Did you know that you can use coloring pages for embroidery? We are going to show you how to make our sweet lovebirds embroidery below using our lovebirds coloring page. You can also check out our other embroidery ideas including our Maker Mama Llama embroidery pattern and our hand-stitched embroidery gift tags.

How to make lovebirds embroidery

There are two ways that you can turn a coloring page into an embroidery pattern. The first is using a lightbox, which is what we did below. A lightbox allows you to trace over the coloring page onto the fabric using an embroidery pen (the ink disappears with water). The second way is to print the coloring page in reverse onto t-shirt transfer paper, and then iron the image onto the fabric.

The tutorial below we will show you how to use a lightbox, but essentially the rest of the tutorial is the same.

If you want to frame your work as I did then I also show you how to do that as well.

Supplies

• Fabric
• Embroidery hoop – approx 5″
• Lovebirds coloring page printable
• Lightbox and embroidery pen (alternatively, t-shirt transfer paper)
• Embroidery thread
• Needle
• Scissors
• Frame – wood frame, paint, burlap, and scrapbook paper (optional)

Lovebirds embroidery instructions

The first step is to download and print our lovebirds coloring page. Place your embroidery hoop over the image and trace around it with a pencil. Now you know how much of the image you will need to trace onto the fabric.

Place your coloring page on top of the lightbox with your fabric over the top and trace over just the section that will fit inside your hoop using an embroidery pen.

It’s time to embroider your lovebirds. I don’t have all of the colors I used, unfortunately, some were just scraps of embroidery thread that I had in my stash, but here are the colors that I do know:

• DMC 413 – eye and legs
• DMC 3772 – branch
• DMC 580 – green bird
• DMC 3687 – pink bird
• DMC 152 – the shade of pink on the pink bird
• DMC 452 – the top of the pink bird’s tail

The embroidery stitches used are:

• French knots – for the eyes
• Stem stitch – for the outline of each bird and the branch
• Straight stitch – for the top of each bird’s tail

Using a cotton bud dipped in water remove the blue pen marks underneath the embroidery thread.

Turn the embroidery hoop over. Trim the excess fabric into a circle. Loosely stitch around the edge of the fabric, and then pull the thread tightly to gather the fabric into the center.

Frame instructions

Now that you’ve completed your embroidery, you might want to hang it on the wall as is. If you want to make a frame for yours as I did, here are the instructions.

The first step is to paint a plain wood frame with dark grey paint, allow it to dry, and then roughly paint over it with metallic gold paint. Once the grey paint is dry lightly sand over it to give it a worn look in some spots.

Cut a piece of scrapbook paper for the back of the frame and use Mod Podge (or any other glue) to glue it into place.

Craft tip: Place the paper over the top of the frame and run your finger along the edges to create an imprint in the paper for cutting.

Cut a strip of burlap and glue it around the screw for the embroidery hoop. Glue the other end to the back of the frame. If you don’t want the embroidery hoop to move around, you can glue that into place as well.

Use a staple gun to attach a rope, twine, or ribbon to the back of your frame for hanging on the wall.

Please pin post for later