Stitch embroidery for beginners. Stitch embroidery technique

One of the ancient labor-intensive types of needlework is embroidery stitch! A variety of special kits were created for beginners to work in this technique, entire encyclopedias on its features were written. And still, professionals appear who are developing new stitches and whole embroidery technologies.

Brief description of the surface

Let's start acquaintance with this type of needlework from the very basics. You can embroider a stitch with everything that comes to hand: clothes, bedding, tablecloths, scarves, paintings, bags, bookmarks, magnets. Compared to the cross, the patterns look more delicate and elegant.

Many believe that embroidery with artistic smoothness is the simplest needlework. What's so hard? I drew a pattern on the fabric, made the stitches forward with a needle and swept along the contour ... But it's not so simple.

Stitch embroidery, like other areas of needlework, has several varieties: bilateral, one-sided, Russian, Poltava, Vladimir, art, satin, white. Each of the directions has its own characteristics.

Beginners do not need to memorize all the stitches. It is enough to learn a couple of seams that are useful for embroidery of abstract drawings, landscapes, floral ornaments. But it’s best to start with a small pattern, since the essence of embroidery is smooth stitches that fit snugly together.

Types of embroidery stitch

There are several most popular areas of this needlework.

• Satin surface. For her, thin stitches are taken and embroidered with small tightly fitting stitches that start from the middle of the previous row. As a result, the face of the work resembles a smooth, one-piece pattern, and the inside is “mottled” with short tracks.
• Art stitch embroidery. For beginners, this is not a simple technique. In this technology, the pattern is embroidered with a flat oblique surface without flooring. Its feature is the use of different colors. It is here that the skill of the craftswoman to mix the tones of the threads is important to create a smooth transition from one shade to another.
• Russian surface. In this technique, stitches are sewn in two directions with straight vertical or horizontal stitches 5-7 mm long. Moreover, they are characterized by a distance of two strands between the "neighbors". When the embroidery goes in the opposite direction, these gaps are carefully sewn up.
• White embroidery. This pattern is performed only with white threads in several stages: first, a contour is laid forward with a needle, flooring is made, then stitches are sewn tightly adjacent to each other.

Stitch embroidery: tutorials for beginners

For work, you need to prepare the material, needles, tracing paper, pencil, thread. You can take any fabric depending on your goals. For embroidery bedding, choose traditional calico, satin, poplin, silk. Clothes can be embroidered on any fabric, from denim to wool. For pictures, choose a material with a tight weave.

In addition to fabric, pay special attention to needles. Embroider delicate material with thin needles, as thick ones will deform the surface, leave holes and tightly pass through the embroidery. Buy thick needles under a dense fabric for embroidery of outerwear, bags, hats. Your “tools” should be smooth and with a sharp end.

For embroidery, prepare a hoop with such a fastener to tightly fix the fabric. Do not embroider light material on metal mounts as they leave gray marks. The most optimal option is wooden picture frames and hoops for small embroideries.

We continue the topic of materials

Any thread, from thin silk to thick woolen, is suitable for smoothness. The thinner the thread, the softer the fabric should be. Although on some designer models this rule is violated. In any case, try to sew a small element on the fabric with threads that differ in brand and composition.

Chinese craftswomen prefer silk threads, Russian needlewomen choose ordinary floss. For voluminous paintings, wool and cotton are taken. Buy sharp scissors so that there are no “tails” left during the cut. In any store of goods for crafts, you will be helped in selecting tracing paper and a marker that disappears on the fabric.

Satin stitch patterns can be found in magazines, bought at a store, or copied from any postcard. Individually, it is cheaper to buy material, but some craftswomen prefer to immediately buy a ready-made set, where the threads are selected by color, instructions for stitches and the basis are given. With the main material finished. You can also pay attention to the thread organizer, spreader, awl and thimble.

Stitch embroidery for beginners: preparatory stage

Once you have decided on the topic, purchased all the material, proceed to the preparatory stage. Process the edges of the fabric as follows:

• in the case of embroidery patterns, the edges can be greased with glue;
• handkerchiefs, napkins and other small works can be identified by pulling several threads;
• if there is a sewing machine, then overlock all edges of the fabric.

Now wash, dry and iron the workpiece with an iron. Transfer the pattern to the tracing paper and lay it on the fabric, stitching it with needles. With the usual seam forward, with a needle, use contrasting thread along all the lines of the pattern. Remove tracing paper.

