The Year of Crafting: Embroidery
I had initially planned to keep this craft for winter. Felt the ambience of stitching before the fireplace, or the recorded fire on tv because I don’t have an actual fireplace. But you catch my meaning regardless. However, the idea for these embroidered tote bags popped into my head and I needed to make them immediately.
Embroidery Tutorial
I watched a couple of Youtube embroidery tutorials, and they were all great, but this one gives a good breakdown on a couple of beginner stitches.
Method to the Madness
So I actually bought small tote bags from Uniqlo months ago with the intention to embroider them. When I started planning this craft for the year of crafting I assumed I would use those. However, when it actually came time to embroider it became apparent that embroidering inside a bag would be more difficult than embroidering a flat piece of fabric. So I scratched that plan and used some beige canvas I had in my fabric stash instead.
I measured the size I wanted, cut the fabric, and then overclocked the edges to keep it from unravelling. I used the same basic measurements as my Fall Book Sleeve but doubled it to fold it over and make a bag.
Planning the Design
I love cryptids, my dream job would be hosting a late-night Discovery channel show where we try and find the Loch Ness Monster. The amazing Hansen Haberdashery makes super fun patches and bags. I took some inspiration from these for my drawing of Moth Man and then used Canva to make up some Bigfoot and Ogopogo designs.
From there I printed them onto some Sulky stick and stitch then attached the outline to the bags. Easy peasy. I definitely didn’t panic my way through this new process… yeah, that DEFINITELY didn’t happen.
Totes Embroidering
Did I ever advance myself past the backstitch? Nope! I am okay with that I love the final product! It was genuinely a pretty relaxing experience. You can just get into the flow of embroidering. You have to focus enough that you don’t get bored but it doesn’t require tons of active thinking.
My tote bags turned out exactly how I wanted them to be! The perfect size to fit a book and maybe a little snack. Excited to be out and about with my little cryptid darlings. Overall a most wonderful addition to the year of crafting.
Happy crafting!
HannahÂ
