So, my dear friend Loren over at Pandora’s Craft Box just recently had a birthday. So, of course I had to make something crafty for her. It took awhile to decide what exactly I was going to make her… I was thinking a crochet project… No, I’ve been doing too many crochet gifts lately. Hmm what should I make her, something a little out of my normal box of tricks. As I was going through my supplies I thought of making something personal for her, a decorative letter plaque!
I decided to take this fun new creative trip with you, my readers, with a wonderful new tutorial! Lets start working up our project!
Supplies you will need:
1. Wooden Embroidery Hoop (I used an 8inch round hoop but you can choose whatever size you want)
2. Fabric in your color choice (I picked a nice deep purple, her favorite color)
3. Lace for the trim
4. Hot Glue Gun to put everything together
5. Coordinating Thread and Needle
6. Felt or other decorative elements that you want to use.
Now that we have all of our stuff together, lets get down to business!
Step One:
The first thing that you want to do is iron your fabric that you will be putting in your embroidery hoop. Yes, the hoop will tighten and pull the fabric when you put it in but you still might see fold lines if there are any real solid creases in the fabric. Once you got it nice and flat you can place it over the inside hoop and place the outer hoop over it. I would suggest having at least one inch of fabric sticking out of all sides of the hoop. This will allow you to glue the fabric to the underneath to keep the tightness. You might need to pull on the fabric a little while you tighten tho screw on the top of the hoop, you want it nice a snug to support the decorations that you will be putting on it.
Step Two:
Now that you have your fabric pulled nice and tight you want to start gluing the fabric to the hoop. So, turn your hoop over and put a 1 – 1 1/2 inch line of glue on the edge of the hoop and pull the fabric tightly over it. Then move onto the next section. I say to do it in a small increment like that because you don’t want the glue drying before you can get the fabric on it. Once you get all the way around I would suggest gluing the fabric to the inside edge of the hoop as well. This will just add some more strength to it. After you get your fabric all glued to your hoop you are ready to trim the access fabric off of your project.
Now that the fabric is all trimmed you can glue (using the same method as gluing the fabric) the lace to the hoop. I would suggest starting behind the screw part of the hoop so that the seam is behind it. That way it wont be as noticeable when it’s hanging up.
Step Three:
Since I made this for Loren cutting out the L in felt was pretty easy. I would suggest drawing out a more complex letter and using it for a pattern. Since Loren loves the color purple I grabbed a lighter purple then the fabric that I just glued onto the embroidery hoop. After you have your letter all cut out, pin it onto your fabric to make sure that it stays nice and straight when you hang it up on the wall. You can also glue it onto the fabric if you are not comfortable with hand sewing it onto the fabric. I choose to use a gray color to contrast it a little because I wanted the stitches to be noticeable on the felt.
Step Four:
Now you can choose to leave it that way or you can decorate it some more! Of course that is what I decided to do! Hehehe I sat there just looking at it for awhile, trying to figure out just what to add to it. That is when I decided to make a felt flower (in a darker purple then the fabric) with gray leaves (with dark purple stitching) and pearls on the inside of the flower. Just the right amount of decoration to compliment the first letter of her name.
This project is so simple, fun and creative that you can choose to decorate it anyway that you want! Maybe with buttons, other fabric elements, stitching just about anything that you can think of! So, go out there and get yourself an embroidery hoop and get your crafting on! Don’t forget to share your projects with me!
Crafting Mommy of Three 