Embroidery Tips for the PoD
A few people have been asking me for tips about hand-embroidering their titles for the Project of Doom books. Since, as of today, we only have 10 blocks left, it's a good time to get going!
I've been embroidering for a few years now, and have learned a bit through trial-and-error, so I thought I'd assemble some tips and examples. I hope this helps as a starting point.
Personally, I like to have a book to learn from when I'm learning a new craft, so I highly recommend checking out any basic embroidery book from the library and working from it to learn basic stitches. My all-time favourite embroidery book is Erica Wilson's Embroidery Book, published in 1973. The illustrations are very large and clear, and the steps for each stitch are easy to understand. Online, a very clear, step-by-step option is the Martha Stewart embroidery how-to. Love her or hate her, the lady knows how to stitch!
1. Fabric choice
Your fabric is your blank canvas for the art of your stitches...choose it wisely.
A. Avoid overly busy patterns. Although it is possible to achieve enough contrast for your stitches to show up against a busy background, it is tricky. Note this example on paisley...I know it says “Advanced Potion Making”, but no-one else ever will!
B. Double or reinforce thin or light-coloured fabric when you piece your block. Back light fabric with muslin to avoid pulling and to offer opacity (so the back of your embroidery doesn’t show through to the front). If you’ve already pieced a block that you think will need reinforcement, you can always hand-baste a piece of muslin to the seam allowances around the book you’ll be lettering.
2. Design choice
Each font should match the sentiment of the title. For instance, you wouldn’t letter “Most Potente Potions” in a silly, curly, off-kilter font. Well, I guess you could, actually!
A. To choose my titles, I use my computer to experiment with different fonts. I always print a few variations so I can hold the printouts up next to my actual block to see which one suits the design best. I also print a few size variations, because the size of the title can greatly affect the overall design.
B. In general, script fonts are easier - that is, more forgiving - to stitch than block or “type” fonts. It’s more difficult to get Times New Roman to look like Times New Roman in floss than say, a flowing script. You just have more ‘wiggle room’ with a script/cursive font.
3. Transferring the lettering
A clean transfer is key to easy stitching.
A. My preferred method of transfer is a water-soluable marking pen. This, however, only works on light-coloured fabric which you can see through to trace. For darker fabrics, I also use quilter’s transfer paper, which is similar to dressmaker’s carbon. Both transferring items can be found in the quilting section of your fabric store.
When I use a transfer pen, I use a stippling technique to transfer the details of the thin-and-thick elements of each letter.
If you try to simply drag the pen across the fabric, the way you would a normal pen, it catches and pulls and doesn’t do a very good job of getting details.
When using the transfer paper, I use an embossing tool, but a ball point pen works just as well. Lay the fabric right side up on a hard surface. lay the transfer paper dark side down on top of the fabric, then position your title where you want it and trace over the printout.
B. Baselines are the secret (IMHO) to neat-and-tidy embroidered letters. The baseline of a letter is the bit that “sits” on the invisible line under the word. If your baselines are all lined up, your letters will look much neater.
4. Floss and stitches
Now comes the execution of your design.
A. The number of strands you use, of course, greatly changes the look - and difficulty - of your design. The lower-case lettering in ‘The Healer’s Helpmate’ is worked in one-strand floss. ‘Hogwarts: A History’ is worked in 3-strand floss.
B. Choose your stitch to suit your design. I’ve worked most of my titles so far in backstitch. But chain stitch is lovely for roundy letters (it works so nicely around curves). This example is not PoD, but you can see how chain stitch changes the look of the lettering.
Satin stitch is wonderful for adding dimension and a rich look. Here are Tom Riddle’s initials in satin and backstitch.
Floss is not the only thing that can be embroidered on to your quilt! Beads, paillettes, sequins, and on and on and on can be added for some wizarding bling!
I really do hope this can be of use to the lovely PoDer's out there. If you have any questions about any of this, or anything else embroidery-ish, please contact me. I love to answer questions!
