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Embroidery

5 Ways to Personalize a Map with Embroidery

Calling all world travelers, history buffs and DIY enthusiasts! If you’ve been looking for a creative way to highlight your road trip memories or trace your family ancestry, today’s tutorial by embroidery enthusiast and Spoonflower maker Robert Mahar is the “X marks the spot” on your handcrafted adventure. Once you’ve seen the five ways Robert personalizes a map with embroidery, keep your DIY journey going by reserving a spot at Craftcation, a four-day business + makers conference filled with DIY workshops including an embroidery class from Robert!

[Read more…] about 5 Ways to Personalize a Map with Embroidery

Announcing the Needlepoint Design Challenge Winners

Embroidered Flowers by Elena Naylor

Embroidered Flowers by Elena Naylor

detail of Embroidered Flowers by Elena Naylor printed onto Silky Faille fabric

Not just for “grannies” and Victorian-era ladies anymore, needlepoint has made a comeback in recent years (even Taylor Swift needlepoints!) — and we’re so glad it has! For National Hobby Month, we wanted to spend some time paying homage to one of our favorite past times, needlepoint with a design challenge. Congratulations to Elena Naylor with her gorgeous Embroidered Flowers design. Elena will receive $200 in Spoonflower credit.  The 2nd place winner, Amy of Pennycandy will receive $100 in Spoondollars, and the 3rd place winner C-hawk studios will receive $50 in Spoondollars. The rest of the top 10 winners will receive $20 in Spoonflower credit. The top 25 popularly voted designs (provided the designers are already verified sellers) will be automatically made available for sale in the Marketplace where they will receive 10% commission on every sale — no $5.00 swatch required. Shop the entire the winners here!  

1. 343 votes for Embroidered flowers by elena_naylor
2. 267 votes for Fauxboro (Jackie Blue) by pennycandy
3. 257 votes for Botanical Sampler by c-hawk_studios
4. 231 votes for Stitch Sampler by gracesutherland
5. 227 votes for Stitched Garden by susan_polston
6. 220 votes for Sashiko stitching by lauraflorencedesign
7. 216 votes for Embroidered flower pattern on creme by heleen_vd_thillart
8. 215 votes for Floral Needlepoint in soft pastels by suzytaylordesigns
9. 192 votes for Mexican Embroidery Sampler by pinky_wittingslow
10. 184 votes for Needlepoint / Hand Embroidery by matite [Read more…] about Announcing the Needlepoint Design Challenge Winners

Make It Monday: Embroider Something Special for your BFF

Make it Monday

Make it Monday is a weekly series where we highlight simple DIYs to work on throughout the week. Sew a couple seams or add a few stitches here and there each night to have a finished project by the weekend. Today's post comes from Spoonflower crew member Allie. She shares a fun embroidery project to whip up for your BFF!

Embroidery Patterns

This Christmas, I wanted to make something handmade for my best friend. Since college, we've lived four and a half hours apart–her in DC and me in Raleigh. While browsing the Marketplace, I stumbled upon this great little embroidery pattern by Kate Gabrielle. I love how it's like the BFF necklace of embroider patterns. Embroidery is a fun and simple project that can be a creative as you'd like. Start with a printed pattern or sketch something yourself on a piece of fabric, pick up a hoop and some embroidery floss at your local craft store and you're off and running! The possibilities are truly endless with what you can create.

Materials:

  • A swatch of fabric–I used Linen Cotton Canvas
  • Embroidery floss + needles 
  • Embroidery hoop
  • Scissors

Ready to whip up an embroidery project of your own? Grab a few simple supplies you probably already have and get started! Brush up on your satin stitch and french knots while creating something thoughtfully handmade for a friend. Here's a few of my favorite embroidery project for a little inspiration! 

Hello embroidery sample

Hello embroidery sample by Salty Oat (Buy the pattern here!)

