Take 3: Yarn Sampler Word Art

The best part about yarn is the variety of colors and textures available.  It can be soft and cozy, it can be fun and playful, it can be sweet and cheery...  It can add a certain mood to your decor.

I've always liked the idea of embroidery samplers - but, as you have probably guessed - I don't embroider (much like I don't crochet...)  So what to do?  

How about some Yarn Sampler Word Art?  Well, ok.

You'll need:

Some embroidery hoops 

Scissors

yarn

fabric to compliment your yarn

pen

diapers?

More scissors?

OK, no, not really.  Really:

cardboard

the same scissors

NOT PICTURED:  hot glue gun

Take your embroidery hoops apart.

Decided whether to wrap the inside hoop or the outside hoop.  It's up to you.


Dab some hot glue on the hoop, on the back, and stick your yarn on.

Wrap all around the hoop.

And when it's all wrapped up, use hot glue to secure the other end of yarn to the back of the hoop.  


Put the hoop back together.

I wrapped one inside hoop and two outside hoops.  This just depends on the look you want.

Lay your embroidery hoop on the cardboard and trace around the outside.

Cut the circle out - cutting on the INSIDE of your trace so it's not quite as large as the hoop.

Lay the cardboard on your fabric (wrong side up).

Draw a larger circle around it.

It looks like this:

Cut the fabric circles out on the larger of the drawn circles.

Cut slits from the outside of the fabric to the drawn circle inside.  Make them about two inches apart or so.

Lay your cardboard face down on the WRONG side of the fabric.

Hot glue each tab to the wrong side of the cardboard.  Pull fairly tight, but make sure not to warp the pattern on the fabric.

Do this all around the cardboard.

So the front looks like this:

Then, simply take your glue and write a word - just a little at a time.  Cut a piece of yarn and lay it along the glue word. 


TIPS:  I highly recommend using plain elmer's glue to write with.  Why?  1 - it creates a much skinnier line which can be completely covered by yarn.  Unlike the thick line hot glue squeezes out.  2 - If the yarn DOESN'T cover the whole glue line, you still won't be able to see the glue once it dries, especially if you press it all down flat.  Hot glue?  Very visible.  3 - You can write the whole word at once and then put the yarn down because the glue takes much longer to dry than hot glue.


IF you use hot glue (because, like me, you don't want to go all the way down to the basement to get the elmer's) write the word little by little... squeeze a tiny bit of a letter, quickly place the yarn, little more glue, little more yarn, and so on.

Spread hot glue all along the back of the embroidery hoop.  Press it down onto the cardboard circle (Making sure to center it.)

Then hang them on the wall, for a fun, folksy, whimsical decoration.

I'm learning to crochet with Mandy!  Are you?

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