DIY Vintage Fabric Patchy Personalized Hoop Art

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of shooting a beautiful wedding with my mom. The bride and groom were completely adorable and the wedding was so sweet! I knew the theme of the wedding was designed as a soft vintage style. I thought it would be fun to make a little prop hoop for the couple to hold. I love hoop art, and have been wanting to try a patchy hoop for a while. At the time I did not have a machine that could drop the feed dogs, so I did not use a free motion embroidery technique, which is probably the preferred method. Here is how I made my hoop:

Here’s What You Need:

*Embroidery Hoop

*Linen Fabric (large enough to fit over your hoop plus a couple of inches)

*Vintage Fabric Scraps

*Steam a Seam Double Sided Fusible Interfacing

*Sewing Machine

*Thread

*Fabric Glue

*Scissors

*Ribbon or trim

Instructions:

The first thing you need to do is decide how large you want your letters and what font you want to use. Adjust the font on your screen until the letters are the size you want. Use a ruler to measure the letter on the screen to help.

Take a sheet of your steam a seam and hold it up to your screen. Trace the letters lightly with a pencil.

Once you have the letters traced, you need to cut the letters apart so that they can be applied to the fabric to cut out further.

Remove the backing sheet of your letter and press the sticky side down onto the right side of your fabric. Keep the top sheet on as a guide to cut out each letter.

Now cut out each of your fabric letters. Discard the top sheet. The underside will be tacky.

Lay out your letters on your fabric. You can lay the hoop over the fabric to help eye where everything will fit.

Once you have your layout right, press the letters down. Iron each letter down to the fabric per the instructions on the steam a seam package.

Now you need to topstitch the letters on your sewing machine. Stitch around each letter. You will have to lift up the presser foot, keeping the needle down in the fabric, and turn the fabric as you reach corners and tight curves. Clip excess threads. If you do not want to machine stitch, you can hand stitch around each letter with embroidery floss.

Once your letters are sewn you are ready to make your hoop. Run a bead of fabric glue around the outside of the inner hoop.

 

Lay your fabric over the hoop centering your text, then lay the outer hoop over the top of the fabric. Press and pull and tighten the fabric around the inner hoop, tightening the outer hoop as you go. Once the fabric is nice and smooth over the hoop, tighten the screw as much as you can on the outer hoop. Cut the excess fabric off the back of the hoop cutting close to the frame as possible.

 

To finish off your hoop, tie a little ribbon or trim around the top screw of the embroidery hoop. Now you are ready to hang.

I love how my little hoop turned out! It made a sweet prop for the wedding, and now it is hanging in my home for me and the hubby to admire. I had such fun making this sweet hoop, that I know I will be making more. Next time I think I may try my hand at free motion embroidery since my new machine has the capability. Have you guys ever made any patchy hoop art for your home? Any tips you’d like to share? Embroidery hoops make the cutest art when grouped together! I’ll be back next week with another fun DIY. Until then…

Happy Crafting!