Describe your work in 3 words.

Fun, easy and colourful.

Who or what inspires you?

I get my inspiration from everyday life, such as clothes my kids wear, window displays in Paperchase and all the lovely people in my Facebook group who help out with ideas for new designs. If I am struggling to get inspired though, I find cleaning such a helpful way to clear my mind and inspiration usually strikes.

How did you first get started with cross stitch?

I very first started when I was around 6 and my nan taught me (my first proper kit was a Groovy Chick one). But I got back into it after having my first baby and, like many mums, I needed a new hobby that wasn’t feeding, changing or rocking.

Tell us about your design process. How do you turn something from an idea to a finished project?

I have so many ideas that I have had to teach myself to learn to let some of them go because it would be impossible for me to stitch them all. I usually start with some sketches; this is when I decide how big the design will be. Then I get some opinions on whether to turn it into a pattern, usually from my sister but also from my Facebook group.

Once I have decided, I turn the sketch into a pattern by first tracing it onto graph paper and then using a software on my computer. Then I have to decide the colours, which is the hardest part because there are just too many.

I always stitch my patterns before turning them into kits/downloads, because they always turn out a little different to how you would expect and there may be some tweaks to make.

Your shops on Etsy and NOTHS focus on cross stitch kits and patterns. What do you love the most about creating them?

I love that I don’t have to be amazing at drawing to design a cross stitch pattern; working with squares is very helpful when I’m in the design process. And I love that I don’t need to be an expert at sewing to create a handstitched product. As a busy mum of two I like to keep things simple and easy.

You’ve recently started recording a podcast – tell us all about it!

This is something I was so nervous about starting (as you can probably tell from my voice on the first few episodes) but I personally love listening to podcasts and I wanted to create more accessible content for my audience and customers; something they can listen to while stitching! I love how personal podcasts are because as I am talking, stories come out that I never would have thought of if I was writing a blog post.

I try not to talk about the business side much on it (although it sometimes slips in) but make it more of a place to share any tips around creativity and cross stitch. And sharing any cross stitch related products I come across such as books and patterns.

How do you juggle running a small business with family life?

Well, I definitely drop some of those balls sometimes. I try and make sure there are different blocks to our day. Some blocks are just for family time and other blocks are just for work. They tend to get mixed up sometimes, especially during the week when I don’t have my husband here to help, but usually I try to be focusing on one or the other. My 4 year old is in pre-school part time and my toddler naps most days so I have that time too. But most of my work is done when they go to bed or during the weekend; breaking all the rules of a normal work week. As I spend so much time with the kids in the week though, I quite like escaping to work on the weekends.

What advice would you give to anyone who is just starting out selling their wares?

Try to focus on one thing at a time. This goes for everything, from what products to sell, to what platforms to sell on. Know your numbers from the very beginning and make sure you’re not undercharging. And be patient. Building an authentic brand is something that can only be done slowly, so try not to compare yourself to someone who has been doing this for years more than you (although I think looking up to these people can help, as long as it makes you feel good when you do). Also, try and find a community or create one yourself as the self employed world can be quite a lonely one. I don’t think my business would be anywhere near where it is now without the support of the online community I am part of.

Thank you SO much for chatting to us, Hannah!

Juggling a small business and a family is such hard work, but Hannah is doing an amazing job! I totally agree that you end up working all hours and during nap times (hooray for nap times!), and Hannah’s advice to work on one thing at a time is a top tip if you’re just getting started or if you’re getting overloaded. I’m looking forward to seeing what you make next, Hannah!

I’m so inspired by Hannah’s designs and hope you are too! Do check out her podcast, The Cross Stitch Podcast, which you can find on on iTunes or via Hannah’s blog. If you’re interested in getting started with cross stitch, you can purchase kits from her website. And don’t forget to follow @hannahhandmakes on Instagram too!

The post A natter with…Hannah from Hannah Hand Makes appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

You will need

16 count, white Aida

Embroidery thread – DMC 224, 368, 827, 3042 and 3078. Or pastel pink, green, blue, purple and yellow in your choice of brand.

A size 26 tapestry/cross stitch needle

A pattern (available to download)

A 5 inch hoop or frame to hold your fabric while you’re stitching and to frame it.

Scissors

A pen or pencil

A comfy spot to sit and stitch (preferably with good light).

