Tutorial Tuesday - Hand Stitching on Papercraft Projects

I am a huge fan of hand stitching on projects. And when I looked through my scrapbook layouts to find some examples of this I was amazed at just how many of my layouts do feature sewing in one way or another! I will show you different examples of how I have stitched on scrapbook layouts but most of these can also be transferred onto cards or other papercraft projects too.

When getting ready to do some hand stitching it’s best to have a surface to rest on, such as a cork-board, piece of foam etc so that you can pre-punch your sewing holes.  There are special paper piercing tools available on the market but I have found that it is easy enough just using regular notice board pins! There are also lots of different types of stitching templates on the market but you can also make your own or use regular household items.

Lets start with a very simple design – simply stitching a boarder around the page, simple but effective.

Here I have just used a regular running stitch. This design can simply be achieved by drawing a faint line around the page where you want your boarder to be and putting a hole at certain measurements. You can then do a simple running or backstitch to create a border.

You can also use a boarder stitch for creating different shapes on your layouts.

For this layout I used a dinner plate to draw round and then pierced my holes as evenly as I could by eye and then used a backstitch.

Of course an even simpler type of stitching is the button! I don’t very often glue buttons onto my layouts, I normally stitch them on, ok it may take a bit more time but I much prefer the look.

This layout below took a very long time to sew but I love the result.

To create this I drew a heart on some card the size and shape that I needed it and then cut it out. I stuck down my photo where I wanted it then placed the heart template on the top and lightly drew around it. Then I arranged the buttons around the shape where I wanted them and pierced all the holes. I then had to remove all the buttons so that I could sew each one on individually, so I took a quick photo so that I could refer back to it and see where I had put the different buttons. However it would probably be easier if you just stuck each button down and then sewed them on, as this would save you time!

Of course you don’t have to use quite so many buttons on a layout to get an equally stunning effect! You will probably notice other buttons in more of my layouts.

Next we have simple cross stitches This is easily achieved by drawing some faint lines and piercing the holes like before.

Another simple thing that can be done is to stitch through plain ribbon to give it more of a pattern and make more of a feature of it. Here I have used a simple running stitch and cross-stitches though the centre of the ribbon.

Something else that I often do with ribbon is to create a ruche/ruffled effect by stitching the ribbon in place. I can see that some people may not like this because in some cases you can see the stitching but if you use a colour that matches the ribbon well enough you don’t notice. It doesn’t bother me though as I like the effect once finished.

For something a bit more unusual you can also have a go at stitching fabric onto your layouts as I have done here. I used a simple running stitch and it creates a unique layout.

Or how about cutting our fabric letters and using different stitches to give them more texture and interest.

Now we move onto templates.

You can get stitching templates from companies such as We Are Memory Keepers, however you can also create your own. I use a piece of acetate and either draw, print or stamp a design onto it. You can layer this over the top of your layout and as it is clear you can see where you are going to be piercing. Then pierce your holes evenly along the image to create a custom stitching template! As acetate is quite strong you can keep your template to use again and again (as long as you have used a permanent ink!)! You will probably notice that many of my flourishes below are the same ones just in different colours!

Another thing I love when stitching is to bring the design over onto the photo or over several layers of paper as this seems to integrate the design into the layout more and connect different elements. Also though when using very large flourishes they can work very effectively when taken from the centre out to the edges of the paper.

 And don’t just stop at using one colour! Why not alternate every other stitch with a different colour or wind 2 different colours together. I find embroidery floss is the best to use as you can decide how thick you want your stitching to be. Also you can incorporate buttons into your stitches as I have done or add gems and pearls. You could create your title using a backstitch, or why not use a stamped image and pick our certain bits with stitching? There are so many possibilities!

I hope you have enjoyed this little tutorial and it has given you some inspiration. Why not share your favourite hand stitched paper projects with us?

Happy Crafting,

Maxine xx