A little hand stitching

Hi everyone, this week's little extra is another one of our tutorials.....

Hello, it's Mel here this week to show you all how easy and effective a little hand stitching can be on your work. Hand stitching doesn't have to be long and complicated to achieve a really lovely finish on your cards. Sometimes even a tiny bit of cross stitch here and there is a nice way to add an extra element of 'handmade'.

To begin you will need some basic supplies - needle, cotton/embroidery thread, scissors, ruler (handy for measuring spaces or helping with straight lines), pencil and eraser. I tend to use stranded embroidery thread for handstitching but you can even use machine cotton if you are stuck - it just gives a thinner appearance when stitched on the card. If you are using stranded embroidery thread you can vary the strands for a different thickness....mostly I use 2 or 3 strands but if you really want the embroidery to 'pop' try using the entire 6 strands.

Start by working out your design. You might decide to just stitch a straight line on your card or perhaps draw around a template (circles, stars etc..). The possibilities are endless. Use your pencil (and ruler if you aren't using a template) to draw/measure the area that you wish to stitch.Now pin prick holes with a pin or needle directly onto the card.

Use an eraser to rub out any pencil lines. Thread your needle and begin stitching through the the pin pricked holes. Adhere the start of the thread using double sided tape or a photo tab.
Once the design is finished you can adhere the last piece of thread into position using another photo tab or piece of double sided tape.


Here are a few more handstitching cards to inspire you:
Thankyou also to all the fabulous 'I am woman' cards from Lythan's Friday dare. WOW, there were some really beautiful cards created by you all for the dare. Thanks so much for joining in and having a play.

Well, have fun stitching and we can't wait to see all your gorgeous creations for this week's mid week dare.