Laurie Latour of Future Christian Homemakers is quite an enthusiast when it comes to hand embroidery on gingham. If you have not seen her Gingham Museum on her website, it is worth taking a look at, especially if you are interested in elaborate "chicken scratch" embroidery that is unique and really beautiful. She has quite a collection of embroidered aprons, and they're all detailed with close-up photos and commentary.

Laurie's been experimenting with gingham lately, coming up with several Christmas designs that are really attractive. I especially like this series of Christmas trees she's been working on, so I was very happy when she said I could share them with you.

Traditionally, embroidery on gingham is worked in white or in the color of the darkest square on the fabric. Laurie played a little with this, but found that contrasting colors worked best on this series of trees.

The trees are embroidered on 1/8" homespun fabric (available online through Jubilee Fabric), and their finished size is approximately 3.25" tall by 2.75" wide - the perfect size for an ornament or a Christmas card.



This first tree is worked with a combination of dark green and sparkly white thread - although I like it, I have to admit I like the trees worked in colors that contrast with the fabric better. Laurie used two strands of DMC 890 (green) for the tree, and two strands of Treasure Braid Petit High Gloss (P410) for the circles and x's.




I like this tree a better, with the green stitched on the red homespun. She used the same color green as on the tree above, but instead of the white braid, she used Treasure Braid Petite (PB68), a multi-colored sparkly thread. It's hard to capture the sparkle in the picture, but you can imagine how nice it looks if you're familiar at all with Rainbow Gallery's Treasure Braids (pictured down below).



This tree, I really like. I like the kelly green floss on the red, with the gold braid! It's very pretty, and oh-so-Christmassy.



This tree, however, is my absolute fave. I love the contrast of the bold red stitches, and I like the dark geen with the gold braid.

Which is your favorite, of the four trees above?



Although this isn't a full tutorial, if you are interested in working up some similar trees, in the photo above, you can see the "skeleton" pattern for the design. For further directions on gingham embroidery, you can check out some tips for embroidering on gingham at the Future Christian Homemakers website.



This, by the way, is Treasure Braid. You can find it at most local needlework shops that carry cross stitch or needlepointing supplies.



While wandering through Laurie's website, I came across this little book that Laurie publishes, Classic Prayers for Children. It is a sweet book of prayers and poems for children, beautifully illustrated. It struck me as a perfect stocking stuffer or First Communion treasure for little kids.

I love the work of preservation that Laurie is doing with gingham embroidery. She is building quite a collection of vintage gingham embroidery and documenting them so that we can see the unique designs and stitch combinations used in the technique. If yuou get a chance, make sure you check out her website!

Have a terrific weekend!

Labels: Christmas, embroidery for children, Embroidery for the Home, embroidery tips and tricks, gingham embroidery, needlework pictures, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Friday, October 30, 2009
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A couple weeks ago, I posted a hand embroidery pattern for a Quaker sampler design, converted for surface embroidery. I haven't had time to stitch it myself, but Jan Miller has. Using the bird in a tree design, Jan made a beautiful Christmas ornament - and she sent pictures. Thanks, Jan!

My first thought when I finished converting this design into a surface embroidery pattern was that it would make a pretty Christmas tree ornament. So I was delighted to see Jan's rendition.



Using simple stitches that suit the pattern very well, Jan stitched the ornament on white velvet, I think. She finished it with a matching hand-made tassel.



I love the dark green and the deep red - they suit the design. One reader suggested that simple color tones were best, rather than a variety of shades, since plain color choices would work best in keeping with the simplicity of the Quaker design.

I still want to stitch this pattern up, and hope to one of these days! Has anyone else tried this design? I'd love to see what other people do with it!

Thanks again, Janice, for sending along the pictures!

What are you working on? If you want to share photos of your recent needlework adventures, drop me a line!

Labels: Christmas, needlework pictures, pictures, Quaker designs, readers embroidery

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Tuesday, October 27, 2009
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Have you ever looked at a piece of needlework in stunned silence, turned it around in your hands, looked closer, turned it over, touched it, studied it, then looked up and said to anyone willing to listen - "Oh gosh. You're just not going to believe this thing!" And then shown it off, to find that your reaction isn't an isolated one?

