Create an embroidered picture

• How to sew darts
• How to insert a concealed zip
• Simple sewing repairs: make do and mend
• Watch 'Great British Sewing Bee' how-to-sew videos
• How to use bias binding
• 'Great British Sewing Bee' video: how to make and apply bias binding
• 'Great British Sewing Bee' video: how to sew an invisible zip
• 'Great British Sewing Bee' video: how to sew curved seams
• 'Great British Sewing Bee' video: how to sew a straight seam
• 'Great British Sewing Bee' video: how to sew on a button
• Create it with cross-stitch
• How to insert a zip
• Hand-sewing: how to do slipstitch, hemstitch and running stitch
• How to make piping
• How to make fabric ties
• How to make inverted pleats
• How to sew a plain seam
• How to do free machine embroidery
• Make a patchwork needle case: free sewing pattern
• Machine-embroider a handmade card
• Make a lightweight summer quilt: free sewing pattern
• Get started with embroidery
• Add appliqué hearts to hand towels
• Sew a memory heart
• Sew a patchwork pin cushion
• Sew a patchwork-trimmed pillow case
• Sew appliquéd egg cosies
• Make a cross-stitch toadstool pincushion
• Create a cross-stitch lavender bag
• Create a tailor-made towel - with cross-stitch
• Create a cross-stitch coat-hanger cover
• Create a cross-stitch heart cushion cover: free sewing pattern
• Make cross-stitch baby booties
• Sew a 'home' appliqué cushion: free sewing pattern
• Make a patchwork throw
• Sew a patchwork scarf: free sewing pattern
• Sew a patchwork quilt bedspread
• Sew an appliqué boat cushion: free sewing pattern
• Sharpen up your dressmaking skills
• Create an embroidered picture
• Add appliqué to a cushion
• How to make a patchwork cushion: free sewing pattern

You will need:

● selection of cotton fabrics, plain, checked, tea-dyed or undyed
● Bondaweb
● small, sharp scissors
● fade-away quilting pen
● Anchor embroidery thread (gold 890, dusky pink 894, dark green 1041, copper 0339)
● embroidery needle
● 18cm x 24cm frame with removable backboard

How to make

Cut a 24cm x 30cm piece of plain fabric for the background. Enlarge the template (left) by 300 per cent on a photocopier.

Trace the shapes of the wall, roof and door onto different fabrics with a 5mm seam allowance around each shape, and then cut out. Apply Bondaweb to the wrong side of the small pieces of fabric for the windows, chimney and heart. Trace these shapes onto Bondaweb and cut out.

Press a 5mm seam allowance onto the wrong side of the house, roof and door shapes, position on the background fabric and then stitch around each shape.

Using two strands of embroidery thread and straight stitches, work the flowers in gold and pink, and the stems in dark green.

Draw the letters onto the background fabric with the fade-away pen. Embroider the letters in small stitches using two strands of copper embroidery thread. Remove the Bondaweb backing paper from the remaining shapes. Position the shapes on the picture and press.

How to frame a picture

Press the finished picture on the wrong side of another piece of fabric. Remove the backing board from the frame and lay it in the centre of the wrong side of the work.

Fold the sides over the board, keeping the fabric taut, and hold in place with pins at the edge. Check that the design is centred. Using thread, lace from one edge to the other. Repeat for the top and bottom edges, keeping the fabric taut. Remove the pins, insert the work in the frame and secure. 

Feature: Rosy Tucker. Photos: Adrian Briscoe. Illustrations: Terry Evans  

You might also like...

More frames and pictures to make

Beginner's guide to embroidery