Hand Stitching on your background

Hand stitching on layouts has become very popular lately and I have seen incredible pages with entire backgrounds stitched. Whether you want to do an entire background or just an accent, it's something that really makes a page special especially if you use metallic threads like the beautiful threads by Kreinik Threads (HERE)

Have you tried hand stitching on your layouts? Yes, it takes a little time but it is totally worth the trouble. This is my first of 2 tutorials about hand stitching to hopefully share a few tips you haven't heard and inspire you. For this first feature I would like to talk about stitching directly on your background to create a design or title.
Here is my first example. Rather than just a decorative background I wanted a stitched title that would also be decorative.

Tip #1 - Choosing a needle. First we will be puncturing holes with a larger diameter sharp needle, and then when you actually stitch, a traditional non-sharp embroidery or cross stitch needle is perfect. You can use a mouse pad upside down or folded towel on your scrap table to put under your layout to puncture the holes. Pre-puncturing holes will speed up your stitching time and you can sit on the couch and watch tv while stitching :) So punch holes with sharp, stitch with dull.

Tip #2-  You can surely go freehand stitching but I prefer to lightly draw my design with pencil. You can trace around silhouette cut designs, punched shapes, or even around alphas like thickers. After puncturing your holes, erase the pencil lines before stitching.

Since I am scrapping Disney photos I really think the threads need a little pixie dust sparkle so my Tip #3 is to use some metallic threads to make the stitching pop a little. There are many you can use but some are super thin and when you start having to double up strands, metallic threads tangle badly. I choose a thread byKreinik called Very Fine Braid #4  and it comes in so many colors. You can use this thread single or doubled and it really shows up well. If you do not want any sparkle, 3 threads of a traditional embroidery floss are the perfect thickness (embroidery floss is made up of 6 threads).

Tip #4 -Knots: You can make a knot in your thread to start and finish your stitching but because this is a scrapbook page, the knot is extra bulk behind the layout and kind of makes the page lumpy in your album. I use washi tape to tack my end when I start and finish a strand so that it is flat. There won't be alot of wear and tear on the layout inside of your page protector so the washi will hold it fine.

Now for some step by step photos to help you out.
For the page above, I could have hand drawn a title, but I don't like my handwriting so I cut the script title from printer paper using my silhouette and used it as a template to trace.

 Next I used a large sharp needle to puncture holes along the pencil lines, making them closer together where the tight curves are in the letters.

 Before beginning the stitching, I erased the pencil, and then painted and splattered some gold mist on the background. I wanted to show you a close up so you could see how awesome these Kreinik threads look. I was going to do one word in each thread color but I thought a more varied color change would be more fun.

Here is the finished stitching. I hope you will give it a try soon.