Hand-Embroidered Pins & Cards.

There’s something about embroidery that fascinates us. I think it’s a great way to get kids interested in sewing because they have a lot of choice and this supports their need for freedom of expression. Hand-embroidery is a great way to personalize projects and make them your own.

Design.

Anything can become an embroidered design, but simple line art works best. I recommend starting with my favorite embroidery book, Doodle Stitching - The Motif Collection. This book assumes previous embroidery knowledge, but I like it for the huge collection of kid-friendly designs. For my sewing classes, I’ve made master copies of these designs for the kids to choose when designing their pins. Designs can be transferred to linen fabric with a 6B pencil and lightbox, or transfer paper.

Sew.

Using a 4-inch hoop, begin sewing the design using a backstitch. This stitch is easy for kids to learn. I also suggest the kids split the embroidery floss in half. They only need 3 out of the 6 strands. It makes it easier to pull through the holes. When the embroidered design is complete, cut out a circle and sew onto the felt background using a whip stitch (or a blanket stitch for more advanced learners). Hot glue the pin back to the felt.

Enjoy.

Allow the hot glue to dry completely - at least an hour before using. (We didn’t actually wait that long, but we were very careful)! If doing this project in a class, I like to give every child a gallon-size ziploc bag to hold their materials until they are ready to go home. Also, before we started a project of this magnitude, we practice the different types of embroidery stitches.

Design.

The set-up for this project is similar to the hand-embroidered pins. Choose a design and transfer it using carbon transfer paper (dark or light). Poke holes in your cardstock BEFORE sewing. This will make the design look much nicer and you won’t miss the design and create unused holes. For kids, I like a Size 22 Golden Eye needle, as recommended by the fabulous ladies who wrote Sewing School.

Sew.

Using 3 out of the 6 embroidery threads, use a backstitch to follow the design. When finished, clip the floss as thin as possible, and cut a piece of thinner colored paper (not quite copy paper, but construction paper would work). Using Elmer’s, glue on the inside to cover the backside of the embroidery.

Share.

As a girl with some minimalist tendencies, I don’t always want to have a lot of small embroidery designs hanging around. What do I do with them when I’m finished? That’s why this is such a fabulous project for kids (and handwork enthusiasts). A perfect mother’s, father’s or grandparent’s day gift.