Want to learn the basics of hand embroidery with an easy online workshop – totally free?
Sign up for Embroidery 101 here. You’ll learn how to get started, the tools and supplies you’ll need, the four most basic stitches, how to transfer your pattern and how to display your work.
If you already know the basics – sign up for Embroidery 201. It’s also free! You’ll learn how to stitch on specialty fabrics like felt and stretchy T-shirts. Plus you’ll learn lots and lots and LOTS more stitches – all my favorites!
You all liked this adorable little Oddball with his bunny slippers, his teddy bear, and his blankie. But you have to blanket stitch around the edge of the blankie and several of you reminded me that I haven’t done a video for that yet (even though you’ve been asking very nicely).
Done!
Not only do I show you how to blanket stitch – I show you how to do it without any knots. No knots! So it looks perfectly perfect everywhere! And for those who are really obsessed with perfection, I show you how to mark the fabric before stitching so all your stitches are perfectly spaced.
Here’s the video. . .
I show this on felt because I’m currently obsessed with felt, but you can use the same technique on fleece if you like.
Ready? Go blanket stitch something! Here’s the Floyd pattern if you want to start with his blankie. 🙂 And here’s some felt if you have a different project in mind.
Happy stitching!
Best, Wendi
Play with some felt! Try the Oddballs – a fun pattern for silly monsters.
Today’s guest post is written by Alyssa, who has a gift for making fabulous felt eyes.
Today, she’s going to let us in on her secret… so we can make fabulous felt eyes, too!
(Alyssa wrote this specifically about amigurumi – but the technique works for any softies.)
Why use felt?
I like to use felt eyes as an alternative to other eye-making methods. Felt is safer to use than plastic eyes for toys that will be given to small children, but much more expressive than eyes that are made using yarn.
While Stacey has created a baby-safe crocheted eye that looks great, I could never quite get them to look right, and so I use this method instead. Attaching the felt is more time-intensive than any of these methods, but I think that it is worth it in the end.
White Size 3 cotton crochet thread (or another thin white yarn)
2 different sized sewing needles (one for the floss and one for the crochet thread)
I find it easiest to attach the felt once the animal has otherwise been completed. That way, all of the features are positioned and the felt will not stretch out of shape when the piece is stuffed.
Step 2: Cut the Felt
I usually cut the felt into squares slightly larger than what I want to eye to be, then into rough circle shape, and then carefully trim the edges of these circles until they are completely smooth. The trick to good-looking eyes to take your time to get nice rounded edges. Using small, sharp scissors really makes a difference.
Cutting the felt, start to finish:
Step 3: Sew on the Eyes
Before you start sewing, you will want to position the eyes on the toy—play around with them until you are satisfied with the way they look and then pin them into place. I find it helpful to use a pin with a white head as it mimics the position and look of the eye highlight.
Use the smaller needle and a single strand of embroidery floss or sewing thread to attach the eyes. The felt will be sewn on using an applique stitch, which are small whipstitches made around the circumference of the eye. (Wendi has a video here showing how to whipstitch applique felt – it’s the same method.)
In the photo, the blue lines mark where I placed my stitches for Mal. The size of the animal and the eye will determine how many stitches you will need to securely attach it. For a small toy like Mal, I only use 6 stitches.
For a medium-sized toy (Most of the FreshStitches amigurumi), I would use 8. And for a large toy or one with large eyes (I like to give Nelson the Owl huge eyes), I might use upwards of 12.
Step 4: Create the Highlight
Play around with the position of the white pins to figure out where you want the highlight to be. The highlights themselves are simply French knots, with the yarn wrapped once around needle.
Pull the ends of the white thread to snug up the knot. If you don’t like the way it looks, simply pull the knot out and try again with a new thread.
Step 5: Finish your Amigurumi
Once your eyes have been sewn on and the highlights look satisfactory, tie the ends together to secure them and use a needle to pull them through the stuffing to hide the ends. Snip off any remaining ends and congratulate yourself for finishing your new amigurumi!
Good news to share!
Want to squee along with me about some great news?!?
