Almost three months ago I released my Little Stitched Houses Kit and provided the DIY Instructions here. Thank you to all of you who purchased the kits and are hopefully stitching little houses as we continue to be "safer-at-home" with a little relief of getting out of the house a little more often than we were.. Honestly, I dropped the 100 days of houses ball at 48 but will pick it back up soon..its doesn't mean I haven't been stitching...
Two months ago I also ordered yards of the "Good Words" panels and well, up until about 10 minutes ago, was still waiting. As the world shut down, so did printing and production but I am so excited to pretty much SCREAM..the fabric is on its way to me and I can start to release new kits! It was a test of patience for all of us and I want to thank you for your patience.
PLEASE NOTE: There is a second order of the same "Good Words" that I am awaiting and will be listed separately in 1-2 weeks.
I have a limited amount of TWO "Just the Pieces" KITS that are going to be added to my ETSY shop today and will ship next week.
Each Multicolor Kit includes 12 4x4 patterned squares, 12 coordinating hearts and 1 "Good Word" Panel.
Each Black & White Kits includes 12 4x4 patterned squares, 12 coordinating hearts and 1 "Good Word" Panel.
The instructions continue to be the same as for the Little Stitched Houses and are posted below. As always, I encourage you to "do you" and remind you that you never have to create something the way I do. I provide you with "Just The Pieces" and give you free creative license to create the way you create.
Below are examples of how I stitched each kit:
- Using a sewing machine, I sewed all the 4 x 4 pieces together. Three across, four down. Before I start my handstiching, I cut "good words" and "placed" hearts in several different configurations and then, to remember it, took a picture with my phone. Then I set all the pieces aside and got to work.
2. Using a glue stick, I adhered the hearts to coordinating squares and stitched those on using 2-3 strands of embroidery floss in coordinating colors.
3. Once all of the hearts were stitched on I grabbed my glue stick again and adhered one word per heart. I use 2 strands of embroidery floss to stitch the words on.
4. Lastly, using several coordinating embroidery floss colors, I added little short stitches to each seam around each square.
Now it is your turn to stitch! I would love to see what you create so be sure to use the hashtag #mixedandstitched if you post photos to social media.
Below is the original "Little Stitched Houses" post & instructions. More kits will be posted to the shop soon!
Originally, this project started as a “Safer at Home” quarantine project to keep my hands busy and my mind at peace.
I laid out a ½ yard of fabric and honestly just grabbed a pile of scraps and started cutting squares, rectangles and triangles. It looked to be a big project, but honestly, the “safer at home” looked equally as long so what the heck.
Just about the same time, I had remembered that the yearly online project called The 100 Day Project was going to begin soon and since I had not yet decided what I wanted to do for 100 consecutive days, I had decided to do 100 little stitched houses but I had already started and I didn’t want to cheat.
That’s how this all began.
I set my ½ yard aside and pulled out all the scraps and came up with a different idea. Remember, use what you have.
I know a lot of you have scraps. I also know a lot of you don’t want to mess with the mess so that’s why I am making kits.
If you have the scraps and just want the instructions on how I created this, here you go:
It is very difficult for me to write instructions for a project like this because my techniques are almost too simple and very random. That does not sit well with ya’ll that like specifics. I will try to be as specific as I can be but at the same time, I’d love for you to enter into this project with an open mind and less perfection.
MY BACKGROUND
I cut twelve 4” x 4” squares and using a machine, simply stitched them together. 3 across, 4 down. YOU DO YOU. If you want to cut the squares bigger, go for it. If you want to sew 100 together, yay! You get to choose. I don’t know why I chose to do 12. Just did.
P.S: My houses have little numbers on them to align with the 100 Day Project.
That may not apply to your project. Consider stitching little words on your houses if you have fabric that has little words on it. If you want numbers and have rubber stamps. Stamp the number on fabric and use that!
Here are some important things I want you to read, recite and possibly even repeat:
- If you find yourself trying to coordinate fabrics and or threads, try NOT to. I go by my own quote of “the worse the better” and just try to go with the flow. If that gives you a rash even thinking that, you do you.
- I don’t measure. It overwhelms me and this is why I am not a quilter. The only measuring I did was the 4 x 4 squares I cut to create the background panel of 12. When I sew them together on the machine, I just line up the presser foot with the edge of the fabric. If that is a measurement, yay me. Otherwise, I don’t know what my seams measure and honestly, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that there is a background. If you do not want a 12 square background, just use a piece of fabric and go.
- Each little house consists of a square for the house, a triangle for the roof and a heart that I stitch onto the house. I hand cut all of these. I think it lends to the look but by all means, if you want to measure or have a die cutting system that will give you exact, go for it. Again, you do you.
- First, I cut a square (or sometimes a little more rectanglish) for the house that will fit the square on my background. If you don’t have a square background, you don’t have to worry about it. Then I cut a triangle for the roof that will fit the house approximately. If you want me to be the boss of you, DON’T MAKE IT EXACT. Please note that there may be lots of trimming to make things align or fit into your square. If you don’t have a square background, it won’t matter.
- Let’s just assume we all have a 12 square panel background for the sake of instructions so I don’t have to keep typing the phrase “If you don’t have a square background, it won’t matter”
- Once I have my little house & roof, I tack them into place with a glue stick.
IMPORTANT: Look at the photo above. Little house #2 is slightly crooked. Guess what? IT’S OKAY.
- Using scraps, I cut hearts to place onto each house. This will take a little trimming to get it to sorta fit into the house. Again, the worse the better. Try again not to coordinate UNLESS YOU WANT TO. Tack the hearts into place with a glue stick.
- I usually cut and place 3-6 houses at a time and then start to stitch them on.
- Remember, I am not doing anything fancy when it comes to stitching them on. The hardest part of this step is usually threading the needle, well and deciding what color floss to use.
- If you find yourself fussing over what color to use, close your eyes and pick a color. Unless it’s the color you just used, USE IT. I use 2-3 strands of one color embroidery floss to stitch on the house. 2-3 strands of another color for the roof and another 2-3 strands for the heart.
- Okay, stitch away!
Remember we are assuming that we all have 12 square backgrounds. Once I had my first 12 squares done, I just happily stared at it for a few days. Well, and ran my hands over it several times because I love all the little stitches.
The more I looked at it, I felt like it needed a little something else because the seams in-between looked lonely.
I decided to add little stitches over all the seams and then all was right with the world.
I know you are wondering “What are you going to do with it?” and my answer right now is “I’m not sure.”
What I do know is that it is keeping my hands busy in the evenings and my mind in alignment. I will say that I am excited to see 16-17 of these panels all filled up with little numbered houses!
Ok, have fun and be sure to use the hashtag #1o0littlestitchedhouses if you share them on social media so we can all see what we are creating!
The Little Stitched Houses Kit
The kit includes the following:
- One already SEWN 12 panel background
- FIFTEEN 3x3” patterned squares to create houses and roofs.
- TWELVE hand cut patterned fabric hearts.
PLEASE NOTE: NO TWO KITS ARE THE SAME. THERE ARE SEVERAL PATTERNED FABRICS IN EACH KIT.