A Stitch In Time

Just recently I got a little fixated on the Lingua Franca jumpers. What jumpers? These jumpers!

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You know how I love a slogan jumper. But but but .... they're not cheap! I know they're cashmere and I know some of the proceeds go to charity but they are still a little pricey for little old me. I did a little dig around and got a bit of the story behind the label and Rachel Hruska MacPherson ...  the lady who designed them.

Rachel and her jumpers (source)

In a nutshell, Rachel embroidered a jumper for herself with the word "booyah" on it and posted it on IG and started getting requests for the embroidered jumpers from friends. The initial slogans were based on hip hop lyrics but you can now commission personalised ones. I also love the fact that when she started, she sourced all kinds of cashmere jumpers and whilst going/stalking through her IG feed, it was quite interesting to see that Uniqlo, J Crew and Pringle jumpers can be seen on the labels. Basically any that she came across were all used. 

Anyway, you know how they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? Well I made my own version. With my own very apt slogan. It did take days of mulling over song titles and lyrics and captions and eventually I came up with .... "little but fierce". Ask my boys. When they won't knuckle down to their homework, I turn in to #tigermom  Normally I'm all sweetness and light but push enough buttons and then I'm "harsh" as my boys' friends like to say. I also didn't want to overstretch myself as this was my first embroidery attempt so three words was more than enough.

What did I need?

• Suitable plain jumper
• Embroidery hoop
• Embroidery thread in colour of choice
• Embroidery needle
• Regular cotton thread and needle for marking out design on the jumper

What did I do?


Well, I basically tested out a few slogans on paper to see how the size of the wording and spacing would look. Then I used an embroidery hoop to hold the jumper firm and marked my design using  some cotton thread in a running stitch. I found it easier to do a running stitch outline rather than using chalk or a fabric pencil which didn't mark the wool well enough for me to follow the outline. And then I googled to see which was the best stitch to use. I started off trying out chain stitch but then changed to outline stitch which is a little finer and easier to work with for outlining words. And set to.

One thing I did learn along the way was to keep the lettering neat by not double stitching over an existing line and took the thread round the back and then picked it back up at the front where you expect it to continue. 

See how I pick up the stitching at the bottom of the b to link it to the u?

No double stitching allowed!!!

If that sounds all very easy, well it took me about five attempts and a lot of unpicking until I had something I was happy with. But now I know what I'm doing, I reckon you can do one of these in just over an hour if you don't make any mistakes and it's not a very very long slogan!

What do you think? I think I did alright! #blowingmyowntrumpet

Woolovers Jumper, Primark Jeans, Swedish Hasbeens for H&M.

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Last Note :

• My grey jumper is from Woolovers. I spotted them doing a sale on their site and some of their cashmere and merino jumpers were down to £20 which is when I bought mine. Last I looked, they were reduced to £10 but odd colours and odd sizes. But if you find something you like, well you can't lose for £10!

• I recommend using an embroidery hoop to hold the jumper taut as you embroider. Don't pull too hard either as you don't want any puckering.