Weekend Project

Hello everybody and Happy Sunday! We all live for the weekend, and when it arrives (finally) we each like to relax(ish) in our own little ways. I myself like working on little projects. This particular one was inspired by the creations in Kirsty Neale's book 'Hoop-la! - 100 Things To Do With Embroidery Hoops'. I purchased this little gem a few weeks ago and adore the creative ideas inside it. She really has thought outside the box - or hoop in this case! I thought I would share with you what I designed and made.

So after flicking through quite literally 100 things to do with embroidery hoops, I wanted to have a go at making my own. Knowing I had a spare hoop in my sewing box, I had a look through to see what else I had hiding in there. Deciding that I wanted to make it up as I went along, I just pulled out the key items I knew I wanted to use:

- Spare fat quarter of retro style fabric from 'Haberdasher's Hub' for the background

- Bright purple embroidery thread for covering the hoop

One thing that is explained in the book is different ways to cover your outer hoop to make the overall look tie in and more interesting. I loved this! 

I covered mine by wrapping embroidery thread around it, secured with double sided tape lining the inside of the hoop (as advised by Kirsty Neale). Although this was a little time consuming, the end result is so rewarding. I can't deny that it was also quite therapeutic.

Once this was finished, I picked out my favourite part of the fabric to display inside the hoop. In case you are not familiar, embroidery hoops are made up of an inner and outer hoop. To display fabric, you take your inner hoop, place it underneath the part of fabric you want to display, and then place your outer hoop over the top of the fabric. You then use a screw-driver to tighten the screw at the top of the outer hoop, which then pulls the outer hoop in and traps the fabric between the two. You then trim the excess fabric.

As you may have seen from previous posts, I love cross-stitching and so I wanted to incorporate a little embroidery into my design. I picked out certain parts of the pattern and followed them in corresponding threads using either back-stitch or satin-stitch. The photo above shows satin-stitch being started on the center of one of the flowers.

I then wanted to add a pop of colour and came across some fluorescent pink felt in my sewing box. Seeing as this was just a fun little decoration, I thought I would add my initial. I drew up a 'Z' template and then used it to cut out a pink felt 'Z' shape. I really feel that the pink works so well against the dark retro colours of the fabric. What do you think?

I could have removed the fabric from the hoop and machine sewn the 'Z' onto it. However, I was having fun just hand stitching and thought I would keep this consistent. So I back-stitched it on by hand instead. I really like the texture and detail the finishing touches add to the fabric and am so pleased with how its turned out. 
To finish off, I lined the inner hoop with some more double sided tape (to the back of the decoration) and stuck down the excess fabric to keep it looking neat.
The best thing is, this is something you can knock up in a weekend and is so fun to do. The design possibilities are endless too. I would love to see some of your versions!

Ta Dah!

Thank you Kirsty Neale for your wonderful inspirations! I cannot wait to get crafting me some more of these.

Next time you all have a free weekend, give this a go. It would be great for the kids as well I suspect. 

I usually find that some of my favourite items are those that I've made up as I've gone along - happy accidents if you will. This way of working is so much fun. Do you have any Happy Accidents you would like to share? Tweet them to me @ZibZobHandmade. I would love to see them!

I hope you enjoyed the read and that I've inspired you to do some crafting next Saturday.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend... Keep watching this space!

Zo..x