If you’ve got an old piece of clothing that you want to revamp, it’s a great idea to add a touch of embroidery. This not only allows you to cover up any marks or pulls in order to give your shirt, jacket or jeans a new lease of life, but it allows you to customise your clothing, making it truly personal to you.
It’s also a lovely idea to use embroidery if you’re making a gift for someone special; I’ve previously been given beautiful embroidered hoops as special gifts from my talented friends and I really appreciate the time, effort and love they’ve put into the pieces.
Inspired by traditional Mexican embroidery, this motif is designed to fit on the yoke of a blouse, or around the neckline, and looks most effective when embroidered with colourful threads. If your shirt or blouse doesn’t look like the one in the photograph, the motif can easily be adapted to fit.
And, of course, you could use any fabric item you like – from pillowcases and tablecloths to trouser pockets or shirt cuffs – just adapt the design to fit the space you have available.
You will need:
- Cotton shirt or blouse
- Embroidery hoop
- Crewel (embroidery) needle
- Permanent or erasable marker
- DMC six-stranded thread in these colours:
- fern green 703
- forget-me-not-blue 794
- poppy 606
- orange 740
- amethyst 553
- bubblegum 956
- sunshine yellow 444
Stitches used: chain stitch, French knot, satin stitch, split stitch
This motif can be used on a variety of different garments. Here it has been added to a shirt, either side of the front button fastening. It would look equally good on the bodice of a plain dress and could easily be adapted to a child’s dress. This shirt has pintucks, creating a textured surface, but this is not an obstacle to adding embroidery: you do not need to start with smooth fabric.
Here’s the template for you to save and print for this project:
Flower Embroidery by Susie Johns, GMC Publications, RRP £16.99
Step 1
Trace or transfer the Mexican blouse motif from page 81 on to the left-hand side of the shirt, reversing it for the right-hand side. You can use a ballpoint pen, as all the lines should be covered by embroidery stitches, or an erasable marker if you prefer. Position the design high on the yoke, above the bustline.
Step 2
Select your colours and place the fabric in an embroidery hoop. You will need a small hoop that can be moved from place to place to work on different areas of the design. Work the stems in chain stitch, using fern green 703. Use two strands of thread throughout the project.
Step 3
Fill in the leaf shapes with satin stitch using forget-me-not blue 794. Start by working a few stitches down the length of the shape before working the satin stitches close together across the shape; this will help to ensure good coverage.
Step 4
Use poppy 606 and orange 740 for the petals of the top flower. Work the stamens in split stitch using two strands of amethyst 553, with the anthers in satin stitch using sunshine yellow 444. Still using sunshine yellow 444, fill in the flower centres of the three smaller flowers, then use amethyst 553 for the petals.
Step 5
For the remaining large flower, fill in the petals using satin stitch and bubblegum 956. For the two smaller flowers, fill in the centres in sunshine yellow 444 then complete the petals using poppy 606. Using orange 740, fill in the circles in satin stitch, leaving a small gap in the centre. Finally, work a French knot in the centre of each, using sunshine yellow 444. Work the two sides of the blouse to match.
And there you have it – a beautiful embroidery design to prettify any piece of clothing you have. This gorgeous project has been kindly provided by Susie Johns and is taken from her amazing Flower Embroidery book.
Flower Embroidery by Susie Johns, GMC Publications, RRP £16.99, available online and from all good bookshops.
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 🙂
