Dawning of the Age of ...

... today's project: Aquarius constellation embroidery hoop art, in honor of my birthday month/astrological sign month. This project was inspired again by the great Honey and Fitz blog. She drew inspiration from an adorable Etsy shop and even created an AWESOME DIY Anthropologie-Hack Star Chart Cardigan. Finally I'm chipping away at the mountain of great DIY expectations I created for myself. Do you ever feel like you've put too much on your plate? My philosophy: one step at a time.

Tools needed for this project:

18" x 21" navy fabric sample from a big-box store : $1.00 - $2.00
6" wooden embroidery hoop (I prefer the natural look and feel of the wood for this project, rather than plastic) : $1.29
white embroidery floss : $0.40
Total : under $4.00!

I began by ironing the fabric sample, since it had been creased into a square in the packaging. Next, I measured and cut a 7" x 7" square (leaving 1 inch overlap around the circumference of the embroidery hoop.)

Then, I separated the embroidery hoop into two pieces, centered the fabric, and placed the outer ring over the inner ring and tightened the screw at the top of the hoop, pulling the fabric taught.

Next, I searched Google Images for my desired constellation - Aquarius, in this instance, but you could use any constellation. I recommend printing a copy of your constellation, as a reference, and scaling it down (or up, depending on the original size of the image) to have a picture around the same size as your embroidery hoop. You could also eyeball it, sewing directly onto your hoop from the image on your computer screen.

You may have a better method than I did for this next step. I cut the photo of the constellation in four, centering the essential part onto the fabric. In order to ensure proper alignment of the stars, I placed the paper over the fabric on the embroidery hoop and punched my needle through both the paper and the fabric to make a place marker hole in the fabric. I used this as the starting point for my three-part cross stitches, which acted as the main stars on my constellation. I continued in this fashion, aligning the paper with the existing stars and punching a hole to place the next star, estimating if necessary.

Finally, I added little French knots (which I learned from this youtube video, suggested by Honey & Fitz), simple stitches, and cross stitches to fill in the other stars in the night sky. I was creative with their placement.

After the night sky was completed, I turned the embroidery hoop over and cut the remnants of the blue fabric into a circle, about 1/2 inch from the edge of the hoop.

   

I used some fabric glue I had lying around to glue the edge of the fabric to the back of the wooden hoop. You could probably cut the remaining fabric flush with the edge of the hoop, instead of gluing it.

And voilà!! 

My fabric is pretty thin, so from certain angles, you can see through to the embroidery floss on the back spanning between the stitches. Once it's hanging on the wall, however, this view is obscured. 

I'd like to make another one, this time with the Virgo constellation (my husband's astrological sign) and hang them side-by-side. It has been impossible to find another small wooden embroidery hoop ANYWHERE! Perhaps this was a popular holiday gift idea and the stores that sold out haven't re-stocked yet? This could also be a cute nursery decoration or personalized (and inexpensive) gift for a friend!