I started with some basic embroidery last year, and it has been so much fun.

I’ve made gifts and upcycled a bunch of things. Because sharing is caring I thought I’d share the basic embroidery items you need to get started.

What you need to get started:

Some basics, also click on the pictures to see videos of embroidery I’ve done. I like to do basic line drawings and am still pretty much a beginner.

EMBROIDERY HOOP

This is a two-part ring which you use to keep the fabric taut, making the embroidering easier. These come in plastic and wood and in different sizes.

SMALL SHARP SCISSORS

You can find these under many names – they are often very pretty ornate, just google embroidery scissors and you will see what I mean.

FABRIC

There are very few limits to what type of material you can use for your projects. linen, cotton… I like using scrap material and embroidering on clothes I own.

EMBROIDERY FLOSS/THREAD

These are available at material shops are pretty affordable (I pay like R15 a roll) and come in all the colours of the wind (so to speak)

EMBROIDERY NEEDLES

They are also available for fairly cheap and look like regular needles except the eyes are bigger to fit floss/thread

MARKING TOOLS

You can use water-soluble markers, pencils, or special material for this… the best are water-soluble pens or dissolvable paper you can use as a stencil.