How to Design an Embroidery Print

Embroidery is a technique of sewing colored threads over a piece of material to make a picture or a statement. Embroidery is a beautiful way to embellish many projects such as tablecloths and napkins, clothing, pillowcases and sheets. Embroidery can also stand alone as a decoration or framed art. Many patterns are available, but you can make your own.

Things You'll Need

• Computer
• Printer
• Graph paper
• Colored pencils
• Scissors

Instructions

1. Decide on an image. You can use photos, words or drawings.

2. To use a photo or image, scan the photo or image onto the computer. Crop and clean up the picture if necessary. Print the picture onto graph paper. Look at each square of the picture on the graph paper. Enlarge the picture on the computer so you can see the pixels if you need help deciding what color to use for each square. Use colored pencils to transfer the design to another piece of graph paper, square by square, to help you know which colors of thread to embroider onto your project.

3. To copy text into an embroidery pattern, decide how big your project will be. Cut out a piece of graph paper to that size. Try to use graph paper where the squares are roughly the same size as the stitches will be on the project itself. Write out the words on the graph paper, in block letters, shading where necessary. Use this as the pattern to follow while working on your embroidery.

Resources

• Create Your Own Embroidery Pattern from a Photo
• Create Embroidered Patches From Digital Images