The lovely Erin from House On Hill Road shares a delightful way to teach children embroidery using their own drawings. Imagine the satisfaction and pride this would give a child to stitch their own artwork.

Erin writes…

One of my favorite kids’ crafts is embroidery.  My daughters have been hand stitching designs from the age of four.  In my opinion, their uneven stitches and little mistakes add to the embroidery’s charm.  And if they are embroidering their own artwork, it’s even better.  It’s also very easy to get a child to start stitching.  You need basic supplies, a willing kid and a little patience to get great results.  And if your child is a budding artist, but isn’t interested in the actual embroidery, you can use this same process to do the stitching yourself.

You’ll need:

Artwork drawn by your child.  I direct my kids to not overdo the details.  While charming on paper, more scribbled lines means more stitches and more time and often kids aren’t in it for the long haul.  Save those drawings for you to embroider.

Cotton or linen fabric of your choice.  White, off-white or light colored solids work the best.

An embroidery hoop appropriate to the size of the drawing.

A transfer pencil.  I bought mine at a local art supply story.

Embroidery floss and embroidery needles.

Tape.

To start, have your child draw on a white piece of paper using pencil or a fairly dark colored marker.

Tape the drawing to a window so that the blank side of the paper is facing you.  Trace the drawing using the transfer pencil.

Pin the drawing transfer side down to the fabric.  Using a hot iron without steam, transfer the pattern to the fabric.  (Refer to the instructions that came with your pencil for exact times).

Place the fabric in the embroidery hoop. Thread the needle for your child using 3 of the 6 strands of the embroidery floss. A great tutorial on how to knot the thread can be found here. You can teach your child how to back stitch or split stitch or just let them do it their own special way. Here’s a great website with embroidery stitch instructions. Any way they chose, the result is sure to be charming.

For more creative ideas please visit House On Hill Road.

Need more crafts? Visit the Craft Camp page.


About Cindy Hopper

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Comments

  1. Hello, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just
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  2. Thanks for the great idea I have grandaughters and was trying to figure more crafts to work on since we are just going into summer and no school. If you have any more crafty ideas I would love to hear them.

  3. During a back to school night I offered three of my daughter’s girlfriends embroidery lessons. Two of the girls came on a Saturday morning and we had a great time. After that we finished a project in two Saturdays.

  4. I did something similar to that with my girls (age 4 and 5 at the time) and framed the stitching in $1 wood frames. They gave them to their teachers for christmas presents. ( I printed a label on the back stating the school, year, class, and my daughters name. )
    Good job!

  5. My son embroiders. He’s 5. He uses a regular 1.5 inch sewing needle from a dollar store sewing needle kit, and 3-6 strands of floss. It’s great to stitch and sit together making stuff! Thank you for sharing this so more people get the idea to spend more time with thier children doing something fun!!!

  6. So nice! Can you tell me the name brand transfer pencil you used? All the ones I have used don’t work well at all.

  7. This is really a cute idea . Both of my children will love it and they will be great keepsakes.

  8. What type of needles have you used with your daughters? I have two daughters myself and they are constantly wanting to do some needlework with me I just don’t know what type of needle to “allow” them to use. If I am just using a piece of regular muslin…I would thnk that they could use a tapestry needle but then I think that they may be a little to tiny for their fingers. Any suggestions?

  9. I love this idea! I think I’ll have my kids make something for their grandmothers for Christmas….

  10. Thank you so much for this post. I was never taught sewing of any type as a child so I don’t know how! This post will be very helpful.

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