you with that:Satin stitch: though it looks simple, satin stitch is a little tricky to do cleanly. Be very careful when setting the next stitch to get the edges nicely lined up.Herringbone stitch: ideal for leaves, this easy stitch looks lovely in a silky embroidery floss.Trellis stitch, or Jacobean couching stitch: a two-part stitch technique, you are laying down a trellis in single long stitches and couching the meeting points with small cross-stitches. Lovely for crewel or Jacobean work and doodle embroidery.Counted WorkCounted-stitch embroidery is called that because you are working from a pattern and sometimes have to count the stitches of one colour to make sure you are sticking to it. It’s the colour-by-numbers of the embroidery world, but the effects are often quite stunning.Cross-stitch:The first step in cross-stitching. Photo credit: comofaz on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-SAcross-stitch - little crosses - is the most common embroidery sti tch today; you will be hard-pressed to find embroidery magazines that are specialised in anything else. It’s a quick way to make letters and figures, and there are plenty of adorable patterns for pixellated creatures to spruce up your towels, cushions and the collars of your shirts.Needlepoint: designates a number of counted-stitch techniques that used to be called “canvas work”. Nowadays, it generally refers to petit point, where a design covers the entire canvas (the background is filled in as well) and is executed in tent stitch. This is usually what awaits you when you buy a needlepoint sewing kit from your local haberdasher’s to make your own cushions, throws or footstools.Brickwork: no longer commonly used, brickwork was very common in the Middle Ages and Renaissance for sweets bags, book bags and even whole tapestries in German brick stitch.Discover what supplies you need for a complete embroidery kit...Embroidery Techniques from Around the WorldEach culture combined different stitches and colours to create their own special embroidery techniques.Ribbon EmbroiderySilk ribbon embroidery originated in France in the 18th century. It makes delightful, three-dimensional designs and is relatively quick to make. A lot of the stitches are the same as for thread embroidery, but there are a few unique ones as well.Hardanger: A Norwegian Whitework techniqueHardanger is a fairly popular whitework technique that includes various embroidery types, from satin stitch to cut-and-drawn-work (where threads from the embroidery fabric are cut and drawn out, then gathered together to make patterns) to needle-weaving.Hardanger. Photo credit: withoutastitchon on VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-SASwedish huck embroideryHuck weaving or Swedish huck is a needle-weaving technique - the needle is passed forward over and under the warp and weft of the embroidery fabric to make patterns. It has a lovely rustic feel, perfect for half-curtains, kitchen towels or cuff embroidery.Hunga rian redworkThe bold, thick, almost geometric floral patterns of Hungarian redwork look gorgeous on linen - for tablecloths, sheets, or even short, flaring skirts.Needle painting: satin-stitch Chinese embroideryWho hasn’t admired the beautiful embroidery of Chinese court dresses, slippers, and baldachins? These brilliant designs with their subtle shading are almost entirely done in satin stitch, though some styles use chain stitch as well as a few others. There are several large schools of embroidery that choose their designs and colours according to different criteria.Discover how you can improve your sewing through complex embroidery patterns.Chinese embroidery is some of the most beautiful in the world.Photo credit: jensteele on Visual hunt / CC BY-NC-NDBrazilian embroideryBrazilian embroidery uses 3-D stitching techniques to make beautiful designs, often floral, that literally pop off the canvas. Various types of buttonhole stitches and knots give that lovely 3-D effect.Brazil ian embroidery specialises in three-dimensional flower motifs. Photo credit: Aardvark Ethel on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NCMexican Tenanga embroideryThe Otomi people of the state of Hidalgo in Mexico have long produced beautiful embroidered shirts. When a drought threatened their livelihood in the 1960s, they started commercialising their beautiful embroidery patterns, done in a variation of the herringbone stitch by applying them to tablecloths and pillows and other sellable items. It is characterised by large animal patterns in bright colours.Indian Shisha (mirror) embroideryA particularity of traditional embroidery in some parts of India is the integration of tiny mirrors into the embroidery patterns. The mirrors are round and set into brightly-coloured patterns.Indian shisha embroidery. Photo credit: RubyGoes on Visualhunt / CC BYMending with style: Japanese Shashiko embroideryThe origins of Shashiko are said to lie in the fact that Japanese peasants were only allowed to own dark b lue or grey cloth, with stitching no bigger than a grain of rice. With new cloth for clothes being very expensive, peasants would mend their garments using patterns of tiny white running stitches to make them more decorative. Now, Shashiko is wonderful way to pretty up your shirts or blouses or even mend rends in your trousers.Shashiko embroidery was originally a decorative mending technique. Photo credit: Saké Puppets on VisualHunt / CC BYTemari: Japanese embroidered ballsTemari balls are intricately-embroidered balls that were traditionally given as New Year’s gifts in Japan. Though the designs are very intricate, only a few different types of stitches were used, including herringbone stitch. Why not make some unusual and beautiful Temari Christmas ornaments?Quillwork: embroidering with porcupine quillsBefore Europeans came and flooded the market with colourful beads, many Native American tribes decorated their clothing with needlework made from dyed porcupine quills. The patte rns are usually geometric and are a fascinating alternative to European thread embroidery for decorating shirts and boxes.Discover our best tips and tricks for learning embroidery...If searching for sewing classes  come directly to Superprof and find your sewing classes from Edinburgh to Sewing classes London.