Optional extras

A needle minder

Pom pom trim (approx. 16 inches/41cm)

A bag or box to keep your supplies in

A warm drink and yummy snack.

Starting your hoop

You always start stitching in the centre of your fabric and you can find the centre by folding your fabric/aida in half, length ways and width ways. Where they meet is your centre square and you can find the centre of your pattern by following the arrows. Then pop your aida in the hoop, trying to keep it centre. Pull the aida as tight as you can get it; this will make it much easier to stitch on.

Snip your thread ready to use. A good rule to measure it is to pull it from your finger tips to your elbow. Or a handy hint; if you take the full skein and snip all the loops at the bottom end you should be left with strands of thread the perfect length!

For this pattern I recommend using the knotless loop method to start. Take 1 strand of the 6 on your length of thread and fold it in half. Thread your needle where the 2 ends meet, and you should have a loop at the bottom.

Come up the top left hole of the square you are starting on and leave the loop sticking out of the back. Then go diagonally across into the bottom right hole and put your needle in the loop at the back. Pull your thread gently and you should have made a knot. Then continue your stitching.

Making your “X”

Each square on your aida is one full X stitch from your pattern. As I said above, for your first stitch come up the top left hole of the square you are starting on, then go diagonally across into the bottom right square.

Next, come back up the top right hole and back down into the bottom left. Repeat this until you come to the end of the thread or colour you are using.

There are of course other ways to do this. Some people prefer to start from the right hole first and down into the bottom left. And some people do lots of half cross stitches one way and come back over them the other way. Go with whatever you find easiest; the important thing is to be consistent and do each stitch the same.

Tying off your thread

When you come to the end of your thread or you need to swap colours then you need to securely tie off your thread. To do this, you just simply take your needle and thread it under some of the stitches on the back of your hoop.

If you have quite a bit of thread left when you come to the end the you can snip it off and keep it to use again or “park it” (slip it through an unused part of your fabric such as the aida outside of the hoop) to use later.

Backing your hoop

For backing your hoop you can choose to add felt or not. I don’t always add felt to my hoop if I’m hanging it on the wall, but if you are displaying it somewhere else you may want to add it.

And you also need to decide if you are adding pom-pom trim as you will need to glue this on before backing. To glue it on, craft or PVA will work fine. Glue it on slowly and in stages, holding each part down for 10 seconds so it doesn’t move as you continue around the hoop. Then snip any excess off before gluing the last part down.

To measure your felt, take your inner hoop and draw around the outside of it and cut your felt circle out.

For backing you hoop you will need to use 2 strands of thread. Start by doing a running stitch around the edge of your fabric. This is simply a normal stitch going in and out of your fabric. When you have gone all the way around pull gently and your fabric should bunch together, then tie a knot to secure it.

Next, come up through the edge of the fabric next to your hoop and place your felt at the back. Your felt may have pencil lines on from when you cut it. If this is the case then place the side with the pencil lines down so they are hidden.

Now you do the blanket stitch. Put your needle in the felt about an inch away from the edge of the hoop.

Come out right next to where you first came out and make sure your needle is in front of the thread. Pull gently and you will have made your first stitch.

For your second stitch put your needle in about an inch away from your first and an inch away from the edge again. Come straight up by the edge of your fabric and again make sure the thread is behind your needle. Pull gently and you will have made your second stitch. Repeat until you reach the end.

Ta-dah!

Your Easter hoop is ready to display! Thank you so much for this brilliant tutorial, Hannah – there are some really helpful tips here (I had no idea about snipping a skein to get the right thread lengths!). You can follow Hannah on Instagram for more lovely stitchy goodness, or listen to her podcast via her website. If you’re feeling inspired to get cross-stitching, why not treat yourself to a kit? You can also find Hannah Handmakes on Etsy and Not On The High Street.

Hello! Hooray! for Hannah Handmakes

I said earlier that this was a blog post swap, and these are the hoops that I designed! I ended up with two because I had two ideas and I couldn’t decide which one would be best, so I made both. The colours that I have chosen are inspired by mini eggs, which are my favourite Easter treat! I love the colours and thought they would be a perfect colour palette. These colours have inspired my latest post for #craftycolourpalettes which will be live on my blog later today. You can find the templates and tutorial for both of these hoops over on the Hannah Handmakes blog – and they are super easy to stitch so you can make a last-minute Easter project. Yay!