Constellation runner

French Knot Constellation Runner by Design Sponge

French knots

Beautiful french knots by Gayle Brindley

Sheep

Embroidered sheep by Sam Gillespie

Don't forget to share your Monday makes with us throughout the week using the hashtag #MakeItMonday and #Spoonflower! 

Happy stitching!

+Allie

An Exciting Giveaway from Spoonflower + Urban Threads!

Win an embroidery bundle!

Calling all embroidery enthusiasts! This week we're excited to partner with the friendly folks from Urban Threads to offer one lucky winner the chance to take home a lovely little embroidery bundle. Included in this week's giveaway is a $50 Spoonflower credit, $50 gift certificate to Urban Threads and a copy of Rebecca Ringquist’s Embroidery Workshops: A Bend-the-Rules Primer. This book is for the embroiderer who appreciates the value of beautiful stitches but also likes to break a few rules along the way. Rebecca Ringquist’s Embroidery Workshops is a refreshing new resource for both standard and out-of-the-box techniques. This wonderful book teaches everything from the “proper” way to form a French knot and transfer a design to a canvas to new ways to stitch three-dimensionally, work with nontraditional threads and fabrics, draw with thread freeform, and mix and match machine- and hand-stitching. 

Enter by Tuesday, May 5th, 2015 for a chance to win. The winner will be contacted via email on Wednesday May 6th. 

  ENTER NOW!  

Urban Threads Steampunk Valentine Top Ten

Octopuses_in_love

The competition was tough, but in the end Italian designer Francesca Besso (Chicca Besso on Spoonflower) captured the hearts of voters and our judges at Urban Threads with her Octopuses in Love design. Francesca will receive a $100 cash prize, and an element from her winning design will be adapted into an accompanying embroidery pattern offered by Urban Threads. All of the top ten this week will receive $50 in Spoondollar credit. Check out all of the top ten! 

1. 731 votes for OCTOPUSES IN LOVE by chicca_besso 
2. 709 votes for Golden Steampunk Love by robinpickens 
3. 661 votes for Unchain my steampunk heart by vo_aka_virginiao 
4. 559 votes for in love with steampunk by yuliussdesign_com 
5. 557 votes for You Hold the Key by stitchyrichie 
6. 436 votes for My Heart Steams for you /Red by juliesfabrics 
7. 430 votes for Shot Through The Heart by tiffanyhoward 
8. 427 votes for Steampunk Valentine by hazel_fisher_creations 
9. 397 votes for Owl Always Love Steampunk by creativebrenda 
10. 391 votes for Love Gears by susan_polston 

[Read more…] about Urban Threads Steampunk Valentine Top Ten

Steampunk Valentine Design Challenge from Urban Threads & Spoonflower

We are so excited to partner with Urban Threads to help add a new embroidery pattern to their amazingly fresh and offbeat library of designs! 

Urban_Contest

Urban Threads, creators of beautiful machine and hand embroidery patterns, love offering coordinating fabrics for their embroidery patterns–their Spoonflower shop features tons of “fabric designs to rock your embroidery,” in fact! Together, we’re giving you the opportunity to design a Steampunk Valentine themed fabric, and they will create a coordinating embroidery pattern for the winning design!

WHO: Spoonflower and Urban Threads are teaming up for a very special fabric design challenge.

WHAT: Our Steampunk Valentine Design Challenge seeks designs from which a lovely Steampunk Valentine’s themed embroidery pattern can be adapted by Urban Threads. The winner of this contest will work with Urban Threads to create an embroidery pattern to coordinate with their fabric design. We’re not designing embroidery patterns to be stitched in this contest, but patterns with a Steampunk Valentine theme that can be adapted to have accompanying embroidery elements offered through Urban Threads. Check out their handy Style Guide here for a full explanation of the types of designs that work well as embroidery coordinates. The good folks at Urban Threads will choose one winner from the top ten vote getting designs. The winner will receive a $100 cash prize from Urban Threads, and all top designers will receive $50 in Spoondollar credit.

