Embroidering on burlap

 

 

You may think embroidering on such a loose weave fabric might be close to impossible.

 

Nope.

 

I'm here to tell you... it's easy - you just need to take a few precautions.

 

First, I never hoop my burlap for fear of stretching or pulling the weave.

I use water-soluble stabilizer in my hoop and carefully pin my burlap in place.

After placing my hoop into my machine and before I start stitching I add another piece of water-soluble stabilizer on top to keep the stitches from sinking into the large loose weave.

 

Stitch as usual.

 

Carefully cut away (do not tear) the water-soluble stabilizer as close to your design as possible.

Using a damp cloth, carefully dab the water-soluble stabilizer on and around your design until all the stabilizer has completly dissolved.

Iron your burlap to dry and smooth out any wrinkles.

 

In the above photo I added a ruffle to the ends of my table runner using a small zig zag stitch.

 

If you prefer, (to keep your burlap from raveling) you can just finish off the edges using a small zig zag as in the photo below.

 

 

On the projects below -  I did both...

I added a ruffle on the short end and finished off the sides with a small zig zag stitch.

 

 

 

I stitched these projects before thinking about making a step by step tutorial with pictures.

 I you have any questions just shoot me a quick e-mail or comment and I will be glad to answer any questions.

 

Hope you will try give burlap a try.

It's "sew" easy.