We would LOVE to see your creations if you make our hoops – so do tag @hellohoorayblog or @hannahhandmakes if you share on social media

The post Happy Easter Hoop from Hannah Handmakes appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

A few weeks back, I was really excited to see that the latest book by What Delilah Did (created by Sophie Simpson) is about to be released. A limited number of advance copies of Secret Garden Embroidery (pictured above) were available to buy so I snapped one up! I know people always say that you should never judge a book by its cover, but this is one that you can instantly fall in love just by looking at the beautifully stitched bee and the sweet cover illustrations. These illustrations run right through the book, and the projects are all tied together with the story of Mrs Merriweather and her wonderful garden. I am a big fan of Sophie’s books and wanted to find out more about What Delilah Did, and I’m delighted to say that Sophie very kindly agreed to do a little interview for Hello! Hooray! to tell us all about it…

Tell us a little bit about What Delilah Did, and how you got started.

I started up the business about seven years ago after being made redundant. I had always known I wanted to work for myself and do something creative, so it was a blessing in disguise. I had just rediscovered cross stitch but couldn’t find any patterns I liked so I started to design my own – at that time the choice was between teddy bears, kittens and Disney characters, none of which I would let within a mile of my house! I opened a little online shop and blog to sell my patterns and original stitched pieces, and word spread quite quickly through design blogs, Flickr and the like – apparently I wasn’t the only young person wanting to stitch something a bit different.

After a year or so my mum told me about the Best of British Open Call at Liberty, and I put together a prototype range of kits to take along – they bought the whole range and launched the kits in their London store a few months later. I sold my kits through Liberty for the following three years and it provided the exposure and opportunities I needed to expand my customer base massively. I now sell my patterns, kits and books to customers all over the world via my website, www.whatdelilahdid.com, and through boutique haberdasheries and lifestyle shops throughout the UK.

Little Bug Magnets from Secret Garden Embroidery by Sophie Simpson – Credit Rachel Whiting

Describe your creative process – how do you develop your designs?

My designs almost always stem from how I want the end product to look or function, so I often begin with a particular kind of linen or type of frame or style of cushion in mind and then design something to fit it. For larger patterns I sketch out different versions of an image in black and white until I am happy with them and then transfer them to the computer to make them into something stitchable. If I am making a very small pattern though I generally prefer to just use a pencil and some graph paper and play with the crosses until I have something I like the look of. Once I have the chart, I start to test colours and fabrics until I come up with a combination I like – this can be the longest part of the process because for threads can look completely different once they are stitched, so even if a bundle of colours looked beautiful together in your hand, they may look hideous on the fabric. I also like to check that there are not too many lone stitches and awkward little fiddly sections as these can make patterns a nightmare to complete. I never release a pattern until I have stitched it myself and know that everything works.

Mr Magpie Cushion PDF Pattern – Credit What Delilah Did

What is your typical day like? Do you design and write full-time or do you fit it around a day job?

Running What Delilah Did has been my full time job for the past couple of years (and by ‘full time’, read ‘all the time’!), though before that I did have to fit it around a number of day/evening/weekend jobs until I was confident that it was strong enough to stand on its own two feet.

There isn’t really any such thing as a typical day for me; every day is so different. Things always take so much longer than I think they are going to, so more often than not I end up spending a whole day/week on one thing and just keep going until it is done. That might be photographing new products, updating my website, answering emails, putting orders together, working on a commission, or designing new patterns and kits. Actually getting time to stitch in the day is a rare luxury – I normally end up doing that part in the evenings. I have tried many times to change the way I work so that I have more of a routine, but I still haven’t managed it yet.

Gigantic Circus Letter PDF Patterns – Credit What Delilah Did

Where do you get your inspiration? Do you have any favourite crafters/artists/bloggers?

I actually follow very few blogs and other artists now, partly due to lack of time, but also because they can sometimes leave me feeling a little overwhelmed – there is so much amazing design about that it is all too easy to be swayed by what other people are doing or feel that your own work isn’t good enough. I feel much more inspired when I shut myself off from all of that and rely on my imagination.

