Building the perfect embroidery kit for beginners; my favourite materials anD the tools I can't live without.

These are the embroidery essentials I would take with me if I were to be stranded on a desert island!

Welcome to my embroidery kit! When I am designing my patterns and kits, these are all the tools and materials I use. Over the years I have worked out what works best for stitching on felt and making the Sewyeah patterns.

1. Felt 100% wool felt is my preferred choice. It’s soft, strong and doesn’t squeak when you sew it, unlike some acrylic felts! Cloudcraft.co.uk and Benziedesign.com are my favourite suppliers.

2. Freezer paper A printable paper with a slightly waxy underside. Iron to your felt to make template cutting a dream. Silkcraft.co.uk make a good pack of A4 sheets.

3. Transfer pens Pilot Frixion rollerball pens, Cricut infusible ink pens and Clover iron on transfer pencils. So many choices all with their pro’s and cons, but you will find your favourite.

4. Scissors Small sharp embroidery ones, medium 5 inch general purpose ones and fancy scallop edged ones. Try Cottonclara.com or Korbond

5. Pins & needles Long quilters pins with glass heads, large eye darning needle, size 4 or 5 embroidery needles, size 10 or 12 beading needle, small curved needle. John James needles have every needle you would ever need!

6. Flosses and threads Stranded cotton from DMC is my go to floss. DMC Diamante for metallic colours and an invisible polyester thread for sewing beads and sequins. A thicker cord like a bakers twine or a thin ribbon for display.     

7. Bobbins To prevent a tangled cacophony of floss.Remember to add the floss colour code to your bobbin! 

8. Fabric glue pen Helpful to hold small pieces of felt in place before you stitch when pins just won’t do. Stix does a great glue pen that works well on felt and irons away when dry.

9. Beads & sequins A mixture of small glass beads, especially metallic gold and second-hand sequins for added sparkle.

10. Stuffing 2cm wide strips of soft cotton and felt offcuts. Old sheets, socks and knickers (!) are all ideal.

11. Stuffing tool A simple bamboo skewer or an official stuffing tool for getting stuffing into all corners of your project. Benziedesign.com

    
    

12. Something to sew I always seem to have one or two projects on the go

    
    

    As most of my projects are stitched on felt I haven't included embroidery hoops in this kit, but they are definitely helpful and I have a nice selection of bamboo ones ranging from 10cm up to 20cm. Any bigger and I find it all gets a bit unmanageable and hard to hold.