Hand Lettered Embroidery Design

Friends, you all know I’m a little obsessed with hand lettering, so I’m always looking for new kinds of lettering projects! I’ve done just about every kind of project I can think of to try with markers and pens, so I decided it was time to try out a new medium…embroidery! Today I want to show you how I turned a design into a stitched piece of home decor. Take a look.

Hand Lettered Embroidery

You’ll need

Wooden Embroidery Hoop: Mine is 5″
Embroidery Needle
Aida Cloth: Mine is 18 count
Embroidery Floss: The specific colors I used are DMC 310, 964, 25, 3847
Scissors
Pencil and Eraser

Optional:
FolkArt Home Decor Chalk paint
Paint brush

Creating Your Design

Step 1: Secure your cloth inside the hoop.

To do this, you’ll loosen the screw at the top of the hoop and separate the two pieces. Place a square of cloth in between with the larger hoop on top. Push the smaller hoop back inside the larger one, causing the cloth to become taut. Tighten the screw to hold it in place. I used 18 count cloth which means there are 18 holes per inch. The bigger the number, the smaller your stitches will be. Choose a count you’re comfortable with. If you’re new to stitching, you might want to start with a low number and larger stitches.

Step 2: Lightly sketch your design onto the cloth with a pencil.

Some artist prefer to create a pattern instead by using a piece of graph paper. Each square of paper represents a square on the cloth. They sketch onto the paper and use that as a reference for creating the design on the cloth. If that jives better with the way your brain works, go for it! Personally, I go a little crazy when I have to do that much counting, and it just makes my head hurt. So, I draw right on the cloth.

*If you’re brand new to hand lettering, you’ll want to check out my Beginner Lettering and Pennant Banner tutorials first to get the background info for how to create this particular design.*

Step 3: Stitch over your design in your favorite colors.

I used two strands of floss at at time. To do this, just cut a length of the floss and you’ll notice that there are six separate strands stuck together. Gently pull two of them away from the other four and thread them onto your needle. Tie a knot in one end.

For my design, I used a combination of cross stitches, 3/4 stitches, and back stitches. Solid lines and outlines were done with back stitches, then I filled in the open areas with cross stitches and 3/4 where necessary. For a quick and simple explanation of how to do these basic stitches, check out the DMC Stitch Guide! I just followed my pencil lines as a guide, so you’ll notice that my design looks hand drawn rather than perfectly created by a machine…just the way I like it!

Step 4: Erase any pencil lines that are still visible. Remove the cloth from the hoop and set it aside.

Step 5: {optional} Paint the large outer hoop.

I chose a light grey to coordinate with my design and the rest of my home decor.

Step 6: Place the design inside the hoop again and secure it. Trim the excess cloth.

Hand Lettering Embroidery

That’s all there is to it! Your piece is ready to be displayed!

Lettered Cross Stitch

What do you think? I’m loving how it turned out and am anxious to try creating another design soon!

Hand Lettered Embroidery

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