This week’s hoop design for The Happy Stitch Project is a spring mandala with picot and tulip stitch, stitched in a gorgeous spring-inspired colour palette.  I love the symmetry of mandalas and this is the first one that I’ve ever designed! I knew that picot stitch  and tulip stitch would work really well for this sort of pattern, so once I’d come up with the centre pattern with the tulips I built it up from there. Picot stitch is also known as long tailed link stitch, because like many other stitches it has two names! If you can stitch a link stitch, then you can stitch a picot and a tulip too. Yay!

Spring is my favourite season, and this spring mandala is a lovely way to show off those beautiful tulip stitches. I have stitched this mandala in just one colour (which is unusual for me!) and I think it looks fab. But this design would look amazing in a variety of colours, so use as many as you like!

Spring mandala with picot and tulip stitch: materials list

Some good quality cotton fabric (I’m using some quilting cotton here)

A 10cm (4″) hoop to display and a 12cm (5″) hoop for stitching (or a 15cm/6″ for stitching in if you’re stitching the larger version)

A method of design transfer – I’m using a Sublime Stitching pen and some transfer paper here, but you could use something semi-permanent if you prefer

Templates – click here to download the pdf

Some embroidery thread (this is DMC 3851, which is available here)

Needle

Sharp scissors

Some perle cotton to finish the back

Watch this week’s tutorial videos

You can watch the picot and tulip tutorial video here:

The project video for the spring mandala hoop is here:

Step 1

Transfer the design onto fabric using your preferred method of design transfer. Place the fabric in the larger hoop for stitching. Thread your needle with 2 strands of thread (I’m using 2 strands throughout here).

Step 2

Stitch the tulips in the centre first, being careful not to pull the thread too tightly or it will go out of shape. When complete, stitch the centre circle with small back stitches.

Step 3

Work outwards with your stitching to complete the design (see video to see how I stitch the pattern between the two big circles in the design).

Step 4

Once the stitching is complete, finish the back and it’s ready to display.

I hope you enjoy stitching this spring mandala as much as I did!

I can’t wait to see your creations, so please use the hashtag #TheHappyStitchProject on Instagram and I’ll be able to see it. I’m catching up a bit this week after a tough week, so I’m sorry if you’ve shared something over the past week and I haven’t commented yet. Lockdown life has taken its toll a bit over the last week and the juggle is real! Thanks so much for joining in – it really means the world. Have a good week!

You may also like…

These geometric roll-up blinds:

Geometric painted roll-up blinds

Make a delicious Easter treat with this recipe:

Mini Egg rocky road

Make your own creative family manifesto:

Our creative family manifesto

Treat yourself to some lovely new DMC thread!

DMC mouline stranded cotton

Read all about my first book, Colourful Fun Embroidery!

Introducing Colourful Fun Embroidery!

The post Spring mandala with picot and tulip stitch appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

In week 5 of The Happy Stitch Project we’re learning fern stitch. This is the first new stitch that I’ve learnt for the project, and I’ve designed this fern stitch wreath hoop for you to create something simple but beautiful. Add your own text or design in the centre to customise it!

I actually really loved stitching this stitch. It’s simple, but really effective! I can see myself using it in lots of designs, and it even features in my new hand embroidery kit too. Yay! I stitched this up in no time in a 10cm (4″) hoop, but you could easily make this much bigger if you wanted to. The templates for a 12cm (5″) and a 15cm (6″) are included in this week’s newsletter for subscribers. Sign up in the footer if you don’t want to miss out!

Fern stitch wreath hoop: materials list

10cm (4″) embroidery hoop

Some white linen fabric, roughly 18×18 cm (pre-ironed)

Wreath template (click here to download)

An aqua trick marker, or your preferred method of design transfer

Needle and thread (I’m using DMC 701 here)

Small sharp scissors, plus large ones to finish the back

White perle thread

Watch the tutorial video on YouTube!

The full tutorial project for this hoop is available on YouTube – written instructions can be found below. You can also watch the fern stitch tutorial here.

Step 1

Take your template, and secure it to a flat surface with some tape. Place your fabric on top, making sure it is in the centre, and use your aqua trick marker (or similar) to trace over the design.

Step 2

Place the fabric in the hoop and tighten the screw. Thread your needle with some of your thread (I am using 4 strands here), and then starting at the top, stitch a horizontal stitch………….

Step 3

Repeat these fern stitches all the way around the hoop, until the design is completely covered. Add your own design in the centre at this point if you wish – see the ‘Make it your own’ section below for some ideas.

