Have you ever wanted to hand embroider lettering on your projects? Or work a sampler with surface embroidery stitches, and include a special quote on it? Here’s a list of 15 tutorials that will take you through the ins and outs of hand embroidered lettering and text!
Hand embroidery is an excellent way to personalize gifts, household objects, momentos and so forth. Writing with your needle and thread can also be a lot of fun – I hope these tutorials help you in your needlework endeavors!
Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 1 – This tutorial covers setting up the lettering sampler. In this particular article, you won’t learn much about stitching your letters, but there are a few tips and tricks for design transfer discussed, if you want to take a look! You can also get a good look at the text sample that I’ll be using in this series.
Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 2 – This tutorial features lettering in backstitch, but it focuses mostly on how to “travel” your threads in order to achieve a clean, finished look from the front. I discuss the path of the embroidery, noting that the path you would follow for hand writing is not necessarily the same path you would follow for hand embroidery.
Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 3: Dot Your I’s. In this tutorial, I focus on one method of dotting I’s. You know how the dot floats so far away from the text? Well, how can you dot, without carrying your threads? I’ll show you how, and then the technique can apply for a variety of different dotting stitches.
Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 4: In this tutorial, the focus is on stem stitch, especially how to travel in the right direction to keep the stem stitch looking like stem stitch, and to keep the working thread in the right place in relation to the needle. This sample is in cursive, so we will also look at how to travel the threads to achieve a nice cursive text, without bulky double lines. Finally, this tutorial also addresses the question of crossing over previously stitched lines.
Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 5: This tutorial will focus on a suitable stitch for very small text – whipped backstitch – and how to keep the whipped backstitch smooth and consistent in its twist. We’ll look at the difference between whipping the stitch while traveling in different directions, and discuss how to avoid changing the direction of the stitching. Also, check out this article on stitch direction for whipped backstitch – it’ll show you the difference in the look of your stitching depending on the direction.
Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 6: Did you know that you can combine your stitches on the same lettering for very nice results? Well, you can, and this tutorial is going to look at using a combination of stitches on the same lettering, specifically buttonhole stitch and stem stitch.
Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 7: Working the initial letter in padded satin stitch makes it really stand out! The rest of the lettering in this tutorial is stitched in chain stitch. I used embroidery wool for this, in a beautiful red, and I’ve written up a little review of the thread (Simply Wool) within this tutorial.
Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 8: The split stitch works great for embroidered writing, especially when worked with a non-stranded thread, like floche or perle cotton. This tutorial shows you how to embroidery letters using split stitch and it talks a bit about threads, too.
Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 9: Combining herringbone stitch and split stitch works well with Stef Francis silk.
Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 10: In this tutorial, I’ve used different stitches for each letter of the word, including the French knot for one letter… Yes, it’s true. You can write with French knots!
Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 11: This little “lesson” is short – it covers the heavy chain stitch worked with a fine thread. This one’s not heavy on instruction – all the tips and tricks already discussed in previous tutorials apply to working the heavy chain on these letters.
Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 12: In this tutorial, I’m using coral stitch on smaller letters. I like the nubby texture of coral stitch! I found it somewhat difficult to stitch small letters (these are 1/2″) with coral stitch in a hoop. If you decide to use coral stitch on your letters, I recommend working in hand, without a hoop, for the coral stitch – it’s much easier to manipulate the fabric! Still, I like the way this word came out!
Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 13: Treenway Silk makes beautiful whipped backstitch letters. In this article, I’m working on larger letters with this heavier thread. The twist in the silk and the twist in the stitch play well off each other!
Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 14: In this post, I show you a small word (1/2″) written in half-cursive, and stitched in stem stitch. It would be helpful to review Lesson 4 above, which focuses on stem stitch, for more information on working with stem stitch on curves, etc.
Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 15: The Finish. In this post, you’ll see some of the “filler” words worked in different threads, but using stitches we’ve already covered in the previous tutorials. You can also see the finished lettering sampler!
I'm excited to read and do all these tutorials – thank you Mary!
Mary, do you have a source for well made linen or cotton hankies? If not, can they be made by hand and how do I make them? I want to give embroidered hankies for Christmas gifts and I need to get started! Your Lessons are great.
Karole King
Hi, Karole –
I've gotten pretty good handkerchiefs from EmbroiderThis:
http://www.embroiderthis.com/handkerchiefs.html
If you click on "women's" or "men's" handkerchiefs, you'll see what they have in the way of cotton and linen.
Hope that helps!
MC
I'm so pleased you are doing these tutorials!! I'm doing my first redwork and I'll be applying your techniques to my project and other embroidery projects in my future. I can't wait for your next post! My redwork is of snowmen and I've been worried about showing the thread traveling to the french knots for the buttons and mouth.
This will be so useful!
