5. How To Block Your Hand Embroidered Work

Hand embroidered mandala by April Sproule

 This is Part 5 of a 5 Part Series: Links to others at end of article

One characteristic of linen I find really interesting is that when you wet the fabric, it relaxes the fibers. They swell up and get very wrinkly and unattractive. But magically, as the fibers dry they tighten up. The blocking process will usually remove all wrinkles and stretched out areas completely.

Linen dries very quickly. I find that if I put my piece in a window with even indirect sun, it will dry much more quickly. Sometimes this will cause a little bit of pulling around the very outside edge. So, if you want to avoid this place the piece somewhere that is in indirect lighting.

I never need to press any of the pieces I have blocked. They come out looking beautiful and pristine.

I hope you find this information to be helpful. Please take a moment to leave a comment if you did. Thank you for watching!

     Feather Pattern