wool felt | Night Quilter

The finish I’m sharing today measures only 4″ across, but probably took more hours of work and provided more peaceful moments than most of my other projects. I’m relatively new to embroidery, with really only my Dropcloth Color Wheel sampler and the embroidery stitching I did on a mini quilt a while back as projects under my belt, but when Alison Glass sent me some of her Stitched fabric, part of her new Seventy Six fabric line for Andover Fabrics, it begged to be… well, stitched.

I’m so happy I obliged, because I just love this little hoop!

nightquilter instagram embroidery beginning — Here’s my Instagram post from the wee beginnings of this hoop, about 12 weeks ago.

When the Stitched fabric arrived, I had just completed my Ocean Path quilt for our big Quilt Theory debut, and I was in the final push stage of finishing a quilt that will be in the February issue of Love, Patchwork and Quilting magazine, so picking up a small, no pressure, no purpose, no pattern hoop of Stitched and my 12wt Aurifil thread stash was the perfect brain palate cleanser.

embroidery back — Here’s the back of my finished hoop—see! I am totes a novice! I think this looks fun, though, crazy as ever!

This was back in September, according to my good ole’ Instagram feed, and since that time, ending just a couple of days ago, I’ve picked this little hoop up for 1-20 minute intervals (and 20 minutes might be leaning on the long end) every here and there: a quiet moment when the kids were all playing nicely together, a few seconds here while having a minute lax time while cooking dinner, or just because I needed to MAKE and had not yet had a chance that particular day.

I stitched whatever I wanted, wherever I wanted, and tried many different stitches.

I used Aurifil 12wt thread from my stash, in colors (left to right from photo above): 2530-Blossom Pink, 2435-Peachy Pink, mystery orange–the only Aurifil tag that has ever fallen off a spool!, 2120-Canary, 1147-Light Leaf Green, 2884-Green Yellow, 5005-Medium Turquoise, 2540-Medium Lavender, and 2515-Light Orchid. I used a single strand for all except the turquoise x’s, for which I use two strands. If I were to do it again, I would probably stick with a single strand since I love the crisp aesthetic that results.

Toward the end, I went a little crazy with french knots, but I do love them so and they make a great “filler” around the edges.

Since the pattern is printed on the fabric, there was no actual end, so it was up to me to decide how close to the edges to stitch. At first I thought I’d leave a bit open, but I just couldn’t stop stitching. As it is, most stitches extend to the absolute edge of the hoop. I kind of love it.

I finished it using the methods (minus the plan-ahead phase, since I didn’t plan ahead lol) shared in this tutorial on Sew Mama Sew. I stitched the running stitch around the excess fabric, pulled it tight, knotted and tied it, then trimmed off the extra fabric. Next I cut a 4″ wool felt circle using my Sizzix machine and stitched it onto the back with coordinating 12wt Aurifil thread and a blanket stitch. I’m quite happy with the finish, and definitely plan to make more. In fact, I very well might aim to always have a free-form brain palate cleanser embroidery hoop laying around, since it really worked wonders for helping me get back into a better mental place during especially hectic, crazy kid, too many (mostly self-imposed) expectations-filled days. Making works magic, doesn’t it?

I’m linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday, and then sending this hoop off to a friend!

February is here! For the next month it will be impossible to buy candy that isn’t pink, red, or at least heart-shaped, and ubiquitous hearts are sure to have permeated every commercial establishment. While I’m not a fan of Hallmark holidays, I am very much a fan of love. In our house, February is a month of extra baking, hearts in everything, and of course, arts and crafts.

Today I’m going to share a tutorial for how to make a simple yet festive garland. I used my Sizzix fabi die cutting machine to cut the shapes, but you could also cut them with scissors. We hang our garlands from the beams in our kitchen, but you could hang them from a tree branch, along a mantle, or just along a wall for a fun and festive pop of color. I’ve also included affiliate links to products that I use and love. If you click through and purchase with these links, I will receive a small commission that will go toward funding all that goes into creating these tutorials and keeping my blog up and running.

