An embroidery hoop pictures tutorial - but don't cry me a river

Yep, that's one long post title.

You all would have seen the hoops that the Purl Bee did? Here's the link. Here's an adaption I did as a call for submission for a craft book but it was rejected. Never mind! I still have another proposal that's been accepted, so there! This one was done very quickly off the cuff over a couple of nights so the idea evolved a little as I went. A tutorial follows. I've also done a cupcake and matryoshka version I'll post them at a later date. You can use these however you'd like, gifts, sell, make for yourselves. I'd love to see if you guys make any, please join the embroidery hoop pictures group over at flickr. Make your own designs! I'll add the apple, leaves and stem cutouts as a jpg tomorrow, it's late and I've got to draw them up. The ones you see here have been cut on the fly.

So here we go....

Materials: Embroidery hoop, fabric for backing and overlay, wool felt and embroidery thread.

First up, cut out your felt pieces.

Then iron your backing fabric and insert into hoop whilst it's warm, this will crease the fabric and act as a guide when you're laying out your design.

Remove from hoop and see below, creased.

Then lay your design on the backing fabric working out where everything will sit, how high or low do you want your table top for your apple to sit on? At this point I usually iron on double sided fusing onto the "table" fabric and then iron this piece to the backing. Just helps it sit nicely.

I then machine sewed on a line of ric rac, up to you at this point whether you'd like do this or embellish any other way. Then insert the fabric back into the hoop. DON'T glue it in yet.

Still with me? By the way I've just stopped for a pee break and a cuppa and embroidered the apple on to the backing below. See? Pretty hey? Pinking shear the excess fabric off. I usually cut the fabric to about half an inch (1.5cm).

Then glue the excess fabric to the hoop back, see the Purl Bee tutorial for this part if you don't know how. And voila! Done. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Enjoy your hoop.

So, see the finished one above, would you like it? Yep, I'm looking for you guys to leave a comment and I'll randomly generate a number to draw a winner. I'll post it anywhere in the world. Just leave a comment letting me know your favourite shake your booty song whilst cleaning or whatever to motivate yourself. I'll close comments Monday morning 23 June.

I'll leave you with a song for the weekend. Not exactly my motivational move my booty song...but one I love. Cry me a river? Babs sure will, why? Just for the absolute drama. Link.