How to make an embroidery hoop wreath
Want to add an embroidery wreath to your festive decor? Anna Alicia’s gorgeous embroidery hoop wreath tutorial shows your just how it's done
Published:
Tiny berry sprigs, dainty fronds and delicate blooms adorn Anna Alicia’s wintery wreath design, created with simple hand and punch-needle embroidery.This stunning embroidery hoop wreath design was originally published in Simply Sewing magazine issue 49. The tension in the weave of your fabric is important for punch needle embroidery, so test a sample first.
YOU WILL NEED
- Embroidery hoop: 30cm (12in)
- Embroidery hoop: 15cm (6in)
- Medium-weight cotton canvas: 40x40cm (16x16in)
- Off-white felt: 15x15cm (6x6in)
- Felt: 32x32cm (13x13in), for backing
- 2B pencil
- Tracing paper: 4 x A4 sheets
- Punch needle (optional)
- DMC stranded cotton: 934 dark green, for stitches on petals; 3813 pale blue, for flower centres; 3818 dark green, for fan pine fronds; 704 bright green, for sprigs; 433 dark brown, for three-pronged pine frond stems; 991 teal green, for three-pronged pine frond needles and small dark leaves; 564 mint, for small light leaves; 3863 mid-brown, for berry stems; 350 red, for berries; Ecru, for French knots
- Basic sewing kit
- Simply Sewing magazine issue 49 templates
Total time:
Step 1
Start by assembling the double embroidery hoop. First, take the large hoop and lay out the centre ring on a firm, flat surface. In the middle of that ring, place the outer ring of the smaller hoop. Lay the cotton canvas fabric on top and press the smaller inner ring into its outer ring. Now press the outer ring of the larger hoop over its inner ring. Check that the inner hoop is central within the outer hoop and adjust if necessary. Tighten up the hoop screws and pull the fabric taut.
Step 2
Download and print out the template. Trace the pattern onto tracing paper with a 2B pencil. For the flowers mark only the centre of each, do not draw around them. Lay the drawing face-down over the embroidery hoop and draw over the pattern on the back of the paper. This will imprint the drawing from the front of the paper onto the fabric. You may need to re-tighten the fabric once you’ve done this.
Step 3
Using the petal template provided, cut out 30 petals. Take five of the petals and arrange them so they slightly overlap around one of the points that marks a flower’s centre. Leave a small circular gap at the centre of the petals, about 3-4mm (1/8-1/4in) across.
Pin the petals in place and then stitch each petal at its base with three long radiating stitches in dark green stranded cotton, as shown in the photo. Repeat for the remaining flowers.
Step 4
To make the centres of the flowers, set your punch needle to a medium-length loop and thread with a pale blue stranded cotton. From the reverse side of your embroidery, make stitches to fill in the gap at the centre of the five attached petals. Repeat this for all of the flowers.
Step 5
We used a mix of punch-needle embroidery, embroidering from both sides of the fabric to create both flat and looped areas, some simple running stitch with a regular needle and French knots also with a regular needle. We used three strands of cotton for all of the embroidery, apart from the French knots which use six strands to create fuller, more prominent knots.
For the leaves, berry stalks and some of the pine fronds we used punch needle stitches on the front of the fabric, which means the loops are neatly hidden on the back. You could use regular embroidery techniques if you don’t have a punch needle, but a punch needle will give added texture. We then used a regular sewing needle to sew the thinner pine fronds in a simple running stitch.
Step 6
Use a shorter loop stitch (punching from the back of the fabric if using a needle punch) for the berries. Sew some chunky French knots dotted around to give a snowy, wintery feel.
Step 7
Once the embroidery is complete, snip through the unused fabric in the middle ring in lines from the centre to the edge, so that you can fold the fabric back. Trim the outer edge of your fabric to approx 3cm (11/4in).
Step 8
Turn the embroidery over and lay it face down. Lay a piece of felt on the back. Feel for the indent between the two rings of the larger hoop and use a pencil to draw all the way around that indent. Repeat to mark the indent of the inner hoop onto the piece of felt.
Cut out the ring of felt you’ve drawn and lay it on the back of the embroidery. Carefully tuck the inner and outer edges of your excess fabric under the felt, pinning along both edges as you go.
Neatly hand-sew the felt to the canvas around both the inner and outer edges to hold the backing in place to finish.
Love hand-stitching? Swap felt for thread and embroider the flowers in satin stitch.
Makes to complement your embroidery hoop wreath
Want to find more projects to add some hand-stitched flourishes along with your embroidery hoop wreath? How about one of these!
Looking for more brilliant embroidery motifs to make for Christmas? Check out this wrapped backstitch hoop design! Brilliant to decorate or to gift. Find it in our Christmas embroidery patterns article.
Or maybe you are looking for something smaller that you can whip up in bulk as stocking fillers, or for a coordinated embroidered tree! These fly stitch tags could be just the project for you. Find them in our Christmas embroidery patterns article.
If you want something a bit more traditional, these embroidered decorations based on the stunning hexie shape you love from quilting are ideal. We have the free tutorial for you to craft all of these stunning designs here on Gathered! Find them in our Christmas embroidery patterns article.
Feel like a little Santa magic in your Christmas embroidery? How about these adorable Santa Christmas embroidery patterns, which you can download for free! Click for the mini Santa embroidery designs
Looking for some simple Christmas embroidery pattern to motifs to stitch as cards, stockings or anything you like, really! You’ll love these Christmas embroidery motifs.
