Did you know that March is National Craft Month?! Yay!
I am determined to do at least one craft a day throughout the month of March. I love creating and trying new things, so this is going to be a really FUN month!
Today I’m practicing and playing around with punch needle art.
Follow along with me and share your ideas, suggestions, and comments. You can also follow along on my Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/JayDeesBlogPage
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Punch Needle Art
Today, I finished a couple of punch needle kits to use as practice (I’m still fairly new to using a punch needle). The practice kits went okay, and I’m glad I had the idea of starting this craft using inexpensive kits to learn on. My ultimate plan is to make custom pillow covers for our lake cabin using the punch needle. I have several designs in mind to draw out, and am really looking forward to making these pillows from scratch.
So far, I have learned that the punch needle you use makes a HUGE difference to how well your punches (loops) turn out. The depth of the needle and the size of the needle are pretty important.
What You Will Need:
- #8 or #9 Punch Needle, or #10-1/4″ Punch Needle
- Monks Cloth or Punch Needle Cloth
- Yarn Assortment
- Embroidery Loop or Square Frame (for pillows)
- Pencil
- Scissors
What You Do:
- Cut a piece of monks cloth to the size you’ll need for your project
For example, if making a throw pillow, cut a 20″ x 20″ square. - Use a regular pencil or a water soluble pencil to draw your design onto the cloth
TIP: You might want to play around with sketch ideas for your pattern on paper before sketching on the cloth. - Determine the colors of yarn you want to use for your project and have the yarn ready
- Place your cloth inside an embroidery loop or square frame
Make sure to tighten the loop in order to hold the cloth securely. It’s a good idea to pull the fabric all the way around to make it as tight as possible. Tighten the loop if needed. - Use a punch needle wire threader to thread the first piece of yarn into the punch needle
TIP: Make sure the yarn goes through the small hole in the tip of the punch needle – don’t forget this step. - Push the punch needle into your pattern from the top of the cloth, then turn the fabric over and pull the yarn through as your starting stitch
- Following your pattern, continue punching the needle through the cloth in a nice even pattern
Keep the open part (the concave side) of the punch needle facing forward as you work. - Continue punching until you have an entire area filled in with the color you want
TIP: Make sure to punch close to existing loops so you don’t see any cloth between the yarn. - To finish a color of yarn, punch the needle through the cloth, then turn the cloth over and pull the yarn through so you can cut the yarn – leave the tail of the yarn, no need to tie it off
- Thread your punch needle with the next color and repeat steps 6 through 9 with the new color of yarn
TIP: Turn the loop as needed to help you punch your entire design. - Continue working your way through the entire design until it’s finished
- Turn the completed project over to the backside, and cut off any long tails of yarn
Make sure not to cut the tails too short, or they may fall out. - Remove your design from the embroidery loop or frame, and continue to finish the project as desired
TIP: You can add a piece of cotton fabric to the back of your completed project to hide the back of your project. And, you can also keep your project in the embroidery loop and use that as the frame to hang your project. Just trim away the cloth around the hoop to finish it off.
Additional Tips:
- Patterns for Inspiration – If you’re not sure what to use for your punch needle art, you can find free patterns with an internet search or Pinterest search. You could also use images from coloring books to trace onto the cloth. And… you can never go wrong with abstract art.
- Fix Mistakes – If you accidentally punch too close or too far from another loop, you can easily pull out the last punched loop (or loops) to ‘erase’ those loops, then repunch in the correct location.
- Always Have Slack in Your Yarn – Make sure you have plenty of slack in your yarn as you’re punching your design. This allows the yarn to move freely through the punch needle and will keep your punches consistent. If you run out of slack, the yarn can accidentally fall out of the cloth if the yarn from the needle to the skein is too tight.
- Vary The Stitch Length – For certain patterns, you may want to vary the length of each punched stitch. For example, for leaves, you can make the punches longer (about 1/2″) than you would for filling in other areas of a pattern. Experiment and see what designs you like best. You can always remove the punches if you don’t like the overall look.
Make sure to see all my other projects for National Craft Month to give you ideas of projects you might want to try!
I hope you enjoyed this project! Make sure to check back tomorrow to see what I’ll be working on.
