Prep and stitch embroidery squares

1. Prepping the squares

Carefully cut on the solid line to separate all the printed squares.

Continue cutting until all the squares are separated. Now you're ready to hoop the square.

2. Hooping the square

Loosen the screw at the top to separate the hoops.

Place a square on the smaller, inner hoop.

Center the larger hoop over the fabric square and smaller hoop. 

Push down.

Tighten the screw to keep the fabric taut. If the square is not wrinkle free, gently pull the fabric until it is smooth.

3. Separating the floss and threading the needle for a knotless start

You will notice that we don't provide any kind of floss color guide with our embroidery images. That's because we leave it to you to create your own special quilt. You decide what color to use from our coordinated floss collection. 

Once you have selected your floss color, cut a 36" length. The floss is composed of 6 strands of thread. You'll need to separate the strands.

Slowly pull one strand out at a time. If you pull out more than one strand at a time your thread will tangle and knot.

Fold your single strand of thread in half.

Bring the two ends together.

Moisten and trim the ends even.

Pinch the ends between your thumb and forefinger. Hold the eye of the needle close and slip the ends through.

The needle is now threaded. No knot is needed at the end of the thread. The loop will be used to anchor the thread when you take your first stitch. Threading the needle this way results in a two-strand thickness for your embroidery, which works well for most images.

If you would like a bolder line, start with two strands folded in half, which will result in a four-strand stitching thickness. For very delicate lines like the features on a face, use one strand that is not doubled. This is the exception to our knotless start rule: It requires the dreaded knot.

4. Knotless start

Pick a point on the image to start your first stitch. Remember start your stitching at an intersection of two or more lines, not in the middle of a line.

Coming from underneath, push the needle through the fabric to the front.

Leave a loop on the backside of the fabric.

Take a stitch and push the needle down to the backside.

Pass the needle through the loop on the backside.

Slowly pull the thread.

Tighten the small loop until it is flush with the fabric.

Bring the needle back up and start stitching!

5.Picking a point to start your stitching

Look to see where the line begins and ends. Your goal is to stitch one continuous line with one color as long as possible. Try to avoid running the thread across the back to start a new area, these jumps will show through to the front side.

Begin stitching at the intersection of the blanket and the elephant's head. Continue down the forehead and at the bottom of the elephants's ear start back up to the top of the ear and end the stitching line. To avoid making a knot, weave the needle in and out of the stitches on the back side.

See step 6 : Ending The Thread

My new thread will begin at intersection of the trunk and bottom of the ear. Continue stitching all the way around the elephant's trunk to his other ear. As often as we warn against jumping from spot to spot, a tiny jump is fine.

Here is the underside where the jump was made. as you can see the under side is as neat as the top.

6. Ending the thread

No need to knot! On the backside, simply weave the needle through the nearest stitch.

Change direction and weave under again. Weave the thread through a line of three stitches.

Detailed illustration of weaving the thread through.

Clip the thread close. Once you have completed embroidering all the squares, you can move on to assemble the 18 and 32 image quilts or Assemble and finish the strip quilt.