Materials needed:

4-8 sheets of felt in coordinating colors (I used 100% wool felt from Fiddlehead Artisan Supply and it was sooooo dreamy to work with!)
Sizzix fabi die cutting machine
Hearts, Primitive #3 Sizzix die
Circles, 2in, 3in, and 4in Sizzix die
-OR- sharp scissors and a few circular items with a 2″-3″ diameter for tracing
Festive pink cutting pads, if you want!
Thread (I used Aurifil 50wt variegated 3660 – Bubblegum)
Sewing machine (I use a Bernina 560)
Chocolate!! (okay, you don’t REALLY need this I suppose)

Once you have all of your materials gathered, go ahead and have a chocolate. Now, let’s get started!

First, we will cut the shapes. I like to precut the felt into squares and rectangles so that I can layer it smoothly. Especially with the thickness of felt, the cut squares made cutting super smooth. I was in awe with how perfectly these felt shapes came out of the Sizzix. It gives me renewed desire to try some wool felt applique (but that is a project for another day!)

I found that layering five (5) layers of felt was the ideal number with this 100% wool felt. Note that the top photo shows six (6) layers, and that I did successfully pass the 6 layers through the machine; however, 5 went through much more smoothly so I decided to stick with 5. Either way, you’ll be cutting 5-10 shapes at a time with each pass!

Make your Sizzix sandwich: bottom cutting pad, die with the blades facing up, felt centered over the proper blades, and top cutting pad. I used the largest heart on the Primitive Hearts die and the 2″ and 3″ circles on the Circle die. Pass it through your Sizzix die cutting machine and admire your smooth, perfect shapes.

If you are cutting by hand, you can use the bottom of a glass, bottle lid, or any other small approx 2″-3″ item to trace a circle before cutting. For this project, I used two different sized circles for some visual interest. Either by hand or by Sizzix, once you have a good pile of shapes, it’s time to sew them together! I ended up using 33x 2″ circles, 16x 3″ circles, and 6 hearts but depending on how many garlands you want and your desired aesthetic, those numbers may vary.

Sewing these together is *really* easy. Thread your machine with a coordinating color thread. I used some Aurifil 50wt variegated 3660-Bubblegum that I had left over from a previous project, and it was perfect! Pull out the top thread and bobbin thread so that you have 3-4″ of excess thread held off to the side before you begin sewing (shown above). This excess thread will be simply knotted and used to hang the garlands when they are finished!

Now, just start sewing! Sew right down the center of each shape, backstitching at the beginning of first piece and alternating colors and sizes until you have a garland approximately 18″-24″ long.

I made each garland different by making a point to vary the shapes by size, shape, and color as I added them to the machine. Once you get to the last shape in your garland strand, sew about 1/2″ into the shape, then backstitch to secure your stitches. Simply trim the threads and you’re finished!

I used the hearts only on the bottom of each strand, but you are welcome to include them in the centers, too. I made two “feature” strands with a heart overlaid on a contrasting 3″ circle at the end. This resulted in a fun organic set of garlands that cheer up our kitchen tremendously! Since our kitchen is so dark, I am sparing you photos of the garlands hanging from the beams, but I just attach them with a little piece of coordinating washi tape or painter’s tape. Tie the thread ends at the top of each strand in a knot about 1-2″ above the top felt circle. Put the washi tape through the loop made and hang wherever you want! (Of course, as is the case with any adhesive, always test a bit in an inconspicuous place to be sure no residue or damage is done when the tape is removed.)

If you have little helpers, be sure to guard your snacks!

My little helper absolutely delighted in snatching a snack here and there during my project photo shoot. Gotta love him!

I’m linking up with Stephanie over at Late Night Quilter for her Tips and Tutorials Tuesday. She’s back in the saddle–go check out the great tips she has linking up today!