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

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This week in The Happy Stitch Project, we’re learning how to stitch a stem stitch. I’m wondering why I haven’t learnt this one before to be honest, as it’s such a lovely stitch! Here it is in red on the sampler designed by Helen from @unicornfactoryuk – you can download it here.I have added it to the edges of the Do Your Thing hoop that we started last week when we learnt arrowhead stitch. I really love the look of the stem stitching around the edges because it makes it pop so much! I have really enjoyed practising it this week, and I have managed to perfect my technique as I’ve gone along. In this week’s tutorial videos, I started by stitching this stitch in a couple of different ways. But as the week went on, I came up with a third one that works much better for me! Rather than changing everything I’ve just added it to the project video, because I want to show you an honest account of how I’m learning these stitches. We get better with practice and that’s a good thing! I’d recommend giving each one a try and seeing which technique works best for you. I’m really happy with my loop technique because I feel like I can get much more even stem stitches by doing it this way.

How to stitch stem stitch: tutorial videos

Watch the stem stitch tutorial video here:

Watch the project video here:

If you missed the first part of this project, you’ll find all the info and free templates here.

Next week, we’ll add some more embellishments around the edges with another new stitch. I’ve decided to put this in a peach hoop (the ‘Peaches’ shade) to match shade 20 from the perfect pastels thread pack that I used in the project, so you’ll get to see that next week too! I hope you’ve enjoyed learning stem stitch this week – don’t forget to share what you’ve been stitching on Instagram by tagging me @hellohoorayblog

You may also like…

Try making these yummy breakfast bars this weekend:

Nigella Lawson’s breakfast bars

Make your own floral buttonholes like we did for our wedding:

Make your own floral buttonholes

Treat yourself to a Keep Going embroidery kit!

https://hellohooray.com/product/keep-going-hand-embroidery-kit/

The post How to stitch a stem stitch appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

I picked these words for this week because I’ve been hearing lots of small business friends saying that they’re suffering with the dreaded comparison at the moment. But it’s not just people who run a small business; anyone can feel it, and life in lockdown is making this more difficult. I think because everything is online at the moment, it’s easy to only present the best bits on social media. It’s something I talked about this week in this blog post. So this hoop is designed to be a little reminder to us all to keep doing our own thing. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing; we’re all on our own journey and doing what works for us. Just keep doing you!

Do Your Thing embroidered hoop: materials list

17cm (7″) embroidery hoop

A piece of white cotton or linen fabric, measuring 25 x 25cm (10 x 10″)

Templates (click to download)

A permanent method of design transfer, such as a Sublime Stitching pen and hand embroidery transfer paper

DMC shades from perfect pastels thread pack – next week we’ll also use shade 03 to stitch around the edges of the letters

Needle

Some embroidery scissors

Watch the Do Your Thing embroidered hoop tutorial video

Watch the arrowhead stitch tutorial here first if you want to practice first.

Step 1

Trace the templates (see the materials list for the link to download) onto the fabric using your chosen method. If you’re using a heat pen and transfer paper, check out my tutorial video here. Place your fabric in your hoop.

Step 2

Thread your needle with 3 strands of the first colour of thread. Starting at the bottom of the letter ‘D’, stitch arrowhead stitches moving upwards and around in the direction of the letter. Think about the direction as though you were writing it and follow that! Make sure you don’t stitch over the lines around the edges, as we’ll be adding stem stitches around the edges next week.

Step 3

Repeat with the remaining letters, until all of them are filled in. And that’s it for this week! If you don’t want to add stem stitch, you could always stitch a back stitch around the edges instead this week

You may also like…

See my hand stitched social media icons!

Hand embroidered social media icons

See one of my first ever embroidered banners here:

Embroidered banner

Make some simple decorations for your home with these fabric covered letters:

Fabric covered letters

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