Step 4

Reposition the fabric in the hoop if not quite central, and then tighten the screw at the top. Remove any unwanted pen lines with the water pen.

Step 5

Finish the back of your hoop as desired – the video shows you how I like to do this but you can do it any way you like!

Make it your own

I love to make suggestions for how to make projects your own! Each project in my book, Colourful Fun Embroidery, has a section to do this. Embroidery is a really personal thing, as is any handmade item, and it just makes it personal to you. Here are some suggestions for this hoop:

• Stitch the leaves in a different shade or shades of green – simply thread the different colours through the back (a bit like I did in the link stitch geo hoop with the French knots)
• Stitch a floral design in the middle, or include some flowers in the wreath itself
• Include a quote or a name in the centre – use an air erasable pen for shorter text that can be stitched quickly. You could even use the text from the sprinkles hoop in week 1 (if you print the templates slightly smaller!)

You may also like…

Make your own felt Christmas wreath with this step-by-step tutorial:

Felt Christmas wreath

For a sweet treat, try this Mini Egg rocky road:

Mini Egg rocky road

Or get some colour inspiration with Crafty Colour Palette #3:

Crafty Colour Palette #3

And find out more about my You Tube channel here:

Hello! Hooray! is now on YouTube!

Stitch this beautiful One Step at a Time design from Colourful Fun Embroidery:

https://hellohooray.com/product/one-step-at-a-time-embroidery-kit/

The post Fern stitch wreath hoop appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

This link stitch geometric hoop is the perfect project to practice your link stitches! It is designed to be something to work on over time, and I know you’re going to love seeing the geometric pattern build as you add more stitches.  This design is for week 3 of The Happy Stitch Project, and you just need a few materials to stitch this. I have used perle thread for this hoop, as I prefer to use it for link stitches. Perle thread is mercerised (which is the term that I could not remember when recording the videos!) which means that it doesn’t split like the standard DMC embroidery thread. No 8 perle is the same thickness as 3 strands of standard thread, so it’s great for a project like this. You can use 3 strands of standard thread for this design if you want to – just do whatever works for you! I do have some perle thread in my haberdashery now in case you want to add some to your stash

If you don’t want to use a plain fabric for this, have a look in your stash and see what you already have! You could easily add some link stitches around some dots on a dotty fabric – or be really inventive and add them to another pattern. Don’t forget to share your stitching with me @hellohoorayblog!

Materials

I have used a 15cm (6″) hoop for this project (the one in the video is hand painted in the Alfie colour from my shop)

A 24cm x 24cm piece of white linen fabric or a good quality quilting cotton like this one

A 1cm dotted grid template – I downloaded mine here

A pencil

An Aquatrick marker pen (or another method that has some permanence)

Needles – a couple are useful, one for each colour! You’ll find a variety of them here.

Perle thread – two contrasting colours in No. 8 size (available in my haberdashery). I’m using shades 959 and 793 here. You’ll eventually need some to finish the back of the hoop, but we’ll come to that next week…

Watch the link stitch geometric hoop video

If you’d like to watch the link stitch tutorial video first, click here!

Step 1

Secure the printed dotted grid template to a flat surface. Take the inner ring of your embroidery hoop, place it on top and then draw around the inner edge with a pencil.

Step 2

Place your fabric on top of the template, and then use your Aquatrick marker (or similar) to mark on all the dots that appear inside the circle. Remove the fabric once complete, and place in your embroidery hoop.

Step 3

Thread a needle with some of the first colour of perle. Select a dot as a starting point, and stitch a link stitch up to the next dot along. Secure with a small tie stitch. Repeat a further three times from the starting point, so a cross shape is formed of four stitches in the same colour. Carefully tie off at the back.

Step 4

Thread the other needle with the other colour perle thread, and repeat step 3 but directly next to the cross shape you have already stitched. The ends of the link stitches should touch.

Step 5

Keep stitching alternate colours to build up the pattern (see video). Eventually, the whole hoop will be covered in this pattern.

What’s coming next week?

So if you watched all the way to the end of the video, you’ll know that I am going to be working on completing this hoop over the coming week. We’ll also add a few more little details to it in the form of French knots, which is the stitch we’re learning in week 4 of The Happy Stitch Project – yay! Don’t be afraid of French knots, as once you’ve got the knack you’ll be a pro in no time!

If you’ve enjoyed reading this, you might like these…

Geometric meal planner

Perpetual paper chains

Geometric painted roll-up blinds

And if you missed the first project, here’s where you’ll find the sprinkles hoop.

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