Indoctrinating the Masses

Cassandra and I have an evil plan. Well, it might not actually be evil but we kind of like the idea of being slightly dark and mysterious.

We want to teach everyone to craft something. 

Frankly, it doesn't matter what a person's interest is, we just want them to join the club and become a maker of things. Making stuff is great for the soul and the mind. It gets you out of your routine and gives you something to focus on that will provide a finished project at the end. For those of you who are readers, you know that sad feeling you get at the end of a good book? Well, making something is the exact opposite of that. Even if your finished project doesn't come out exactly as planned, you've CREATED something - which is an awesome feeling.

To this end, we've been doing our part to bring crafting to the masses. And, while the term "masses" may be overstating it a bit, we believe that every little bit counts. In recent months, we've taught a Beginning Knitting class and, yesterday, I taught a Beginning Embroidery class.

Me, teaching. Note my new hairdo!

We're lucky to have this cool community space in Madison called DreamBank where they'll pay for all the materials and advertise the class. All you have to do is teach it. The students get to go home with a new skill AND all the materials. So, yesterday, seven people tried their hand at our Bear embroidery pattern*. They received the pattern printed on linen/cotton fabric, a 6" hoop, a #5 embroidery needle, a skein of floss, and handouts on how to do the stitches needed for this pattern. Plus, of course, they got two hours of instruction from yours truly.  ;)

Interestingly, teaching embroidery was MUCH easier than teaching beginning knitting. All my students were women (two of them teenagers) and they seemed to intrinsically understand the stitch work. My star pupil was one of the teenagers who just plowed through her pattern with abandon and did a great job. Her mom struggled a bit but I was able to find the right words (and process) to help her understand what she was doing and she eventually caught on and was successful.

The best part was watching people "branch out" and try things that were not strictly on the curriculum. I encourage this behavior because I think it makes more fearless crafters.

Anyway, a good time was had by all and I'm pretty sure that a few of these folks will actually finish their project. Hopefully they'll continue on and make more wonderful stuff.

- Alex

*Click that link for free downloads of Bear, Hare, Fox, and Owl embroidery patterns!

Embroidery School: Lesson 3

So, you have your pattern, your fabric, hoop, and floss...now what? You might be wondering what sort of magic you are to use to transfer that picture from the paper you printed out to your fabric. Fear not, there are a few ways to do it... 

Transfer Paper
If any of you are old enough to remember typing in duplicate with a piece of carbon paper...well, this is sort of the same thing. Transfer paper for this purpose is a wax-free product so it erases like pencil and a hot iron won't set any marks accidentally left behind. I am sort of partial to the brand Saral. Their product is awesome. You simply take your fabric and lay it out right side up. Then you put your transfer paper on top of it, "inky" side down. Set your design on top of that and using something like a pen, bamboo skewer, etc., go over the outline of the design. Your design will magically appear on the fabric.



A word of warning though. I advise against lotioning your hands before working on your embroidery project. From my experience, the lotion will start to erase your design if your hand rubs across the fabric when stitching.

Light Source
This was a technique that I stayed away from until recently. I loved the transfer paper so much that I never really needed to try this method. It wasn't until some of my design had rubbed off (see above warning regarding lotion!) and I needed to re-transfer in just one spot that I discovered the easiest way to "spot transfer" was to use this method. Honestly, it kinda rocked. What you do is, tape your design on a light source (window works great) and then tape your fabric (right side facing you) on top of that. The light source behind your fabric should give you a clear view of the design below it. Use a fabric marker that is water soluble and then trace the pattern. This works great and there is less chance of your design rubbing off as you stitch.

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With your design transferred on to your fabric, you're now ready for your hoop. Place the inner ring of your hoop behind your fabric where you would like to start stitching. Place the outside ring on the front of the fabric and put the two rings back together with the fabric caught in the middle. The fabric should be taught, but you don't need to be ridiculous. And as you work, the fabric will loosen in the hoop. Don't worry, just unscrew the hoop and redo the sandwich again.

A design transferred and begun.

See, it's not that hard. Go get yourself some tools and start stitching!! And, don't forget, our Free Downloads page has some fun embroidery designs. More are added all the time so keep checking back. There are many, many sources for stitch help out on the web. My favorite has to be youtube though. If you pop over there and search "embroidery stem stitch" (or something similar) you will get some great video how-to. Oh my gosh...your reasons for not trying this craft are just fading away here!

As always, let us know if you have any questions or comments on this content.

–Cassandra