Fabric Wrapped Embroidery Hoop, Tutorial...

I have always loved the look of fabric wrapped hoops for displaying your embroidery. 

And, even though it's pretty easy to figure out how to wrap fabric around the hoop, I was wondering how other crafters were finishing the backs of their hoops. Although, after looking online to find tutorials, I found very few. 

For the hoops that I have made in the past, I left my embroidered fabric long, pulling it tight together using needle and thread and covering the whole back with a circle of felt or fabric. It looked nice, but it was a lot of extra work. 

Well, I recently notice at a craft show a couple hoops finished with the embroidered fabric cut short and hot glued inside the edge of the hoop. I like the simplicity of it as well as being able to see the back of my work. I try really hard to keep the back of my embroidery neat and I don't mind seeing it. Although, for gifts or for selling, it would be nice to glue a circle of felt or fabric to the back. Maybe I'll do that next time... 

I hope you find this tutorial helpful.

{hugs}

Laura

After finishing my embroidery and making my crochet accents, I am ready to get started.

I used a rotary cutter to cut thin strips of fabric. My hoop is 4 inches and I cut 2 strips of fabric that were 1/2 inch wide and 24 inches long. They don't have to be perfect because the edges don't really stand out after it's wrapped. So, if you don't have a rotary cutter, scissors will work great.

For wrapping the fabric, I used school glue. It worked great keeping the fabric in place and it's thin consistency doesn't add any extra bulk like hot glue would have.

 Just start with about an inch of glue on the inside of the outer hoop.

Now, just tightly wrap the fabric around the hoop, overlapping the fabric as you go. I started as close to the end as possible, wrapping my fabric over the metal "L" bracket.

 Then, when needed, add more glue and continue wrapping.

When you get to the end of your fabric strip, apply some glue to the fabric as well as the hoop to secure the end.

Then, start the new strip of fabric over the top of the first.

 Continue around, adding fabric strips as needed, until you get to the end.

At the end, trim your fabric so it's long enough to finish on the inside of the hoop and glue it in place. Beware, your fabric strips will unravel a little as you wrap. I just used my embroidery scissors and trimmed the threads off.

 Next, I trimmed the embroidered fabric to a little less than a 1/2 inch.

I did not wait for the school glue to be dry before putting my hoops back together. Just make sure everything is lined up perfectly and then tighten the screw.

Using a low-temp hot glue gun, I applied a small amount of hot glue to the inner hoop and gently pressed down the fabric with my fingers, making little folds here and there where needed.

 The final thing to do was to hot glue on my crochet accents and I was done.

Hoop Art...

I have recently created two embroidered hoops with crocheted flowers to hang. I have been wanting to do something like this for a long time and I am really happy with how they turned out.

I will be posting a tutorial for wrapping the hoop with fabric very soon.

{hugs}
Laura

This Years Tomatoes - and Two More Mandala's

Good morning. It's a beautiful day here so far, it's nice and cool and I can hear the birds chirping outside - I am enjoying it.

I am excited because my tomatoes are growing and doing good (with the exception of one plant that is growing but not producing). 

These are Indigo Rose tomatoes... 

These are German Queen tomatoes...

These are Yellow Pear tomatoes...

These are the last two mandala's that I crocheted. I love the colors of this one and I am currently using it on the living-room table.

I really like the blues and greens with that little bit of yellow of this mandala but I'm not sure of the variegated yarn. I have always liked the color combination of variegated yarns but not the patterning you get when crocheting with them.

These little baby birds are in a nest in our patio. The picture is not that great and the nest is more bird-poo that twigs but, they are so cute that I wanted to share them with you.

Have a great day.

{hugs}
Laura

Mandala Madness Part Three...

Wow, the weather here in Southern California has been hot and windy today. I'm scared to think of how bad it's going to be this summer.

So, to keep from thinking of the weather...

...here is another Mandala.

I love this pattern from Creative Being because it's very easy and fun to do. I especially love the technique for finishing each round. For this mandala, I threw in a few rounds of single crochet. And, I love the red, white and blue colors.

I hope you are crocheting your own mandala...

{hugs}
Laura

Mandala Madness Part 2...

I made this mandala with Lily and Cream cotton yarn. I really like the color combination.

I have a friend who loves to run so I made her this bib and medal display for her birthday.

Have a wonderful Saturday.

{hugs}

Laura

Mandala Madness...

I have been crocheting a lot the past couple of weeks. And, my main focus has been mandalas. I will be sharing them with you over the next few days. You can check out my Instagram if you are interested in what I am doing on a more regular basis.

I made the first two mandalas with the yarn I bought from Hobby Lobby. I also made a granny square doily. And then I made some crochet roses following the pattern I found on Attic24. They are so cute. I put a pin back on the yellow one so I could wear it - I get a compliment on it every time. They are really fun to make, you should give it a try.

{hugs}
Laura

You can see a few more pictures of this one here...

I made this one for a friend...

I wanted to do something with granny squares. I made this one up as I went along... 

Cute crochet roses from a pattern on the Attic24 blog... 

Birds...

I have a new bird feeder in my backyard.

I am so happy about it too. In the past we have had bird feeders but the seed that falls always sprouts and it's so hard to get rid of what grows. We recently found a little store not far from our home that sells "clean seed" that doesn't do that. I bought a finch feeder and within 30 minutes of putting it up, we had our first visitor.

One week later, there are a lot of little goldfinches hanging around. We also got a few samples of a different type of clean bird feed for the sparrows and doves to eat. Now, all the little birds drink and bath in our pond's waterfall and eat their fill at the feeders.

I love birds and I'm so happy to see them in the backyard.

{hugs}
Laura

Crochet Mandala...

I am really enjoying my new cotton yarns from Hobby Lobby. I finished this a few days ago.

{hugs}
Laura

Rice Bags...

I do love making rice bags.

These were for a friend. I posted a picture of them on my Instagram about a week ago.

{hugs}
Laura