sewing on paper--an artful blogger tutorial

how wonderful to join kari at ArtsyMama today for her artful blogger party! congratulations kari on your wonderful article and such a lovely post today.

to celebrate with everyone in blogland today i am posting a tutorial on sewing on paper. i started out as a young girl sewing with fabric and as i moved more to creating with paper and all things mixed media i continued sewing. . . .
i use sewing instead of glue to attach papers, fabrics, flowers, buttons, beads, photos, and anything else i want to hold in place. the stitches become decorative as well as functional in each piece of art. i will show you step by step sewing on paper by hand and with a sewing machine, give some of my best tips, and then show some examples of how sewing can be incorporated as a design element. i loaded all the pictures really big so you can click on them for a close-up view!

when sewing by hand first mark your holes with a pencil for placement.

place your artwork over a piece of cardboard box to support it then with a large head pin poke through each hole. thread a large eyed needle with some embroidery floss or vintage string. tie a knot at the end and begin stitching by poking the needle up through the first hole in the back then down through the next hole. continue stitching to the last hole then tie off the thread on the back.


if you don't want a large knot in the back (especially if you are using heavy string) cut a small rectangle of book paper and with a glue stick glue the paper in place over the thread to hold it down.


when sewing by machine decide where you want your stitches to begin and insert your needle there. leave a long tail of thread so you can tie a knot at the back. stitch around your design.

i leave the needle down in the paper then lift up the presser foot to turn corners. when you are at the end of your stitching back stitch two or three stitches to hold in place or leave strings to tie in back. here is the back of the heart after stitching with both the top-red and bottom-blue threads pulled to the back.


tip* i use double-stick tape to hold papers in place for stitching or a paper clip on the edge.

here i have used red thread on top and blue thread in my bobbin to add contrast. lots of times i force myself to use whatever thread is already in my machine just to keep the colors interesting.



any kind of embroidery stitch can be worked on paper, like this daisy chain i used to outline a flower. notice a zig zag stitch and a straight stitch are used in the same photo with different colored threads. i look for a tall not wide eyed embroidery needle that is not too fat. that way the holes from the needle are not larger than the thread you are using. Piecemakers size 8 is a good in-between needle for floss.


a crossed stitch with beads.



here the stitching outlines the cut out stencil number and holds the photo in place.


i was so happy with the stitching around this photo! the trick is just keep going back and forth around the photo. like a one line drawing that is made without lifting your pencil.


large striped string holds down this button and crepe paper flower.


and sometimes the stitching is just for decoration.


have fun stitching on all your creations and send any sewing questions my way!
back to the party, xo julie