WHEN: The design deadline is February 3, 2015. Voting will take place February 5 – February 11, 2015. The top ten designs and the four winners will be announced on February 12, 2015. The final embroidery pattern will be offered by Urban Threads in the coming months.

HOW: To enter, create your own Spoonflower account, upload an original fabric design to the account, and enter the design in the Steampunk Valentine Embroidery Coordinate contest using the drop-down menu for entering contests. Designs should be created especially for this contest, and all artwork must be your original work and should not include clip art or other available Valentine’s Day-themed artwork. A note about your design file: Urban Threads will need a high resolution jpg (at least 300 dpi and letter size) or a vector file to create the resulting embroidery pattern. We encourage you to prepare your original file for this, but you should create a copy of your file saved to 150 dpi to upload to Spoonflower. Your Spoonflower preview will be viewed at 150 dpi in a fat-quarter size (21” x 18”).

See the full details and official rules here.

  GET STARTED!  

 

Urban Threads Steampunk Valentine Design Challenge

We are so excited to partner with Urban Threads to help add a new embroidery pattern to their amazingly fresh and offbeat library of designs!

Urban_Contest

Urban Threads, creators of beautiful machine and hand embroidery patterns, love offering coordinating fabrics for their embroidery patterns–their Spoonflower shop features tons of “fabric designs to rock your embroidery,” in fact! Together, we’re giving you the opportunity to design a Steampunk Valentine themed fabric, and they will create a coordinating embroidery pattern for the winning design!

[Read more…] about Urban Threads Steampunk Valentine Design Challenge

5 Things: Map Projects We Love

Spring is [finally!] on the horizon in North Carolina, and with sights set on warmer weather and greener scenery, wanderlust has taken hold and I'm dreaming of travel. Whatever the weather in your neck of the woods, here are 5 map projects to celebrate past trips and inspire the routes ahead.

Map pillow

EMBROIDER a colorful map to finish as a pillowtop or hang in a frame.

Worldquilt_blog

QUILT the world on a blanket to dream of adventures while you nap on the couch.

Dream_map

COLLECT ideas for dream trips + memories of past travels on a large wall map.

Paper_sculpted_map

GET LOST in cities of yore by browsing artist Matthew Picton's collection of amazing paper sculpted maps reconstrcuted from historical novels.

Map_basket

WEAVE your memories into a lovely + useful basket using old vacation maps.

Win a Copy of Sew & Stitch Embroidery + 2 Yards of Kona® Cotton Ultra!

WeeklyGiveaway_Oct15_2013

Embroidery is one of our favorite ways to embellish digitally printed fabric. When our friends at Penguin and Fish announced they were releasing a new book, Sew and Stitch Embroidery, we couldn't wait to get our hands on it. This week we are giving away one copy of this book with Kona® Ultra custom printed fabric and Spoonflower crew member Abbey stops by to share her review of this brand new book! 

Octopus Quilt

Octopus Quilt created using Spoonflower fabric!

For someone starting out in embroidery, like myself, this book was perfect for getting ideas on starter projects. Stocked with informative and detailed instructions, Sew and Stitch Embroidery provides an embroidery stitch library of the basic stitches, as well as simple sewing techniques needed to complete your projects.  


Penguin and Fish Octopus Quilt

This book provides skill levels for both embroidery and sewing so you know which project is suited for your ability if you’re a beginner. Full-size, iron-on transfer sheets are included for over half of the projects making it simple to get started right away with easy templates. If you want a book filled with delightful ideas for handmade gifts and cute creature templates, Sew and Stitch Embroidery is both enjoyable to read and has fresh, creative ideas.

Enter by Tuesday, October 22, 2013 for a chance to win. We will announce the winner on the blog on Wednesday, October 23. The lucky winner of a copy of Susan Beal's Sewing for all Seasons and a 2014 tea towel calendar designed by Amy Peppler Adams is Janet Warren– congrats!

  ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN!