Caring for your embroidery
Washing your fabric:
It is always a good idea to keep your embroidery clean whilst stitching. You can keep it inside a pillowcase or cotton drawstring bag to prevent dust or marks forming. However, there may be times that you still need to wash your embroidery.
- Hand wash in fairly hot water with a mild soap powder.
- Rinse in clean hot water at least twice to remove all soap residue.
- Roll up in a clean fluffy towel to remove excess moisture
- Place face down on a towel and iron till dry.
Fabric with print.
If you have purchased your fabric in a kit with a pre-printed outline some shrinkage may occur so it is not recommended that you wash it as it will distort the printed outline. You can press the fabric with a medium iron to remove creases. If you need to wash it after stitching follow the instructions for blocking your embroidery.
Blocking your embroidery
There may be times when your embroidery is complete that it needs cleaning, has marks on or has a stubborn hoop mark and you will need to wash it and then block it to restore it to its original shape.
- Soak your embroidery in tepid water and a mild detergent for about 15 mins.
- Rinse thoroughly in cold water.
- Roll the wet piece of fabric in a fluffy towel to remove excess moisture.
To block your embroidery:
Only recommended for colorfast threads.
- Place your damp fabric on a surface such as cork/foam board – make sure it has a straight edge.
- Line your embroidery up on the straight edge on one side and place pins all along this edge.
- Do the same thing on the bottom edge and then both side edges.
- Leave till it is completely dry.
- When it is dry remove pins and if necessary press with a medium iron on the wrong side.
- If your embroidery is dry you can spray it with water when blocking.
SEE BLOG POST ON BLOCKING YOUR EMBROIDERY