Step-by-step beaded honey bee sewing project

_{Some items have been gifted}

I’m super excited to share this lovely Weekend Makes: Hoop Embroidery book with you today because it hasn’t even been published yet! So I feel very lucky to be able to bring you a sneak peek of the book, share the step-by-step beaded honey bee project AND give you the chance to win a copy of the book for yourself!

Read on to check out this bee-eutiful sewing project and enter the giveaway below…

Ever since my bestie showed me how to cross-stitch, I’ve been getting more and more interested in hoop embroidery. She showed me how to make a tiny robin and I was hooked!

I already love to sew and have tried a bit of free-motion embroidery in the past but hoop embroidery is such a relaxing process. The slow pace of stitching by hand is really calming and it’s a great craft activity to do in the evenings while chilling on the sofa.

So when I got the opportunity to preview Weekend Makes: Hoop Embroidery I jumped at the chance. Plus I’ve got THREE extra copies to give away to three lucky winners so be sure to enter the giveaway below for your chance to win!

Rosemary Drysdale has put together 25 quick and easy projects for this book and I’ve been allowed to pick out a project to share with you today. I couldn’t resist this lovely little beaded honey bee design so I hope you’ll enjoy making it.

Here are the template and diagram downloads you’ll need for this project:

Weekend Makes: Hoop Embroidery by Rosemary Drysdale, GMC Publications, RRP £14.99, available online and from all good bookshops.

Skill level: Requires experience

Bees are essential contributors to our food supply chain: they pollinate the fruits and vegetables we eat. In this project I’ve used seed beads to make the characteristic yellow and black stripes of the honeybee and give it some dimension.

YOU WILL NEED

• 8in (20cm) square white linen fabric
• 3¾in (9cm) circle white felt, for backing
• 4in (10cm) embroidery hoop
• Embroidery floss: Black (Anchor 403, DMC 310)
• Seed beads: Yellow, approx 65 beads
• Seed beads: Black, approx 80 beads
• Seed beads: White, approx 12 beads
• Thread for finishing: pearl cotton 5, White (Anchor 001, DMC White)
• Embroidery needle, size 6
• Beading needle
• Dressmaker’s carbon paper and tracing paper
• Pencil
• Scissors

TIP

If you prefer, you could swap out seed beads for French knots. Simply work rows of knots in yellow, black and white floss where I’ve used beads.

PREPARATION

Transfer the template design onto fabric. Centre hoop over the design, assembling it securely.

Stitches used: Back stitch, Satin stitch, Stem stitch

METHOD

Using one or three strands of floss throughout, work the embroidery following the diagram. Add the beads last. To attach seed beads, use a fine beading needle that will fit through the bead when threaded. (Beading needles are available in packets of assorted sizes.) Use one strand of matching floss and sew on one bead at a time.

Starting at the left-hand side of the area you are beading, bring the threaded needle up from under the fabric, thread through the bead and then back through the fabric towards the right. Continue working until you have a row of beads. To secure the row you can run the needle through all of the beads, from right to left. Then begin your next row.

Weekend Makes: Hoop Embroidery is packed full of lovely little projects like this – all with step-by-step diagrams and beautiful photos of the finished designs. Even if you’re just a beginner like me, the book will also help you learn how to do the basic embroidery stitches thanks to the easy-to-follow instructions.

GIVEAWAY

As if the free project download above wasn’t enough, I’ve also got THREE copies of Weekend Makes: Hoop Embroidery by Rosemary Drysdale to give away to three lucky winners. There are many ways you can enter via Rafflecopter below and the three winners will be chosen from all the entries received once the giveaway closes. Best of luck!

Giveaway open to UK residents only and winners will need to provide a UK delivery address to receive the prize. 3 Winners will be chosen at random from all the entries received via Rafflecopter. Competition runs from 13th September to 19th October 2020.

PIN IT FOR LATER

Some items in this blog post have been gifted to me and the pink links indicate a gifted product, affiliate link or information source. All thoughts and opinions in this post are based on my own experience and I am not responsible for your experience 🙂