How To: Embroidery DIY Upcycle

How To: Embroidery DIY Upcycle

If you saw our post a week or so ago (How to make your old clothes feel new again) you'll know that as a brand we want our clothes to be used till their very end. Don't contribute to the landfill - upcylce instead! We touched on embroidering our tees and jumpers to give a personal touch so I'm going to expand on that a bit further and show you a step by step...

personalised year sweatshirt jumper from Rock On Ruby

To add this heart I simply drew out the shape I wanted and sewed in horizontal lines across it until the whole thing was filled - super simple! Keeping the threads in straight horizontal lines keeps it looking neat and tidy and is actually really easy.

Personalised year t-shirt from rock on ruby

This week I decided to add some flowers to one of our best selling personalised year tops. If you don't have any embroidery thread don't worry! I didn't either and so I just used normal thread doubled over (and sometimes doubled again) to give the same effect - definitely preferred this over leaving the house to go buy some. I decided on three colours - two for the flowers and then a green for a couple leaves - making sure they went with the top I was using. You'll also need a needle and scissors.

Embroidery Upcycle thread

I decided to do a really simple daisy stitch around the corners of the end numbers. This is done by pulling the thread though to the right side like you would normally, then threading it down right next to where it came out but not pulling it through all the way. Then, poke the needle back through in the place where you want the tip of the petal to be. As you pull the needle through, have it go through the loose loop that the previous thread has made. If this sounds super confusing see the image below! It might take some practice but I swear it's easier than I'm making it sound.

Upcycle Personalised year t shirt from rock on ruby

Once you've pulled the thread through and you have a vague petal shape, make a stitch at the end of the petal where the thread has just come from to secure it in place. Now that the thread is back on the other side of the fabric just do it all over again!

Embroidery DIY on personalised t shirt from Rock On Ruby 1990 year t shirt embroidery from rock on ruby

It takes some time but it looks so cute once it's done! I used the same style stitch to just do an odd leaf here and there to add some more contrast to the design. It's such a simple way to add a little something to your clothes and the ways it can be done are endless. Switch it up by using bold contrasting colours or use this stitch to add a line of tiny leaves around your sweatshirt cuffs.

personalised year t shirt from Rock On Ruby

Show us how you do it by tagging us on Instagram!

Bethan ROR XOXO

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