Up at 1, Down at 2

Learn hand embroidery from your very first stitch, then make nine pieces to keep or give.

This book is for someone who has never embroidered. It does not assume you know what floss is, how many strands to use, how to get a pattern onto fabric or why your thread keeps knotting. It explains each of those things first, then teaches the stitches one at a time, then gives you nine patterns to stitch, starting with a simple flowering stem.

How it teaches

• Every stitch drawn move by move. Each of the 13 stitches has its own page of large numbered drawings: the needle comes up at 1, goes down at 2, then 3, then 4, with the thread shown on the back of the fabric where it matters.
• Done well, and going wrong. Every stitch page shows the stitch close up in one of the finished pieces, and drawings of what it looks like when it goes wrong (a French knot with a loop sticking out, gappy satin stitch, a stem stitch that switched sides), each with what to change. All of them are gathered again on two troubleshooting pages at the back.
• One practice cloth first. Before any pattern you can stitch every stitch once on a practice cloth: a numbered line or shape for each, on sheet 1 of the Pattern Pack.
• Every pattern pictured step by step. Each pattern has a photograph of the finished hoop, a color map that shows which stitch goes where and in which order, close-ups, and a picture after every step, with the parts still to stitch shown as traced blue lines.

The nine patterns

1. Sprig: a flowering stem in stem stitch, lazy daisies, straight stitch and French knots, 4 in hoop
2. Hello: your first word, in whipped backstitch, over a running stitch vine with fly stitch sprigs, 5 in hoop
3. Lemons: your first satin stitch, 5 in hoop
4. Meadow: tall stems rising out of a bank of tiny lazy daisy flowers, 6 in hoop
5. Rose wreath: woven roses, with room for initials, 6 in hoop
6. Mountain morning: a landscape in running stitch, backstitch, fly stitch, seed stitch and a French knot sun, 6 in hoop
7. Potted fern: fly stitch fronds, a satin rim and French knot spots, 5 in hoop
8. Tea for one: a steaming cup in chain stitch, with straight stitch stars, 5 in hoop
9. Bee and clover: satin stripes and French knot clover, 4 in hoop

By the end you will be able to

• Choose fabric, floss and needles, and split floss into strands without tangles
• Get any pattern onto fabric (three ways, including for dark fabric) and hoop it drum-tight
• Start and end threads neatly, and keep the thread from knotting
• Work running stitch, backstitch, whipped backstitch, split, stem and chain stitch, lazy daisy, French knots, fly stitch, straight and seed stitch, satin stitch and woven wheels
• Tell what went wrong with a stitch from how it looks, and fix it
• Wash out the pen lines, finish the back of the hoop and hang your work

What you download

• Up at 1, Down at 2 (65 pages, PDF, color): the book, with bookmarks and a contents page.
• The Pattern Pack, US Letter and The Pattern Pack, A4 (21 pages each, PDF): the practice cloth and all nine patterns at full size, each as a tracing sheet plus a full-size color map with its floss list, and a sheet of single-line letters and numbers for your own words. Every tracing sheet carries a 1 inch square and a 5 cm bar so you can check it printed at the right size.

Good to know

• You need a hoop (4, 5 or 6 in), plain cotton fabric, six-strand embroidery floss, embroidery needles, a water-soluble fabric pen or pencil and small scissors.
• Colors are given as DMC numbers. One skein each of 22 colors makes every pattern, and each pattern needs only three to seven of them; the shopping list is in the book. Other brands work too, chosen by eye.
• Print the Pattern Pack at 100% (Actual size), not "fit to page".
• This is a PDF download. No kit or physical book is shipped.