For me, felt is the best way to finish embroidery - it's great for covering messy hoop backs, and keeps your fabric nice and tight at the same time!
Instructions (given in video):
- Take your finished embroidery, and trim the spare fabric around your hoop - leaving a few centimetres around the edge.
- Take your piece of felt, along with the hoop you will use to display your piece; then use a pen or felt tip to draw around the inside of your inner hoop, and cut out the circle. Set these aside for a moment.
- Thread your needle with a fairly long length of thread, and tie a big knot in one end.
- Flip your hoop (so that it's face-down), and do a simple running stitch around your fabric, staying about 1cm from the edge. Don't tie off at the end - leave the threads hanging loose for now. If you're using a different hoop for display (like me), then remove your fabric from the current hoop (if you're displaying in the same hoop, skip this step).
- With your fabric face down, place your inner display hoop in the middle of the fabric.
- Pull both ends of your thread, to bunch the fabric together at the back. Re-position and re-tighten the thread until you're happy with the placement. When you're happy, give the thread a good tug, and tie a couple of knots to keep it in place. Snip the ends of your thread off.
- Take your felt circle and another length of thread, knotted at one end.
- Come up through the felt, about 1cm from the edge.
- Place the felt down, then pass your needle down through your embroidered fabric diagonally - coming back through the felt alongside your first hole. Pull tight - and repeat! This creates a simple whipped stitch, that will keep both your felt and embroidered fabric nice and tight.
- As you're starting, check that the felt circle is roughly lined up with the hoop. As you go, you'll feel the fabric and felt become quite tight - don't be afraid to pull the thread quite hard to keep the tension!
- On your final stitch, pull the thread nice and tight; then tuck your needle under the first stitch, to create a knot. Knot this a couple of times, to keep it secure.
- Snip off the ends; wedge your outer hoop into place...and you're done!
If you've got any questions, add them below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
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