Hi everybody, today feeling inspired i bought some embroidery thread planning to unleash my creative impulses on a t-shirt.
an hour later instead of a neat little heart my t-shirt was adorned with a large messy knot of thread.

but i'm determined not to live with my plain old t-shirts for any longer, so i was wondering if anyone had any advice for embroidery beginners? are iron on transfers useful? and is a hoop always necessary?

thanks,
joni

i've always had trouble attempting embroidery on knitted material. too stretchy and pliant. maybe if you hooped it up and used some stabilizer it would be easier?

april

I usually use a hoop I think it makes it easier to get a nice smooth result, esp if using satin stitch, ros.

Depends on the design. Sometime I just lightly pencil in what I want or rubber stamp it or just freeform it. I *always* use a hoop and 2 strands of thread in the needle.

Ribbon embroidery is very forgiving. At least the simpler flowers are.

hth,
Tree

A hoop is pretty much always necessary in order to pull the cloth tight. You can find cheap wooden ones for like 98 cents.

If I were embroidering on a t-shirt (a slightly daunting task), I'd probably pin some type of woven material to the shirt and embroider over both layers, and then cut away the excess woven material.

can you tell more about this lovely sounding 'ribbon embroidery'? i've never really done any - but ribbon flowers sounds gorgeous...
any sites to recommend?

~l.

In the eighties, my mom used to cross stitch on sweat shirts a lot... She would use interfacing to stabilize her designs. (And then use a hoop to embroider...) I use three strands instead of two... but whatever you prefer is best :)