Place the material on the hoop or frame and proceed with embroidery. Do not forget that fixing the thread at the beginning and end of the work is almost the same as when embroidering with a cross. That is, the thread can be fixed with a loop, if addition allows. In one addition, the mouline thread is fixed on the inside with the help of a small cross, between which the tail of the thread is hidden. At the end of the work, the mouline thread is hidden on the wrong side under an embroidered pattern or laid with 3-4 stitches on the front side, to then be covered with the next layer of thread.

Types of seams

Stitch embroidery technology involves the use of several seams.

• "Forward with a needle." Stitch the fabric with uniform stitches along the contour of the pattern. Please note that the length of the seam must correspond to the distance between the laid pieces.
• "Back the needle." Insert the needle from the wrong side into the fabric for a length equal to two stitches, then return it back and make one seam on the face. Thus, on the front side, the line resembles the above technique, and from the inside looks like a stalked pattern.
  
• "Stalk". Bring the needle on the face from the middle of the previous stitch and enter it with an inclination to the wrong side. This technique is used to embroider stems, leaves, petals.
• The “buttonhole stitch” resembles the letters “uuu” or “nnn”. The essence of the seam is that the needle goes from top to bottom, laying vertical stitches, while leaving the needle on the face, leave the thread under it. As a result, when tightening the floss, a loop is formed. This seam can be done in different ways by tilting, stitching, combining with other techniques.

"Double" patterns

The following technique is characterized by a combination of two seams. This is necessary to get volumetric stitch embroidery. Flowers, leaves and other patterns are made using this technology.

• "Narrow roller". First, the “needle forward” stitch is sewn, and then the vertical small stitches are sewn tightly together. Used to decorate fine lines.
• “Fasten the long stitch.” This seam is used for embroidery of leaves and petals. The stitches are laid along the entire length of the sheet, only the long thread is then fastened with short stitches, as a result of which the fabric does not shine through.
  
• "The stitch with the flooring." First, small stitches are sewn forward with the needle throughout the pattern, and then the pattern is embroidered with bilateral stitch, going beyond the contour with vertical, horizontal or inclined stitches. A seam for embroidering leaves, stems and vintage patterns is very suitable.
• "Pyshechka." The contour of the circle is embroidered forward with a needle, then horizontal stitches are tightly laid to the border, over which vertical embroiders are sewn, going beyond the contour.

"Single" patterns

• The knot. Performed as a French node. First, the needle is removed on the face. On it, you make several navivas that you hold and simultaneously pull the needle to the wrong side. The result is a convex nodule. In this case, the exit and entry points of the needle should be very close.
• Verkhoshov. It is carried out by stitches from top to bottom, forming small tracks on the inside. That is, from one end you make a vertical stitch, leading the needle on the same line to the face next to the exit point. Now do the stitch in the opposite direction using the same technique.
• "Chain". Bring the needle to the face of the work, then throw the thread in front of the needle, forming a loop, insert the needle near the entry point and withdraw the needle, leaving the thread under it. The result is a chain.
• "Fasten the loop." This pattern embroider petals of flowers. It is made as a chain, only with a small vertical stitch fixed in the center of the petal.
  

These are the most common patterns. At first, stitch embroidery for beginners may seem complicated, but in practice everything will become clear.

The basic rules of embroidery

1. Outline the outline of all lines.
2. Divide the complex elements into several parts (lines). For example, a flat narrow sheet is embroidered in three stages: the left, then the right side and the midline.
3. Flowers are embroidered from the edges to the center.
4. The leaves are embroidered in the direction of the veins from the edge to the center.
5. Several methods are used for the volume of the pattern: two-sided smoothness, when the wrong side and the front side are sewn, flooring, a combination of horizontal and vertical close-fitting stitches (the upper seam extends beyond the contour).
6. Mixing colors is best used with uneven stitches when the start of a new row starts from the middle of the previous one. This is the most difficult and interesting than what is characterized by stitch embroidery.
7. For beginners, small pictures will be easier to embroider, and experience will be gained more quickly. No need to buy complex expensive work, just embroidery 10x15 cm with a small plot (the price is about 200 rubles).

At first glance, stitch embroidery seems like a complicated technique, but try with small motifs. You won’t even notice how to learn to “draw” with a needle!