Stay At Home Stitch Projects

With a number of us stuck inside and looking for new craft projects we wanted to share some embroidery-based ideas to keep you busy and inspired at home. From the very simplistic-beginner friendly, to more ambitious projects for regular stitchers, get cosy and ready to sew something new...  

Splash some threads on your walls

For those looking for a nice long project to get stuck into, the Stitch Map Wall Hanging makes an ideal canvas to get truly creative. And you have a living art work to hang in your home, ready to add to when travelling is an option again. 

We love this embroidered masterpiece found on Suck UK's website, with famous landmarks and icons stitched next to each destination.  This is the perfect time to embark on creating your own unique wall hanging, based on the great experiences you've had travelling. 

If that seems a bit more ambitious than you were looking for, you can keep things more simplistic by stitching arrows to pinpoint each destination. This looks incredibly effective when done in a rainbow of colour (again you can use our Rainbow Template and arrows from the Travel Icons Template to create this effect). Pick up our Rainbow Threads to give you plenty of colour options to stitch in. 

Another really effective idea is to stitch country flags onto the map - marking off the places you've been and learning their flag too. This one takes a bit of time (deepening on the country size of course) but looks amazing. 

A similar idea to make the Cross Stitch Map your own, is to add pattern to each country - so the world becomes a colourful tapestry. Get inspired by the colours or patterns of where you've travelled and don't be afraid to mix stitching styles. 

Another amazing example - @shadowmomo (found on Instagram) combines flags, icons, landmarks and pop culture references to create this work of art. 

Go floral for Spring

We used our Birth Flower template to personalise some Chasing Threads accessories, like the Stitch Pencil / Glasses Case - and then realised we could go beyond that and customise anything !

First we stitched up the back of our Tote Bag, and made a tutorial video here. 

Then had a go on a spare t-shirt:

We also found this ribbon embroidery by Sophie Long @sophieembroidery which gives a new twist on floral stitching with a 3D effect- you can buy her book 'Ribbon Embroidery' to learn the technique. 

Sophie also used this technique on our own Stitch Heart Strings Pouch and we are a bit OBSESSED... 

After all this flowembroidery, we were inspired to stitch flowers to an old pair of Vans.. proving you can use anything as your canvas! 

Fixing, up-cycling and personalising old items seems like a great use of energy right now and we were loving the colourful 'Spring' update it's giving our wardrobe. 

Stitch Yourself!

Make yourself a hand-sewn portrait of yourself / your family / or your favourite characters... 

Simple and incredibly effective when you manage to add little details that look just like your subject. You can use cross stitch aida fabric and make a mini-banner for your wall. 

Or frame in an embroidery hoop for some easy wall art (any guesses on the famous trio I stitched..?) 

Or go crazy and use our Travel Wallet, Jewellery Wrap or Stitch Case to immortalise yourself on your accessories! 

Illustrator & designer Rosie Upright even stitched faces free-style into the Travel Wallet for her Honeymoon trip. How amazing is this...   

Sew Love, Show Love

We are still sending out our Heart Strings pouches and purses which make a quick and easy DIY and ideal for sending on to someone filled with a special letter or message of hope and love. 

But this little threaded heart could be used to decorate any other item you have at home - and we added some love to another old white t-shirt. We traced the dots of the heart template from an iPad screen and used Rainbow Threads in a circle of colour, using our Rainbow Heart Strings Template. Follow our tutorial here!

We love these kits by Kate Blandford - showing some love for what is getting you through this time  - be that cats, naps or pizza. She also has some cute embroidery accessories like these essential stork scissors. 

Stitch Luggage Tag DIY Kit

We're biased but we think the Stitch Luggage Tag makes a great DIY activity to create a beautiful personalised tag, and comes with everything you need. Spend a few evenings on this 3D letter cross-stitch and you'll have a designer tag ready at the end. 

#SupportSmall

We hope this gives you some ideas for new projects, and remember we are still shipping if you'd like to grab any goods to keep you busy. All orders for small businesses are a lifeline to protecting their existence beyond this time, so thanks in advance if you're able to #supportsmall. 

Whatever you do, stay cosy, stay sane, stay safe.

Em