Embroidered Sampler Bag

Give an inexpensive pre made bag a pretty traditional sampler effect.

embroidered sample bag
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Way back in February I visited the CHSI stitches show at the NEC near Birmingham and had a fab time seeing lots of lovely new trends and products in the craft world. One of my favourite bits of the day was the bloggers brunch where I got to meet some of my blogging friends in real life, made some new blogging friends and had a lovely workshop and goody bag from DMC. 

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At the show, whilst we chatted, we all started a little embroidery on the pre made linen drawstring bags using some printed Magic Sheet and Coloris thread from DMC. Most people cut out letters to make a phrase or name but I stuck the whole alphabet to my bag with the idea to make a sampler style embroidery. I did share the beginnings of this project on Instagram at the time.

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You just peel the backing from the Magic sheet and press it firmly to your fabric and start stitching. I used a simple back stitch with 2 strands of the Coloris thread. I’ve got a guide to some basic embroidery stitches if you need some help. I dotted the i & j with french knots. Once the alphabet was completed I just rinsed it under the tap and the magic sheet turned to jelly then vanished.

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Once it dried I used a water erasable pen to draw a wavy border.

embroidered sampler bag

I worked the embroidery on the border in the same way as the alphabet, 2 strands of Coloris thread with backstitch and lazy daisy stitches for the flowers and leaves.

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The blue water erasable pen just washes out as easily as the magic sheet did. After a good ironing I was happy with the look but I was a bit disappointed that the darker pieces of the thread showed through where I had dragged them across the back between letters. It doesn't really show in the photos but in real life it was enough to annoy me! 

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This is what slowed me down and made this take 2 months to finish. after leaving it on one side for a while the solution was a quick simple lining. 

I used a little bit of floral fabric from my stash. I just made a bag the same size as the drawstring bag, then wrong side out, popped it inside the embroidered bag. Then I turned the top edge under and top stitched round just under the drawstring casing.

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I am happy now! A lovely new project bag.

Embroidered sample bag
add a sample effect embroidery to a project bag
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I’ll be sharing this project at these link ups