Most of my inspiration comes from sources that are not directly related to artists and crafters: old houses, stories, period dramas, film scores… Most recently I have loved the styling and music in Far From the Madding Crowd and Wolf Hall. Often I will try to capture the feeling that I get from a film or piece of music, or take a particular element such as a colour or a shadow in a piece of cloth or a building, and then translate it into my own work. I listen to a lot of period film scores while I work, so that has a strong influence on me.

Bee Cushion PDF Pattern – Credit What Delilah Did

The garden in your latest book, Secret Garden Embroidery sounds wonderful! Is it based on a real place?

The garden itself is fictitious, but the house and the setting is real – it belonged to a kind old man who lived down our road when we were children. I’m not sure how faithful my memory is to the true interior; I still look at it through a child’s eyes so it would probably seem smaller and less rambling if I were to view the inside as an adult. The house still exists but it has been made over and no longer has the overgrown trees at the front, or the orchard, or the air of romantic dishevelment. The dark rabbit warren of rooms that I remember being inside have probably been knocked through to suit modern tastes – arguably more practical, but less charming to me. Despite that, I have always hankered after that house and if I was ever in a position to buy it I would snap it up in a heartbeat.

Projects from Secret Garden Embroidery by Sophie Simpson – Credit Rachel Whiting

Secret Garden Embroidery is your third book – can you tell us a little more about what goes into writing and getting your books published?

I adore books and had always wanted to write my own, though I never imagined they would be about embroidery back when I was dreaming of being an author! My first book, Storyland Cross Stitch, came about when an editor saw my work in Liberty, looked up my blog and then contacted me to ask if I was interested in making a book for her publishing house. At the time it came completely out of the blue, and in all honesty I would have no idea how to go about getting published if I hadn’t been approached by publishers in the first place. Almost all books are commissioned these days and it is incredibly rare to get an unsolicited manuscript published, so I feel very fortunate that I didn’t have to go down that route.

Photo credit: Storyland Cross Stitch – What Delilah Did

The books themselves take more work than I could ever have anticipated. It was marginally less daunting to approach Stitch the Halls! and Secret Garden Embroidery because I knew what to expect, but the amount of work involved is still pretty hardcore. The main problem is that the deadlines are just insane. Most publishers are under a lot of pressure to get books made quickly (bearing in mind that it can take almost a year between a finished book being submitted and it actually landing in the shops), and they just have no idea about how long things take to make. An embroiderer is given the same amount of time to make a collection of projects as a papercrafter, despite the fact that it takes about thirty times as long to make embroidery projects. I also make things worse for myself because I am very particular about how I want things to be, so I end up doing a lot of the work that would usually be done by the publisher, just to make sure it ends up how I want it. The books are a wonderful thing to do, but more so in hindsight than while you are actually making them against the clock!

Photo credit: Stitch the Halls – What Delilah Did

If you had to choose, what would be your favourite project that you have worked on?

The most enjoyable things to work on are my PDF patterns, because there are no deadlines, no briefs and I can take all the time I need to make exactly what I want, so they are my favourite thing to make. But the books are probably the things I am the most proud of; partly because of the work that went into them, but also because it is lovely to hold a tangible object in your hand; almost like a beautifully produced diary of what you did that year.

Mini Folk Letter PDF Patterns – Credit What Delilah Did

What does the future hold for What Delilah Did?

I have had my hands in so many different pies for the past few years that what I am really craving is something simple. Once my new studio is up and running I want to spend some time working the way I did at the beginning, making small quantities of lovely things for my shop with my imagination as the only limit.

Miss Millicent Hare from Secret Garden Embroidery by Sophie Simpson – Credit Rachel Whiting

Thank you so much for taking the time to natter to us, Sophie – I know you’re super busy with your new book and renovating your house, so I really appreciate it! If you love Sophie’s designs as much as I do, you can buy them in her shop, and the Little Bug Magnets and Miss Millicent Hare (featured above) are available as limited edition kits here. I am just starting work on one of the projects from the book, and will be writing a little review of it over the next couple of weeks or so, so be sure to look out for that. You can also find out more on the What Delilah Did blog, Facebook page, Flickr and Twitter feeds.

Secret Garden Embroidery is published on 11th June by Pavilion – but if you can’t wait until then, you might find an advance copy here!

All photos used with kind permission from Sophie Simpson/What Delilah Did.

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