Mourning Goods Embroidery Tutorial
Please enjoy our tutorial video - we show you how easy it is to personalize and customize any fabric products with embroidery to honor your Loved One.
Embroidering does not have to be daunting and is pretty simple. But if you are new to the world of embroidery and need more guidance, we recommend a few easy instructions in this tutorial video.
The study of Neuro-Aesthetics shows that crafts and art projects that use your hands to create something new or a finished design like an embroidered item, allow you to move overwhelming, or big feelings that may be challenging to articulate, in a gentle, healthy, and therapeutic way.
Stitching Love and Honor For Your Tears Handkerchief Demo
Welcome. In this video, I’ll be showing you how to use the handkerchief embroidery kit we’ll be offering at our holiday market.
Each kit holds everything you need a handkerchief, needle, hoop, floss, and a small tracing square for your own design.
This project is meant to be more than craft it’s an invitation to slow down, to honor love, and to give shape to the emotion to grief, to love, to the quiet things that need somewhere to rest.
Each handkerchief is made from natural fabric of linen or cotton, some fine and delicate, others thicker and sturdy.
Just as our hearts have different textures, each fabric holds thread in its own way.
For fine weaves, use one or two strands of floss. For thicker ones, three or four.
Let the fabric tell you what it needs.
Unscrew the screw on side of embroidery hoop to separate the inner and outer hoops. Arrange the area of handkerchief you wish to embroider on top of the inside hoop and place the outside hoop over and secure. Make sure to screw the fastening screw tight to ensure sure the fabric is taut and won’t shift. You want a very even, flat surface for any stenciling or drawing and for embroidering.
Place your handkerchief in the hoop so the fabric feels smooth and supported.
Thread your needle and tie a small knot a simple act of beginning. ❤️
Adding your Loved One’s monogram, name or favorite saying (“love you to the moon and back”), birthdate, even the classic “xo” for kisses and hugs, is a touching way to customize your handkerchief. You can embroider a symbol that means something to you, or to your loved one, you can trace out their signature or name with the included tracing paper and embroider that or you can just do a pattern, or a combination of all!
For a custom design, print a black and white design of your choice from any printer. You’ll need to trace design onto fabric before stitching. Iron fabric to be perfectly flat then lay flat on a level, hard, smooth surface. Place the handkerchief over a black and white printed design and hold up to a bright window. Trace design with a heat soluble erasable fabric pen [available at fabric stores and online] straight onto handkerchief.] You may also free hand designs onto fabric with a fabric pen.
You can follow a printed pattern, or let your stitches move freely like thoughts finding their own path.
ASSEMBLE:
Clean workspace
Scissors
Anything else you wish to add to your handkerchief: lace, pearls, beading, sequins, fabric swathes of meaningful clothing.
Your Hanky Kit ingredients:
Handkerchief
Hoop
Needle
Thread
Transfer paper [if desired]
To use this craft as a form of creative expression, we suggest these starting points:
Use threaded needle to sew embroidery threads in different colors into your design.
Thread can be separated into strands of 2 or 3 for more delicate designs.
Be sure to knot your threads in back so your designs stays put. Standard embroidery thread is included so you can easily add in extra colors.
Snip extra thread from back. The back of any embroidered design always looks a bit messy.
Start with a backstitch to outline your design steady and grounding.
Use a satin stitch to fill in shapes, laying one thread beside another, building softness and strength.
For small details, add French knots tiny bursts of texture, like happy memories.
As you sew, remember to breathe. Think of your Loved One; the good times, their smile, their laugh, as you design, trace, and embroider each stitch, to embed joy and love into your project. Each stitch can hold a story, fond memory, prayer, a name, or even a fragment of anything you’re ready to allow to move.
When your embroidery is complete, remove the hoop and gently press the fabric flat with a low heat iron.
If your kit came with a keepsake bag you can also embroider that!
What remains is more than thread on cloth it’s a trace of your care, your love, maybe some of your grief, your tenderness made visible.
May each handkerchief carry comfort and remind you that love, like thread, can mend even the softest parts of what was broken.
Thank you for using the Mourning Goods DIY handkerchief kit to create with intention, and for allowing your hands to tell the quiet stories your heart remembers.