Well, that's exactly how things went when I opened this amazing embroidered sampler sent as a Christmas gift from a friend. You might be tempted, at first glance, to say "Oh, it's another sampler," but I think once you see it in context, you can't help but say, "WOW...!"

So here it is, for your first delightful glance:



And here's the back of the sampler, which is neat and tidy:



Here's a side shot:



And, finally, here's the sampler in perspective, next to a postage stamp, a quarter, and an inch ruler:



That's right - this tiny little detailed sampler is 1 3/8" x 1 3/4" - not a whole lot bigger than a postage stamp!

Christiana embroiders miniature things. She uses kitchen towels (flour sack towels) for her ground fabric, stitching over one thread in the towel. The stitches are half cross stitches (or tent stitch), and I think she uses one strand of embroidery floss - but it's so incredibly tiny, that she might be using regular thread. She'll have to enlighten me on that!



Now can you understand my reaction? I was awe struck! I never considered doing miniature embroidery like this, but I can see how it would be perfect for a number of little applications - doll houses, for example, come to mind. But there are other uses, too: a little special pendant or to adorn the lid of a little tiny box... I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it yet. I'd like to find the perfect small frame for it, so I can display it.

I willingly and profusely admit that I love this little sampler! It was such a surprise gift! It came in a great little package:



Along with the sampler were some other treats: a spool of Tire Silk, some Japanese snippers, and a nice little package of Glorianna threads and ribbons!

Thank you, Christiana, for the sweetest of little Christmas presents!

Labels: Christmas, needlework pictures, pictures, readers embroidery, sampler

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, January 01, 2009
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On this great feast day, I thought I'd share with you some photos of another hand made item here at home - one that my Mom made!

This is the Nativity Scene I set up here at home this year. My Mom made it (hand poured porcelain) about 45 years ago.



It's out of the box for the first time in about 13 years, when it was resigned to the attic because some of us kids got the hair-brained idea of investing in a new Nativity Scene for Mom for Christmas. A store-bought-multi-charactered-various-buildings-and-accessories sort of scene.



But this year, I wanted to take out the "old" scene and set it up in the entrance of my home.



It's simple: White, smooth, hard porcelain set on red velvet, with a small string of holly and lights and a couple poinsettias - nothing fancy at all.

My Mom made it. I like it best. I love everything it represents.



It's a good reminder of what Christmas is about.

Thanks for all your encouragement and support over the year! I look forward to spending another year in your company - to me, it's like hanging out with a great group of friends!

To one and all, I wish you a very happy Christmas full of many blessings!

Labels: Christmas, personal

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, December 25, 2008
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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, December 24, 2008
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That's what I was told. "Put up your needlework!" Bemoaning the fact that, as of yesterday, I still didn't have a tree up and that everything just seemed too cluttered to concentrate on decorating for Christmas, my sister suggested, "Put up your needlework!" Ah. The death knoll of needlework!

The fact is, I'm still far behind on my needlework gifts. In fact, it is not likely that I'll be finished with the berry and pine cone towel, though I am on the second pine cone now and I have finished the first bunch of berries. (There are three pine cones and two bunches of berries, not to mention all the pine needles - but those go super fast...).

It was an interesting proposition: if I put up my needlework, would I be more inclined to take care of the Christmas decorating? So I tried it.

I decided that I was not going to put my needlework "UP" (as in, permanently AWAY). Rather, I wanted it accessible but organized, and tuck-away-able.

The first thing I did was take stock of what I was putting away. Now, there's nothing worse than making a bigger mess when you're cleaning up than you had before you started cleaning up! But that's usually the way of it with me when I start "organizing." I didn't really take photos of everything, because I wasn't (by a long shot) intending to write about my present state of general disorganization!



There was this pile of threads and projects that were actually tucked in a bag on the far side of the sofa, where no one really sees it, unless they come all the way into the living room.



Then, on the sofa, in a complete state of disarray, were the projects I'm currently working on.

And then there were three packages of various supplies that I have ordered recently, all still in their envelopes, also tucked on the far side of the couch.

