Yesterday, when I arrived home from work, I was thrilled to see that my  small tambour embroidery frame had arrived.

I did not have a chance to set it up last evening, since I was hanging out with my daughter most of the time; however this morning, I made that a priority after the all important things like feeding my daughter, getting ready for work were out of the way.

The above video shows how to make a basic chain stitch. Normally tambour embroidery is done on fabric that you can see through. Actually, I can with the above fabric that I’ve chosen. If it is an issue, I’ll chose a fabric where the holes are more visible.

The good news is that it looks like I’ll be practicing tambour embroidery later today. Yes! I can’t wait.

You know… I promised myself I would slow down on the new crafts, but here I go again learning something new. Well, to be fair embroidery is not new to me and it’s something I’ve been doing since I was about eight years old. However, in the past, I’ve always used a embroidery needle. Until now.

A little backstory…

I am surrounded by some lovely, talented enablers in life and online. Some of my online pals, from an advanced sewing group I’m a member of, got me a new way to embroider using a tambour needle. I checked out a few videos and noted it was faster than the embroidery needles that I’m used too and they used that needle to do the same type of embroidery that I’ve been doing for years.

Of course, that got my attention since I love incorporating embroidery onto various items and so I’ll be learning a new way to embroider. I’ll mainly be using the tambour needle for beaded embroidery. I love adding beaded embroidery to various items, my favorite being clothing. I have a few pieces that are very intricate. The most tedious piece I have is a maxi gown made solely of beads. That took me over a year to complete.

Since I already love beaded embroidery, I did not purchase one item to see how I would like it, I bought everything I needed to make my transition to tambour embroidery as easy as possible. The tambour needle was the first purchase, because I can’t obviously do tambour embroidery without a tambour needle, right?

I also purchased a large hoop, like the one shown in the video. This is perfect for large beading projects.

However, I also wanted a much smaller embroidery hoop that I can use in my lap, and so early this morning, I ordered the small Lacis Tambour round frame. This will be perfect if I want to carry my project with me. I most likely would bring it when visiting the BF, at his home, and he’s watching something that I have no interest in, such as baseball. I don’t watch a lot of television. Days, weeks and months can go by before I turn on the TV. The BF is already fascinated with my knitting, so I’ll be interested to see what he thinks about my tambour embroidery.

I did not need to purchase beads, thread or the appropriate cloth since I already have plenty in my crafting supplies.

Take a look at the above video. Isn’t that amazing? I can do that with a simple beaded needle, but I’m still learning how to embroider with my tambour needle, so it’ll be some time before I develop the speed and accuracy needed to match what I can do with a simple embroidery needle.