I’ve often expounded on the idea that embroidery is art, and in many ways it is no different from many of the fantastic designs that grace the walls of our museums and homes. Just because our art is made up of threads instead of pigments doesn’t mean it’s any less beautiful. In fact, the medium of thread offers this art form something that many others don’t have... a tactile nature. Thread has texture, depth, and volume. You can create a sense of shape and texture just by using different stitches in different directions.

Well, today I’m going to show you how to take the touchable nature of your embroidery and use it to create a very special kind of design....

The fact the embroidery is art you can feel as well as see is something that we can use to our advantage. We can actually create a design that not only communicates its design in a tactile way, but has a tactile message... written in embroidery Braille!

To create this special message, I’m going to show you the Braille alphabet, and teach you the often dreaded (but unfairly villainized) French knot. We’re going to put it on a simple and sweet stuffy, so even the object your message carries is soft and touchable. To make your Braille message, you’ll need two pieces of fabric about letter sized, a hoop, some thread and needles, lots of polyfill, some transfer paper, and some printouts. I’ll get to the printouts in a sec...

Slide your transfer paper underneath and carefully trace over your design. Be especially precise with your Braille dots, to keep them as accurate as possible. Press down nice and hard to make sure your transfer comes through clearly.

Hoop up your design and prepare to tackle the legendary French knot, so we can make our Braille stand out nice and bold...

I’ll take you step by step through the process...

To start, pull your thread through from the back of your design. Once you’ve pulled your thread through, grab a few inches above where it comes out of the fabric, and pull it taut so you can control it better.

Wind the thread around your needle twice for a nice large knot. Keep tugging gently at the thread to keep it wound around your needle, and re-insert the tip of the needle right next to where it came out. Do NOT place it exactly where it came out, or you might pull your stitch out completely when you pull the thread through. Keep it as close as possible to your marked dot though, so the Braille placement doesn’t get messed up.

Once the tip of your needle is in the fabric, tug on the thread that’s wound around the needle. The knots will slip down the needle to form a small little knot at the bottom. Don’t relax the thread, keep tugging at it gently so the knots don’t loosen.

Now pull your needle all the way through your fabric, but keep the thread holding the knots firmly but gently for as long as possible. You’ll have to let go eventually to let the last of your thread go through your fabric.

The more you can control the tension on the thread, the less likely it will be that your knots will loosen as you’re finishing the stitch.

And now you have a pretty French knot! See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?

Practice this stitch a few times before you begin on your Braille. After a few tries you’ll get the hang of it. Once you’ve got it, carefully follow your marked dots and stitch out your message in little neat knots.

If you’re still confused you can check out this great little video tutorial on French knots.

Here’s my Braille message after it was all stitched out. You can run your finger over the stitches to feel the neat raised effect of your message. Now your embroidery and its message can be enjoyed even by touch.

The whole design will be tactile, but adding an extra Braille message offers up a whole new audience to your art. Embroidery should be able to be enjoyed by everyone!

This is my design after I finished stitching my heggie-hog.

If you like, you can just keep your piece framed in a hoop, as a simple and sweet design for your wall. If you want to take it one step further and turn it into a soft shaped plushie, then unhoop your design.

I went over my hedgehog outline again with disappearing fabric ink so I could see it clearly on the other side. Now may also be a good time to give your design a quick ironing, and remove the mark of the hoop.

If you want, you can embroider some features on your large hedgehog shape, like a little nose and eye, but I actually did this after he was stuffed and it worked fine. It’s up to you how you want to do it, or if you just want a blank heggie.

Cover your stitches up with your second piece of fabric, then flip it over to the other side and pin the two piece of fabric in place so they don’t move when we’re sewing them. You can see how “neat” my stitches are from the back.

You should be able to see your outline through the fabric. I also drew a second outline, tracing about 1/2” around the first, to remind me of my seam allowance.

Sew a seam around your hedgehog, following the original inside line. Don’t forget to match your thread to your fabric.

Leave a 2 inch gap somewhere along your seam so you can turn your little hedgehog right side out for stuffing. I’d recommend somewhere on the bottom, like his tummy.

Once you’ve sewn your stuffy together, cut it out along the seam allowance line you drew. Before you turn your little hedgehog right side out again, snip a few notches around the curves of the stuffy to help keep him from bunching up.

Here’s the little heggie when he’s right side out. Now it’s time to stuff him up plump!

I’ve made a number of stuffed things now, and let me tell you, I’m still surprised by how much polyfill these things take. He was a hungry hungry hedgehog.

I found for little difficult bits like the spikes, it was best to roll up little balls of stuffing and push them up into the spikes with a pencil. Large wads of stuffing simply won’t stay up in the little spikes. You have to use small clumps.

Once your heggie is nice and full, pinch the opening closed and sew it neatly shut.

Your finished hedgehog! I stitched a little nose and satin stitch eye on him after he was done. I thought he needed a bit of character.

Now you have a simple, sweet piece of embroidery that’s soft, touchable and tactile in every way.

You can run your fingers over the stitches to feel the hedgehog design, or read the sweet message in Braille, or squish his soft spikes. He’s a beautifully tactile piece of art, in a way only embroidery can be.

Now that you’re a new master at French knots, you can use this new stitch to add extra flair to your hand embroidery, or stitch up lots of sweet messages in Braille. Embroidery is a dimensional art... it’s time we made the most of that fact!