Crocheted Softies, my second book, has been reprinted! That means that so many have sold… that the publisher ran out and needed to print more! Hooray!
Today’s guest tutorial is written by Jennifer Crowley, the designer/teacher/blogger at www.tinkingturtle.com.
Jennifer teaches both knitting & crocheting, and you can check out her designs on Ravelry. Recent and upcoming publications include Sockupied, Knitpicks and Classic Elite Yarns.
Today, she’s sharing with us a technique for working two colors in crochet… one I had never heard of! How exciting is that?!?
Helix striping has been on my mind a lot lately. I just finished creating a pattern for Sockupied that uses knit barberpole striping, and since I was on a role, when Stacey put out a call for guest writers – I was in!
Helix, or barberpole striping, is a technique that takes advantage of the fact that crochet (or knitting!) is not actually done in the round, but in a spiral. Crocheters are very aware of this – when we want to work in the round oftentimes we join each round – but other times, like in many of Stacey’s patterns, we work in a swirl. Each row stacks up over the next, never coming to an ending point. When crocheting with one color this phenomenon is not always obvious, but when we want to create stripes, or change colors, we often get a jog, or a step. Helix, or barberpole striping, is one solution to the problem.
I first read about helix striping in Knitter’s Handbook by Montse Stanley. Now, I know she’s talking about knitting, but the principle is the same. As she explains it, “A truly ingenious way of avoiding steps [striping jogs] at the start of rounds… Divide the work into as many, roughly equal, groups of stitches as colors you want to use. Either put each group on its own double-pointed needle, or use needle markers if working with a circular needle. Work the 1st group in the 1st color, 2nd group in the second color, etc. Work next round similarly, but using the colors as they come – 1st group with last color from previous round, 2nd group with 1st color, etc. Repeat.” The same is true for crochet.
When working helix stripes, the fabric looks something like this:
The blue stacks upon the red, and the red stacks upon the blue. Each color swirls around the next. If viewed from above, as if working a hat (or blanket), the colors look like this:
So how does this work in practice? Well, Montse Stanley hints at how to work helix stripes. Instead of working in one color, then dropping it and working on the other color (like in traditional stripes that have a jog), both colors are “live,” and while not necessarily worked at the same time, are never retired from crocheting. This is actually easier for crochet than it is for knitting, because in crochet, you have far fewer “live” stitches.
Take a look at the swatch I worked here:
When I began, I started with Stacey’s super-easy magic ring and in the light blue I: ch1, sc3, then I joined the navy, and ch1, sc 3. I then continued to crochet over the light blue with the navy, putting 2 sc into each st. When the navy met up with the blue, I dropped the navy yarn (put a locking stitch marker through the loop), and proceeded to then put 2 sc into the next 3 sts (12 sts). I then continued to crochet over the navy, until I ran out of navy sts to work. I then picked up the navy yarn, put the stitch marker into the blue loop, and did the same thing for the navy as I did for the blue.
The result? A swirl. If you trace the blue yarn (or the navy, just pick one), the stripe swirls out in a spiral, like a seashell.
If you can’t see the spiral, take a look at my next swatch. This time I had two strands of the blue, and just one of the navy. In addition to making the swirl more drastic, it also has the result of making the blue stripes thicker.
Here I now have 3 yarns that are live. The order is now navy, followed by light blue, followed by light blue again. Here, instead of having the colors all end at the same place, I crochet the navy over to the blue stitches, and when I get to the blue, I drop the navy and knit the blue stitches over the second blue. When I get to the second blue yarn, I drop the first blue and work over the navy stitches, until I reach the navy. I then pick up the navy and start the whole cycle again.
Some things to be aware of when working with the yarns ending at multiple places in your crochet: the points where you switch colors can become stretched out and loose. Take care to make sure that you snug up any stitches that have become too loose, without yanking on them. The locking stitch markers that hold the other live stitches help. Also, be sure to put in a stitch marker to mark the beginning of the round. Because you are working with multiple colors, each round with a color is 1 round, but colors are going to switch in the middle of rounds. By the time all the colors make one full circuit, you’ve worked several rounds – however many colors you have. In the above picture’s case, this is three.
Barberpole stripes don’t only have to be worked in circles, although this is the most intuitive shape. Here, I worked a square, stacking my increases up in the corners similar to when you work any type of granny square.
While helix striping creates some distinctive effects when viewed from above, one of the great advantages it has is when it’s viewed from the side. From the side, the distinctive swirl is not as noticeable, and the stripes, without steps or jogs, shine. I’ve got plans to make a Roosevelt the Monster using helix stripes. His legs would come out looking something like this:
And the finished version might come out something like this:
Which one of Stacey’s patterns do you think would look good with helix stripes?
Here are handy links to all the posts about changing yarn color in crochet. . .
Tammy leads a craft club at her local school, and she’s been sweet enough to stop by today and share her tips! This post contains some great tips and also a list of charities that you can consider contacting if you’re interested in starting your own charity-driven craft group.
Have a read, and you might feel inspired to start a craft club of your own!
I am a member of a number of web-based craft groups, and we often get together (virtually) and use our crafting skills to help charitable organizations. While the Internet is a wonderful space to find fellow crafters and fiber lovers, I started to crave the “in person” experience.
However, the only group I could find locally meets at times when I’m working, as all are retirees. This dilemma eventually gave me the idea to start my own craft club. Though my club is affiliated with a school, a similar approach can be taken to create a club at other institutions or privately.
Find your Mission
I enjoy making donation items, and since I am a teacher, I decided to combine these two interests and start a craft club at my school. We are called Caring through Crafting and our mission is twofold: teach club members various crafting skills (crochet, knitting, paper-arts, jewelry making, etc.) and then use these skills to help local charities.
A few months after starting the club, I was lucky enough to find another faculty member who knits and crochets, and we both are now the club’s advisors. During the school year, the club meets twice a month, and we craft like crazy.
Each semester we select a service project. Some of our past and current projects include the following:
Making fleece blankets and collecting donated items for Save the Chimps.
Making various crafts (greeting cards, jewelry, amigurumi, journals) and selling them at a local craft show with the proceeds going to charity.
Straighten out the supply-line
When I first started the club, there was no funding available from the school because I started it in the middle of a semester and everything had already been budgeted. I bought our first batch of yarn and crochet hooks, but it did not take long for us to start receiving donations.
Here are some tips for getting funding and donated supplies:
Whenever it is appropriate, tell every person you know about your club, especially if you plan to also participate in charitable projects. Word of mouth has been my most successful way to receive donated supplies.
Many newspapers have small sections where they feature local activities. Contact them about your club.
Use social media (such as Twitter, Facebook, and Plurk) to help get the word out. Our club has a Facebook page that also helps us keep members up to date with club activities.
Keep an on-going list of supplies you need, and keep track of spending. This can be helpful when someone asks about what supplies you need.
Run fund raisers to earn money for your club. Our club makes greeting cards and sells them throughout the school year.
Expect the unexpected
Of course, there was a big learning curve for me when I started the club, and this is an on-going process.
Here are a few challenges to expect:
Not all donated supplies are going to be useful to you. Sometime you may have to decline simply because you have no use for them, or you may not have enough storage space.
As far as yarn goes, expect a lot of acrylic, which is actually fine for many charities (since it is easy to care for) and useful for beginners to use as they learn.
If your club decides to commit to a big project, make sure you are ready to commit yourself to doing all of the work. Lots of times members will have great ideas but are not able to follow through. If you feel you could not complete the project on your own, then you may have to nicely explain to members that it may not be a good fit for the club right now.
You won’t be able to please all the club members. Some will want to knit and crochet, and others will want to make jewelry. Make a schedule and agenda in advance so members know what activities they will participate in at each meeting.
These days, families are so busy that there is little time to sit down and teach children how to sew on a button or crochet a scarf. Do not expect to make large-scale projects if you have inexperienced crafters. Items like snuggles and dish cloths are perfect beginners’ projects. Be patient and encouraging when teaching newbie crafters.
