Embroidery Hoop Wall Decor

I was given the opportunity to be a part of Home Sewn at Living With Punks. This is the tutorial I am sharing for that. I have been racking my brain for a while on what to make... Then I decided to use one of my growing collections of embroidery hoops. I came up with this;

{You will need} --- this is for 14" diameter embroidery hoop

4 different White fabrics 5 to 7 1/2" x width of the fabric(usually it is 44")
1 - 6"x 6" red fabric
1 - 6"x 6" interfacing or heat and bond
1 - 20" x 20" thin cotton batting
charcoal, dark pink, white thread
14" embroidery hoop
3 different washi tapes

(How to}

1. Cut 9 - 2 1/2" x width of the fabric strips from 4 different white fabrics. Cut them in half in the middle. Now you have 2 groups of 9 fabric strips of 2 1/2" x 22".

2. Take one group of fabric strips and lay them out diagonally from right top to left down. The tip of the strips need to be 1/2" off from each other. Take the first two strips right sides together then sew. Press with an iron. Repeat the process until you are done with all 9 strips.

3. Cut strips. I used the 60 degree line on my sewing mat. Cut off the excess. Then cut 5 - 2 1/2" strips. Those will be your right side strips.

4. lay down the other group of strips from left top to right down. The tip of the strips need to be 1/2" off from each other. Sew the strips together and press with iron. Cut 5 strips with 60 degree angle. I laid down the fabric right side down and used the same 60 degree line. This part might be a little confusing, so make sure that you are not cutting the strips the same as step 3. These strips needs to be a mirror image of step 3. These will be the left side strips.

5. Sew the left and right strips together. Then sew all of them together.

5. Trace a circle with the embroidery hoop. This will be your guide line to design within the circle.

6. Print out the PDF I created for the heart and the words. Fuse the interfacing or heat and bond to the red fabric. Then trace the heart, cut it out.

7. Trace the words onto the white fabric. Pin the heart too.

8. Layer the fabric with thin cotton batting. If you prefer stabilizer instead of batting that is fine too. Pin them together so they won't move around while you are stitching. I was going to embroider by hand, but decided to do free motion stitching on my sewing machine. It goes fast and is actually really fun! Go back and forth a few times to have a thicker look. I also did extra stitches on the word "Happy" with pink thread. Working on the heart was really fun as well, don't worry about making it look perfect, a little bit of an "off" look gives it character.

9. For the hoop, you could leave it as is, or paint it. I decided to have fun with washi-tape.

10. Put the finished fabric in the hoop, and fold the excess fabric in the back and sew it down.

11. Done!

I love reading the positive quotes and signs. They up lift me instantly. Wouldn't it be nice to have a sign like this on your wall for your family to tell them how much they mean to you? Even though my 8 year old daughter pointed out that the sign is grammatically incorrect, she still liked the sign. :)

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial today, head over to Susan's blog Living with Punks. She is running an amazing giveaway until March 31st.

•

Also, check out her Facebook, twitter and pinterest. There is always something going on there!