Crafty Colour Palette #6 is inspired by David Seaman’s amazing technicolour jerseys from Euro ’96. If you haven’t seen them, they are a sight to behold and they definitely don’t make them as cool as this anymore!

Both images from Classic Football Shirts – top right here and bottom left here.

It’s 25 years since the men’s European football championships were held in England, and the final of the 2020 tournament will take place this year at Wembley. Back in 1996 I was 10 years old, and I can remember the excitement of the tournament. I won a competition at my primary school to go to one of the matches at Elland Road in Leeds, and we saw Spain vs Romania – this was my first ever live match and it was such a brilliant experience!

Crafty Colour Palette #6: the colours

I haven’t made a Crafty Colour Palette for ages, so when Tom suggested Seaman’s goalkeeper jerseys for inspiration I thought it would be really fun. He also had an idea for a hoop that I thought would make a nice design to be able to combine the colours from both of the jerseys. I’ll be stitching this during the tournament and will hopefully get it finished before the end!

This is the first colour palette, which features the following DMC shades:

Yellow 307

Purple 553

Light teal 3851

Dark teal 991

Royal blue 312

Dark navy 3750

Find a DMC to Anchor thread conversion chart here if you need it!

This is the second colour palette, which uses the following DMC shades:

Red 606

Orange 742

Yellow 444

Green 704

Purple 333

Burgundy 815

Dark navy 939

Find a DMC to Anchor thread conversion chart here if you need it!

Euro ’96 jerseys hoop project

The design that I came up with is inspired by both of the jerseys. It will feature a negative space jersey in the centre, and I’ll stitch patterns inspired by the jerseys around the edge. It’s fun to combine the two different designs! It might look a bit crazy in the end But we’ll see! I haven’t decided on exact stitches yet, but you can follow my progress on Instagram.

Download the project templates here!

I’ve used a Sublime Stitching pen and some embroidery transfer paper to transfer the design on to my fabric – both of these can be found in the marking products section of my haberdashery. Please note that the template is just currently the design as I haven’t yet filled in any of the colours! I will edit this post soon to add that in

You may also like…

This colour palette inspired by an IKEA purchase:

Crafty Colour Palette #1

Or this one with an Easter theme!

Crafty Colour Palette #3

This is still one of my favourite colour palettes inspired by stationery:

Crafty Colour Palette #2

This colour palette is inspired by my garden!

Crafty Colour Palette #5

The post Crafty Colour Palette #6 appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

This week in The Happy Stitch Project, we’ll be mastering the bullion knot! I tried these a couple of weeks ago and failed. It was so frustrating, and I thought that I might not ever be able to stitch them! But I’ve actually worked out why that is now (after a big discussion with my friend Louise, who works a few hours for me, yay!), so I can pass on a few tips to you as you give this one a go.

So, I think the first thing to say is that mastering the bullion knot will take a bit of patience. You’ll need good light, and you should try to make sure that you’re not too tired when you start doing them. You’ll need full concentration levels, so a cup of tea and a biscuit may also help! I used 3 strands of thread for my bullion knots, but you might want to try using more if you wish. During my first attempts, I wondered if the number of strands was affecting my ability to stitch them. But I think it was more the stitcher than the stitch that was the problem!

Mastering the bullion knot

You can watch this week’s tutorial video here on YouTube:

It will also be on IGTV later today (I usually post around lunchtime there). The sampler design used in the main photo at the top of this page is the one I use in my IGTV videos – it was designed by Helen from @unicornfactoryuk, who is taking part in The Happy Stitch Project too! Helen kindly put the templates together for a free download, which you can find here. It’s not too late to join in if you fancy getting started.

