I’ve been embroidering for over forty years but I’m always happy to learn a new skill. When I started designing my own embroidery patterns for workshop handouts in 2024 I wanted to try something different.

I’d had a small roll of Madeira Avalon in my fabric cupboard for the longest time and I wanted to try using it for a new workshop sample. I’d seen printed transfers for embroidery being sold online so I thought I’d make my own using a design I’d hand drawn. I used washi tape to attach a piece of the film to a sheet of A4 cardboard and printed it using my little inkjet printer.

I decided to work with my DMC Cotton Perle threads as they are colourfast and I knew they wouldn’t run when I came to wash away the stabilser. This is my top tip and you can check if your threads are colorfast by wetting them and leaving them to dry on a white piece of paper. This will highlight any colour transfer and save you lots of heartache.

I love working with the different greens for botanical pieces and I added coral details for the floral elements of the design.

I used six stitches for this design, back stitch, stem stitch and chain stitch for the stems and leaf details. For the flowers I used satin stitch and clusters of French knots to create texture. I love to use simple straight stitch and the larger leaves really stand out in the design.

I really loved this finished design but I decided to refinine it for my embroidery workshops so it was more manageable in a few hours.

To wash away the film I used hot water from the tap which worked really well. I have actually put some pieces in my washing machine on a very short cycle with good results. I was very confident that the cotton canvas fabric and threads were colourfast which is very important.

It was great to try this new technique in my embroideries and I’ve used it loads on different designs. I’ve now discovered A4 sheets of a similar product by Brothread so I don’t need to tape it to cardboard anymore.