Spring Trees: Embroidered Felt Textile Art Tutorial

This week on my blog it's all about SPRING.

Today I'll show you how to sew some embroidery hoop art featuring a trio of spring trees, then later in the week I'll be sharing some spring-themed embroidery patterns.

I drew these trees a couple of years ago, as part of a tutorial for making some autumn tree and leaf cards (which would also look fab in spring greens, by the way!). At the time I thought "ooh, these would look awesome in felt"... and now I've finally got around to trying that out.

I framed my trio of little trees in an oval embroidery hoop, but they'd also look great in a round hoop with some text added to fill the extra space (or maybe some simple felt flowers?). You could also use the shapes as a felt applique, adding a tree (or three!) to other sewing projects.

   
You will need:

- The tree templates from this tutorial
- Green and brown felt (three shades of green, plus two or three shades of brown)
- Green embroidery thread/floss (to match the green felt)
- Felt or fabric for the background
- A large embroidery hoop (you can resize the tree templates to fit if you need to)
- Sewing scissors (embroidery scissors are great for cutting out small felt shapes!)
- A sewing needle and some pins
- Sewing thread (any colour)



To make the hoop art:

1. Stretch your chosen backing felt/fabric in your embroidery hoop.

2. Use the templates to cut out one of each of the tree and trunk/branch shapes. Arrange the pieces on your hoop until you're happy with them. If I was sewing this again I'd definitely put the oval tree in the centre, as I did in the card tutorial, but this way is cute too!

3. Set aside the trunks/branches. Use sewing thread and large tacking stitches to hold the tree shapes in place on the backing felt/fabric.

4. With your chosen embroidery threads/floss (using three of the six strands in the skein), sew a line of running stitch around the inside of each tree shape. Try to keep your stitches neat and even to create a nice decorative effect.

I used darker thread on the lighter felt, and vice versa, so the stitches stood out clearly against the felt. Lie all your threads out on the felt pieces to test how they'll look and go with what looks best to you.

5. Remove the tacking stitches then, one by one, add the trunk/branch shapes and sew them in position. Use more embroidery thread/floss (using three strands again), this time using the green that matches the tree you're adding the trunk/branches to.

I recommend sewing a stitch at the very top and very bottom of the brown felt shapes to help hold them in position before filling in the rest of the stitching.

6. Trim any excess felt/fabric from around your embroidery hoop, leaving a few centimetres (about an inch) remaining. Then use a double thickness of sewing thread and running stitches to gather the felt/fabric together and pull it tight. Sew it securely then your hoop art will be ready to display.

This tutorial is for non commercial use only: you can use it to stitch as many trees as you want for yourself or as gifts, but please don't make any for sale. You may borrow a couple of photos if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to this page on my blog, and do not reproduce my entire  post or share my pattern on your site. Thanks!

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P.S. Subscribe to my newsletter for a monthly free pattern and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more free projects.

Visit my shop to buy my printable PDF sewing patterns:

Floral Wreath Hoop Art Pattern

UPDATE: this pattern and tutorial is now available in my Patreon pattern library.

 

Subscribe for a small monthly fee and you'll get access to a growing library of PDF patterns and tutorials, with an email whenever I add a new project. You can cancel any time.      

Click here to check out my Patreon page and sign up!

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January's free project for my newsletter subscribers is a floral wreath inspired by my dreams of spring:

I've included two versions of this project: you can use the templates to create the felt version (above), or use the embroidery pattern to stitch the whole design (below).

The pattern is designed to be displayed in a 7 inch embroidery hoop, but it would also look lovely as part of bigger projects - e.g. embellishing a bag, or as the central panel in a quilted cushion cover.

As you can see, I've also included two text options for the space inside the wreath: Go Outside and Get Inspired, and Stay Inside and Make Stuff. You could make both versions to display as a pair, or just choose your fave!

The wreath would also look fab on its own, I think, or you could add your own text. This would also be a great design to personalise to celebrate a new baby, a wedding, an anniversary, etc. And course you could also use the felt flowers and leaves in smaller groupings to decorate other projects. Sooo many crafty possibilities!


Click here to visit my tutorial archive for lots of free patterns, including lots of floral projects!

