Tips and Techniques Wednesday - Hand Stitched Title

Hi there,

I have been meaning to share this technique for a while now, but i guess better late than never works here!  Actually, it's not a bad time as this makes a 'wintery' sort of title, as it looks a little like yarn or darning.  Which to me feels like a winter sort of fiber.

Let's gather our supplies.....

You will need, a piece of cardstock in the colour of your choosing, pencil, paper piercer, large eyed needle, embroidery floss or baker's twine, and a white eraser.

 Start off by writing your title, sentiment, initials on the cardstock.  Try doing it lightly, mine is a little dark for the benefit of the camera.

 Next pierce around your title, you will want to make your holes closer together on curvier parts of the letters.

 Now go ahead and stitch in whatever method you like.  I like to go ahead 2 holes on top and back 1 hole on the reverse, to get a nice full embroidery line.  If you need to dot and "i" or "j", simply go up the hole, tie a knot or two and go back down the same hole (this is called a french knot, if you care).

 Now go back and removed any pencil lines that didn't get covered.

 And voila, a title... you can frame it or put it on a tag, whatever you like. 

I recommend doing your first few onto tags or a scrap piece of cardstock that you can matt and mount, as opposed to right onto your card or layout.  Until you get really confident at it.

That's it, it's that easy.  And a nice change from what we normally use!  Go ahead and give it a whirl.

Thanks for stopping in today!
Laura
xoxo