Adding bullion knots to our knot sampler

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been busy moving into my studio (more on that in another post). This has meant that I haven’t done additional videos to show me adding stitches to the knot sampler hoop. But I’m mostly set up now, so you’ll be pleased to know that there is a video for bullion knots – yay! You can watch it here:

It has been brilliant seeing your knot sampler hoops so far! I know that some of the knots have proven to be a bit tricky (we’re looking at you, Danish knots!). Please remember that with this project, you don’t have to stitch everything and you don’t have to love all the stitches. I’ve said before that I found that herringbone stitch really didn’t come naturally to me, and I know that this will take practice for me to make it look good. That’s absolutely fine! We all have our favourites and others that we won’t really use once we’ve done it a few times. The most important aspects of The Happy Stitch Project are learning together, learning from our mistakes, and learning to embrace the whole process – even if we don’t get things right the first time. Or even the second, third, or twentieth! Don’t forget that you can find all the posts via my links page, or through the blog section of the drop down menu at the top of each page.

Find my projects in Love Embroidery and Be Creative with Workbox this month!

I don’t think I’ll ever get over the excitement of seeing my work in print, and this month I have projects in two magazines! The first is these wonderful positive pin badges, which I designed for Love Embroidery magazine. This is my first commission for them and I am so excited! I have read craft magazines for YEARS, and to be actually designing for them is really a dream come true. Yay! The retro floral patterns and lovely colours will be a perfect spring project. I also have the little hoops available here in my haberdashery too You can buy a copy here or subscribe here.

My Keep Going hoop is also in issue 199 of Be Creative with Workbox, and it made the cover! So exciting! You’ll find all the info, instructions and template in the magazine. It is also available as a kit here if you prefer. Sadly, this magazine won’t be continuing after issue 200. It’s such a shame – I recently discovered this wonderful magazine, and it’s so sad that there won’t be any more. If you love a magazine then do keep buying it!

You may also like…

This post about how to stitch French knots:

Adding French knots to the geo hoop

This sewing machine cover:

Sewing machine cover

Make a delicious cake this weekend!

Nigella’s chocolate olive oil cake

The post Mastering the bullion knot appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

It has been a long, long time since I put together a new colour palette! I had such a lot of fun creating Crafty Colour Palette #5, which is inspired by my garden.  Sweet peas are my absolute favourite at this time of year (once peonies have gone, that is!). The last couple of years I have either completely forgotten to plant any, or just been a bit too busy with other things to remember to do it. But I know that making the effort is a part of self-care for me really. If I make the effort to plant in spring, July will be full of glorious colour and the beautiful, sweet smell of these delightful flowers. They also keep on giving, just by picking them more often! Nature is amazing, isn’t it? Having flowers in the house is something that really makes me feel good. When I realised that this was the case, I knew it was something I needed to keep doing.

Little One helped me pick these from our garden and we had a lovely time arranging them and matching up the colours. She really loves playing with my threads, so she didn’t take much persuading! It was actually a lovely colour matching activity, so we’ll definitely do it again. The sweet peas have gone now (the bugs got them), so this is a lovely reminder of them too.

Crafty Colour Palette #5

There is such variety in the colours of sweet peas! So this is quite a large colour palette here with 11 colours. You could select just a small selection for a project rather than using the whole thing, but the gradient of the colours from the bright coral red through to the really deep plum shades is just gorgeous.

The DMC thread colours in this palette are:

Cream 3865

Light red 3705

Bright coral 956

Medium bright pink 3806

Bright pink 3607

Magenta 33

Lilac 210

Light purple 155

Bright purple 333

Plum 35

Medium plum 34

Please note that the colour descriptions are my own – DMC might refer to them as slightly different names! If you need to convert to Anchor thread colours, you’ll find a handy chart on my website here.

Deciding what to stitch

I’m still deciding what to stitch with these colours. I’ve been so busy putting my latest kit together that I haven’t had the time to do much else recently! I thought it would be lovely to stitch something as a reminder of the summer, particularly as this one has been a little different to say the least. When I’ve worked out what this is, I’ll edit the post and let you know!

What would you stitch with these colours?

The post Crafty Colour Palette #5 appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Crafty Colour Palette #4: Colour list

Pale gold = DMC 726 / Anchor 295

Mid gold = DMC 743 / Anchor 302

Dark gold = DMC 742 / Anchor 303

Orange = DMC 740 / Anchor 316

Dark orange = DMC 947 / Anchor 330

Coral = DMC 3705 / Anchor 35

Hot pink = DMC 600 / Anchor 59

Plum = DMC 917 / Anchor 89

Purple = DMC 3837 / Anchor 100

Violet = DMC 333 / Anchor 119

If you look really carefully, you’ll notice that there’s actually a hint of blue in the Instagram logo in the top left corner. I used a few strands of DMC 792 (Anchor 941) in this logo, but I haven’t included it in this colour palette. One reason is that I wanted an even number of colours! The second is that I love the summer vibe of this colour palette, and preferred it without the blue.

