Hot Air Balloon Embroidery Pattern

Isn't it satisfying to put the finishing touches on a project that you feel took way too long? Last night I finally wrapped up an embroidery piece that I've been working on for a couple of days too many. 

Sometimes even I'm amazed by where I find inspiration. I was taking Quinn for a walk about two weeks ago when one of the neighborhood girls ran up to pet her and had the cutest little dress on. It had the most charming hot air balloons all over (see here) and I knew right away that I wanted to have a bit of that dreaminess in my world. I thought an embroidery would be the ideal medium to showcase the playful beauty of the balloon and set to work to create a pattern I could use.

What would be a more appropriate caption than "the sky is the limit"?? So, I ran with it. The pattern is a simple outline so it could be embellished with designs and decorative stitches when the time came. I got everything drawn up and saved it to my computer but then I had to decide how to transfer it to the cloth. There are a ton of ways to do this for embroidery projects, but my favorite is the tissue paper method. If you've never done it before, it's pretty darn simple.

1. Wrap a piece of tissue paper around a sheet of card stock. Tape it in place
2. Run the sheet through the printer with the tissue paper in the direction that the ink will be applied
3. Carefully tear the tissue paper off of the card stock and pin in in place on your fabric (I wasn't exactly thrilled with how the layout looked so I cut the words apart from the balloon and pinned them on separately.)
4. Stitch directly through the pattern
5. Once you're all finished, carefully rip off whatever you can and use tweezers to remove the rest

I grabbed some of my favorite shades of blue and got to work. I kept everything relatively balanced but used a variety of patterns and stitches to fill in each section.

Learning how to embroider was one of my New Year's Resolutions and I'm looking forward to getting better with each project. It's one of those crafts where it's easy to learn (like super duper easy, no lie) but difficult to master. One day maybe I'll be this good, until then I can only dream... and practice, of course!

To get my pattern for yourself, download the PDF here. Please share some pictures of what you create if you use it!

If you'd like to tag along for the ride, you should consider following Spool and Spoon via email or through Google Friend Connect for other simple tutorials and mouth-watering recipes. Also, did you know Spool and Spoon has a Facebook? Hop on over so you don't miss any of the fun. 

I'm linking to:

DIY Showoff | S3 | Classy Clutter | A Little Tipsy | I Heart Nap Time | Mine for the Making | Flamingo Toes | Craftomaniac | Shabby Creek Cottage | Somewhat Simple | Saved by Love Creations | My Simple Home Life | My Girlish Whims | Stone Gable | Young and Crafty | Nifty Thrifty Things