Happy Independence Day! To help celebrate the Fourth of July today, I thought I would share this tutorial for a patriotic mixed media embroidery hoop.
This is a simple embroidery project for beginners, as it uses felt to make a big impact and only requires knowledge of three different embroidery techniques (running stitch, backstitch, and French knots). If you click on each of the stitches, I provided links to excellent video tutorials from Mary Corbet’s Needle n’ Thread YouTube Channel.
I have included a FREE template that you can use to trace out the design to make this project exactly like I did. You can download the PDF file in the materials list.
This embroidery hoop would make a perfect gift for someone with Americana theme decor. You could also use it to decorate your home throughout the year for the Fourth of July, Memorial Day, and Vetran’s Day!
I really hope you enjoy making this embroidery hoop decor as much as I did! If you have any questions, feel free to comment at the bottom of this post.
Materials:
- 8″ Embroidery Hoop
- 1′ of Light-Colored Muslin Fabric
- Water Soluble Fabric Pen
- God Bless America Embroidery Hoop Template – You can download the PDF below.
- Pins
- Embroidery Needle
- Embroidery Floss in Red, White, and Blue
- Felt in Red, Blue, and Cream
- Approximately 1′ of Thin Ribbon to Use as Hanger
- Low Temperature Hot Glue Gun with Glue
- Fabric Scissors
Directions: (Pictures of each step can be found below the directions)
- Begin by cutting out a square piece of muslin fabric that is approximately 11″ by 11″. Insert it tightly into the embroidery hoop and close the hoop. Then remove the fabric. This should leave you with a faint ring where the embroidery hoop will go.
- Print out the template (you can download it from the materials list). Lay the fabric over the template and line up the fabric so the template is centered inside the circular indentations left by the embroidery hoop.
- With a water-soluble marker or a pencil, trace the words “God Bless America.” This creates your pattern for embroidering.
- Cut out the pattern for the blue star by cutting around the outside of the star image on the template. Pin the pattern onto the blue felt and cut out the blue star.
- Cut out the pattern for the red star by cutting out the inside star from the template. Pin the pattern onto the red felt and cut out the red star.
- Position the stars where you would like them to lay on the embroidery hoop in relation to the words. Then, using red embroidery floss, create a running stitch around the blue star, about 1 mm from the edge the entire way around the star.
- Using the white embroidery floss, create a running stitch around the red star, about 1 mm from the edge the entire way around the star.
- Using the blue embroidery floss, backstich the words “God Bless America.” For the dot on the “i” and the point on the exclamation mark, make a French knot.
- After you have finished embroidering, if you have any leftover marks from the water soluble pen, take a Q-tip and wet one end. Then, rub it around the areas where you can still see the pen marks. This should help the ink dissolve.
- To finish the back of the hoop, cut the excess fabric around the outside of the hoop so you have about 1 cm – 1 inch of extra fabric. Then, using a low temperature hot glue gun, carefully apply a little glue to the inside ring under the fabric, and fold the excess fabric over the glued area, securing it to the ring. Continue around the entire ring so all the excess fabric is glued down. This will prevent it from coming loose later.
- Using the cream color felt, lay the embroidery hoop on top of the felt and trace around the outside of the hoop. Then, carefully and neatly cut out the circle, cutting inside the traced lines so that the felt is slightly smaller than the hoop.
- Lay the felt circle on the back of the embroidery hoop and carefully glue the felt onto the hoop, stretching it out as you go so that does not sag. When you are finished, if you have any felt or glue that goes past the side of the hoop, you can use your scissors to carefully trim any excess to make the backing look neater.
- Take a piece of thin ribbon that is a little more than twice as long as you would like your hanger to be and insert it through the gap between the embroidery hoop and the tightening screw. Glue the ribbon to itself to create a loop. Then, make a small bow with the same ribbon, and tie it onto the loop you just made using embroidery floss. If the ribbon is not laying how you would like it to, you can use a small amount of hot glue to position it how you would like it.
- Hang your embroidery hoop and enjoy!
I really hope you enjoyed this project! I would love to see your finished pieces! If you share pictures on social media, please tag me using @onecraftatatime so I can see what you made!
If you have any questions or feedback, please let me know in the comments below.
Happy crafting and Happy Fourth of July!
~ Candace 🙂