Crafty Colour Palette #4: Eat Sleep Craft Repeat

So to celebrate the beauty of these gorgeous colours, I designed a little hoop to use them to full effect. This quote is a fun way to use an ombre effect, but you could use any quote really. My tip would be to keep it short enough not to be stitching forever, but long enough to be able to use a good range of colours. There are 10 in this project using the colour list earlier in the post.

You will need

The printed templates (click here to download for free!)

15cm (6″) embroidery hoop

20 x 20cm (8 x 8″) piece of white linen fabric

Your preferred method of transferring designs to fabric (a permanent method is ideal)

DMC threads as listed above (I use DMC but have given Anchor numbers in the list above too)

Needle and some small sharp scissors

Optional paint for your hoop

Step 1

Transfer the design on to the fabric and place it in the centre of your hoop. Thread your needle with 3 strands of the colour you want to use at the top of the word ‘eat’ (I used DMC 726 for this).

Bring the needle up at one side of the letter, and make a stitch by pushing it through at the other side of the letter. Keep your stitch nice and level – if you’re using linen, follow the line of the fabric as a guide. Make another stitch, leaving a gap between. Repeat to fill in the stitches until you have a clear band of this colour at the top of the letter.

Now thread your needle with three strands of the second colour, and stitch a band in the middle of the letter. Repeat with the third colour, as shown in the photo:

Step 2

When you have stitched blocks of each colour with gaps in between, fill in with stitches in between to blend the colours. Leave gaps between the stitches so that you can fill in with a lighter or darker shade – like this:

Don’t worry if you have any wonky edges – you can always correct these later!

Step 3

I used a lot of colours here, so stitched the first letters to show the finished effect, then the second with colour blocks so you can see the main colours. The colours are allocated like this:

EAT = shades 726, 743 and 742

SLEEP = shades 742, 740 and 947

CRAFT = shades 947, 3705, 600 and 917

REPEAT = shades 917, 3387 and 333

I put a hint of the darkest orange at the top of ‘craft’ and I think that helps with the ombré effect through the lettering, rather than having yellows and oranges in the top half and pinks and purples in the bottom.

Keep filling in the letters until everything is complete. I actually found it easier to block one colour at a time and then fill in the gaps – I only did it like this at first to be able to check it worked and to take a photo for this post!

Step 4

Once you’ve finished stitching, you’re ready to finish the back of your hoop. If you want to paint it, now is the time! I originally thought I’d put this in a yellow hoop, but it didn’t quite look right for me. The colour I used for my social media hoops gives a really lovely contrast, so I just repainted it. I finished the back by trimming the fabric about 1” from the edge, and then gathering with some white thread.

Ta-dah!

Your hoop is now ready to display.

Do let me know if you have a go at stitching this project!

I would love to see how you interpret this fun project – it would look great in any crafty space. Or if you use this ombre effect on your own project, let me know! Tag me @hellohoorayblog if you share on social media. Happy stitching!

The post Crafty Colour Palette #4 appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Crafty Colour Palette #3: Colour list

Pink: DMC 3689 / Anchor 49

Yellow: DMC 745 / Anchor 300

Blue: DMC 775 / Anchor 128

Lilac: DMC 211 / Anchor 342

Dark purple: DMC 3041 / Anchor 871

These colours would work so well for Easter projects, but you could use them for anything you like! I think they would be lovely for something for a nursery – maybe a name banner or hoop. I quite like it for something gender neutral in this sense, with the pink and blue together I think it would work quite nicely!

Hello! Hooray! for Hannah Handmakes

These are the hoops I designed for our little blog post swap If you saw my post earlier with Hannah’s amazing tutorial, you’ll know that I basically had two designs in my head and I couldn’t decide which one would work best! If I had to choose I’d probably pick the text only version because I’m so pleased with how that worked out.