Yes, I agreed with my sister. "Put Your Needlework AWAY!!!" The living room, where the tree goes each year, is just too small for inordinate amounts of clutter. I don't like clutter - I don't like knick-nacks and things like that. When things get cluttered, I just want to sell the house and move somewhere empty. But in my frenzy to get gifts finished, stuff was piling up.

It was time.

To put my needlework away, I required two things: a box of gallon-sized zip-lock bags and a larger something to put the bags in. Fortunately, in my recent goldwork order from Hedgehog, the Hedgehog people were very kind to include a handy-dandy free tote bag. Perfect!

I took each project and all the threads and other supplies (sometimes even hoops) related to it, and put it in a zip-lock bag.

And then....



...I tucked all the zip-lock bags tidily into the tote, which I stowed away in the studio, ready to pull out in the evening when there's time to stitch. I can take one project out at a time, and, when stitching time is up, put it back in the zip-lock, back in the tote bag, and back out in the studio. No clutter, and all is ready to decorate.

So here it is, Monday morning, three days until Christmas! And what do I have to show for it? My tree is up and decorated, the nativity scene is up (well, I did that a week ago), there's one pathetic string of greenery around the top of the porch, with white lights in it and too many red bows (and no extension cord, so it doesn't work, anyway!), and... now it's time to get to work!

Gifts to wrap, some finish work to do on the sewing machine, laundry to do, some baking and ... baking, and .... baking.

I still plan to get some stitching in this evening, if all goes well. I hope to show you a finished berry / pine cone towel by tomorrow evening!

Oh - and I have a last minute Christmas tutorial for you. Well, I bought these very nice red cloth napkins for the table. It was a great bargain. And they actually had 18! So I bought them. But they clamored for embellishment. I'll show you what I did.... tomorrow? Hopefully!

In the meantime, I hope your preparations for the holidays are going well! Enjoy your Monday!

(Did I mention I'm on vacation? It's G-R-R-R-E-A-T!!!)

Labels: Christmas, organization, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Monday, December 22, 2008
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Cissie has been putting embroidery stitches to good use by embellishing doll clothes for her granddaughter for Christmas. I love this little doll dress! From the dress pattern with the wide pleats, to the sweet, crisp fabric, to the little embroidered collar - it's a little girl's dream!

When I saw this dress that Cissie made for her granddaughter's doll, I couldn't help doing a wee bit of reminiscing. Two of my most memorable childhood Christmasses include dolls with handmade accessories.

In my family, we had seven girls. That's shocking to most people today, I know! But it was great! (And, uh, still is, you guys. Really. Honestly!) The four oldest were the "Those Four Big Guys," divided from the three youngest ("Us Three Little Guys") by a break of a few years in Motherly Production. Us Three Little Guys often got variations on the same theme for Christmas. One year, my mom made the three of us Holly Hobby dolls, replete with wardrobe and accessories. Oh, those Holly Hobby bonnets! And braided hair! They were great!

The second doll-memorable Christmas had to have followed shortly thereafter, or we would have been out of the Doll Appreciation Years. And perhaps the oldest of Us Three Little Guys didn't actually get a the same doll that year! Poooooor Sarah! Because that was the best Doll-bearing Christmas ever! Madame Alexander baby dolls - you know, the kind with the heavy bodies and the eyes that closed when you put them to bed! And if you tilted them stomach-side down, they cried! Mom (and an older sister) made at least two of Us Little Guys a whole set of bedtime accessories - mattress, eyelet-lined blankets, pillows - all neatly fitted into a wide slatted, handled basket. They were the Best Dolls Ever. I was eight years old at the time, I think. Do eight-year-olds receive dolls for Christmas anymore?! I loved my dolls to death!

I think Cissie's granddaughter is going to be equally enchanted with her doll's dress! Here it is:



I think (but I could be wrong!) that this is either Molly or Samantha, of the American Girl Doll line. My nieces have these dolls, and they love dressing them up! But I have yet to see as sweet a dress as this on their dolls!



The little collar is embellished with a red flower, dots, and leaves matching the dress, and then edged with Palestrina stitch, a perfect stitch for outlining a collar.

The doll is also receiving a new wool challis coat, which I'm sure will be precious. Lucky, lucky little four-year-old!

I wonder if people would notice if I ... you know.... took up playing with dolls again? Possibly, that's a bad idea. But making their clothes and embellishing them would be heaps of fun! Nice job, Cissie!

