Easy Homemade Gift Tutorial: Embroidered Hand

December 22nd, 2010 by Dionna | 12 Comments
Posted in Adults, Children, Eclectic Learning, Homey Goodness, Just for Fun/Miscellaneous, Teens

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Front and back of finished embroidered hands.

Finished front and back

It’s almost Christmas, but this handmade craft is a wonderful gift idea for Mother’s Day, birthdays, or any special occasion.

The project is easy, affordable, and should take you no more than one hour to complete.

Embroidered Hand in 6(.5) Easy Steps

1) Gather your supplies. You’ll need:

2) Cut a square of fabric big enough to fit your hoop (leave yourself about 1 inch around). Place it in the hoop however you want it to be once it’s finished.

After I'd taken the fabric back off of the hoop

3) Trace your child’s hand, cut out the hand, and tape it onto the fabric.

4) Remove the fabric from the hoop, and stitch around the cut out. I’m not fancy – I don’t do embroidery, so my stitches are incredibly plain. If you know how to make it look prettier, more power to you!1

Optional step 4.5) To give your hoop a more personal touch from your child, have him paint the outside of the hoop. I also wrote my child’s name and the date on the bottom of the hoop.

Before trimming and gluing

5) Once you’re done stitching around the cut out, remove the paper hand, and put your fabric back on your hoop. Use a dab of Fray Check on the places where you knotted your embroidery floss – if you don’t, they will tend to come undone. (Believe me, I know this from experience.)

6) Glue the fabric to the inside of the embroidery hoop,2 and trim off your excess fabric.

Voila! A beautiful keepsake for you or your family.

For more last minute holiday gift ideas, visit Hobo Mama! She has tutorials for a cozy throw blanket and a knotted fabric necklace.

  1. For what it’s worth, I used all 6 strands of the floss, because the pattern on my fabric was so busy. ↩
  2. You can find directions on how to glue the fabric down at The Purl Bee. I found that trimming off the excess before gluing was helpful, but be careful not to trim too much, you need enough to glue on the hoop! ↩

12 Responses to:
"Easy Homemade Gift Tutorial: Embroidered Hand"

  1. Sara
    Dec-22-10 at 9:52 am

    This is a wonderful idea and I’m saving it for next year. Thank you!

  2. Maman A Droit   
    Dec-22-10 at 11:49 am

    Awww that’s so cute! I almost want to do that everyear but save them to be made into a quilt! Too bad I didn’t start last year with his first Christmas!

  3. Amy
    Dec-22-10 at 1:58 pm

    Great idea! For what it’s worth, here’s a tip from an experienced embroidered: you’ll find it much easier to embroider if you leave the fabric on the hoop while stitching, pulled taught all sides with the hoop screwed tight closed. That’s what the hoop is for! :^) 6 strands would be appropriate for this type of project, especially if you’re using a printed fabric. Another idea would be to use plain fabric and let your child make a design on it with fabric paint and/or fabric markers!

    • Dionna   
      Dec-22-10 at 3:28 pm

      Thanks Amy!! I read a couple of tutorials, and they both said to take the fabric off, which was why I suggested it. I wonder why some prefer it that way . . . I really had no problems with it off the hoop, but I could also see it being easy to do on. :)

      • Amy
        Dec-22-10 at 9:38 pm

        Hmmm… I am very surprised it was recommended to take the fabric off the hoop! My grandmother and mother were/are avid embroiderers and both always use(d) the hoop while embroidering. I remember my grandmother carefully moving her hoop around the fabric for larger embroidery projects, too. My understanding is that it keeps the fabric taught, making the stitches all even tension and the fabric is ‘rigid’ (for lack of a better word), therefor easier to work with. Anyhoo, I ramble… I suppose it’s proof positive that there’s more than one way to skin a cat!

  4. MomAgain@40   
    Dec-22-10 at 2:31 pm

    Stunning! It is a very special gift!

  5. Lauren @ Hobo Mama   
    Dec-22-10 at 4:54 pm

    How adorable is that! My MIL would drool. I used to do cross-stitch while I had fabric stretched on a hoop, so I’ll second that option.

    Also, as someone who’s had issues with this in the past — your fabric looks nicely pressed and flat, but I’ve stupidly done cross-stitch on creased fabric, and then had a lot of trouble getting it ironed after the fact without squishing my stitches. So, if it needs it, I’d recommend ironing the fabric before beginning. That’s a tip from my rather foolish experiences.

    Anyway, you’ve inspired me, and I have to do this for my MIL! All I need is a hoop.

    And thanks for the mentions! :)

  7. Amy @ you shall go out with joy
    Dec-23-10 at 2:48 pm

    Very cool. I think I might try to make a small one for a baby’s first Christmas ornament (he’s only 6 weeks old, so I think a 3 inch frame should probably work). I might need some small stitches! Thanks for sharing!

    • Dionna   
      Dec-23-10 at 2:56 pm

      So sweet :) Kieran was only 2 wks old on his first Christmas. I went to one of those pottery places and got his teeny tiny feet on a round ornament. <3
      (Also, now I have that song stuck in my head: “you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace, the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you…” la la la la la) ;)

  8. Montessori Motherload
    Nov-19-12 at 8:05 pm

    I don’t sew, but I wish I did now! That’s such a great idea.

http://www.nest.ca/


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