It's starting to get cold in the Pacific Northwest. I've turned on the heat and am wearing multiple cozy layers in my house. Needless to say, when I venture outside to run errands or walk the dogs, I'm already bundled up like a snow person. I really don't like being cold!
My friend Rosalie likes to joke that I don't leave the house without wearing something I've embroidered. She's usually not wrong. But when I have on so many layers, it can be hard to show off those cute embroidered portions of my outfit. So I've decided to dabble in embroidering outerwear.
To keep my head warm and stylishly embroidered, I tried embroidering a knit beanie hat. This was a quick project that only took me a few hours (and that's with the documentation and the write up). You could have your own embroidered beanie ready to go in an afternoon!
Want to embroider your own?
Materials You'll Need to Embroider a Beanie Hat:
How to Embroider a Beanie Hat:
1. Decided on the patterns you want to use. Once you're happy with the designs and placement, peel off the backing and place them sticky side down onto the hat. Be sure there aren't any fabric ripples under the patten. The stick and stitch patterns can overlap, but this will be a little harder to stitch through. For this hat, I'm using patterns from my Winter Botanicals and Winter Forage Peel Stick and Stitch pattern packs.
2. Place the beanie hat in an embroidery hoop. Be sure not to stretch out the hat when placing it in the hoop. If you see the knitting warp/ripple, then the material is stretched too tightly. The material in the hoop might feel looser than you're used to when embroidering, because of the thickness of the hat being stitched.
3. Choose your thread colors for the patterns. For this design I used three skeins of DMC embroidery thread.
4. Then start stitching! Use stitches that are short and flush with the material. This will ensue they're less likely to snag when worn or washed. When embroidering a garment you are going to wear, be sure not to make large jumps of thread on the back of the fabric. Instead, knot the thread off and then restart at your next desired section. For example, each leaf was stitched, then I knotted the thread off, cut it, and restarted on the next leaf.
Below are the stitches I used for this botanical design and how to embroider them:
For each leaf, I used the leaf stitch. These stitches were made using 4 strands of DMC 3346.
Here's how to embroider the leaf stitch:
To start, bring the needle up through the back of the fabric to the front at the top point of the leaf.
Then go back down through the fabric about 1/3 of the way along the middle line of the leaf.
Next, bring the needle back up through the fabric along the outer edge of the leaf to the right of the first stitch.
Then bring the needle back down slightly below the last stitch along the middle line.
Repeat on the opposite side by bringing the needle up from the back to the front along the left outer edge of the leaf.
Then bring the needle back down slightly below the last stitch along the middle line.
Repeat until the leaf is completely filled in.
For the stem lines I used the split back stitch with 3 strands of DMC 16.
Here's how to embroider the split back stitch:
Begin by pulling the needle and thread up through the fabric a stitch’s length away from where you want your first stitch to start.
Then bring the needle back down to the edge of the section line you are filling.
Leave a space away from the stitch that was just created and bring the needle back up through the fabric.
Next, bring the needle and thread back down through the middle of the previous stitch, splitting the strands of the stitch apart.
Just like the back stitch, the split back stitch leaves a space that is filled in by creating a backwards stitch.
For each of the berries, I used the French knot. These stitches were made using 6 strands of DMC 3731.
Here's how to embroider the French knot:
To start, pass your threaded needle from the back of your fabric to the front.
Hold your needle in your dominant hand and use your other hand to wrap the thread taught around your needle two or three times. The more you wrap the thread, the bigger your knot will be.
Keeping the thread taught, pass the needle back through your fabric next to where you previously came up through the fabric.
Pull tightly until the thread is knotted on the front. It is important to keep your thread taught throughout this process, otherwise your French knot will end up with extra threads and loops.
5. When all of the pattern is stitched, remove the hat from the embroidery hoop. Then run the stitching under hot water. This will dissolve the peel stick and stitch patterns. Do not scrunch the stitching once it's wet. Lay the hat flat to air dry.
6. Next, wear and enjoy your new embroidered beanie hat!
I hope you enjoy this tutorial and embroider your own hat for the colder weather. Leave a comment and let me know what you embroider!
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