The club has turned into a lot of work for both my co-advisor and me, more than either of us had imagined. The emotional rewards, however, are worth all of the effort.
We have seen club members go from learning the chain stitch to crocheting a small blanket for a cat or dog in just a few weeks. Not only do they learn a new skill and help others, but in turn, they help themselves. School is an enriching environment, but it can also be stressful. At our meetings, we have fun and learn and achieve. We talk, joke, and bond as we weave together bits of yarn. Members feel successful and proud of their efforts, and this translates into self-esteem and self-worth that they carry with them forever.
I love working with wool blend felt – and I’m going to be doing more of it this year so I finally started carrying it in the shop. Lovely, luscious wool blend felt in 48 gorgeous colors! It feels so nice in the hands, it embroiders beautifully, and it’s so nice for hand sewing small softies. And wool felt wears so much better than the icky acrylic felt that you find in the big box craft stores. It’s just lovely!
Not so lovely is the trick of transferring an embroidery pattern to it and cutting out fussy small pieces. There are a couple of tricks and products that make these things so easy – and that’s what I’m sharing with you today.
Let’s take embroidery first. You can’t trace the pattern – the felt is too thick to see through. You don’t want to simply draw on it – that lifts the fibers on the surface. But there is a magical solution!
For all stitching on felt I use Sulky Sticky Fabri-solvy. Yes – it works beautifully on felt too! Just make sure to soak it off in COLD water. Hot (or even very warm) water will pebble the surface of the felt and shrink it a bit. I don’t use ice cold water, but I definitely stick to tepid or cold. Just let it sit in the bowl for a good bit and it will dissolve away nicely – then rinse off the clingy bits under running water. DON’T wring it out. DON’T twist it. Just take it out of the water, set it on a towel and walk away. It will dry – I promise. The Magical Embroidery Stuff also works great on darker colors. You can see it in action in this video.
What about cutting small felt pieces for patterns? Pinning little pieces distorts the felt, making it hard to cut out small shapes nicely. You can’t use pattern weights – they’re too big for small pieces. I use freezer paper. Trace the pattern pieces to freezer paper, iron to the felt so they stick in place with no shifting, cut them out and peel off the paper. Magic! Except for the tracing bit. I’ve been known to print out my pattern pieces and then glue the pages to freezer paper so I don’t have to trace. I hate it that much. The last time I was doing that I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be nice if I could print the pattern directly onto freezer paper? I wonder if anyone makes printable freezer paper?” Well, guess what? THEY DO! I’m in love! And I bought some for my shop so you can fall in love too. 🙂 You can find it here.
What if you’re embroidering and cutting out pattern pieces? For that I go back to The Magical Embroidery Stuff. Man – that stuff really is magical. 🙂
I show you how to use both the printable freezer paper and Sulky Sticky Fabri-solvy with felt in this video – including talking a bit about which product is better in different situations. (That monster pattern is Byron the Oddball. I love him.)
So – enjoy the felt! Enjoy the new I’ll-never-trace-again product! And happy stitching!
Today, I’m going to talk to you about an instruction that pops up in Flavia the Unicorn:
Flatten ear and then fold ear in half, and attach to the head (at rounds 6-7) so that the opening of the fold faces forward.
The potentially tricky bit in this instruction is that you’re attaching the folded ear to two rounds. Let’s chat about it!
One round vs. two rounds
Why does Flavia’s pattern tell you to attach the ear to two rounds, whereas other patterns instruct you to attach a folded ear to one round? (Have a peek at this tutorial for the step-by-step on one-round attaching.)
This is the ear from the Choose Your Own Adventure Dragon pattern, one where you attach to one round. See how the ear is floppy? There’s nothing wrong with that… it makes the dragon cute!
But, notice how Flavia’s ear sticks out? That extra structure is the result of attaching the ear more firmly at the base: to two rounds.
How to attach a folded ear to two rounds
All right. How do you get this perky ear? I’ll show you how it’s done.
