How to design your own simple embroidery pattern

Showcase your favourite quote, poem or mantra in this month’s project!

I love reading poetry at the moment, as it’s so lovely to dip in and out of to have five minutes peace or to read for longer and really get stuck in. Lemn Sissay’s Let the Light Pour In (affiliate link) is a beautiful collection of morning poems, with words that will really resonate with so many of us (I’d highly recommend it if you want to read some poetry and don’t know where to start, or if you’re a poetry fan then you need it in your collection!).

Since I first read it, I’ve always loved Sissay’s poem Said the sun to the moon in particular, but over the summer holidays it seemed to be more relevant than ever. Watching the riots happening in the UK was horrible, and they increased the sense of division here which just made me feel so sad. I had the idea to stitch this poem then, using different stitches to reflect the words, and I’m happy to be sharing it with you today.

This project is a super simple introduction to designing your own patterns. No fancy apps or software are required - you only need a simple word processing application to be able to make it! Or you could easily just write this out in your own hand if you prefer.

As you’ll be creating your own design, you don’t have to use the words of this poem if you don’t want to. Feel free to choose a poem or some other words that mean a lot to you - just make sure you credit the author in your design! I have included the PDF for the text I’ve used here in this post if you’d rather use that.