Thanks for sending along the picture and for drumming up good memories of ages past.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.....

Labels: Christmas, embroidered clothes, pictures, readers embroidery

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Tuesday, December 16, 2008
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Somewhere in the not-so-distant past, at some point, I made some statement about a hand made Christmas, didn't I? Embroidery projects for gifts? Something like that? Are you sure I actually said that? What I'm wondering is whether or not I actually meant it. Perhaps I was joking when I said it... or perhaps I was just a little naive. (Maybe just plain stupid?!) It sure seemed like a possibility at the time, but as the days tick onwards and I keep making cards and embroidering on that riffemrackemfrickemfrackem Christmas greenery towel, I must admit that I'm beginning to wonder....!

Still, the challenge is fun, and I have actually managed to complete a few more embroidered Christmas cards. Tonight, I assembled them and put the finishing touches on them.

You might wonder what you'd have to assemble on a hand embroidered paper card. Isn't, after all, the embroidery enough by itself? I suppose it would be, but I have a tendancy to go overboard on some things. More is not always better. I need to learn that.

There are a few elements of the embroidered card that require assembly, though, depending on how you make the card.

First of all, if you embroider on a separate little decorative piece of card stock, you have to situate that piece onto the folded card. Then, if you want, you can continue to decorate the card... and decorate it.... and decorate it some more. Take, for example, the snowflake card and the wreath card.

First, the snowflake card. I like this embroidery pattern, and it's really very easy to stitch - it goes pretty quickly. The pattern can be found in Erica Fortgens "Merry Christmas" book, I think, though I've been using several different books for patterns lately. I used regular textured card stock, and Sulky rayon machine embroidery thread in white.



It took me about an hour and fifteen minutes to prick the card and stitch it.



Then I started decorating it further, just on a whim. And then I decorated a little more. And a little more.



I added little rhinestone accents and punched out snowflakes. And I went, as I am often want to do, a bit overboard. Still, it was fun.

Then there's the wreath card.



The embroidery on this one took a bit more time - all told, about an hour and forty five minutes. I should have left well enough alone, and mounted the little white square with the pretty wreath onto the red card and just left it. But there were these strange cutout little flowers floating around in my stuff. Scraps, really. And I found I could cut them in half. And in cutting them in half, I realized I could line them across the top of the card. But then I realized they looked lonely, so added a paper strip.



And of course, the wreath needed some "bling," too, so I added a few red rhinestones. And.... sheesh. I did it again.

So that's one kind of assembly when you're embroidering paper cards.

Sometimes, instead of stitching on a cut-out piece of card stock, you might want to stitch directly onto the card itself. I had a plethora of red cards that I bought for practically nothing ages ago (before Christmas preparations were even thought of), so I decided to use those up. I pricked designs on a bunch of them and set about embroidering them.

These cards are simpler. This holly card, for example, is stitched straight onto the card, with no extras to adorn it:



The snowman is also stitched directly onto the card, though the "Merry Christmas" sign at the top is separate.



His little scarf is made out of perle cotton #5 twisted together.



(I hate to admit this, but the whole time I was working on him, he reminded me - and still does - of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters!)

This is a very simple white-on-red snowflake card that took around 40 minutes total to make:



This little swirly Christmas tree is also stitched directly onto the card, too:



After stitching directly onto the card, you still have to do a little bit of assemblage, because the inside of the card, covered with bits of tape securing the threads, is most distressingly messy, and that needs to be covered up!



To cover the inside, I choose a matching decorative paper, cut it to fit (sometimes with a straight edge, sometimes with a decorative, depending on my mood - or whether or not I want to mess with changing blades on my cutter), and glue it into the inside of the card.

For the holly card above, I chose a gold holly card stock.



It doesn't always have to be card stock, though. For the inside of the swirly tree card, I used a decorative paper, in a green holly pattern.



If you don't have decorative scrapbooking paper, I've found that wrapping paper works great, too!

If you're going to add any extra touches (like the gold beads on the swirly Christmas tree), do that AFTER you've covered up the inside of the card with decorative paper, because it's much easier to glue the inside paper down smoothly when you don't have bumps on the front of the card.

