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 fabic

 

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 the letter should 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, 2021 Cheryl Fillion