The lovely Jay Hooper, from Dizzy & Creative has put together this helpful and inspiring list of tips for you all to enjoy!
Take a look at some of Dizzy & Creatives amazing embroidery kits, project books, and more here!
About Dizzy & Creative
Dizzy & Creative design and produce high quality embroidery and sewing kits and project books manifactured in Devon. They use the highest quality fabrics and threads, and their step by step guides are set out clearly for both left and right handed stitchers. Dizzy & Creative’s designs are crisp and contemporary and each kit represents a mini tutorial, catering for all levels of stitching experience. Their aim is to inspire everyone to stitch!
Dizzy & Creative Kits make perfect gifts and their designs compliment contemporary and classic interiors, bringing traditional skills into the 21st Century. Quality is always uppermost in Dizzy & Creatives minds, as quality components equal quality products.
There are no rules!
There’s no right or wrong in stitching, only what works for you. We don’t always follow conventional Left/Right Hand stitch methods, we don’t all want to follow every step of instruction but sometimes want to go off on a tangent. It’s all fine, the most important thing is that you enjoy the process! Dizzy & Creative try to help you find your own style and method by including step by step stich guides for every stitch we use, in every kit, for both Right and Left handers.
New project, new needle.
Your needle is your essential tool, and if it’s sharp then it’s easier to stitch with. All that pushing in and out of a fabric weave blunts the tip of a needle extraordinarily quickly. I also tend to bend needles for a pastime – not because of any psychic energy, just rough use! So, each time you start a new project, use a new needle. That’s why we put a needle in every Dizzy & Creative kit.
Thread tangling?
There’s nothing so frustrating, especially if things are going really well.
Use a length of thread no longer than your forearm – fingertip to inner elbow
When separating strands of embroidery thread, separate into the six individual strands, then bring back together the number you need to stitch with. This helps to unwind the twists of the manufacturing process and prevent the automatic return of thread into those twists.
Thread fraying and breaking?
Our natural instinct for time-saving means we all tend to make a stitch all in one movement that drags the thread through the fabric in two places at the same time. This puts a lot of stress on the thread, which causes the problem (and incidentally also tends to bend the needle – ah, just caught myself out, there!).
The solution is to make each stitch in individual steps. This may take a little more time, but it does reduce the wear and tear on the thread as you work. Using an embroidery hoop or frame is a way to help achieve this step by step method because it’s difficult to run a needle both in and out in one movement over drum-tight fabric.
Don’t worry about the back!
Any of you of a certain age will have vivid recollection of a sewing teacher sternly admonishing you for any and every tangle of knots and loops at the back of your work. It doesn’t matter! Unless you intend to submit your work for examination or competition, who cares? It’s the front that’s important.
Encountered a new stitch?
It’s always helpful to try it out on a piece of practice fabric, just to be sure you’ve got the moves and you’re comfortable with the best direction of stitch for you. That’s why we put a piece of practice fabric in all our Embroidery in 2-Stitch Step kits, and every single Dizzy & Creative kit includes an illustrated step by step guide for every stitch we use, set out for both Left and Right handers.
There are no rules!
I really can’t say it often enough. I can suggest, guide and help with the benefit of my experience, but in sewing there are 20 ways to do anything. So I say again, what works for you is the right way. Enjoy.
