EMBROIDERY HOOP PEOPLE - TUTORIAL
This is another free form project - pretty much anything goes. Your Little One can be creative with whatever buttons and trims you have to hand. This is a good project for practicing hand sewing and basic techniques such as sewing buttons.
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* What you need
- Embroidery hoop - we used 6" hoops, but choose what suits.
- A piece of fabric to fit the hoop - grab something plain to let the buttons and trim pop.
- The button jar - a selection of buttons in different shapes and sizes.
- Ribbon or trim such as ric-rac, pom pom trim, tassels, etc.
- Needle and thread
- Pins
- Scissors
* Load your embroidery hoop and layout your face
Take your piece of fabric and fit it tightly into the embroidery hoop - make sure you tighten up the screw at the top of the hoop.
Now go through your stash of goodies to come up with a design for your face. Lay the buttons and trim out to make up your face - play around with it and have some fun. Perhaps you'll make an animal, a friend, your mum or your dad? When you are happy you can start sewing.
Now go through your stash of goodies to come up with a design for your face. Lay the buttons and trim out to make up your face - play around with it and have some fun. Perhaps you'll make an animal, a friend, your mum or your dad? When you are happy you can start sewing.
Start in the centre of your work (in this case we started sewing the nose first), that way you will be sure to fit everything in and keep things relatively straight.
You wont need a new thread for each button, just move from one button to the next until you use up you cut length of thread.
Tips to think about:
- double your thread - this will help prevent it slipping out of your needle as well as making your stitches stronger.
- hold the embroidery hoop to help prevent stretching your fabric (and pricking fingers!)
- don't forget to tie a knot at the beginning and end of each length of thread.
If you are working with pre-schoolers, buttons can often be a bit tricky. In our case, I sewed the buttons (under strict design instruction!), while Miss Three pined on the ric-rac and used a simple running stitch to make the mouth.
Pom-pom trim, tassels, yarn or ribbon can be used to create hair. We used a few tack stitches to secure it to the top in the centre, then sewed a couple of buttons on each side of the hoop to secure the hair.
When you are all done - make sure that the fabric is still pull tight in your hoop, and the screw is still nice and tight. Then cut off excess fabric close to the outer edge of your hoop.
And you are done!
