I thought I would teach myself to hand embroider as well so I can make my own labels ect.
Is muslun good for this?
Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you
David

ps... what is best size hoop?

Here's a site of stitches to get you started:

http://www.fidella.com/webstitch/needle_stitch.html

Muslin will work beautifully, both unbleached and bleached. :D:D:D

Perfect!!!
Thank you!
David

Thanks Amma! BTW love your location!!
David

When I did a lot of cross stitch, I liked 5-6" hoops the best, but I can't remember why.... :D I think it was because the bigger hoops don't grip as well as the small ones.

There are a couple of books about small alphabets in cross stitch, if you're going to do mostly labels - they're called backstitch alphabets.

Or you could buy an embroidery sewing machine and make your own labels with that. :mrgreen: (And whole quilt blocks, while you're at it.)

For your labels I'd start with an 8-10" hoop. That way you have room to move around and yet it's not so big to be cumbersome. As your skill increases the size of your hoop can decrease somewhat. A lot depends on what size label you want and how much info you want to put on it. When you get good enough to make tiny stitches with fine thread you might even go down to a 3-4" hoop. Embroidery isn't hard, it's just like anything else, it takes practice. My older sisters taught me when I was 4 yrs old so you know it can't be too difficult. When I started Kindergarten (at soon to be 5) I already had two sets of pillowcases that I'd embroidered. Muslin is fine, you might even try black cotton with light colored or white thread too.

Now That kind of tempting I DON'T need! :lol: ;-)
Thanks for info!
David

Heh heh heh.... which is why I wrote it! :lol:

I think I wrapped first aid tape around the inner hoop to help it grip better.

There are new style hoops now that are also good for free-motion machine embroidery because they're very low profile and slide right under your presser foot. http://www.henscratchquilting.com/spteemho.html

That's something you might find fun - free-motion embroidery. Hoop your label fabric with some medium or heavyweight water-soluble stabilizer under it and draw whatever you want to with your sewing machine.

And the fabric stores sell iron-on transfers for embroidery - Aunt Martha's are the most common ones you see and some of their designs would be charming little accents to your labels. :)