When I started quilting a couple of years ago, I found myself on Instagram and was immediately struck by how amazing the modern quilting Instagram community is. One of the wonderful women I’ve had the pleasure of connecting with is Tamara from Cottonroots. She is one of the most genuinely kind people I’ve ever “met”–I hope some day we get the opportunity to hang out in real life! She is not only a super talented quilter with an amazing eye for color, but she has recently ventured into the punch needle world and offers the most amazing punch needle kits.
Punch needling is something I’ve been seeing more of in recent months and I just love the texture it provides. I jumped at the chance to snatch up one of Tamara’s punch needle kits the first time she stocked some in her Etsy shop. Good thing, too, because she sells out every time she stocks these! (I adore her neutral and classic aesthetic; it is so calming),
The Kits
When I opened the kit, I was immediately impressed by how much was included. Here is the low-down on what’s included in her punch needle kits:
- Wooden adjustable punch needle with six different loop lengths
- Weaving wire to thread the punch needle
- 7 inch plastic non-slip embroidery hoop prepared with monk’s cloth
- 7 inch decor embroidery hoop for displaying your work
- Extra 9×9″ monk’s cloth with finished edges
- 5 balls of chunky yarn. *Approximately 50 yards of yarn. This is for practicing only and may not be enough to finish a pattern. To ensure you have plenty of yarn in the color of your choosing, you will need to purchase full skeins.
- Quick Guide to Punch Needling. *This will be sent via Etsy messenger shortly after your purchase.
The guide was especially helpful to me since I had never done this before. It had a ton of helpful photos and was extremely easy to read and follow.
My Design
I decided to do a simple rainbow with some clouds for my first punch needle design. We are getting ready to move to a new home and my four year old daughter is obsessed with rainbows right now, so it seemed like the perfect thing to make for her new bedroom. I followed Tamara’s punch needle guide and transferred the design with some simple tissue paper and a sharpie. (I am NO artist, clearly. But I wanted to show my entire process so you can see how easy and forgiving this art medium is–great news for me!)
Time to Punch
Now, the fun part! I loved getting to play with all of the pretty yarn included in the kit. I used six different colors of yarn for the rainbow and white for the clouds.
One of my biggest takeaways from my first venture into punch needling is that you really don’t need a lot of yarn to make a design. One pass of yarn in each color from the back of the hoop was enough to really fill out my rainbow nicely on the front. You can see this demonstrated in the photos below:
As you can see from the photos above, you really don’t use much yarn at all to get a full look on the front. I still have plenty of yarn left from my kit to punch a second design! I love that her kits include a pre-cut piece of felt to glue onto the back once your design is in the display hoop. It gives the project such a finished look.
Here are some more photos of the finished product in its display hoop:
Check It Out
Tamara is being so amazing and offering readers of this blog post a 10% discount on anything in her shop. Head to her Etsy shop and use the discount code WREN10 (coupon code valid through April of 2019.)
But wait–there’s more!!! (Haha, I hope you read that in your best infomercial voice.) Tamara is also offering a free pattern to trace onto your hoop for all of her newsletter subscribers, so head HERE to sign up for her newsletter and get your free squash blossom pattern. (It’s one of my favorite designs; I’m going to make it next!)
If you’re super into newsletters, I have one as well and love to notify all of my friends about sales, tutorials, and pattern releases. You can find the sign up info HERE.
I hope you guys check out these amazing punch needle kits; I know I will definitely be making more of these for our new home.
Until next time,
XOXO Rach
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