Learning simple, hand embroidery is as easy as choosing the project. While thinking about all the handmade items that my mother received from her mother and grandmother, I thought about handkerchiefs. I remember how special these dainty items were to my youthful days. While Christmas is about 11 months away, now is the time to make up some "hankies" for the little girls in your life.
The first step is to select the material for the job. For beginners, purchase the plain white men's handkerchiefs. The reason is that they have a border that won't fray, the cotton is just the right texture and they are big enough to fit in a small hoop.
The next step is to select a simple pattern to embroider onto the handkerchief. Here, a few daisies with leaves would work. The stitches used would include the lazy daisy stitch, straight stitch, satin stitch and the French Knot. You will need yellow or orange, green, and brown embroidery thread.
For the daisy, you would use the lazy daisy stitch. To make this stitch, insert the needle from the back of the fabric to the front. Make a loop with the thread that extends out. Insert the needle from the top of the fabric to the back and in the same place as the thread came up through the fabric. Bring the needle back up about a quarter of an inch from where it went through and make sure that the needle stays inside the loop you made earlier. Gently pull the thread until the loop looks like a daisy petal. To anchor the thread, insert the needle in the fabric from outside the looped thread and yet, into the same place as the thread came up. This makes a tiny locking device on the loop so that it will retain its shape. Complete 7 more loops around to form the daisy.
The straight stitch and satin stitch, described in earlier articles, will create the stems and shape and fill the leaves around the daisy. You can be creative here by making the leaves do what you want to do. I would make the stems curve and the leaves dangle from the stems.
The French Knot will create a center for your daisy. You make a French Knot by inserting the needle from the back of the work to the front. Holding the needle up in the air, reach down with the other hand and grab the thread at the base and extend it out to the left. With the needle facing the left, wrap the thread around the needle four times. Insert the needle with the wrapped thread into the same place as you came up through the fabric. Being careful, pull the needle through the back of the work until the knot is complete and anchored.