Thankyou, Mary
vos cours sont clairs et très instructifs .Merci
Thank you for posting this excellent primer. This is the sort of thing that makes the internet a great invention.
Hi Mary,
I happened upon this site while looking for new stitches. This was more than I thought I would ever find. There are so many amazing ideas and exciting projects to dive into. I am starting with text since that is why I was looking in the first place, but I will be returning to use this site for a very long time. Thanks for putting so much work into it.
~Christen~
Hi, Christen! Welcome aboard – I’m glad you found Needle ‘n Thread! Enjoy your browsing!
i would like u are help,i like to it so i can change my life style,send for me more techniks books p/s.
Hope this does not sound cheeky, but could anyone give ideas of the best places to advertise my embroidery work cheaply apart from craft fairs?
Many thanks
Continued from last message…..
What is the best stitch and thread to use when embroisering babies bibs?
Many thanks in advance.
Are you talking about knit baby bibs, or linen, or…? With baby bibs, I’d suggest a thread that can be washed without worry – DMC or Anchor stranded cotton, for example. As for stitches to use, that completely depends on the design more than anything else, I think.
~MC
I just discovered your site, thanks for all the great detail! I am so inspired and going to use all your great tips to start a project this weekend.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
1880′s!!
Alas, my typing teacher made us learn the above long sentence … and we had to be able to type it and other sayings with our eyes closed.
“Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.”
That is another saying — and we also had to learn to do it eyes closed and NO spacing between words.
Although my typing teacher told me ‘You’ll never make a living as a typist’ — she was dead wrong. I was a statistical typist and typed numbers at 125 wpm and drove proofreaders nuts when there were no mistakes for months at a time!!
Oh regular words typed only at 95 wpm. I didn’t like typing words.
I don’t stitch fast … and, glad there is no reason to do so.
Mary,
I am so excited to find your website. It is so well done. Thanks for opening up this world to those of us who are “self-taught”.
Jodi
The stitches I found on this page page are so beautiful ,i like them very much ,but I`d be glad to see more stitches like the feather stitch . I `d also be greteful if you wrote the name of the stitch and how it is performed
Thanks,Samira Saleh
Hi Mary!
I hope it is okay but I own a website, Snippets of Design, & I have been very impressed with your hand embroidery tutorials. I was hoping that I could reference back to your blog every so often when hand embroidery instructions are helpful for one of my posts. If you have a problem with this, please let me know. Thank you for compiling such great tutorials!
amber
Hi, Amber! Thanks for your note! I don’t mind at all if you reference Needle ‘n Thread – in fact, I appreciate it very much! – MC
HI, I would just like to say thank you for putting everything on the net. You have inspired me to use the stitches in my textiles project at school. Thank you so much.
Tara
Hi Mary
As a child I learned 3 hand embroidery stitches,and never thought of hand embroidery again.After college I some how got into it,searched internet to learn more stitches and found your web site.I thank god for the day I found it.
I am hoping to get your opinion on some thing.
I am going to embroider my daughter’s name on stretched canvas and used your pattern, Flowered Monograms from La Broderie Blanche, 1912.after coping it into the canvas I realized that-too late-it is too hard to embroider on artists canvas.Any way I have to finish my project,no time limit,which is a good thing.She is only four.
Which stitches will be the best for embroidering those letters,I started with button hole stitch,and don,t like them.
Thinking of raised stem,or raised buttonhole,but may be difficult on the pockets-don’t know what else to call the little holes in the letters-.Please give me your advice on which stitches will be the best.
I also embroidered few pieces of 8×8″ canvas for my daughters teachers,used caston stitch ,bullion,long and short etc for them .Floral patterns are easier to work with than the letters.Please help me
Thank you so much for your inspirations.
Caroline
Hi, Caroline – Monograms are often stitched in satin stitch – maybe that would work for you? You can also use stem stitch as a filling, or chain stitch. You could outline the letters rather than filling them in. Lots of possibilities! ~MC
Mary
Thank you so much for your advice.I want a filling stitch,so I will use the stem stitch even though it is hard to work on canvas.
I will send the pictures of the canvas embroidery before christmas.Please give me your opinion.
CAroline
Hi Mary
I send you some embroidery works i did on canvas.I got the patterns from various websites.hope to hear back from you.
Caroline
Hi, Caroline! YES!! I got them – I will reply to you via email. I love the photos – the canvases turned out great? -MC
How did you use the yellow and red on Dog. I missed or could not find the tutorial..
It’s laced chain stitch – the yellow is chain stitch, and then a red thread is laced underneath it…
Unbelievable what you folks can make with a needle and thread. Great imaginative effort as well, keep up the great work and site.
Derek
Hi Mary,
Thank you very much for your reply and more so for this link too..very very helpful.will definitely go through all the links and decide on one. thanks alot.