So today I’m really excited to tell you more about the recent big commission I was working on. It was this Top 50 Stitches booklet with Love Embroidery magazine, and it’s free with Issue 16 in July!

It’s SO hard not being able to share things when you’re working on a commission, especially when it’s this exciting! This free booklet contains so much embroidery goodness. And if you’re joining in with The Happy Stitch Project then you’ll definitely want to pick up a copy! It includes step-by-step photos and instructions to be able to stitch the Top 50 stitches, and if that wasn’t enough there are 3 mini rainbow-themed projects for you to stitch too. Yay! This booklet is sponsored by Anchor thread, and they kindly sent me the thread to be able to stitch this. It’s stitched in an 8″ hoop, and I’ve painted this in one of my favourite shades called ‘Alfie’. You can find the painted hoops here in my haberdashery.

Subscribe to Love Embroidery magazine today!

Subscribe to Love Embroidery by 29^th June to receive my exclusive Top 50 Stitches booklet! Master the art of modern embroidery with this essential 64-page guide, including rainbow-inspired projects, step-by-step tutorials, expert tips, templates and more. This is ONLY available with issue 16 of Love Embroidery magazine, so sign up here today to get yours! By clicking on this link you will receive 6 issues for £9.99 which is a bargain (UK only) I can’t wait for you to read it! I’ll add more to this post once the issue is out in the world.

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I have been absolutely delighted to see lots of people joining in with The Happy Stitch Project this week. It has been so amazing to see you all enjoying some creative time, and so many of you learning a new skill. It feels like the perfect craft for 2021 to bring us a little peace, calm and creativity. These little moments and pockets of time are truly going to be invaluable for us all. Here in the UK as we are now in our third Covid lockdown, and I’ve had lots of lovely messages from people saying that they are looking forward to making time for themselves, and that’s really so important. It’s hard to believe we’re only seven days in to 2021 and everything has gone completely crazy!

Earlier this week, the lovely Helen from The Unicorn Factory shared a hoop design in her Instagram stories, which she had put together to be able to make a sampler for The Happy Stitch Project. It has 52 sections, and Helen said that she was going to use it to practice each of the stitches that we’re learning throughout the year. I just think this is the most brilliant idea! So I got in touch to ask if I could share them with you, and I’m very pleased to say that she said yes (thanks, Helen!).

Helen is a surface pattern designer, and you can buy fabrics from her beautiful first collection (called Rainforest Joy) on Fashion Formula and Spoonflower. I love the colours she has used in this collection, and they complement each other so well. Go and give her a follow on Instagram too!

Happy Stitch hoop templates

Helen has very kindly put the documents together for the Happy Stitch hoop templates, so they’re ready for you to download and print!  You can either stitch in an 20cm (8″) or a 25cm (10″) hoop, depending on what you feel most comfortable with. You can print both at 100% on A4 – the larger size will get chopped off slightly when printed, but the lines are clear enough for you to be able to draw this on anyway.

Click here to download the 20cm (8″) templates

Click here to download the 25cm (10″) templates

Week 1 project – in case you missed it!

Did you see the design for week 1 of The Happy Stitch Project? It’s this lovely little sprinkles hoop – I have loved seeing your creations over on Instagram this week. Keep sharing, as I’ll be sharing my favourites each week! And don’t forget that if you need some sewing supplies, you can find lots of lovely things in my haberdashery. Hoops are now available, and more things coming soon!

Have you stitched anything this week? Let me know in the comments! The week 2 stitch tutorial and project will be available tomorrow – yay!

You may also like…

Enjoy stitching the Do Your Thing hoop from week 7 of The Happy Stitch Project:

Do your thing embroidered hoop

Try out the first kit from The Happy Stitch Project here:

https://hellohooray.com/product/brighter-days-are-coming-kit/

Try out your own 100 Happy Days – perfect for practising gratitude:

100 Happy Days

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This Sprinkles Hoop is the first design for The Happy Stitch Project and I really hope that you enjoy making it to practice the first two stitches, straight stitch and back stitch. I am thrilled with the response to The Happy Stitch Project so far, and we have only just begun! Thank you for all your comments and messages, it’s really brilliant I can’t wait to see what you stitch this year!

