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This Thanksgiving, we packed up the car and drove from Washington, DC down to the Smoky Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee! We had such a great time, but I knew the drive would be 8 hours each way, so I had to be prepared! I printed out the new Winterberry Hand Embroidery Pattern from Peony Patterns, and stitched most of it in the car ride! It definitely helped pass the time in a creative way – though it was certainly sad when the sun went down!
Winterberry contains various Christmas/winter holiday themed designs in multiple sizes, so the small ones are especially perfect for beginners or anyone under a time crunch! I used the small motifs to create reindeer, wreath and garland ornaments – they’re now hung up on our tree in 3″ hoops!
The instructions are geared towards beginners, providing step-by-step directions for each element of the project. Warning: you’ll quickly get hooked on this hobby! I assure you though: it’s a significantly cheaper hobby than machine sewing!
Maybe you’re thinking you’d like to get a friend, child, or yourself into hand embroidery. A starter kit would be a great gift! I recommend building one with the following things (most of this is available at JoAnn, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Amazon, Etsy and many yarn stores):
- DMC embroidery floss in multiple colors
- Embroidery floss cards
- Embroidery winder
- Embroidery floss container
- Embroidery hoop (I love the Clover ones!)
- Beeswax
- Sharp hand embroidery needles in various sizes
- Milliner’s/Straw needle
- Sulky Printable Washable Solvy
- Embroidery scissors
- Magnetic needle minder
- Fabric for stitching into (I used scraps of linen from FabricMart for these ones)
Happy stitching! (And of course, be sure to check out all the wonderful embroidery patterns at Peony Patterns!)
auschick sews 