I use strip adhesive, by the way. It's so easy, it's worth the cost of the adhesive. When you can get the stuff on sale, it's worth picking up refils!

I still have a few more cards in the works, like this sparkly bauble card that still needs a few more baubles and a message.



At the rate I'm going, though, I don't think I'll be sending hand made cards to my whole list! Still....



It's not a bad collection. Maybe I could do the whole list. A few late nights... early mornings... enough spiked egg nog...

Labels: beginner embroidery, Christmas, embroider on paper, needlework pictures, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Friday, December 12, 2008
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I don't know about you, but I still have plans to finish a heap of Christmas needlework projects! Heh heh. Well, there's nothing wrong with planning, anyway! If you want to stitch up a few quick Christmas items, you might find the following resources useful...

First, there's a sale at Colonial Patterns, where you can find a Holiday Assortment of Aunt Martha pattern transfers for 20% off. Read the Christmas Pattern Assortment list for the details of which packets are combined here. They range from Sunbonnet Christmas to Snowmen and Angels and Holly and Santa and all that Christmassy stuff.



Iron on transfer patterns can help you make quick gifts for Christmas. Just iron on your favorite motif onto a towel or an apron or something similar, choose your favorite line stitches from the Video Library here on Needle 'n Thread (if you need a refresher), and stitch away!

I was thinking the assorted pack would also make a great little Christmas present for friends who stitch and who like these types of patterns, or for kids who are just getting into embroidery. I was thinking about adding something like this to the little basket I'm making up for my 7 year old niece...

If you'd rather create your own iron on transfer, Colonial Patterns also has their embroidery pattern transfer pad and pencils on sale this week for 10% off. I've never used these products, but if they work well, the concept is grand! Anyone else use them? I'd love the hear the results!

How about some embroidered greeting cards? You still have time to put together some simple cards, gift tags, and whatnot using your needle 'n thread! Stitching Cards has a few freebies on their Prick & Stitch blog, if you're looking for patterns.



For example, there's this snowflake border - it's a very simple little border, but it's great, because you'd never quite believe how hard it is to evenly space those 6 arms of a little straight-stitch snowflake and get them to look really even. I'd probably pick a different color pattern than the one in the sample.... I think the pattern would look great stitched in white on blue, or in white on red.



You'll also find a free pattern for this Christmas bauble, which would stitch up into a cute gift tag or card.

I'm still plugging away on the berry and greenery towel I showed you a week or so ago! And I'm working on Christmas cards... and I'm setting up five little towels I want to finish before Christmas, too. I'd like to do two monogram towels and three casual towels as gifts. Well. Like I said, there's nothing wrong with planning! I think the casual ones will probably come off ok, but the monograms are another story.

I'm also in the middle of preparing another larger project involving goldwork, and I'll show you a little bit about that soon, I hope. I did manage to clean up my goldwork supplies, which was a big deal!

And somewhere in there, I think I have a tree to put up and stuff like that. Baking. Gingerbread houses with the kids. (Hmmmm..... Rather Scrooge-like, but I may scratch the gingerbread houses with the kids!)

A snow day would come in really handy in the next week and a half!

Hope you're enjoying your holiday preparations as much as I am!

Labels: Christmas, embroidery resources

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, December 11, 2008
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Yesterday, I showed you how I finished my goldwork and silk embroidered Christmas ornament for the swap that I joined a month or so ago. I've never actually joined an oline swap. Being a newbie, one of my readers was very nice to mention that there's a list somewhere online that gives a bit of information on how to go about preparing items for a swap, but I can't find the link! (If anyone knows where that article is, I'd love to see it again!)

There are apparently two exciting elements to a swap: 1. doing the embroidery and planning the "package" to send (I love planning packages!), and 2. anticipating, like a kid at Christmas, what the post will bring. I enjoyed the creating process best - I'm looking forward to wrapping up the ornament in pretty paper, preparing a few little embroidery trinkets to send along with it, picking out one of my embroidered cards and adding in a few blank ones for use - you know, just making up a Fun Package to Open! I love doing that! I'm going to use a plethora of curling ribbon!