First, flatten the ear and whipstitch it closed (check out this post if you’re rusty on that step).
Count how many stitches you have. If your final round had 24 stitches, your flattened piece will be 12 stitches wide. With your long tail, whipstitch half of the ear stitches to one round:
Now, you want to whipstitch the other half of the ear stitches to the second round. This means that you’re stitching in the opposite direction (follow the arrow!). . .
Yay! The ear is fully attached! To make the front of the ear look nice and tidy, I run my tapestry needle through the starting stitch, then tie a knot on the wrong side. This draws the fronts together.
Ta da!
You can use this trick on any folded ear… and it’ll stand up just a bit more!
Here are handy links to all the posts about attaching parts. . .
A lot of patterns going around at the moment feature stripes: two or three colors that go together perfectly.
You could follow the colors suggested in the pattern sample, but you want to try something a little different. But how in the world do you pick a colors that go together? Color theory. That’s how!
Picture the yarns on a color wheel
Most yarn lines contain a wide range of colors. Here’s a look at the color palette for Cotton Candy from Be Sweet:
Whoa! Overwhelming, right?
But don’t fret. To get started with selecting a pair of colors, imagine them organized around a color wheel:
It’s not all of the yarns, of course! I just picked a representative for each color wedge!
Most yarn companies design their colors of yarn with compatibility in mind. This is good news! It means that most yarns from a single line are of similar tone and will work together nicely… it’s just up to you to pick your fave color combo!
Color Theory 101
Fortunately, there’s a name for the art of picking colors that go together: color theory. Oodles of brilliant artists and designers agree on some fundamental color groupings. Phew! That means we can use what they’ve figured out to help us pick our color pairings!
There are three color schemes that, if followed, will create knock-your-socks-off color combos: analogous, complementary and split complementary. For help picking an awesome pair (or trio) of colors, stick with one of these schemes, and you can’t go wrong!
Analogous
Analogous colors are the ones that are next to each other on the color wheel.
This scheme can work with any number of colors – pick two that are next to each other, or three or four!
Complementary
For a color pair with a real ‘punch’, go with complementary colors – colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel.
I love using complementary colors. The difference in colors really highlights the striping/pattern in your knitting/crochet.
Split Complementary
A complementary color scheme gives you two colors… so if you want three, you’ll want to use the Split Complementary scheme. Here’s how this one works: start with one color. Zip across the color wheel to its complementary color, and select the two colors on each side of it.
Are you ready to hop into color?
See? It’s not so bad. The color wheel is your friend!
By using one of these color schemes, you’ll be able to put together a beautiful color combo! (I know I’ve started eyeing the blue + pink + orange one!)
Thanks so much to Be Sweet for permitting use of the photo of their lovely yarn to use as examples!
I teach people to crochet. More specifically, I’m very keen on teaching folks how to crochet adorable stuffed animals. I also teach crocheters how to create their own stuffed animal designs.
This last aspect of my chosen career has raised some eyebrows. I’ve been asked, “Aren’t you diluting your brand by teaching others to crochet like you?” and “Aren’t you creating your own competition?”. Wow. Big questions.
Today, I’m going to chat about my answers to questions, and share with you the reason I teach design: because folks from my classes are becoming designers and releasing their own patterns… and that makes me ecstatic! Isn’t that why teachers teach? To see students put to practice what they learned? I think it is!
FAQ: Fears about teaching design
I understand where these fears come from. It’s tough to make a living selling $5 patterns, and so there’s a natural defensiveness that can arise.
But I don’t think of my job as competitive. My job is to publish high-quality crochet patterns featuring designs in my own, unique style. And people who like my style might buy my patterns.
It’s hard for me to get my tail feathers in a ruffle when a new designer comes along. Miss New Designer has her own style! Some people will like it, and that’s okay. People will still like my patterns.
I’ll answer a couple of frequently asked questions.
Q: Don’t you think that teaching other people to design in your style will dilute your brand?
No, I don’t.
