Celebrate your best pal with these fun hoop art makes

What you need...

• White 10 count Aida fabric
  13cm embroidery hoop
  Embroidery needle
  Stranded embroidery thread: yellow, green, pink, grey, black
  Yellow felt
  Yellow sewing thread
  Strong thread
  Cocktail sticks
  Two pink beads
  Toy stuffing
  Scissors
  

instructions

1. 1. Cut a square of Aida fabric large enough to fit a 13cm embroidery hoop with some excess. Work the cross-stitch design from the diagrams provided on the pattern pages. Trim a length of embroidery thread from the hank; don’t cut it too long otherwise it will tangle. Separate three strands from the cut length, thread your needle and begin to stitch your design.
   
   2. A cross stitch is formed by passing the needle from the back of the work through the upper right-hand hole of a square. Leave 2.5cm of thread on the back; to secure, hold the end in the direction that you will be stitching, and the thread will be caught in the following stitches. Pass the needle across the square to the lower left-hand hole of the square to the back and then vertically up to the left-hand top hole, out to the right side, and across and down to the right-hand corner. This completes one cross stitch.
   
   3. Parts of the embroidery are formed by just a half stitch which forms a diagonal shape to create the angled edges of the lettering and the animal shapes. A single strand of black thread is used to define the cat and dog features, the dog’s bone and the cat’s ball of wool and needle. When complete, remove the work from the hoop, gently wash and press with an iron on a low heat to remove any creases.
   
   4. To make the 3D motifs for each project, again use the templates provided on the pattern pages to cut two discs or two bone shapes from yellow felt. Using matching thread and a fine needle, stack the two bones one on top of the other and over sew together close to the edge. As you get near to the starting point, push in a little stuffing to plump up the shape then complete the stitching. At each end of the bone oversew a larger stitch to define a double ball effect.
   
   5. For the knitting needles and ball of wool, push a bead onto two cocktail sticks, then press the sharp ends onto a hard surface to blunt them and form a stopper for the beads. Lay the knitting needles between the two felt discs in a cross and oversew the shapes together, trapping the needles inside. Stuff the shape before completing the sewing as before.
   
   6. Place the completed cross-stitch between the two layers of the hoop, pull the fabric taut, then use the screw to tighten the outer hoop around it. Work a running stitch with strong thread around the edge of the fabric on the wrong side, pull the thread up tightly and fasten off securely. Trim away the excess fabric.
   
   7. To complete the cat cross-stitch, sew the knitting needles and ball of wool in place from the back of the hoop. The bone is attached to the dog cross-stitch using a length of pink embroidery thread tied to the screw of the hoop.