Breath new life into a denim jacket with Cai Ni Laighin's embroidered design, encouraging us all to take a moment of mindfulness.
DENIM DESIGNS
YOU WILL NEED
■ Denim jacket
■ Embroidery hoop or snap frame
■ Stranded cotton: 6-8 skeins of DMC Ecru shade
■ Heat erasable pen or tracing paper
■ Basic sewing kit
NOTES
■ Download the template from gathered.how/ss-templates
PREPARING THE DESIGN
Step one Download the design and use the tracing paper or heat erasable pen to draw embroidery design on your jacket. 01
Step two Lay out the inner ring of the embroidery hoop and place your denim jacket over the top. Press the outer ring over so the fabric is stretched taut. Tighten as necessary. You will need to move the hoop a few times to complete the embroidery.
EMBROIDERY: LETTERING
Step one Split the thread into two strands. Begin the outline of the lettering using a basic backstitch. This stitch is worked in a 'two steps forward, one step back' fashion.
Step two Once the outline is completed, fill the lettering in with a satin stitch, using the backstitch as a guide. How you place the satin stitch for the lettering is up to you. In this project, I followed the curve of the letters. 02
Step three To create a fuller, more raised lettering, try doubling the full strand of thread. This had the additional benefit of speeding up the stitching process!
Step four Edge the lettering with the full strand of thread in a basic backstitch. 03
EMBROIDERY: DECORATIVE STITCHES
Step one For the spirals at the bottom of the design and the sun, as well as the hearts either side of the lettering, use a threaded backstitch. This is made by threading through previously laid backstitches. 04
Step two Complete the surrounding details of the sun with zigzag and