And please, if I've left anything out, please let me know and I will be happy to add it here.
Happy title stitching!
:)
I've been embroidering for a few years now, and have learned a bit through trial-and-error, so I thought I'd assemble some tips and examples. I hope this helps as a starting point.
Personally, I like to have a book to learn from when I'm learning a new craft, so I highly recommend checking out any basic embroidery book from the library and working from it to learn basic stitches. My all-time favourite embroidery book is Erica Wilson's Embroidery Book, published in 1973. The illustrations are very large and clear, and the steps for each stitch are easy to understand. Online, a very clear, step-by-step option is the Martha Stewart embroidery how-to. Love her or hate her, the lady knows how to stitch!
1. Fabric choice
Your fabric is your blank canvas for the art of your stitches...choose it wisely.
A. Avoid overly busy patterns. Although it is possible to achieve enough contrast for your stitches to show up against a busy background, it is tricky. Note this example on paisley...I know it says “Advanced Potion Making”, but no-one else ever will!
B. Double or reinforce thin or light-coloured fabric when you piece your block. Back light fabric with muslin to avoid pulling and to offer opacity (so the back of your embroidery doesn’t show through to the front). If you’ve already pieced a block that you think will need reinforcement, you can always hand-baste a piece of muslin to the seam allowances around the book you’ll be lettering.
2. Design choice
Each font should match the sentiment of the title. For instance, you wouldn’t letter “Most Potente Potions” in a silly, curly, off-kilter font. Well, I guess you could, actually!
A. To choose my titles, I use my computer to experiment with different fonts. I always print a few variations so I can hold the printouts up next to my actual block to see which one suits the design best. I also print a few size variations, because the size of the title can greatly affect the overall design.
B. In general, script fonts are easier - that is, more forgiving - to stitch than block or “type” fonts. It’s more difficult to get Times New Roman to look like Times New Roman in floss than say, a flowing script. You just have more ‘wiggle room’ with a script/cursive font.
3. Transferring the lettering
A clean transfer is key to easy stitching.
A. My preferred method of transfer is a water-soluable marking pen. This, however, only works on light-coloured fabric which you can see through to trace. For darker fabrics, I also use quilter’s transfer paper, which is similar to dressmaker’s carbon. Both transferring items can be found in the quilting section of your fabric store.
When I use a transfer pen, I use a stippling technique to transfer the details of the thin-and-thick elements of each letter.
If you try to simply drag the pen across the fabric, the way you would a normal pen, it catches and pulls and doesn’t do a very good job of getting details.
When using the transfer paper, I use an embossing tool, but a ball point pen works just as well. Lay the fabric right side up on a hard surface. lay the transfer paper dark side down on top of the fabric, then position your title where you want it and trace over the printout.
B. Baselines are the secret (IMHO) to neat-and-tidy embroidered letters. The baseline of a letter is the bit that “sits” on the invisible line under the word. If your baselines are all lined up, your letters will look much neater.
4. Floss and stitches
Now comes the execution of your design.
A. The number of strands you use, of course, greatly changes the look - and difficulty - of your design. The lower-case lettering in ‘The Healer’s Helpmate’ is worked in one-strand floss. ‘Hogwarts: A History’ is worked in 3-strand floss.
B. Choose your stitch to suit your design. I’ve worked most of my titles so far in backstitch. But chain stitch is lovely for roundy letters (it works so nicely around curves). This example is not PoD, but you can see how chain stitch changes the look of the lettering.
Satin stitch is wonderful for adding dimension and a rich look. Here are Tom Riddle’s initials in satin and backstitch.
Floss is not the only thing that can be embroidered on to your quilt! Beads, paillettes, sequins, and on and on and on can be added for some wizarding bling!
I really do hope this can be of use to the lovely PoDer's out there. If you have any questions about any of this, or anything else embroidery-ish, please contact me. I love to answer questions!
And please, if I've left anything out, please let me know and I will be happy to add it here.
Happy title stitching!
:)