Punchneedle Embroidery – Technique

Punchneedle embroidery isn’t really that hard once you know the technique and remember a couple of rules.


Rule 1 is you work from the back of the design.  Most embroidery you are working on the front surface of the fabric but not with punch needle.  You work from the back so the loops appear on the front. 

            

Back of fabric



Front of fabric



The second part of Rule 1 is to remember that your design will be reversed from the front to back. You notice the hearts of my logo are in different positions in the pictures above. This usually doesn’t matter unless you are using words.  Remember to reverse your letters so they come out in the right direction on the front.  That means when you are punching, all the letters will be backward.



How you want your letter to look

How letter show look on the back
 to be punchneedled



Now once you have picked your design and color and type of thread (many people use embroidery floss), put the fabric in your hoop.  Remember Rule 1 make sure the design of the fabric is facing up. Rule 2 is that the fabric should be as tight as you can get it in the hoop.  This allows the threads of the fabric to stretch apart (although you really can’t see it). When you are done punching and take the fabric out of the hoop, the fabric threads will tighten up around your punching.

Before you thread the needle make sure you have it at the loop length you want it.  This can be determined by either the dial or the shaft tube which ever comes with your needle so read the instructions that came with whatever needle you are using.


Once your needle is threaded (I won’t show that here because each needle is slightly different so follow the instructions that came with your needle), you are ready.  You don’t have to put a knot in the thread to keep the thread in the fabric.  Trust me as long as you don’t pull on the thread from the back or working side, the loops will stay in place. Rule 3 is that the beveled or angled edge of the needle needs to be facing in the direction of the stitching.



Beveled edge of needle



Holding the needle (beveled side) in the direction you want to go, push/punch the needle through the fabric. Now gently pull the needle back out from the fabric but don’t lift it too high off the fabric.  If you do that you will have a loop on the working side.  You don’t want that. Now move the needle (in the direction that your beveled end is), just s couple of fabric threads and punch again.  Pull it gently out, move a couple of fabric threads and punch again.  (excuse my drawing - I am not the best at making diagrams but I wanted to give you an idea of how punchneedle looks. It is hard to give a cross view of the work with a photo).





You want your stitches next to each other but not touching.  If the stitches touch, the fabric will buckle or roll when it comes out of the hoop.  Now keep stitching until the area you are working on is filled in. I usually cut the thread with just a tiny tail. You don’t need to knot this end of the thread either.  Once you take the fabric out of the hoop, the fabric threads will hold the loops in place.

That is punchneedle embroidery in a nutshell. Now I do have a warning for you.  If you end up enjoying it, you will be addicted.  And if you are like me, you will end up with more projects you want to do than time to do it all in.




©2018 Cheryl Fillion



Punchneedle Embroidery: Threads and Hoops

We are continuing our discussion about punchneedle embroidery.  The last blog talked about the needle and fabric used.  This blog will be about threads and hoops.


The thread most often used for punch needle is embroidery floss, particularly the 6 strand type.  This allows you to separate the strands and use them in different size needles. (remember I said that punch needles come in different sizes, most often.for 1, 2-3, and 6 strands).  I like using embroidery floss because it is the cheapest thread, comes in a wide variety of colors and is easy to obtain (plus it tends to be what I have for my other embroidery).

Different numbers of floss strands used

Perle cotton can also be used.  It will definitely make a bigger and more defined loop, plus it will have a satin looking sheen to it.  Wool threads give a softer appearance and looks wonderfully if you are punching an animal figure.  Silk or Rayon floss gives a definite satin look to the loops.  And I have even used 2-ply acrylic yarn which gives a soft plush look and is used in a medium (or 2 stand) needle.

Depending on the size of your needle, you can try any type of yarn or thread.  If it fits through the eye of the needle without snagging it, it will punch.  I have used ordinary sewing thread and what I really like is metallic thread or floss.  It won’t unravel like it would with regular embroidery because you are not pulling the entire length of the thread through the fabric.

Different threads I have tried and the different size needle (6-large, 3- medium, 1-small)

Hoops

Now for punchneedle to work the best you have to have the fabric as tight as it can be so it needs to be in some sort of a frame or hoop. Regular wood or spring ring embroidery hoops don’t work as well.  They don’t hold the fabric taut and the fabric tends to loosen as you punch.  If you have no other choice, you can wrap the inner ring of a wooden embroidery hoop with yarn and that will help grab the fabric you put in the hoop.

 

One hoop that is often used is called a lip hoop.  There is a lip on the inner ring which helps the fabric to be stretched tightly in the hoop and not slip.  Now it does leave a hoop mark (crease) on the fabric when you remove it from the hoop.  That can often be ironed out.

