Tutorial Tuesday

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

I have a super fun tutorial for you today. Embroidery on paper! This is more of a how-to and this technique can be used to turn almost any pattern for stitches into a pattern for embroidery of paper.

To embroider on paper you will need:

- Paper (I used notebook paper, but card stock works well, too)
- Foam core (I used a scrap piece from a different project)
- tape
- Chenille needle
- 6-strand embroidery floss in 3-ply
- Sharpie or marker of choice
- Star pattern

Step One: Print out the star pattern, or your pattern of choice. Use your marker to create dots evenly spaced apart on the lines of the pattern. The dots will be the places where the needle and floss will pass through the paper. (I used the stars available as auto shapes in a word document, and couldn't remove that shadow, so I apologize if it makes the photos appear blurry. The dark thick line is the one we're working with).

Step Two: Place the paper with the pattern on top of the notebook paper and tape it where you want to transfer the pattern. Place the foam core underneath the notebook paper. 

Step Three: Using a chenille needle, or thick needle with a sharp point, punch a hole through each dot along the pattern line. You may want to use thimbles for this, depending on the thickness of the paper.

Step Four: Carefully remove the tape and pattern from the paper, and move the foam core. Your pattern should look something like this.

The notebook paper should look like this.

Step Five: Thread a needle with 3-ply floss, and you can begin backstitching the pattern. Be careful not to pull the floss too much or it could rip the paper. Move slowly and flip the paper back and forth in order to make sure you are stitching along the correct place in the pattern. 

Step Six: Send this as a note, or use it as a very sophisticated doodle! Use this technique on card stock for birthday or special occasion cards. 

Hope you enjoy and give this a try!

Hope you have a great Tuesday!