Embroidery Thread and Felt ~ What Every Crafter Should Know

If you are new to the world of felt crafting you may have noticed that cross stitching or embroidery thread or floss seems to be the go to choice for most felt crafters. And it’s no wonder  – Skeins of cross stitching thread are readily available in a million color choices are inexpensive and are easy to store and transport. How easy is it to store?  How about over 100 colors in the space of 3″ easy? More on that below.

One of the best things about working with felt is its wide range of colors and ease of use in smaller projects and detail work. But all those small scraps of color can add up to a lot of thread. The cost of embroidery or cross stitching thread can be as much as 80% cheaper than traditional thread spools. (Translated:  16 skeins of cross stitching thread vs. 2 spools of standard thread.)  You may also find yourself working with shades of felt you don’t use often or sewing very small details and don’t see a need to invest in a larger spool to sew.

Traditional spools of thread are round and have a tendency to roll around which, while helpful on a sewing machine is quite annoying when hand crafting. Bobbins lie flat and just beg to be thrown into a project baggie for crafting on the go. Cross stitching thread is has very little sheen or shine to it making it blend easily into dense felt.  The cotton in embroidery thread isn’t as strong as the typical spool threads but this generally doesn’t present a problem.

Cross Stitching or embroidery thread is easy to find. Many big box stores now only carry a few shades of thread but will still carry dozens of shades of  embroidery thread. Since most felt work is hand sewn the aggravation of separating the threads in exchange for a wide selection of easy to locate, portable, space-saving, inexpensive colors seems a small price to pay.

Different thicknesses of  embroidery or cross stitch thread used in running stitches and french knots on felt.

#25 cotton embroidery floss is the most commonly sold type, it comes in six strands of thread twisted into one thick strand. Most sewing projects are done with just 1 or 2 threads separated from the bunch after cutting it to the desired length. Occasionally you will want a thicker thread for a tighter hold, visible stitching or filling in details.

Click HERE for more on stitches and their uses.

For larger products or often used colors standard spool threads are still a better bet because all that untangling of thread can be really time-consuming.

 I have sew all sorts of things using only embroidery thread and felt:

Free DIY Felt Seahorse Hobby Horse Pattern

Play around with the thicknesses and stitch styles for added detail on any project.

Embroidery floss is also available in silk, linen, glittered, metallic and even glow in the dark!

Fish, Clams, and Shrimp from the Gulf Coast Catch Pattern

How to store embroidery thread.

Now that I’ve helped you justify your purchase of 85 skeins of embroidery thread let me give you a word of warning, this whole project can go south if you don’t move that thread to bobbins ASAP. Your 8th grade jewelry box has nothing on the tangled rainbow hell that awaits those who don’t heed my warning.

Luckily, moving the thread to a bobbin is simple although a bit time-consuming…

Slip one cuff off at a time taking care not to distort or twist the thread too much.

Keep the thread in its circle and look for the shortest thread along the top. It should come apart smoothly.

Wrap it around your bobbin repeat this process 84 times while binge watching Netflix programming…

Rein in your threads Bo Peep style with these free printable felt sheep bobbins.

That’s all well and good but how do you store sheep shaped bobbins you ask.

How to store Thread Bobbins.

I store my sheep in a 3″ binder inside deep pocketed pocket pages and I always know where to find them.

One of my favorite things about storing the thread bobbins this way is that they are easy to flip through and hold samples against for the best color matches possible.

When buying pocket pages look for deep pockets to help keep your sheep in line, since they will start to slip put if your binder is held upside down. While winding your bobbins try to make your sheep bellies even and flat so they don’t slip out of the pages as easily.

Happy Crafting

~Andie

Maybe not on trees but money does grow on Sheep!

FELT MONEY:

It’s inevitable that once your child collects enough felt food he or she will want to make an imaginary store or restaurant. Since no little grocer or waiter wants to work for free little shoppers will need to cough up some cash and what better way to pay for felt food than felt money. This is also a great way to teach your child math by helping them to make change for their purchases and you can be sure your wool blend money will last through thousands of mini transactions.

This pattern is super easy to follow for every 10 bills you will need:

1 sheet Cilantro colored wool blend felt

2 sheets  Buttercream colored wool blend felt

1-2 sheets  Fresh Cut Grass colored wool blend felt depending of the size and amount of numbers you are making

Cream thread, green thread, and or felt glue.

First cut your Cilantro or money colored felt  into ten bills. Since our felt is sold in 9″ x 12″ pieces just cut as shown into a little larger than 2″ x 4.5″ inch pieces.

Or if your cutting from yardage use this template

Next you will need to cut 2 buttercream circles for EACH bill so if your only making 4 bills you will need 8 circles, for 10, 20 circles and so on.  Each circle is about 2″ in diameter.

Circle Template:

Lastly you will need to cut numbers in whatever denomination you like from the Fresh cut grass, or darker green color, don’t forget little circles for the inside of the 0’s. For each bill you will need a set (2) of matching numbers.

Step 1 : Sew numbers to circle as shown,using green thread to match your numbers you’ll obviously want to do these in matching sets. You may want to use felt glue to speed things along. Felt glue is wonderful and your numbers will stay on indefinitely however your bills may be a little stiff. I like the homespun look of sewing but if time is of the essence nothing is faster than felt glue.

Step 2: Pin circles to both side of the money making sure your numbers match, for clarity I have left off the number in the example picture.

Step 3: Stitch around the circle using cream colored thread and a running stitch, watch to make sure that each stroke looks nice from both sides. Finish hiding your knot along the ridge of your circle. Again I have left the numbers off the example for clarity.

And VIOLA! Felt money…if only making real money were this easy!

Enjoy and please remember our patterns are for personal use only!