A New Felt Flower Pattern: Coming Soon

I'm currently dreaming of spring and busy working on lots of floral things, including this project...

... which will be January's freebie for my newsletter subscribers.

The main project will be a mix of felt and embroidery, but I'll be including an embroidery pattern option too (because you guys know I can never resist a project variation!). I can't wait to share the finished design with you all.

Not yet a subscriber? Follow the link to sign up to my monthly pattern newsletter for a free project in your inbox each month this year, plus a bonus project at some point to make up for the fact that I was too busy to send a newsletter in December (oops!). You can also sign up for updates about what's new here on my blog and over in my shop.

Here's a peek at some of the other floral designs in progress in my studio at the moment - keep your fingers crossed for lots of winter sunshine so I can get these tutorials photographed and in my shop a.s.a.p!

P.S. Remember you'll also always find lots of free crafty projects in my tutorial archive. 

Floral Hoop Art Pattern

UPDATE: this pattern is now available as a printable PDF from my shop. 

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August's free project for my monthly pattern newsletter subscribers is a tutorial for making some pretty, folk-art-inspired floral hoop art:

 
I've really enjoyed working on this month's design, and I love how the felt and the little embroidered details work together in the finished piece!

As well as the templates and step-by-step instructions for sewing the felt hoop art, I'll also be including an embroidery pattern version of this design so you can stitch that if you'd prefer. You could also use your own choice of embroidery stitches to embellish the felt elements.

Some of the petite felt shapes were a little fiddly to cut and stitch but if you find working with small pieces difficult you can easily just enlarge the pattern and frame it in a larger embroidery hoop.

Of course, you don't have to frame the finished piece in an embroidery hoop at all - you could use it to decorate other things, maybe even enlarging it to decorate a cushion.

I'll be sending out the PDF pattern for this project to my pattern newsletter subscribers this week, and I'll also include the link in September's pattern email. I hope you guys will enjoy stitching it!

Click here for more information about my newsletters and to subscribe.

Click here to visit my tutorial archive for lots more free crafty projects.

TAKE TO THE SEA Hoop Art Tutorial

UPDATE: this tutorial is now available in my Patreon pattern library.

Subscribe to get instant access to a growing library of PDF embroidery patterns and craft tutorials, and updates when I add something new!

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July's freebie for my newsletter subscribers is a step-by-step tutorial for sewing some nautical embroidery hoop art!

I took a break during July itself, so I'm catching up this month by sending out two patterns. I'm sending out the offical (albeit slightly belated) July edition of my free pattern newsletter to subscribers today... but if you're not yet signed up, there's still a chance to grab this pattern.

I hate the idea of people signing up slightly too late to receive one of my monthly patterns, so in each free pattern email I send I'm including the link to download the new pattern and the previous month's project. So, if you sign up before August 25th you'll get the link to download the TAKE TO THE SEA Hoop Art tutorial as well as August's floral project. Hurrah!

The TAKE TO THE SEA tutorial includes templates and a step-by-step guide for sewing the felt version of this design, plus an embroidery pattern in case you fancy replicating my original project or putting your own stitchy twist on it.

Click here for more information about my newsletters and to subscribe!

Click here to visit my tutorial archive for lots more free crafty projects.

Floral Hoop Art Pattern: Coming Soon!

UPDATE: this pattern is now available as a printable PDF from my shop. 

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Sometimes you get a bit of inspiration out of the blue and you just have to run with it.

At the weekend I'd planned to finish up July's (slightly delayed!) free project for my newsletter subscribers but ended up working on August's freebie instead. I thought it would be nice to do a floral embroidery pattern, sat down to sketch a few ideas during my teabreak, got totally sucked in to the process, and now my desk looks like this:

As you can see the planned embroidery pattern is turning into a bit of felt hoop art (you know how much I love a nice bit of felt), but there'll be plenty of embroidered details as well. I love how this design is developing, and I hope you guys will love it too!

I'll be sending out July's sea-inspired pattern later this week, then later this month subscribers to my pattern newsletter will get this floral design in their inbox. As well as the templates and step by step instructions for making the floral hoop art I'll be including a version of the design as an embroidery pattern so you can sew that if you'd prefer.

I'll share photos of the finished design sometime soon, but in the meantime you can sign up to my monthly free pattern newsletter here.