The sprinkles hoop for The Happy Stitch Project

Anyway, let’s talk a little bit more about this hoop. The Sprinkles hoop for The Happy Stitch Project was designed as a reminder to hold on to hope as we move into 2021. Last year was so tough, and holding onto hope seemed impossible at times. It still feels hard now, with everything that’s going on in the world doesn’t it? But I’m trying my best to focus on the positives (being creative is one of them) and so the sprinkles here represent the chaos in the world, with the word ‘hope’ standing out in the middle as a reminder that it is still there. We can do this, 2021!

This design brings together the two stitches that we’ve learnt (or revised, if you know them already!) in week 1 – straight stitch and back stitch. It can be stitched in a couple of hours, or you can take your time over it, and please remember that you should stitch at your own pace and do what works for you. There’s no pressure to finish this week, just enjoy the process

Materials list

For this project, you will need the following materials:

• A piece of cotton fabric – I am stitching in a 10cm (4″) hoop and have used an 18x18cm piece, but you can use a larger piece with a larger hoop (see video!)
• A 10cm (4″) embroidery hoop (coming to the haberdashery this week!)
• Needle
• Small pair of sharp scissors (the ones in the video are available here) plus a larger pair to finish later
• A selection of embroidery thread – I have used my loose ends here, but you could use any colours (rainbow or pastel would work well)
• An air erasable pen
• Templates (click to download) if you wish, or just freestyle it!
• Some perle thread to finish the back (this will be in my haberdashery this week too!)

Watch the tutorial video: Sprinkles hoop for The Happy Stitch Project

Full written instructions are below if you prefer, but you can watch the video here:

Step 1

Take the template and place the fabric on top. Using your air erasable pen, trace over the lettering carefully. Then position your fabric in the hoop, making sure that the tension is just right (don’t pull too tightly so it’s out of shape, but don’t leave it too loose either).

Step 2

Thread your needle with 3 strands of embroidery thread (you may find a thread conditioner helpful, as mentioned in the video). Tie a knot in the end, trimming the excess so that it doesn’t accidentally come through the front as you stitch! The, use a small back stitch to stitch the lettering (see my tutorial video for back stitch here).

Step 3

Add the sprinkles by stitching straight stitches in different colours around the edges. You could use your loose ends of thread for this – these are little pieces of thread saved in a jar or a box from previous projects, which minimise waste. You’ll need to use all 6 strands for the sprinkles, to make them stand out.

I started by stitching 3 of each colour sprinkle, and then went back and added more where there were gaps. You can either do this freestyle like I did in the video, or by drawing the lines on first. Just do what works for you!

I personally found that it was best to tie a knot at the end of each sprinkle and trim before repeating the process, as this avoided seeing lines of thread through the front of the fabric. This is around 13:10 on the video if you want to see.

Step 4

When the embroidery is complete, position the fabric so you are happy with how it looks (you could always iron the edges but NOT over the stitching!). Tighten the screw at the top of the hoop, and turn over to the back. With a larger pair of scissors, trim the excess fabric to around 2cm (just under 1″). Thread your needle with a length of perle thread the circumference of the hoop, and tie a not in the end but don’t trim the excess. Stitch a running stitch around the edge of the fabric, pull and tie a knot or two to secure. You’ll find this section from 15:41 on the video if you’d like to watch to see how I did this.

Ta-dah!

A beautifully simple hoop, which will hopefully give you lots of joy to stitch and some comfort during the rest of 2021 and beyond Newsletter subscribers have already received some alternative words to stitch, and with an air erasable pen you can easily make this project your own. I’d really LOVE to see what you stitch, so do share with me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter – or drop me an email if you’d rather.

So what’s next?!

Next week, we’ll be doing my favourite stitch – satin stitch! It’s the only stitch in my Keep Going kit, and I use it in the Sunbeams kit too. It’s so versatile and lovely and I know you’re going to enjoy it! As you can see above, I’ve got the next few weeks mapped out – January will be the rest of the stitches that I know, and then from February we’ll be learning together. And I can’t wait!

As I said before, please let me know if you have any comments or questions. I’d love to hear what you think and how you’re getting on!

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Welcome to The Happy Stitch Project! I’m so excited to be launching today – yay! This whole project basically came about when I got stuck in a creative rut a couple of months ago, and I knew that I wanted to come up with something to get me out of it. It was during a period when I felt a bit lost and unmotivated creatively, and that’s never a great place to be in (but trusting in the process is key and I know that this will get me out of it). The last few weeks have been crazy busy (for which I am truly thankful!) but it didn’t leave me much time for being creative, and I felt like I didn’t know what to work on next anyway. Over the last couple of years I’ve come to understand that when I feel a bit lost, learning something new can help to encourage me to get creative again. It always feels like a big kickstart to get me going again, if that makes sense?!

So I decided to go big or go home and take on a year-long project in 2021. I went from feeling lost to feeling hugely motivated and excited before I’d even done a stitch! And I think this is a good sign, so I’m really hoping that it will not only get me going creatively but also encourage you to get involved as well – whether you’ve stitched before or not!

What is The Happy Stitch Project?

So in a nutshell, I am going to be learning (and teaching you!) a new embroidery stitch in every week of 2021. This is a project that you’ll be able to join in with in a way that suits you. It will be something that you can dip in and out of, use either as a refresher or as a way to learn completely new stitches. You’ll get to see all the outtakes of me learning new things along the way too – I really want to show you the full process throughout, whether it goes well or not! I have always done this on my blog and it’s a really important part of how I work creatively. We learn such a lot when things don’t quite go to plan, and I try to embrace this as much as possible. I’d love to encourage you to do the same!

There will be lots going on as part of the project, including:

• Blog posts full of ideas, tips and tricks
• Tutorial videos on YouTube and IGTV
• Free digital patterns for you to try out
• New kits available to purchase throughout the year
• Newsletter subscribers will also receive additional free patterns throughout the year – you can sign up in the footer or via the popup too!

Watch on YouTube!

The first videos are live on YouTube already – yay! You’ll find an introduction to the project below if you’d like to watch me talk about it The first two stitch tutorials are on there (you get a bonus one this week as it’s the first week!), so we’re starting with straight stitch and back stitch. I’ll be writing additional blog posts for these as well, so stay tuned.

The project in more detail

I really want #TheHappyStitchProject to be an exploration of stitching for us all, and something which encourages you to explore hand embroidery a little further. There are a few things that are super important to me, and I wanted to highlight them individually:

Work at your own pace

One of the key things about The Happy Stitch Project is that I want you to work at your own pace. Comparing your speed to other people can take some of the joy out of it, and I want this to be an enjoyable project for you! Try to enjoy the process, however fast or slow your stitching is going. There’s really no rush at all. Also, there isn’t a test at the end so remember that you don’t have to complete each week! Simply dip in and out and take what you need. You might skip a few weeks if you feel like you’ve mastered those stitches already. The content will be available afterwards anyway, so you can always come back later. It’s okay to change your mind!

You don’t have to be an expert

In my book, Colourful Fun Embroidery, I talk about using only a small number of stitches to be create a variety of different pieces. I only use about 5 different ones in my book, which are the stitches I have used for basically all of the projects I have ever stitched, and I’ll let you into a secret…they are actually the only ones I know! That’s right – I wrote a book, an ACTUAL BOOK that I am so so proud of, and I only used 5 stitches. Which firstly goes to show how how versatile hand embroidery is, and secondly that you can produce beautiful pieces without knowing everything there is to know about embroidery. I’m here to remind you that you don’t have to be an expert to get started; you certainly don’t need to be an expert to join in with The Happy Stitch Project. (Also if you haven’t got a copy and you’d like one, you’ll find them here!)

You may wonder why I’m telling you this, in a world where Instagram and social media in general presents us with perfect stitches and expert crafters. Well, I guess what I’m getting at is that this is a learning process for me as well as for lots of you, and that is absolutely okay. Being open to this is a really important part of being creative – we can’t expect to learn anything unless we are open to learning. We can’t become more expert at something until we learn and practise (and practise some more!). Making mistakes is key to this process, as we often learn more from making mistakes – or at least by allowing ourselves to see mistakes as a way to explore and develop creatively. Whatever stage of the creative process you find yourself in, keep going. You’ll get there, just trust in the process! 

There is more than one way of doing things

One of the things that I find frustrating about the creative world is that there can sometimes be this idea that there is only one way to do something. I firmly believe that there are plenty of ways to do things to achieve the same or similar results! You may find that I am teaching you stitches in a different way to how you’ve learnt before – you don’t have to follow what I’m doing, keep doing what you’ve always done if you have a technique that works. Feel free to adapt my methods in a way that suits you – we’re all different and that’s a good thing!

Get involved

This project isn’t just about me learning or teaching you new stitches – I’d love to see what you’re stitching too! Use the hashtag #TheHappyStitchProject and tag me @hellohoorayblog on social media because I would LOVE to see what you create! Please feel free to ask questions as well, as I’m happy to help.

Use what you have

I really want you to be able to make the most of materials and tools that you already have, so raid your fabric stash and see what you can use! I have a huge stash and I’ve been working on trying to use more of it before I buy anything new where I can. But, if you do need some additional supplies then I have loads in my haberdashery. Really excited to say that I have my first fabric available (only in one colour at the moment as we have no space here!) and more will be available soon. So if you do want to treat yourself to new supplies then that’s absolutely okay – no judgement here (and I’ll probably start doing the same haha!).

Are you ready to get started?!

Let me know if you’re joining in! I am so excited to feel inspired by learning new things, and by what you’re all stitching too. If you have any comments or questions, you can leave a comment below or get in touch by email, through Instagram or Facebook. Let’s make 2021 a happy, creative year!

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I am so excited to be sharing this post today. Introducing Colourful Fun Embroidery – my first book!  Colourful Fun Embroidery features 24 modern projects to bring joy and happiness to your life. I am hugely passionate about getting creative to improve mental health and well-being. My book focuses on how you can use hand embroidery to help you take time out to be creative in order to feel good. Mindfulness is something that many people are focussing on more now, especially in terms of how crafting can help you feel better. When I started writing my book back in 2018, I couldn’t have predicted how relevant this would be right now in 2020. But it feels like the right time for it to be released into the world!

My book will be released on 30th October 2020 by White Owl Books, and it’s the perfect book for complete beginners and more experienced embroiderers. So today I thought I’d write a post introducing Colourful Fun Embroidery to tell you a little bit more about it and share some photos of some projects from the book. You can pre-order your copy here, and there will be links to this at the end of the post too!

Introducing Colourful Fun Embroidery: book description 

Take time out to be creative and de-stress with these colourful, fun embroidery projects from Hello! Hooray! Ranging from things you could complete in an afternoon to others that you can take your time over, enjoy every step of the making process as you focus on feeling good through being creative. The finished makes will bring colour and joy to your home, workspace and wardrobe.

The projects in this book allow you to craft your creative time by selecting makes according to timescale. Choose one of the ‘crafternoon makes’ if you want that sense of joy at finishing something, a ‘medium makes’ project for the days where you have a little more time for crafting, or for something to really take your time over you could stitch one of the longer ‘pick me up’ projects.

Each project includes step-by-step instructions, beautiful photos and inspirational ideas for how to make each project your own. So take time to be creative with this colourful, feel-good craft book!

Take time out to be creative

If I had to sum up the main theme of the book very briefly, it would be that my book focusses on the idea of taking time out to be creative. Over the last few years, I really struggled with work-related mental health issues. One of the things that really helped me to get through the day at the day job was to do some hand embroidery on my lunch break. I would take whatever I was working on and sit with a cup of tea and stitch. Even if it was just for 10 minutes, it made a huge difference. It slowed me down, allowed me to focus on something that I loved and I could always see progress even during a short time. For that short period of time I felt less stressed and much happier. Lots of my colleagues said how much they enjoyed watching me stitch too!

One of the main things that I love about hand embroidery is that you can fit it into little pockets of time here and there. I first got into it after our daughter (known as Little One here on my blog) was born in 2016. It was naturally a very busy time, but I felt a huge urge to do something creative. Hand embroidery was the perfect craft for me at this point. Being able to stop and start stitching without having to count stitches to work out where to continue was brilliant! Counting and measuring have never been my strongest skills anyway, and hand embroidery gave me much more freedom than other forms of stitching. I could pick it up for a little while when she napped, drop it mid stitch and then pick it up later. Even if later wasn’t for another couple of weeks!

When I started writing my book Little One was two, and whilst writing I fell pregnant with our second. They are now aged four and one and I feel more passionate about having creative time than ever before! Being creative makes my soul happy and I can’t imagine not doing something creative each day. It’s important to me individually but also to us as a family (see our creative family manifesto). Finding little pockets of time to be creative is super important for me. I’m not saying it’s always easy to do, because it isn’t! But by prioritising it, you can give yourself some time each day to focus on doing something that makes you feel good.

Introducing Colourful Fun Embroidery: the projects

I divided the sections of my book into three, based on the amount of time that it takes to complete each project. So there are ‘Crafternoons’, ‘Medium Makes’ and ‘Pick Me Up’ projects. This was really important to me, and was one of the first decisions I made when writing my book pitch back in 2018. I really wanted readers to feel like they could dip into my book, and pick the perfect project for them to start working on based on how much time they had. 

Sometimes you really just want to sit down and make something in an afternoon. You don’t want a project that’s going to take loads of prep before you can get started. Neither do you want it to drag on for ages! So the Crafternoon projects are perfect for this. You could get together with a friend for tea, cake and stitching (once we’re allowed to do that safely in person – or just do it virtually!).

Other times you want to spend a bit longer on a project. You might be going away for a few days, or just fancy doing some stitching at the end of each day. My Medium Makes projects are things that take a little more time to make than the projects in Crafternoons, but they can easily be finished in a few days. But the beauty of these projects is that you can take more time over them if you wish! There’s no rush, just enjoy the process – it is just as important as the thing you’re making.

My Pick Me Up projects take much longer, and that’s ok. Sometimes it’s nice to have something to keep working on, because you see it come together over time. You put so much love into it, and you’re really proud of it when it’s done. Some of these projects are heirloom pieces, and I hope that you love stitching them.

Make it your own

Another big thing that I wanted to emphasise with the projects in Colourful Fun Embroidery is that you can take them, play around and adapt them to make something else if you wish. When it comes to creativity, the best thing we can do to encourage it is to play around with it. Play with colour, pattern, technique, style – whatever. Don’t worry about getting things ‘right’, just go for it! I really want my book to be a source of creative inspiration for you, and I hope that it encourages you to be creative in your approach! You might look at one of the projects and like the design, but not want to display it in a hoop, for example. That’s absolutely ok! Take what you like and adapt it to suit you (please remember that the projects are for personal use only though!).

To make this a little easier and give you a starting point, each project comes with suggestions for how to make it your own. It might be that you take an element of one design and turn it into a different project altogether. Or you might take a colour palette from one, and use that for another project. This is wonderful! I can’t wait to see the results, so please share with me on Instagram @hellohoorayblog or via Facebook or Twitter.

Colourful Fun Embroidery: FAQs

I’ve had a few questions about my book already, and thought it would be good to end with a little FAQ section. I’ll be adding to these every now and again when I can.

Will I enjoy this book if I’m a beginner?

Yes! It doesn’t matter if you have never stitched before, so don’t worry if you’re a beginner. There are handy stitch guides as well as lots of information about getting started with hand embroidery. So don’t be afraid to give it a go! And don’t be afraid to make mistakes – it’s how we learn. My book will give you lots of ideas in terms of exploring your creativity and experimenting, and that’s all part of the fun! 

Does that mean it’s not a book for experienced stitchers?

Not at all! Lots of the people who have reviewed my book before release have said that they aren’t beginners but that they found it really inspiring. As I explained earlier in the post, I wanted to make the designs adaptable so you can use the project ideas as a starting point and customise it from there. I’m sure that experienced stitchers will feel inspired by my book too!

Is this book suitable for children?

Although several of the pre-release reviews have stated that the book is suitable for children (maybe because of the fun designs and bright colours?!), it wasn’t designed with children in mind. Of course, you can stitch the projects with children if you supervise your child, but some of the projects would be very tricky with children. Little One loves playing with thread and fabric, but I personally won’t be teaching her for a while! 

Will I need loads of different materials?

You can start hand embroidery with just a few basics. In my book I share a materials list, as well as a list of some of my favourite suppliers. I will also be stocking some of these things in the Haberdashery section on my website.

Will you be selling kits?

Yes! Some of the projects will be available as kits, and these will only be available through my website. Preorder book and kit bundles include the Good Vibes hoop, the Snail Mail hoop and the Long Player hoop – click here to order. Other projects will be available after release.

If you enjoyed reading this post, preorder your copy of Colourful Fun Embroidery today!

Preorders will be posted out once the book has been released – the release date is 30th October 2020. 

If you have any comments or questions, please get in touch. I’d love to hear from you!

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