Stitching with Samantha Embroidery Kit Review: A Keepsake Worth Stitching

Introduction

Baby keepsakes are everywhere, but most of them feel mass-produced. The Stitching with Samantha embroidery kit takes a different approach: it combines a personal handprint with hand embroidery, so you end up learning a craft and making something genuinely sentimental at the same time. We put the kit to the test as a complete embroidery beginner to see whether the results really justify the enthusiasm.

What’s in the Kit

The kit arrives as a custom pack, personalized with your child’s name. Inside you get an embroidery sticker with the forest-themed design, a standard needle, and a tutorial in the form of a PDF pattern. The PDF does more than explain the project: it teaches a range of stitches with pictures, includes a diagram showing which stitches each illustrated element requires, and comes with digital downloads for every size of the design. That last detail is genuinely useful, because you can reprint a larger size as your child grows and make another keepsake later.

There are four kit variations to choose from, covering options like a PDF-only version, a sticker version, and combinations with the needle included. Digital downloads are also available if you would rather not have anything shipped. The version with the sticker, PDF, and needle was priced at $17 at the time of testing, on sale.

What You’ll Need to Buy Separately

Two things caught us out. The kit does not include a hoop, and it does not include the aida fabric. Both are inexpensive to pick up at any craft store, but it is worth knowing before you sit down to start. A heat erasable disappearing ink marking pen is also required, so check your supplies ahead of time.

One more lesson learned the hard way: the tutorial specifies Kona cotton, a tightly woven plain white fabric. We initially used a rigid needlework fabric instead, and while the project still worked, stitching through the paint was noticeably harder on the stiffer material. Follow the fabric recommendation.

The Process: Making the Handprint

The project starts by pressing your child’s hand into paint and stamping it onto the fabric inside the hoop. Getting a clean print from a newborn takes patience. It took two attempts to get a usable print, and mixing a touch of red and pale blue into the green paint produced a lovely muted forest shade that suited the theme perfectly.

Once the print dries, you apply the embroidery sticker over it, then cut out the handprint shape. This is the fiddliest part of the whole project, especially with a very petite newborn hand. The sticker acts as your stitching guide for everything that follows.

Stitching Through the Pattern

The PDF pattern is the strongest part of this kit. Each stitch is taught with pictures, and a diagram tells you which stitch each part of the design needs, such as a satin stitch for the mushroom caps. For a total beginner, this structure removes a lot of the guesswork.

Stitching through the painted areas is tough, though it is likely harder on the wrong fabric. The fabric crinkled a bit under the needle, and some stitches needed a second attempt before they looked right. That is part of the charm of a first embroidery project: the back of the work stays messy, the front still looks good.

The design came together with mushrooms in red, small leaves in a darker neutral twine, and the handprint at the center. A quick press with water removed the marking pen ink completely, leaving a clean finished piece. Standard DMC embroidery thread works fine if you already have colors on hand.

Final Results and Verdict

The finished piece is genuinely something we would have paid someone else to make. For a first-ever attempt at embroidery, the result looks polished, and the sentimental value of the real handprint elevates it well beyond a typical craft kit. It took roughly an hour or two, which is fair value at the sale price.

The idea of repeating the project at one, two, and three years old to see how the handprint grows is a compelling reason to keep the PDF downloads around. The only real caveats: buy the suggested fabric, source the hoop, aida, and marking pen separately, and expect some fiddly work around tiny fingers.

Conclusion

This kit earns a strong recommendation. It teaches real stitches, produces a keepsake with lasting sentimental value, and the PDF pattern with size downloads adds long-term value beyond a single project. If you are an embroidery beginner looking for a meaningful first project, this is an easy one to recommend.