I’ve recently got interested in raised embroidery or stumpwork as it’s often known. I hadn’t really come across it before doing my diploma at Morley College, and now I seem to be seeing it everywhere! I’m keen to learn as many different techniques as possible to build up my knowledge, so when I saw that MakeBox & Co had a stumpwork embroidery kit I knew I had to get it. The fact that it was a strawberry design was a bonus!

Included in the box was:

• Wooden embroidery hoop
• Needle
• Pins
• Linen fabric
• Felt
• Toy stuffing
• Embroidery thread (red x3, yellow, green, ecru)
• Paper pattern

Before starting on the instructions for the design, there was a section in the instruction booklet covering basic techniques for embroidery such as separating threads, backing a hoop, and a basic stitch guide. This is always helpful for beginners who may not have used a hoop or done all of these stitches before and I really like that they include this in their kits as it makes the craft accessible to everyone and not just those with previous experience.

After transferring the pattern onto the fabric creating the strawberries was the first step. The process of making 3D embroidery is actually fairly straightforward, just creating a net of stitches to hold the stuffing in the shape you want. It can be a bit fiddly so I would recommend a hoop stand if you have one so you have both hands free for stitching and holding the stuffing in place. I was a bit stingy with my stuffing because I was worried about running out of thread. The design used all six strands of the thread and I felt like I was using it so fast that I wouldn’t get a good coverage on all six strawberries. I actually had enough to go over each strawberry a second time, so I probably could have used more stuffing and had fatter strawberries, but it’s good to learn these things.

The leaves were created using detached woven picot stitches, one of my favourite stitches that I’ve only just learned about in the last year when I started getting interested in raised embroidery. Once you’ve mastered the technique with the first one they are so easy and satisfying to stitch. They are really effective as the strawberry leaves as well. Adding the seeds onto the strawberries really brought them to life. Sewing through the padded area of the body of the strawberry it was important not to pull too tightly as you would ruin the shape. The final touches of the piece were the flowers which were created using satin stitch and French knots. 

I’m really pleased that I’ve learnt this technique as I’ve seen so many similar designs and I’d love to be able to create my own. I’m looking forward to incorporating this into my future work. I bought this kit as a one-off from the MakeBox website earlier in the summer. It was £19.99, however it looks as though it’s no longer available as a kit, but they do have a digital download version still available for £5.99.