How to Embroider for Beginners: Yin and Yang

Hello! Welcome to my instructable for some home made fashion: a guide to embroidery for beginners. This is such a great skill to have! It lets you pick up a $3 t-shirt from the thrift store and turn it into a one-of-a-kind piece that you design yourself. This is exactly what I did: I picked up a periwinkle t-shirt from Goodwill and embroidered a Yin Yang design onto it. I hope that this instructable will let you do the same! Consider an embroidery starter kit ($10 on Amazon) that will include all the basics you need to be successful. If not, here's a list of supplies.

Supplies you'll need:

• Something to embroider (tshirt, sweatshirt, socks, etc.)
• Embroidery hoop (pictured)
• Thread (color of choice, I use black)
• A needle
• Chalk / white colored pencil
• Yin and Yang (or design of your choice) on printer paper

That's it. Onward!

Now that we have all our supplies, we start preparing the design.

1. You'll want to center your design onto your t-shirt. Get a ruler and draw a reference line in chalk vertically down the center of the shirt.

2. Now you will trace your design (in my case the Yin and Yang template) with chalk, keeping the lines as clean as possible. Keep in mind that you'll flip this onto the shirt in step three, so most designs should be mirrored prior to printing to maintain the image.

3. With the chalk making contact with the shirt, flip the design onto the shirt and press it in like a temporary tattoo.

1. Get your embroidery hoop and center it on your design. The inside part goes under the design, and the outer part goes on the surface. Match them up and start tightening the hoop to make the fabric taut. Pull the fabric perpendicular to the hoop from all sides and continue tightening until taut.

2. Do not worry if the hoop distorts your design. It will return to how it was originally when you're done.

3. Prep thread: Depending on your design, cut a length of thread between one and three feet. Tie a double knot on one end. Thread this through your needle.

We are going to start with a basic backstitch.

1. Start from the underside of the shirt, and pull your needle through the fabric to start your design. The knot you tied should meet the underside of the design and not pull through.

2. Start stitching. Go back through the shirt a distance not more than 1/5 inch. From underneath, repeat. Not more than 1/5 inch from the last stitch bring the thread through the shirt, and then go back through the last entry point to form a continuous line. You will catch on to this, but if you struggle, watch my video attachment or look up another basic backstitch video. Do this to form the whole outline of your design.

3. Finish the stitch: when finished, leave enough thread to tie a knot. From the bottom of the design, take the thread and bring the needle under any stitch, and then through the loop you've made to tie a knot. Repeat for a double knot.

Once you're done with the backstitch outline, you can use a looping technique to vastly improve the appearance of your design.

1. Cut another piece of thread, again between 1 and 3 feet. Repeat the process of preparing and knotting the thread. From below, bring the thread through to the top of the design.

2. Now you will stay on the surface of the design without going under until you've looped the whole design. Loop by bringing the needle under each stitch, always from the same side of the stitch. For example, with my Yin and Yang, I always thread the needle under the stitch from the inside of the circle rather than alternating inside outside.

3. Once you have gone over the whole design, go back through to the underside of the shirt and repeat the process of double knotting the thread. This technique makes the design look smoother and more professional.

Tidy up any extra thread and unscrew your hoop to reveal your complete project. Congrats! You've completed your first embroidery design :)

In addition to this project, I have also embroidered mushroom tshirts, swoosh sweatshirts, and am currently working on a Chinese to-go box. The possibilities are endless, so please give this a try and let me know how it goes!