Celebrating ‘Little Women’ With a Free Embroidery Pattern Inspired by Jo March

This post is spon­sored by Sony Pic­tures, but the embroi­dery, pho­tographs, words, and opin­ions are my own. Thanks for sup­port­ing the brands that sup­port Brown Paper Bag!

Did you grow up obsess­ing over the sto­ry of Lit­tle Women by Louisa May Alcott? Many of us have a fond asso­ci­a­tion with the nov­el and its char­ac­ters; we see our­selves in the March sis­ters! It’s no won­der that when Gre­ta Ger­wig released her take on Lit­tle Women, the movie was an instant hit. I love how fresh her ver­sion feels yet is faith­ful to its 19th-cen­tu­ry source mate­r­i­al; it’s def­i­nite­ly a film you can watch time and again.

One thing I found inspi­ra­tional about Lit­tle Women was its mes­sage of empow­er­ment towards women despite tak­ing place dur­ing the Civ­il War. Jo, in par­tic­u­lar, has some great quotes that are worth remembering.

I’ve cre­at­ed a way you can cel­e­brate Jo’s bold per­son­al­i­ty through one of my favorite crafts—embroidery. Just in time for the DVD and Blu-ray™ release of Lit­tle Women (avail­able now!) is a free down­load­able pat­tern fea­tur­ing a line from Jo: “I’m hap­py as I am.” It’s a sen­ti­ment that we should all strive for—to be con­tent in who we are. I designed it with mul­ti­ple view­ings of the film in mind! Scroll down for the com­plete guide to com­plet­ing this pattern.

Click here to download the “I’m Happy as I Am” pattern inspired by Greta Gerwig’s Little Women.

Is stitch­ing not your thing? That’s cool, too—the pat­tern includes a down­load­able 8.5” x 11” print that is ready for framing.

Embroider Your Own “I’m Happy as I Am” Pattern

The pat­tern I cre­at­ed is one that is sim­ple enough for begin­ning stitch­ers with some com­plex­i­ty that more expe­ri­enced embroi­der­ers will enjoy.

Supplies You’ll Need:

• An eight-inch embroi­dery hoop or larger
• A nee­dle (try some­thing on the small­er side, like size five or six)
• DMC thread col­ors (list­ed in pattern)
• “Stick and Stitch” sta­bi­liz­er trans­fer paper (option­al)

Stitches You Need to Know

The flo­ral pat­tern and quote use just two basic stitch­es: the satin stitch and the back­stitch. All “fill” stitch­es (every­thing BUT out­lines) will be done using the satin stitch. (This is most of the design.) All of the out­lines (includ­ing the larg­er wreath out­line) will be done using the backstitch.

Here’s how to do the satin stitch:

To make the satin stitch, you’ll bring the nee­dle up through your fab­ric at the start­ing point. Then insert it at a point that’s oppo­site from your orig­i­nal entry and pull the nee­dle through the fab­ric again.

Once you’ve com­plet­ed that step, return back to where you start­ed and bring the nee­dle up next to the hole that you just made.

Here’s how to make the backstitch:

The back­stitch is just that—a stitch that you work back­ward. (Aren’t stitch names help­ful?) Start by bring­ing your nee­dle up through your fab­ric and then go one stitch length for­ward, bring­ing it through your fab­ric on the back­side. At this point, while on the back­side, take your nee­dle one stitch length for­ward and bring it up through the fab­ric again. You will have a stitch-length-sized space between your first stitch and the new one you just made.

Your nee­dle and thread should be on the right side of the fab­ric now. Take that stitch back­ward to meet the point where your first stitch end­ed. Then, repeat the process.

Tip — For small­er, curved out­lines, it’s best to make your stitch­es very small so that they cre­ate a smooth edge. If your stitch­es are too wide, the out­lined shape will look angu­lar and even a bit jagged.

