How To: Easy Embroidery Display with Studio MME

Today we're excited to host a guest post from Megan Eckman of Studio MME. You may be familiar with her embroidery patterns (and kits) of landmarks of the US East Coast. 

Well, now Megan has put together an ebook of West Coast embroidery patterns. I have had a peek at the book and it is a lovely collection of illustrations of famous spots in this part of the US. Do check out the West Coast Love embroidery book. (You can also find the patterns individually.)

In her post today, Megan shares how to put together a quick way to display all those embroideries you have made. It only requires a few materials that you may already have to hand.

Thank you, Megan!

Carina

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Ever since I started embroidering a few years ago, I've been a huge fan of displaying my work on the wall. That way I don’t have to bring people into the kitchen to show off my tea towels. Plus, with a bulletin board, you don’t have to punch holes in your wall and can pin up tickets from your trip or other mementos.

I grew up in a state that doesn't manifest much pride in its residents. It wasn't until the now famous movie, Fargo, was made about my hometown that anyone even knew the state of North Dakota existed. However, after four years of living all over the West Coast of the United States, I realized that the people here have a lot of pride in where they live. That’s what inspired me to create a series of embroidery patterns and kits that showcase the local landmarks.

After stitching up a few pieces featuring landmarks of my new resident state, I realized that I wanted a fun way to display them. So I created a bulletin board map! A bulletin board map makes a great display for any local stitchery, postcards, and more.

The first step is to collect your materials:
Bulletin board (if you own your own walls or have a nice landlady, you can also put this right on your wall)
Brown paper (or your choice of fun wrapping paper)
Brush
Black ink
Pencil
Push pins

Cut your brown paper to fit on your bulletin board.Then, pin your paper to the board. Double stick tape also works well along the edges to keep the paper up.

Pencil in the outline of your state or country onto your paper. The shape of your state or country may well determine which way you hang your board.

Now comes the fun part: inking! Using your brush and a nice bottle of black ink, paint in the outline of your state or country. I like to use a Sumi brush because it gives you such nice lines but any round brush will do.

Hopefully you have a fun state that lets you draw lots of little islands or lines. Adding in lakes and rivers would also be nice.

Once the ink is dry, pin up your embroidery. I pinned up my pieces to correspond to their actual location within the state so that it’s even more like a map.

Making a pair of these would be a great display piece at a wedding reception or as a way to commemorate all of your moves.


How do you display your embroideries? Do let us know in the comments or share pictures in the &Stitches Flickr group. We'd love to see it!