Monogramming How-To for the Holidays

Editor’s Note: We’re excited to welcome Devin, the newest member of our team. With a background in fashion design and patterns published in magazines like Vogue Knitting, Devin will be sharing her own take on trends, techniques, and more.

As the holidays drew nearer, Kelloggs (my pet bunny) decided he wanted to ring in the season with style, so I made him this festive sweater! For this sweater I used Vanna’s Glamour^® yarn in red and Jamie^® yarn in white. Although not all pets are as keen to dress up, the technique I used to monogram his initial onto the sweater can be used on any knit project. The “K” is embroidered with a tapestry needle instead of using color-work. There are three reasons that you would use this technique:

1. Embroidering will make your design stand out more, since it is more 3-dimensional
2. You can create detail with back stitching that you can’t with color-work
3. You can do it once the project is finished. This way you can spice up a project you have already finished or personalize a store-bought knit garment.

Hint: the yarn you use for your monogram doesn’t need to be the same type as  the yarn used for the rest of the project, but it MUST be the same weight.

To Prep Your Project:

Take a look at your project and decide how large you want your monogram to be. Then outline this area using a tapestry needle with contrasting yarn. Count  the number of rows and stitches you outlined and mark this on a piece of graph paper. Draw the letter that you would like in the graph.

Embroidering Your Monogram:

1. Push your threaded tapestry needle through the back of your project at the bottom of the “V” of your first stitch (Once I placed my first stitch I removed my yarn outlines so that they wouldn’t get in the way).

2. Slide your tapestry needle underneath the “V” of the stitch above the one you are working on.

3. Insert your needle from the front of the project in the same spot that you started in. Continue in this manner until you have filled in all the stitches on your graph.

4. If you have thin lines like the ones I have connecting the bars of the “K” you will make these by back-stitching. I Pushed my needle from the back of the work to the front at the top left corner of the stitch I wanted to start the line at. Then inserted the needle again in the top left corner of the stitch diagonally above it.

5. Next, I pushed my needle from the back of the work at the top left corner of the stitch diagonally above that stitch. Then I inserted the needle from the front into the bottom right corner of the stitch to connect the line. Continue in this manner to create your detailing.

Pretty simple right? Now you can personalize any knit gift for the holidays with a monogram!

Related Links:

• 6 Patterns for Handmade Holiday Crafts
• 7 Stress-Free Steps to Making Your Holiday Gifts This Year
• 6 Easy Ways to Make One-of-a-Kind Heirloom Baby Booties
• How to Make Amigurumi Cuter with Perfect Eye Placement