Embroidery Inspiration and Tutorials

I'd love to help you make 2023 a year in which you embrace a regular practice of embroidery. Embroidery is a beautiful, ancient craft used to decorate clothing and household items for centuries.Embroidery is a relaxing and meditative activity to be done in the comfort...

Stitching a Christmas mood is easy to do when the pattern you start with gives you appealing motifs, messages and colors for the season. Christmas MOTIFS The pine tree is a go-to holiday motif that offers up a variety of stitching treatments. Fill a tree with satin...

Every home tells a story of the owners' experiences, aesthetic preferences, and current daily life. When you mix a handmade piece (or two) of embroidered hoop-art  into your decor, you’re adding elements with unique appeal.  Here are 4 reasons to display...

Looking through all of the kits in the Stitched Stories shop, you'll see that buildings--especially charming home structures--are a motif I design around again and again. There are three primary reasons for this. First, the story of a home is appealing to me as I...

This collection of hand embroidery kits and patterns for the Christmas season includes designs with both modern sensibility and vintage charm. All of the hoop-art designs are available as either full kit or fabric pattern. The ornaments are provided on “washaway”...

Stitching mandala-inspired designs is a unique kind of mindful pleasure.  The individual motifs add variety---but then the multiples of each motif give you relaxing repetitions. While mandalas are typically composed with geometric symbols, our embroidery patterns...

Once you've finished your embroidered hoop art project, you're ready to display or gift it. Read on for my favorite finishing technique and tips for displaying embroidery in my home. SUPPLIES My preferred finishing technique uses: Your completed embroidered...

Embroidery is an ideal craft for your air travel and vacations. It’s lightweight, doesn’t take up much space in your bag and doable in the room of your seat tray. Having a stitching project (or two) along on vacation is a relaxing way to fill down time. Watch this...

The chain embroidery stitch creates a line of small loops or "links." Here's a diagram and the instructions for creating it that we include in all of our embroidery pattern and kit guides. Bring needle and thread up at 1.Insert at the same spot and up at 2. As you do...

Embroidery is an affordable and readily-portable hobby. In addition to a project (or two or three), all you need are a few extra supplies. Read on to see my must-have notions for making it easy to have a satisfying daily stitching practice. 1. Small storage tin for...

When it comes to embroidery, "Christmas in July" works because this is a great time to plan and get started on projects you'll display and gift a few months from now. Take a look at the pieces to create for yourself and for gifting below, and then get your own...

The French Knot is an embroidery stitch that's created by wrapping floss around your needle one or more times. Once the floss is wrapped, you'll insert the needle back into the fabric at almost the same spot where it originally came up. Here's a diagram and the...