First, I teach certain techniques (like crocheting through the back loop and crocheting spiral rounds) because I think these create a better crochet fabric & overall design. In my opinion, these are techniques for your crochet toolbox, not ‘secrets’ of my style. I wasn’t the first person to ever use the back loop in crocheting, and I won’t be the last!
Second, ‘my style’ is something that’s difficult to teach or copy. My style is the ideas that pop into my head. My style is my judgement call about whether a nose looks better attached to round 8 or 10. I’m not trying to teach ‘my style’ because I’m not sure that I could! What I teach is methods for allowing crocheters to express their own style in the form of a unique design and, if they want, a crochet pattern.
Third, my brand is more than just my designs. My brand is a reputation for incredibly clear and photo-rich crochet patterns. It’s my commitment to replying to questions via email in a quick and helpful manner. It’s my blog, full of tutorials and videos. None of those things are diluted by teaching others to design.
Aren’t you afraid you’ll sell fewer patterns if there are more designers?
Not really. Keep in mind: there are always going to be more designers! You can’t stop that.
A revised question might be: can there be too many crochet stuffed animal designers? And I don’t think so. There’s a very interesting phenomenon that happens: the more people do something, the bigger the niche grows.
I’ll give you an example. Let’s pretend you were a computer manufacturer in 1980. You were probably one of the only two manufacturers in existence. But, there were only a few thousand people using computers. What happened over time? The more manufactures built computers, the more customers bought computers. Which meant that owning a computer was more useful: more friends had them and more software was being made. The entire niche grew. Now there are dozens of manufactures, but there are billions of users. The number of customers per manufacturer has increased, despite increased competition.
And that’s how crocheting is. It’s a myth that there are x number of crocheters out there that us designers are fighting for. As more people crochet, it’s more likely someone will think, “hmm… my friend makes those cute animals, maybe I’ll give it a try!” We’re constantly adding to the pool of crocheters.
Is someone going to steal your designs?
Here’s another truth: if someone is steal your design, they’re going to do it. In fact, oodles of crocheters already have the skills to copy a design, even without the benefit of my fabulous teaching skills.
I’m not making the problem any worse by teaching crocheters to design. I’m training crocheters to come up with their own designs! To put in yarn ideas that come from their own heads! If anything, I think I’m solving the problem of knock-off-ing.
Anyway, every student I’ve had (in real life or online) has been a real joy. Once we’ve spent hours together, it feels like we’re friends. If anything, it’s my students who are the most protective in online forums about my rights as a designer. Because we’ve built a relationship of trust. They’re not in it to steal my designs or hurt me!
Meet who makes me happy!
Okay, now onto the fun stuff!
I want to introduce you to two ladies who make me deliriously happy. They’re students of mine who are budding designers!
Hollie!
Hollie is a sweetie, who also happens to be one of the moderators in the FreshStitches Ravelry group. She’s the one who puts together the amazing swaps that happen in the group, and also the one who surprised me with the FreshStitches Cowl that I chatted about as being one of my fave pieces.
Introductions aside, Hollie just published her first pattern this week!
It’s a Triceratops Lovey… and isn’t it amazing? The triceratops is just stinkin’ adorable, and the detail on the lovey is fantastic. I couldn’t be more thrilled!
If you follow this blog, you know Alyssa! She’s the author of the much-loved What does Amigurumi Mean? blog post and also winner of the Slug-a-long. Alyssa is a smartie with a fabulous photographic and styling eye.
Alyssa also just completed her first design:
An adorable horse! It’s still in the pattern-development stage, but rumor has it that it’ll be released as a pattern next month. So exciting!
Jo informs me that this is a bird – not a monster. I told her that any bird big enough and smart enough to drive a car is totally a monster. Big birds (but not Big Bird, of course) scare me. 🙂
I made this guy years ago and I still love the macrame hair. Want to see it a little closer?
I gathered all the hair into a topknot and then knotted each four strands into a macrame twist. It’s so much fun! And it never takes as long as I think it’s going to.
Give macrame a try on your next project! I might even incorporate a bit of it into the monster quilt. . .
Today’s guest post is written by Tammy Powley, crocheter and blogger at 
