Lexi Mire Brantman - Beautiful Embroidered Accessories: Easy Ways to Personalize Hats, Bandanas, Totes, Denim and Your Favorite Clothing

Beautiful
EMBROIDERED
ACCESSORIES

EASY WAYS TO PERSONALIZE
Hats, Bandanas, Totes, Denim
and Your Favorite Clothing

LEXI MIRE BRANTMAN

founder of Mire Made Embroidery

The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the authors copyright, please notify the publisher at: http://us.macmillanusa.com/piracy.

This book is dedicated to anyone who has felt the tug of creative curiosity at their fingertips. The best way to get to know yourself deeply is to explore a new artistic endeavor.

Hi, Im Lexi of Mire Made Embroidery, and I cannot wait to share these embroidery designs with you!

In this book you will make friends with cacti and succulents, turn plain tote bags into farmers market necessities, make gifts for floral-obsessed loved ones and learn my signature embroidery style. Youll be able to add floral magic to any accessory, big or small. And no matter your skill level, this book is for you! Beginners will have a great time learning the ins and outs of modern embroidery, and experienced stitchers will pick up some new skills along the way.

We all have forgotten accessories that are sitting in a drawer somewhere waiting to be given new life. I will show you how to add color and interest to hats, bandanas, fanny packs, iron-on patches, totes and denim jackets. I chose accessories that are easy to find, inexpensive to purchase and are most likely already in your closet, so you can get to stitching right away! Reignite your love for your wardrobe by easily adding elegant embroidered touches and elevating your items to a new level of style.

Ive always been creative in one way or another. My first creative loves were writing and photography. Hello, writing this book is my dream come true! More than three years ago, I was on Instagram on the hunt for a cute new patch for my denim jacket, when I came across a gorgeous embroidered jacket. The creative corner of my brain lit up with an excited I can do that attitude and I was off to the craft store for embroidery supplies. I browsed blogs, watched lots of YouTube tutorials and got lost in the sea of embroidery on Instagram. I began teaching myself traditional stitches, but I also veered off and did my own thing. I was so inspired by embroidery artists, such as Tessa Perlow and Emillie Ferris. I drew inspiration from nature, vintage botanical illustrations and the flowers that remind me of people and places I love. After adorning a few denim jackets with flowers, a friend asked me to embroider a hat for herthank you, Katie!and my Instagram followers absolutely loved it. My photos went viral and my follower base grew by almost 10,000 people in one month.

I began selling embroidered hats on Etsy and at art markets around my city. The response was incredible, and I sold out instantly, again and again. I realized that more people wanted embroidered hats than I was physically able to make, so I brainstormed about how to best serve my customer base. Many of my shoppers were creative souls and I realized the best product I could create for them would be an embroidery education.

I learned so much by creating my first embroidery pattern. It took a lot of market research and a lot of trial and error. But I had help from my amazing community of followers, and I released the pattern and learned from their feedback. My embroidery patterns got better and better. I moved on to providing embroidery kits, full of everything a crafter needed to get started. Over time, I watched the #MireMade hashtag fill up with hats made by myself and by others!

Over the last few years, I have gained over 20,000 followers, stitched over 600 hatscrazy right?!and taught more than 350 embroidery-curious artists how to embroider. From beginners to advanced stitchers, I have received an incredible response to the way my embroidery designs are easy to follow and quick to learn. I have loved every second of this journey and cant wait to be a part of yours!

I consider myself a modern embroidery artist. Embroidery has had a serious revival in the last ten years, and its being picked up by artists who are manipulating the medium to create meaningful pieces of modern art. Modern embroidery breaks the rules that youre used to. Traditional embroidery says to use small stitches and muted tones. Be slow, be precise and be perfect. Modern embroidery says to get messy. Make your stitches chunky and heavy, blend the colors and make them bold.

This style of embroidery embraces happy accidents and improvisations. Make mistakes and lean into them. First timers are welcomed and encouraged to dive in. Even if youve tried embroidery before, this may be a whole new experience for you! Pick up some new skills and learn how to move your embroidery from inside the hoop to out in the world on your wardrobe and accessories.

Not sure where to get started? Browse the chapters and check out the skill levels listed. Projects listed as Beginner are a great place to start if youre jumping into embroidery for the first time! They will familiarize you with the basic methods and stitches. Once you feel comfortable, youre ready to move on to Intermediate. You will add more stitches to your repertoire and work on more detailed designs. Dont be intimidated by the Advanced projects. The skill level is similar to Intermediate; the projects are just a bit more time consuming. Settle in with some good company or music and stitch for a while.

Dont forget to have fun with it! Enjoy creating your own works of art in my signature styleand make them your own by switching up the colors or adding new flowers in!

You will have a great time learning how to embroider! It is going to be super easy to add a personalized touch to your items by following these instructions. These tips are general guidelines for embroidery and will be useful to refer to while working on your projects.

Each accessory you embroider on requires different materials and methods. I recommend reviewing each project before shopping. For example, I recommend a small plastic hoop for hats and fanny packs, but I like using large wooden hoops for tote bags and denim jackets.

When choosing accessories, I prefer cotton or denim materials that are soft and easy to work with. Each chapter lists my preferred item and where to find something similar. For your thread, I recommend using cotton embroidery thread. My preferred brand of thread is DMC and each project lists the colors needed.

Embroidery thread often comes out of its plastic sleeve and can quickly become unraveled and tangled. I recommend using plastic thread savers or clothespins to keep your threads organized. To use a clothespin, begin with it in the open position. Place the end of the thread into the mouth of the clothespin and allow it to close over the thread. Wrap the thread around the middle of the clothespin until you have about an inch (2.5 cm) of thread left. Tuck the end of the thread into the mouth of the clothespin, making it easy to quickly find during future use. I like to write the number of the thread on the end of the clothespin with a pen or marker.