You’ll find all the details (tutorials and templates) over at Hannah Handmakes! And you can find Hannah’s fabulous tutorial for this cross-stitched hoop here.

If you’re a beginner cross-stitcher (like me), Hannah takes us through the stitching process step-by-step. So it’s great for beginners, and a fun design for all levels too! We really hope that you enjoy these Easter projects – tag us @hellohoorayblog and @hannahhandmakes on Instagram Happy stitching!

The post Crafty Colour Palette #3 appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Crafty Colour Palette #2: Colour list

Yellow: DMC 3078 / Anchor 292

Orange: DMC 3856 / Anchor 1010

Pink: DMC 3689 / Anchor 49

Purple: DMC 155 / Anchor 1030

Blue: DMC 3811 / Anchor 1060

Mint: DMC 966 / Anchor 206

These colours immediately made me think of the amazing wool felt colours from Cloud Craft. They are definitely the best colours in wool felt! So I got in touch with Nicole from Cloud Craft, and she very kindly sent me the felt for this project. I have such a large collection of embroidery thread that I had all the DMC thread that I needed! If you would like to purchase the thread or the felt in these colours, you can find the links in the project list below.

Crafty Colour Palette #2: Enamel pin holder

When I was thinking about what to make with these felt colours, I knew that I wanted to showcase each shade and I thought that a rainbow effect would be the best way to do this. I have recently started adding to my pin collection and thought it would be great to have something to keep them on. Ta-dah!

Materials

Templates (click here to download – prints on A3 paper)

7″ embroidery hoop

Needle and pins

Sharp fabric scissors

Paper scissors

A pencil

You will also need wool felt in the following colours (with matching thread in brackets):

Buttery (no matching thread needed for this layout, but matches DMC 3078)

Barbie (matches DMC 3858)

Ascot (matches DMC 3689)

Lavender posie (matches DMC 155)

Spearmint (matches DMC 3811)

Pistachio (matches DMC 966)

Step 1

Print out your templates and cut them out using your paper scissors. Lay out the template pieces next to your felt colours, so that you can work out which one goes with which colour.

Step 2

Carefully pin each pattern piece on the colour you want to use, and cut around them using your fabric scissors. Then layer each piece with about 1cm overlap on each side (I went from left to right putting the next piece on top each time). Pin in place. Don’t worry if it doesn’t make a perfect circle, we’ll sort that out shortly!

Step 3

When all the pieces are in place, check the positioning by putting the outer ring of the embroidery hoop over the top. Make sure you can see enough of the outer colours, and adjust the positioning if you need to.

Step 4

When you’re happy with the positioning, you can start to stitch! You only need one stitch for this, which is back stitch. Using the thread colour to match the felt (I started with apricot), thread your needle with 3 strands. Come up through the fabric and make a small stitch, a little way from the edge (see 1 and 2 in the photo below). Then bring your needle up one stitch length away from that (photo 3), before bringing the needle down through the felt at the point where your first stitch ended (photo 4).

Step 5

Repeat all the way along the line, following the line of the felt as a guide. Then do the same with the other colours, matching the thread colours each time.

Step 6

When all of the stitching is complete, turn the felt over so the wrong side is facing up. Put the outer ring of the hoop over it, and draw around the inside with a pencil. Use your fabric scissors to cut out the circle. You might cut some of the knots off at this point, but that’s ok!

Step 7

Once trimmed, place the felt back in the hoop and tighten the screw to secure it. You can leave the back open to see the pretty colours! I thought about adding an extra circle of felt at the back to cover it up, but this makes it too thick to put the pins through. No-one can see the back anyway! You may notice that I’ve painted my hoop to add a bit of extra colour.

Ta-dah!

Your hoop is ready to display all of your lovely pins on! Or just leave it plain if you prefer – that’s the beauty of this project

The pins on my hoop are by the following makers: Sally Sunshine pin by Leslieanne Made It, Fuelled by Tea pin by Samantha Eynon and I Love Tea pin by Kate Garey.

Want one of these enamel pin holder hoops?