Thread Colors

The pat­tern lists the DMC col­ors that you will need to suc­cess­ful­ly com­plete the design, and the threads are avail­able in your local craft store or online. The skeins are assigned num­bers and are vis­i­ble on the labels. Look for those num­bers when select­ing your thread.

Tip — Each DMC thread com­pris­es six sep­a­rate strands. Use no more than two strands in your nee­dle when stitch­ing this pat­tern. For fin­er out­lin­ing, use one strand of thread.

Fabric to Sew On

Opt for nat­ur­al fibers when sewing your design, such as cot­ton or linen. I wouldn’t go for any­thing syn­thet­ic or stretchy or some­thing that has a loose weave.

Don’t be afraid to use col­or! I found that the light blue went real­ly well with the hues in the pattern.

How to Transfer the Pattern onto Fabric

There are a cou­ple of ways you can trans­fer this design onto fab­ric. Regard­less of what you choose, you’ll need to print the black and white out­line design. When print­ing, use the “actu­al size” on your print­er setting.

Print and trace — With this approach, you’ll print the design at the desired size and then place it under your fab­ric to trace using a pen, pen­cil, or water-sol­u­ble pen. (I rec­om­mend a water-sol­u­ble mark­ing pen.) Depend­ing on your fab­ric, you might need a light­box to ensure you can see the design for trac­ing. If you don’t have a light­box, a sun­ny win­dow works, too.

Print, stick, and stitch — This is my favorite method because you don’t have to trace any­thing (pic­tured above). Using a print­er and stick and stitch sta­bi­liz­er paper, print your design at the desired size. Once print­ed, cut around the design leav­ing a quar­ter to half-inch edge around it. (I would sep­a­rate the flower crown from the text and place them sep­a­rate­ly.) Then, adhere it to your fab­ric. That’s it! You’ll then start stitch­ing, and once you’re done, wash away the sta­bi­liz­er using warm water.

Getting Started on the “I’m Happy as I Am” Pattern

Once you’ve got your sup­plies and have trans­ferred the pat­tern onto fab­ric, it’s time to start stitch­ing. With this pat­tern, I tack­led the large blooms first, then the text, and final­ly the small flow­ers and leaves. Remem­ber, the out­lin­ing (with the back­stitch) is best left for the end (or at least until you’re done fill­ing in the design ele­ments with the satin stitch).

How to Finish the Edge of Your Embroidery Hoop

As you put the fin­ish­ing touch­es on your embroi­dery, you’ll want to make sure that you secure the fab­ric around your hoop. While you’re work­ing on the embroi­dery, it’s fine that you’ve got excess fab­ric hang­ing from the side. But to prop­er­ly dis­play your hand­i­work, you’re going to want to hide the fray­ing edges.

Don’t cut your fab­ric to the edge of your hoop—that will make your mate­r­i­al fray and unrav­el. Instead, take the excess fab­ric and cinch it using a quick run­ning stitch.

To begin, flip over your fin­ished piece. Find some DMC thread that is sim­i­lar­ly col­ored to your fab­ric. Cut a piece of string that is at least the cir­cum­fer­ence of your hoop. Then, make a loose run­ning stitch about a quar­ter inch away from your hoop. Do not pull the string too tight (yet). The stitch­es can be wide, but don’t make them too wide—otherwise, the fab­ric won’t cinch properly.

Once you’ve sewn around the hoop—and before you tie the knot—pull hard on your thread. This will gath­er the fab­ric towards the cen­ter of your hoop. It’s a secure approach, and when you flip over your hoop, you won’t see the edge of the mate­r­i­al. Your hoop will look clean and professional!

Dis­play your hoop among your favorite books (like Lit­tle Women!), or install a small saw­tooth hang­er on the back of the frame and affix it to your wall. If you opt for hang­ing, be sure that you put it in a place that will lift your spir­its when you see it.

Lit­tle Women is avail­able now on Dig­i­tal, Blu-ray™, and DVD.