HOW TO MAKE A PLACEMAT

SHOPPING LIST

Monks cloth or high-quality hessian fabric: 60 x 50cm Wooden frame or embroidery hoop Chunky wool: beige, light blue, medium blue, brown, cream, pink, teal, yellow Punch needle Wool needle Wooden dowel, 60cm Marker pen Basic embroidery kit

1 Secure the fabric to a wooden frame or mount it into an embroidery hoop. Print out the template from yourhomestyle.uk and transfer the pattern onto the fabric. We taped the template onto the back of the fabric, held it against a window, then traced over it in pen. You could use a lightbox and a pencil if you prefer.

2 Start needle punching sections of your design, sewing the ends through to the other side using a wool needle as you go. This stops them getting caught in subsequent stitching, which will make the finished design untidy.

Always start by needle punching the outline of each area, then work inwards to the centre before you move onto the next. Work the big vase in light blue with medium blue details and the small vase in beige with yellow details. Work the stems in teal. Work all these elements before you move onto the loopy flowers.

3 Turn your frame or hoop over and trim off all the ends so they’re the same lengths as the loops. Draw the circles for the flowers on the wrong side of the fabric so you have a guide for the next step.

Needle punch the flowers from the reverse side so the loops appear on the front of your design. To create longer loops for the larger flowers, catch the yarn with the hand that’s not holding the needle, hold on to the yarn and pull to the length you want. Vary the length of the loops to create extra texture and detail. Work the large flower on the left and the small flowers in pink, then work the large flower in brown.

4 Draw a rectangle around your design measuring 30 x 40cm, with the design placed centrally. Fill in the area around the edges of the design and up to the drawn rectangle lines with cream stitches. When you have finished, remove the frame or hoop.

5 Trim the fabric, leaving a 2cm border all the way around the edge of the stitched cream rectangle.

6 Fold the fabric edges over twice so they meet the edge of the cream stitches on the reverse. Thread a wool needle with cream yarn and oversew all around the turned-over edges to bind and create a neat edge.

7 Place the dowel on the top edge and work a few over-sewing stitches through the top of the bound edge and around the dowel. Work three sets of these, spaced evenly, across the top edge. Tie on a loop to hang – you can now display your finished design.