Hooray! It’s our final day of the Entomologie Stitch-along! I hope you’ve found the stitch tutorial videos helpful.
If you’re done stitching your bug it’s time to finish off the back. Be sure your piece is secured in the hoop the way you like it, centered with the fabric smooth and taut. Trim the excess background fabric to be about 1″ extending beyond the edge of the hoop.
Turn your hoop work over. Eek, hoop guts! I know the back of my stitching looks like a mess, but in a minute you’ll see that we hide all of that so who cares, right? Get a hand sewing needle and thread it with a long piece of thread, about 20″ doubled. Knot the ends together then make a running stitch around the perimeter of the hoop, drawing the excess in towards the back. Tie off the thread so that everything is neatly cinched in.
Cut a 6″ circle of felt for the hoop backing. Apply glue inside the outer edge.
Place the back of the hoop onto the glue and press the edges firmly.
Ta-da! Your first Entomologie appliqué is complete! To stitch the other bugs in the Summer Flies By pattern, simply follow along from the beginning of the stitch-along blog posts. All of the bugs use the same 3 stitches: Backstitch, Chainstitch and French Knot. I’ll keep working on mine and post them on Instagram and on the blog when they’re complete. Post yours by July 15th in the School of Wool Facebook Group or tag them #entomologiestitchalong for a chance to win some goodies!