If you’re not a crafter but you’d like to get your hands on one of these, fear not! They are now available in my online shop, where you’ll also find a vegan friendly version too. Also, head over to @hellohoorayblog on Instagram for details of a giveaway coming this week! You could win this hoop! Give @cloud.craft a little follow while you’re there too as Nicole has a super inspiring feed!

If you want to get your hands on some pastel highlighters, you can find them here.

Thank you so much to Nicole at Cloud Craft for providing me with the felt for this project. All other materials and tools my own.

Post updated 11th November 2019.

The post Crafty Colour Palette #2 appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Crafty Colour Palette #1 had to be what originally inspired my new project. 

It was this lovely tray that I got from IKEA! Every time I looked at it, I just kept thinking how the colours went together so well.  This is quite a large selection with 8 colours, but you could select a few or use them all.

Crafty Colour Palette #1: Colour list

Pale pink: DMC 603 / Anchor 62

Fuchsia: DMC 601 / Anchor 57

Orange: DMC 970 / Anchor 316

Red: DMC 349 / Anchor 13

Yellow: DMC 444 / Anchor 290

Light green: DMC 704 / Anchor 256

Dark green: DMC 700 / Anchor 228

Blue: DMC 3843 / Anchor 1089

What could I make?

There are so many things you could make with a rainbow colour palette! I picked out a few ideas from my Pinterest board, Stitch.

Make some hoop art with some very neat satin stitch – simple but so effective! (Embroidery by Jane Denton. Source: The Jealous Curator)

Try out a Sashiko inspired stitch on a quilt like this one (Source: Me and My Sister Designs):

You could also customise your clothes! Use vintage-style stitches to create a unique garment or give something a new lease of life.

Customisation doesn’t have to be complicated though! Add some rainbow style with some simple stitching. This is a dress that we recently bought for Little One and it has simple stitching around the bottom in rainbow colours. You could stitch this on a sewing machine if you’re not confident at sewing by hand. Dress from Mothercare (photo my own).

Got any other ideas for projects inspired by this colour palette? Share them in the comments below or get in touch via Instagram @craftycolourpalettes! Don’t forget that I’m looking for contributions to Crafty Colour Palettes – email me clare@hellohooray.com with your ideas!

The post Crafty Colour Palette #1 appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Introducing Crafty Colour Palettes with @hellohoorayblog

Crafty Colour Palettes is the inspiration for your next craft project. On my blog and on Instagram, I’ll be curating colourful photos and creating colour palettes with embroidery thread for you to use for crafting! Every colour palette will come complete with a blog post and full details of the threads that you need. I’ve chosen to use embroidery thread for my project because there is such a vast array of colours, which gives lots of opportunity to create so many palettes. Not a stitcher? Don’t worry, I’m on the look out for other ways of suggesting colourful projects! I’m also looking for contributors too, so keep reading on if you want to know more…

Inspiration from everyday things

We are surrounded by colour, and inspiration can come from anywhere. The initial idea for this project came from a tray that I bought in IKEA! You’ll see that in my first Crafty Colour Palettes post. I think it’s lovely to be able to create something which your own curated selection of colours. I love to play around with colour. Something as simple as a bunch of daffodils in your favourite jug could be the inspiration for your next project!

How to find Crafty Colour Palettes

The full details for each colour palette will be on my blog, and I’ve created a separate page for you to be able to find them all in one place – just click here. If you’d like to follow on Instagram, search for @craftycolourpalettes. Or search for the #craftycolourpalettes hashtag. Alternatively, you can find a board on my Pinterest. There are lots of ways to get your colour fix!

Interested in getting involved?

I would LOVE to have some guest curators of Crafty Colour Palettes! I think this would give greater variation for your craft projects. If you are interested in being a guest curator, you can email me clare@hellohooray.com or get in touch via my contact page. Or get in touch via Instagram @craftycolourpalettes or @hellohoorayblog Don’t worry if you don’t have oodles of embroidery thread like me – I can create palettes with your photos very easily. Let me know your ideas!

I really hope that you like my new project! Look out for the first Crafty Colour Palette tomorrow…

The post Introducing Crafty Colour Palettes appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.