Tutorial: Turning a photo into an embroidery pattern

Here is how I turned a photo into a pattern:

Pick a photo of your choice.

School photos work very well as the lighting is good and the face is usually without shadows

Use any photo editing software of your choice.  There are lots of free software available online.  I use Picnik.  Use the posterize function to get this effect.  Play around with the colours until you are happy.  I settled on 10 colours.

Save the posterized picture and go to the Pencil Sketch function.  Without any further editing I got this result.  Play around until you are happy with the amount of lines and the clarity of the picture.

You can use the picture as is, or further simplify it by hand.  I printed the previous picture and traced it against the window (you can use a light table if you are more sophisticated than me!).  Here you can make it as simple or as complicated as you wish.

I scanned this version into my computer and printed it on to a wash-away stabilizer.

And Voila!  A perfect embroidery pattern.

A friendly request:  

This is a picture of my son.  I used it to demonstrate the process.  

Please feel free to link to this tutorial, but please do not re-post this whole post with pictures to your blog.  If you need one picture to illustrate the post, use one of the sketches.

Thank you.  

Template tutorial

This is how I make all my templates: 

All you need is a pack of coloured, semi-transparent plastic file-dividers like these.  They cost next to nothing at the supermarket stationary department.

Place a sheet of plastic over the pattern and trace with a permanent marker.

If you are going to use it for quilting or sewing, add the seam allowances.

For this pattern I could fit a few pieces on the same sheet.

I used different colour sheets for different parts of the pattern

These templates were for my Arabic quilt.  Here I was playing around with the colours, placing my templates with the fabric I planned to use for each piece.

The plastic is easy to cut, doesn't fray or tear, is transparent for better placement on the fabric and sturdy enough to be re-used over and over.

I've used this method successfully with:

The tin-can-stars

The heart flower quilt

The soccer ball

The Arabic quilt (still in progress)

Eureka!

I just made this wonderful new discovery!
It is possible to print directly onto the embroidery stabilizer. Yes, really
This is what I did:

I cut a piece of stabilizer and a piece of freezer paper to exactly A4 size (to make sure it doesn't get eaten by the printer) and ironed the two together.

I then put it in the printer with the stabilizer (print side) facing down and printed as normal. I don't have the best printer in the world so I was prepared for things to go terribly wrong here, but everything worked out perfectly.

I peeled the stabilizer off and voila: A perfect embroidery-pattern ready to start stitching!

I made a sketch of the photo because I made a few changes to the original picture, but it is possible to print the photo directly onto the stabilizer too.

Now no more light boxes and window tracings for me! Yippee!! (You can see why I was looking for an easier way to copy the picture, can't you?)

As you probably know by now, I am a completely self-taught embroiderer. Except for some help from my mother and grandmother when I was still small, I never had any formal embroidery training. Now you can understand why I am so thrilled with this discovery - I figured it all out by myself and it is going to make my life a lot easier.

All I need now is for someone to tell me this is the way everybody else does it, and I have been the only one living behind a rock for the past 20 years...

Tin Can Stars Tutorial

Ever since I blogged about my tin-can-star mural in June 2009 I promised to do a tutorial. I kept on putting it off because I haven't done any tutorials before and the whole idea seemed a bit overwhelming.
Not any more! Here it is at last:

This tutorial shows you how to make the stars. You can then use the stars to make anything you want from mobiles to Christmas decorations.

You will need:

Empty soft drink cans
Utility/kitchen scissors
Star template (download and print)
Permanent marker
Ruler
Sharp object. I used an awl, but a thick needle or nail will also work
Flat nose pliers



Step 1:
Cut the can open.
Start by forcing the one edge of the scissors into the can near the top rim and away from the logo. Cut all around.



Cut from top to bottom. Make sure you keep the logo intact by cutting on the bar-code side of the can.



Cut off the bottom.



This is what you have now:



You can now clean the inside of the can to make sure your work surface and hands don't end up all sticky.

Step 2:
Trace the template onto the can with the permanent marker.



Make sure you place the template over the logo and in such a way that you can fit two stars onto each can.





Step 3:
Cut out the stars.





Step 4:
Score the stars.
With the logo side facing up, line the ruler between two opposing internal corners. Use your sharp tool to mark a straight line. Make sure you don't cut right through the metal. Repeat with the other internal corners.



Flip the star over. With the logo side facing down, line the ruler between two opposing sharp points. Score as before. Repeat with the other sharp points.



Step 5:
Hold the star between your fingers and fold on the lines.



Repeat the folding along all the lines.



Use your sharp tool to sharpen the corners and edges.



Step 6:
With your flat nose pliers pinch the sharp points of the star to flatten them and to bend them slightly upwards.



Step 7:
Hold the star down on the work surface and push a hole through the flat ends with your sharp tool. You can put a cutting board or cork tile underneath.



That's it!



If you want the metal side of the star to be on top you have to change the scoring around. The shorter lines (between internal corners) on the metal side and the longer lines (between the sharp points) on the coloured side.

Heart flower tutorial

Valentine's Day usually pass us by without much ado, so it never occured to me to do a Valentine's blog post. Then as I was browsing other craft-blogs I realised this is the ideal time to post my long-promised tutorial on the heart-flower quilt which I blogged about last year.



This is my first tutorial so I really hope it is clear and easy to follow. I don't usually work from patterns, I just look at the picture and follow my own head, so making up instructions is a bit foreign to me. Please feel free to ask questions if anything is unclear.



The instruction sheets can be downloaded here:
heart-flower 1
heart-flower 2

I am sure there are better ways of doing this which I am not aware of, so again, please feel free to send some advice and tips on attaching pdf files to a Blogger post.



This tutorial shows you how to make one heart-flower. It can then be used for all sorts of things. Here are a few suggestions:

On bedding
A quilt (obviously)
Make a row of flowers and attach to the edge of a pillowcase and flat sheet
Four flowers as a cushion cover

In the kitchen/dining room
One flower with a border can make a potholder or oven glove
On the corner of a napkin
A border around a tablecloth
Four or six flowers as a place mat

On clothes
A border around a skirt
A patch on a pocket of a pair of jeans
As a panel on a shopping bag
etc
etc



Once you've made an item from this block, please send me a picture and I can share it with the other readers.