Carpet embroidery: needle and crochet technique for beginners with video and photo
Even a beginner in needlework can master the technique of carpet embroidery, you just need to be patient.
This technique has an amazing history dating back to the Middle Ages. Today it is in demand in interior solutions – its name speaks for itself: panels, tapestries, rugs created in this technique are distinguished by a special energy of things made by hand. And no less interesting and original it is used in the manufacture of unique fashion accessories – original bags and even toys. World-famous couturiers never forget about her, using her in extravagant decoration. Meanwhile, the technique is so simple and exciting that even children successfully master it from the first lesson.
Carpet embroidery for beginners – where to start?
Starting, as always, is with the basics, namely with ready-made kits for beginners. They include printed canvas, matched threads and a special hook or needle.
The base is important; in this technique, a specially processed hard canvas is used to obtain an effective result. This is especially important if an interior item is conceived – a tapestry, a rug or a bedspread. The result looks just as good on dense twin-thread fabrics that perfectly hold the shape of the finished product. You can also use medium-sized sirloin mesh if you are planning soft, plastic embroidery, for example, for decorating a sofa cushion.
In addition, you will need a hoop or frame on which to stretch the base. It is not worth neglecting them, especially at the stage of mastering the technique – they allow you to make even and dense – one to one stitches even for those who do not have a full hand and the best way to select color combinations of threads.
There are many options for combining colors in carpet embroidery, see the photo:
For the first experience, it is better to choose a drawing, ready-made or applied to the canvas yourself, with clear contours and large details. If you decide to embroider a tapestry or a nursery rug with a funny "cat" portrait, do not try to reproduce mustaches, stripes and other small graphic shapes. Even sketchy, but with clear contours, embroidery will delight you with the result, and you will get the necessary experience.
For carpet embroidery, voluminous, thick pure-woolen or mixed composition twisted threads are used; acrylic threads are excellent for this technique – light and brightly colored. When choosing a material, it is worth considering that acrylic is easier to care for, but wool looks nobler and more expensive. It is not in vain that knitters love this technique, it allows you to create original, and sometimes unique things literally “out of nothing" – the most illiquid balls and hanks are used, and sometimes even threads that have already served their time faithfully in sweaters and scarves.
As tools in this technique, special needles or hooks are needed. This is perhaps its only, but surmountable difficulty. It is worth talking about tools in particular.
Carpet embroidery with a needle – the basics of craftsmanship
The needles for this technique are special, they allow you to work with a solid thread, creating a pattern of voluminous soft loops on the front side of the product. You will need two needles for work – for thin and thick threads, they can be purchased at specialized stores for needlework. The principle of their device, regardless of the brand, the post-thread passes through a hollow needle with an “eye” at a finely sharpened end, and the locking mechanism allows you to effortlessly make even “stitches” of the same size on the basis.
The first thing to do is a sketch. It can be either a finished drawing or your own. It is important that it has clear outlines and well-drawn contours. It is worth considering that the pattern is applied to the wrong side, which means that it is in a mirror image. Now the base must be tightly pulled into the hoop or onto the frame, since the needle will literally pierce the fabric during operation.
Each stitch in the technique of carpet embroidery with a needle is a simple movement – the needle must be brought into the warp until it stops and pulled back. So on the front side a looped embroidery fabric is formed.
Each loop is created by a simple point movement of the needle: from the inside to the face. Slightly retreating from the previous puncture, make the next stitch. Their frequency depends on how dense and voluminous you want your embroidery to be. For a spectacular front side of the work, the best step is 3-4 millimeters.
It is important not to raise the needle too high and not to pull the thread, leaving it loose – otherwise the embroidery loops may unravel.
How it is done – carpet embroidery – on the video:
You should start with the outline of the picture, highlighting it with a contrasting thread. So you will perfectly maintain the proportions of the work and the dimensions of the picture, and in the process, filling in the boundaries of the contour – this is how children paint over “coloring pages” – you will be able to select color and texture combinations of material to your taste for such needlework as carpet embroidery
It is not necessary to additionally fasten the thread in the technique of carpet embroidery with a needle, it is enough to leave free "tails" at the beginning and end of the work.
Crochet carpet embroidery: as easy as shelling pears
No less interesting texture and pattern gives the use of a hook. For these purposes, you can take an ordinary crochet hook, but real craftswomen use a special hook with a movable lock, which allows you to embroider easier and more efficiently.
Unlike the technique using a needle, the thread for working with a hook must be cut into equal lengths of no more than 5 centimeters. To meet the size, the threads can be wound on an ordinary school ruler – it will turn out perfect.
On the hook threaded into the canvas, you need to throw a piece of thread folded strictly in half, close the lock of the hook and pull it out from the front side of the canvas.
With the help of a hook, with a simple movement, a tight and reliable knot is obtained on the wrong side of the embroidery and loose threads on the front. It is done faster than the description is read – in a couple of seconds.
This method allows you to embroider from the front of the product, and you can evaluate the progress of the work in the process. The surface of the embroidery in this case turns out to be soft and fleecy – literally “carpeted”, since the pattern is formed due to the released free ends of the threads.
It is worth considering that it is better to start working with a hook from the bottom left row, without missing a single cell of the canvas. You need to knit knots from left to right and start drawing from the bottom, gradually moving up.
Crochet carpet embroidery also requires clear large contours of the pattern, but unlike the technique using a needle, it allows you to work finer with color combinations of threads. With its help, you can highlight tones and semitones, making the drawing literally three-dimensional.
Carpet embroidery for beginners is the best way to join the world of exclusive needlework. Technique opens up personal possibilities, which sometimes could not be suspected. The ability to work with color and various textures, and most importantly – to create unique things – this is the main secret of this very simple and effective needlework practice.