Tight plain weave. If you can see a lot of daylight through it, add stabilizer or pick tighter cotton.

How to make my own embroidery designs

A design here is a line on fabric you can follow with a needle, not a .pes file. If you can draw a coaster-sized shape, you can stitch it.

Skip portraits and tiny type on the first try. A leaf, a moth, or chunky initials teach you more than a photoreal dog.

What you need

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01
Draw the motif at finished size, no bigger than a coaster. Ink only the lines you will stitch.
02
If there are more than about twelve lines, merge them. Outline plus one inner detail is enough.
Tip
If you would not cut the shape from black paper, it is not ready to stitch.
03
Wash and iron the fabric so hoop wrinkles do not steal your line.
04
Centre the fabric and tighten until it sounds like a dull drum.
05
Trace a pale dashed line onto the cloth from a window or lightbox. Fat marker will show through light stitches.
06
Split floss to three strands for outlines, two for inner detail. Knot once and start from the back.
07
Outline the whole silhouette in backstitch before you fill anything. Short stitches at corners.
08
Inner lines in the accent colour. Running stitch if you want them quieter than the outline.
09
Satin stitch only in small shapes under 1 cm. Bigger shapes: split into two pads.
10
Tie off under existing stitches, rinse pen marks in cold water, dry flat, press from the back on a towel.

Checklist email is coming soon — use Print / save PDF for now, or check the materials list above.

If you would not cut the shape from black paper, it is not ready to stitch.
Do not iron water-soluble pen before rinsing; some brands go permanent.
Machine embroidery is a different craft. This method will not feed a Brother or Bernina.

Trace only the silhouette and one feature. Full fur is a pattern, not a first doodle.