Things You'll Need:
- Original drawing
- Drawing paper
- 5-squares-per-inch graph paper
- Carbon paper
- Fading dressmakers' marking pen
- Fabric
- Colored pencils
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Step 1
Redraw your original drawing onto a piece of blank drawing paper. Include only the outlines. Do not include lines that indicate shading or texture, because that will be accomplished with the stitches in the embroidery. The result should be similar to the pictures in a child's coloring book.
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Step 2
Decide if you will be creating a design for counted cross-stitch embroidery or free-hand embroidery that employs a variety of stitches. If you will be making a counted cross-stitch design, place the outline drawing on top of a piece of carbon paper with the carbon facing down. Place those two pieces of paper on top of a piece of five-squares-per-inch graph paper. Trace the outline drawing. The lines will be transferred to the graph paper.
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Step 3
Use fading or erasable dressmakers' marking pens to redraw the outline drawing directly on the embroidery fabric if you plan to use a variety of embroidery stitches. An alternative method of transferring your simplified drawing to the fabric is to use carbon paper. Place it between the drawing and the fabric with the carbon side down. Trace over the lines with a pencil. The lines will display directly on the fabric.
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Step 4
Color in the simplified drawing so that you can plan the color palette that your embroidery design will include. Since embroidery floss comes in many hues and tints, you will be able to shade the picture by varying the color of the thread. If you are making a counted cross stitch embroidery pattern, color the graph. Each stitch is represented by one square, so make sure that no single square has more than one color.
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Step 5
Create a key that illustrates which stitches to use, if you are not making a counted cross stitch design. Most embroidery designs use a dot to represent French knots. Both solid lines and single loops can mean chain stitches. Broken lines stand for back stitches and hatch marks often tell you to fill a space in with satin stitches. If your design includes more complex stitches, create a symbol for it in the key.
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Step 6
Draw the symbols for the stitches directly on top of the drawing. The person who stitches the design will refer to the color and the type of stitch on the drawn pattern while using the lines on the fabric to locate where to place the needle. Counted cross stitchers will recreate the grid on a piece of linen canvas in which the weave in the fabric stands for the squares on the graph.
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Step 7
Indicate how many strands of embroidery floss should be used for each type of stitch. Most embroiders use two strands if no other directions are stated. The more strands used, the thicker the stitch appears.
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Step 8
Place your name on the finished embroidery design. To mark it as your intellectual property, use the copyright symbol, a "c" in the middle of a circle, followed by the date. This protects your design so that anyone who wants to use it must have permission first.