I actually never found myself thinking about the other end of the swap or anticipating anything in the mail. But on Saturday, the mail arrived, and in it, there was a letter addressed to me from someone I didn't know. I thought it a bit strange - the envelope was hand-written, from Australia, and had something kind of flat and bumpy in it. Weird. I wasn't expecting anything from Australia...

So I opened it, not even remotely considering the ornament swap, because I had forgotten the "other end." (I felt rather stupid, actually...) I fingered the little ziplock bag, trying to think what I had ordered that was feathery... who did I know?... what could this be??.... (I wasn't alone at lunch, either, so I had an audience of witnesses to my air-headed reaction!)

I unzipped the ziplock carefully, trying (unsuccessfully) to avoid catching a bit of fluffy feather in it. Finally, I got it open, and ...



And this is what I received: a little cross stitch and beaded angel, worked on perforated paper, with white feathers for the wings. The skirt is made out of clear bugle and seed beads, and gold beads, which are carefully hung to create a pattern. I hung her on the light there, to take the photo, to give it a kind of angelic effect. Actually, I thought the beads might sparkle a bit more!

The ornament is stitched on two pieces of perforated paper, so that the back of the angel is also the finished back of the head, halo, and top of the angel. Then the wrong sides of the finished pieces are stitched together, with the feathers for the wings secured between the two pieces of perforated paper.



Isn't she cute? I have the perfect tree to hang her on, and I know the little kids will love looking at her.

Once my swap stuff is in the mail (I think I have to send it global priority at this point!), I'll be finished with this year's ornament swap. Though overall this was a positive experience for me, I'm still not quite sure of the whole swap thing. I suppose it's a good way to reach out to others across the globe. Have you ever joined an online swap of any kind? If so, what kind? What did you like about it? Were there any drawbacks? If you've never done one, what makes you hesitate to join one? I'd love to hear about your swap experiences! Anyone??

And, finally, another reminder about this month's embroidery stash give-away - two full spools of Gilt Sylke Twist, plus some other fun needlework stuff, are just waiting for you to win them! If you haven't joined yet for this month and are interested, do take a look at the original post for details on joining!

Labels: Christmas, counted thread embroidery techniques, needlework pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Monday, December 08, 2008
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Here's my run-down on the finishwork on my goldwork and silk Christmas ornament that I made for a swap...

First, I gathered all the supplies I'd need to finish the Christmas ornament: threads, batting (which I didn't use after all), fabric, scissors, etc.



I wasn't quite sure about which fabric to use for the back. I had some cranberry colored silk shantung, some burgandy velvet, and a dusty pink striped fabric. The ornament actually has quite a bit of pink in it!



Next, I took the ornament off the frame and cut off the excess linen.



Next, I measured and cut out two pieces of acid-free mat board. I planned to cover one with the fabric for the back of the ornament, and the other I would mount the front on. Stay tuned, though - I changed my approach on this much later!



Then I cut out the corners on the linen, so that I could fold the linen more easily onto the mat board. I wasn't exactly sure about this whole part, which kind of bugged me.



I didn't want bulk corners, so I trimmed out little triangles, thinking that would help reduce the bulk. Well, of course it didn't work - there was an overhang - so I cut squares out of the corners instead.

I folded the edges under, using a strip adhesive sold for scrapbooking (archival and permanent) to hold the fabric securely to the mat board. To do this part, I put the ornament face-down, and placed the mat board over the back of it. I put the adhesive on all four sides of the back of the mat board, then pulled one side of the ornament up and smoothed it onto the sticky strip on the back of the mat board. Then I did the opposite side, making sure to pull the ornament enough to give good tension, but not too much. Then I did the remaining two sides opposite each other.



It "worked" ... but I wasn't quite happy with it. The point was just to adhere the fabric so that it would remain in place while I stitched the front and back together. But I didn't like the thickness of the top piece, and I really didn't like the fact that the white linen was slightly visible on some sides. I tried to console myself with the fact that the edge would be covered with cording. But it was a lame attempt at consolation. I had to backtrack later. So stick with me, here...



At that point, the front was mounted, though not quite to my satisfaction, and it was time to move on to the back. I debated over fabrics and finally decided on a burgandy-ish scrap of something sort of resembling velvet but feeling more like a stretchy velveteen. Whatever. It worked - the color was right, and though it doesn't have the shine of silk, I think it was more important that the color was right!