Lip Hoop

A second hoop is called a fitted inner ring hoop also known as a tongue and groove hoop.  The inner hoop has a raised area round the entire ring and it matches with a groove in the inside of the outer ring.  When those two are fit together they hold the fabric tightly in place.



Fitted inner ring hoop - inner hoop (or tongue part)

Fitted inner ring hoop - inside outer hoop (or groove part)

A third hoop, or in this case a frame, is called a gripper frame (sorry I don't have a picture of this one).. This is not like an adjustable hoop.  It is often a wooden frame which has little gripper wires sticking out from it.  It ‘grips’ the fabric which holds it in place.  It is similar to what rug hookers use.  It reminds me of the cotton carders used  to separate cotton fibers for spinning.

 

So there are the different choices of thread and hoops you can use. Next week: Pumchneedle Embroidery: Technique- the dos and don’ts

© 2018 Cheryl Fillion

Punchneedle Embroidery – Needle and Fabric

Needles for punchneedle embroidery are much different than needles used for other types of embroidery.  They tend to be a bit bulky to use but they create such a wonderful texture embroiderers tend to forgive the needle.

Super Luxo Punchneedle

Needles

There are various brands of punchneedles on the market.  I use the Super Luxo.  When I started it was the one available in my area.  It is all metal (handle and needle).  It is heavy to hold (since it is all metal) but I am used to the weight of it now.  You need to get the brand that you like and can afford.  You will notice in my photo I have a rubber band wrapped around the handle.  I found when I laid the needle on a table, it tended to roll off the table and on to the floor, which dulled the needle point.  So I use the rubber band to keep it from rolling away.

What ever brand needle you use they are all the same. It’s a hollow needle with an angled tip and the eye drilled above the point.  You don’t have to pull the entire length of thread through the fabric as you do with other embroidery or sewing so the thread doesn’t fray.

Angled or beveled tip

hole above the point

                       

The needles come in various sizes. Small using one strand of embroidery floss   medium using 2-3 strands or large using 6 strands(the size for the above pictures is for 6 strands.).  There are different types of needle available.  Some with each size needle sold separate or with one needle holder and the needles themselves are interchangeable (Super Luxo is one where the needle tips are interchangeable). 

The loop size is depending on the needle as well.  Some needles have a dial which adjusts the needle length while others use a little piece of plastic tubing placed on the needle shaft to act as a stopper for the needle.  (By the way the needle tip in the picture below is for 2 strands of floss)

Needle with tube

Fabric

The fabric most often used is known as Weavers cloth.  It is a cotton-polyester blend (45% cotton and 55% polyester).  This blend allows the fabric to be resilient enough to punch but doesn’t tear the fabric (unless your needle tip is dulled). The needle tip tends to push aside the threads of the fabric when it punches through the fabric.

Weaver's Cloth

Other fabrics tend to stretch when punched and do not have a weave that allows punching.  They also don’t return to the original size when stretched in the hoop such as weavers cloth.  So weaver cloth is recommended for beginners but as I will show in a future blog, there are ways to punch other types of fabric.

Next week threads and hoops.

© 2018 – Cheryl Fillion

Punchneedle Embroidery – What is it?

Punchneedle embroidery is an area of small loops ‘punched’ into tightly woven fabric with embroidery thread.  The difference between this and other embroidery is that there is only one stitch, a hollowed needle is used and the design is worked from the back of the fabric.

It has been around for a very long time. In fact samples of the needle were found in ancient Egypt and were made of hollow bird bones.  It has been very popular in Russia which is why it is sometimes known as Russian Punchneedle. When a Russian group known as the Old Believers migrated to the US, they brought along this form of embroidery.

It is actually very easy to do, as I mentioned there is only one stitch.  Projects tend to be small so they are finished quickly.  It is rather soothing to do because it is very repetitive.  And there are very few rules.

So how do you do it?  Once you have the needle threaded (that tends to be the most difficult thing to learn) you ‘punch’ the fabric from the wrong or back side of the fabric.  The needle is then just barely pulled out of the fabric to move it forward and another punch is made. This then means that the design is printed on the wrong side of the fabric but the loops show up on the front of the fabric and that is how the design is developed.

No knots are needed to keep the thread in the fabric. The loops stay in because of the friction of the thread and the fabric and when the fabric is released from the hoop, it goes back to an original state and tightens around the loops, which is why you need tightly woven fabric known as weaver’s cloth.

Here are some examples of punch needle embroidery.

Heartfully Cheryl logo

Rose

Ribbon piece on basket

Hearts - design drawn from cookie cutter

Punchneedle doll

The next couple of weeks we will look at the supplies and technique of punch needle.

©2018 Cheryl Fillion