New Embroidery Kits and how I use them

June 13, 2024 2 Comments on New Embroidery Kits and how I use them

We are excited to stock Folk Embroidery kits from Avlea Folk Embroidery.  These kits contain all you need to add folk embroidery motifs to any project.  You could add them to cuffs, collars, hems, borders, and plackets.  You could add them to napkins, tablecloths, cushions, or tea cozies.  These are really perfect for Folkwear patterns as well because the folk embroidery motifs complement our folk and vintage patterns. 

These kits have 3 options:  Garden, Geometric, and Woodland.  Each kit comes with up to 7 motifs and borders to stitch, waste canvas, instructions, a needle, and a palette of thread that is complementary and beautiful.  Once you have your fabric or project garment, the kit will have all you need to start stitching.

Some motifs and borders from the Floral kit 

Some motifs from the Geometric kit

Some motifs and borders from the Woodland kit

I recently used the Woodland kit to add a small border to my 117 Croatian Shirt Dress.  I love this dress (you can read more about me making it here) and thought it would be a great option for adding some folk embroidery to.  I decided to add a short border to the cuffs of the dress.  These cuffs have a neat little shaping to them and the border I picked has a similar roundedness to it. The colors in the kit were very complimentary to the dress color and I chose colors based on what I liked rather than what the instructions indicated.  And of course, you can choose whatever colors you want to embroider these designs in (and not stick to what the instructions say).  

I stitched the waste cloth/canvas that is included in the kit to the border with just one row of straight stitching.  After I stitched the first row, I trimmed this canvas down to a narrow rectangle going across the cuff.  There is plenty of waste cloth/canvas to do many embroidery projects!

After a few minutes of experimenting and counting at the beginning, I decided to use two holes in the canvas instead of one for each stitch.  The canvas is 22-count which is quite small, and I wanted the stitching to go more quickly (and to have larger stitches), so I counted over 2 holes for each stitch, rather than 1.  So you can experiment with what you think looks best for your project -- very fine stitches or larger ones.  You could even count 3 holes for your stitches.  

For this border, I just counted the repeats and started and ended where I wanted it to be after doing a little counting to basically center the design on the cuff edge.  It was quite simple.

Once the embroidery is done, you easily pull out all the waste canvas threads by pulling the ends.  This is particularly easy if you do a border design like this.  Pull the short ends first. Trim the canvas closer to the embroidery if you need to.  And if any threads get stuck, you can ease it out or trim it carefully out.  

One of the things I like about embroidery is that it is up to the individual how it looks, and I like that it doesn't have to be perfect. Mistakes become charm in your designs.

I really like how this came out on my dress cuff!

These folk embroidery kits are great little projects and so much fun!  I highly recommend them (they would make a fun sewing project to take on vacation too).  Check them out and let us know what you think!

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