Free motion machine embroidery banner
Free motion machine embroidery is a technique that positively embraces imperfections – it’s part of its charm! Celebrate this technique with a beautiful and uplifting banner. First attach a freemotion embroidery, or darning, foot then drop the feed dogs (refer to your manual, if needed), and adjust the stitch length to the lowest setting. Practise your free motion machine embroidery on spare fabric mounted into a hoop before you start stitching the design. With the pressure foot lowered and the needle placed in the fabric, press the foot pedal to a medium speed and start to guide the material through your machine. Imagine you are drawing with a pencil onto paper, albeit by moving the paper rather than the pencil. Make squiggly lines, circles and squares to get the feel of your machine to see what works for you. The speed at which you guide fabric through the machine will determine the stitch length, so practise both working slowly and more quickly.
Materials
- Cotton fabric: 30x40cm
- Heavyweight iron-on interfacing: 30x20cm
- Machine sewing thread: black, greens and a range of floral colours
- Dowel rod: 15cm
- Ribbon or string to hang
- Basic embroidery kit
- Free motion machine embroidery banner template
How to make the free motion machine embroidery banner
Step 1
Cut the fabric in two pieces measuring 30x20cm each, one for the embroidered banner front and one for the banner back. Press the interfacing on the WS of the banner front fabric, then transfer the design from the free motion machine embroidery template onto the centre of the RS of the fabric using your preferred method. We used a heat-erasable pen. Trace the design as well as the outer edge cutting lines.
Step 2
Start by stitching the lettering. Slowly guide the machine along the lines of each letter. Sew around each letter at least twice, to make sure it’s really bold and clear once the traced guidelines are removed. We’ve stitched the words ‘find’ and ‘the’ twice and ‘joy’ four times so they stand out.
Step 3
For the plants and flowers, start by tracing the leaves first. You can use more than one shade of green for contrast if you prefer, though this is not essential. Sewing organic shapes like plants can be done in one continuous line. Starting at the bottom of the stem, stitch up to the top, sew around the top leaf and then work your way down to the bottom. Repeat this for each stem; they will extend a little into the seam allowance as drawn on the template so that they’re stitched into the seam when making up. Add circles and semi-circles of coloured thread among the leaves to create the flowers. Use a mixture of colours by referring to the photograph or choosing your own.
Step 4
Once the embroidery is complete, cut the banner front out along the outer edge cutting lines. There is extra allowance included on the top edge to form the casing. Place the cut-out banner front RS facing on top of the banner back fabric, then cut around it. Pin the banner front and banner back fabrics RS facing, then stitch together all around using a 1cm seam allowance, but leaving the top unsewn. Snip the points off the banner to reduce bulk in the seams.
Step 5
Turn RS out and press on the banner back; this will also remove the pen marks if you’ve used a heat-erasable pen, but won’t flatten the stitching. Topstitch carefully around the outside edges of the banner to neaten and decorate.
Step 6
Fold the top edge of the banner over by 1cm to the back and press, then turn it over again by 2cm and press. Stitch the turned-over edge into place across the bottom to create a casing channel. Thread the dowel through the casing, then tie string or ribbon to each end for hanging.
Free motion embroidery tips
Freemotion embroidery can be worked on any domestic sewing machine, and involves lowering the feed dogs of your machine and using standard stitches, guided solely by your hands (rather than the machine) to embellish and decorate your fabric projects. There are no rules to this technique, so you can be as creative as you want.
To create this project, you’ll need to lower the feed dogs of your machine – these are the teeth that poke out from your needle plate and guide fabric through the machine to ensure it stays in place. Freemotion embroidery requires the opposite; in fact, you don’t want the machine to guide it at all – so it’s important that they are taken out of the equation. Most machines will have a lever or catch that raises and lowers the feed dogs; consult your machine manufacturer for details about your specific model.
This project uses fusible webbing to back a selection of appliqué motifs. This serves two purposes – firstly, it reinforces the fabric pieces and stops them from fraying when they are trimmed. Secondly, it fuses them to the backing fabric, holding them firmly in place ready for embellishment.
When experimenting with free motion embroidery, working slowly and carefully is a good way to start. You’ll be guiding the fabric through the machine yourself and it can take a little time to get used to controlling the speed, length and direction of your stitches without the normal assistance of your machine. Practise on scraps of fabric first to really master this creative technique.
To keep the fabric flat and give an even tension, stretch it taut in an embroidery hoop which will fit under your machine. Practise first on a piece of spare fabric. Mount your fabric into the hoop the other way round to normal. Undo the screw just a little on the outer hoop, then place your base fabric centrally on top of it, right side up. Place the inner hoop on top and push it down so it fits snugly inside. Adjust the screw, then pull the fabric outside the hoop all the way round so your fabric is drum-like.
Lift the machine presser foot and ease the hoop underneath it, lower the needle and start stitching. To begin with you’ll feel like the machine is running away with you as the feed dogs aren’t keeping it in one place. Hold the edges of the hoop and move it around to practise working straight lines, curved lines and swirls. You may need to adjust your tension and settings until your stitches are just right and neither too tight nor too loose.
More machine embroidery
If machine embroidery is you think, check out these other handy articles on Gathered! If you already have an embroidery machine and are looking for digital files to load into it, you’ll find a brilliant selection of different file options in our free machine embroidery mushroom designs and free machine embroidery patterns articles! If you are starting out with machine embroidery and are considering investing in a machine, take a look at our Best embroidery machines article.