Now it was time to go through the same process of mounting the backing fabric.



I cut out the square to the right size, placed the other piece of mat board on it, and glued the edges as I had done for the top of the ornament. I liked the thick back with the mat board much better.



When I put the two pieces together, I was still concerned about the thickness of the top. I just didn't like it. But I forged on! I should've taken a break at that point and thought about it!

My next step was to consider what to use for cording and trim. This, of course, is where the thickness of the piece started to bother me even more. I would have liked to just put a cord around it and cover up the place where the front and back were joined, but golly, that would have to be a huge cord!



I went through my stash to pick out possible threads for cords. I was sure I would have all manner of types of thread and colors suitable for this project. Not so, not so. This is what comes of working from stash. You have to take what you can get! I had a silk chenille (on the right) that looked about right; a soie gobelin that looked about right, and two colors of soie d'alger that are in the ornament.



I tried making individual cords from all of them. I even tried making one big fat cord from several combined, with a gold colored Trebizond thrown in for the fun of it.



But none of it really worked, and I settled, instead, for a plain soie d'alger that I used to couch some of the gold passing on the ornament front.



Then I turned my thoughts to tassel making. For a small tassel, the soie gobelin was really the only suitable thread. The chenille was too thick, and the soie d'alger would end up really fuzzy. The resulting tassel, by the way, stunk, so I improvised something else, which you will see later.

Next, I sewed the front and back of the ornament together, using a regular slip stitch, since I'd be covering that up with a cord, anyway. I didn't like the thickness, especially of the front. I didn't like the fact that so much of the white linen was showing, especially because I knew the cord probably wouldn't cover that up all the way around. Aaaargh! SO...



At this point, I took the ornament apart, took the front off, took the mat board out, and mounted the ornament on a smaller cut piece of white (archival) card stock. The resulting edge of white was still there, but much thinner. That was much better. I sewed it up, then started with the cording.



You can see my silly tassel hanging off here just to the right. I didn't take a full picture of it - I should have, then you would understand better. For one thing, it was just too "pinky-orange" - just a shade off from the colors in the ornament. For another thing, it was having a terribly bad hair day. Soie gobelin is probably not the best thread choice for making a small tassel - it might work better on a larger tassel, where length would give some weight to the threads. On a small tassel, the thread ends flipped all over the place and looked messy and awful. Couple that with the slightly off color, and... well. It just didn't work. I got rid of it.



Here's the cording, after the first round of slip stitching just to get it attached. I used a little piece of gold Trebizond at the top for the hanger, which I ran through between the front and ornament backing, and secured in place as I stitched the cording on.

Next, I addressed myself to the problem of the tassel. I didn't want to leave the soie d'alger twist hanging there - though I probably could have knotted it and left it. It didn't look bad. But I wanted more than that! I actually wanted a Big, Fat, Pretty Tassel!!! (Note to self: plan ahead!!)



Instead, I opted for a tiny tail of little gold beads.

Once I had the beads on, I finished off the threads from the cord by running them individually into the cording (up the sides) and then, I gave the cording one more round of slip stitching to secure it and pull it a little bit more over the white.



My tree's not up yet, so no tree shot!



I suppose that, despite the strange tail of gold beads, she'll do ok! I would have liked a heavier tassel for the finish. This picture above was taken from a weird angle, but the ornament actually does hang ok. I though the tassel would be essential for balance, but I could've left off a tail altogether. The beads look a little... well... I don't know. They look kind of dorky. They have a nice gleamy sparkle to them that goes with the goldwork, but perhaps I should've left them off?

Overall, though, I was pleased with the final result, though I do think I'm going to have to make a concerted effort this coming year to polish up my finishing skills!

I hope the recipient likes it!

If you haven't signed up for this month's stash give-away, you might want to take a look at it. I've giving away two spools of Gilt Sylke Twist, along with a few other little goodies (not pictured!). The deadline for that is next Wednesday morning, December 10th. If you want to enter, please read the original post!

Labels: Christmas, finish work, goldwork, needlework pictures, pictures, silk

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Sunday, December 07, 2008
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