Happy Monday!
For those who read Needle ‘n Thread via email, I apologize for the broken links that came in the newsletter on Saturday. If you go to Needlework News Snips here on Needle ‘n Thread, all the links work fine, but on Saturday, I messed something up in the email format and managed to break most of them.
Yes, after 8.5 years of blogging, I’m still making mistakes…
Anyway, in Saturday’s article, I mentioned that I’m writing for Craftsy now and then. Because I would never want another website to come between me and thee, I contracted for only one article once a month, but somehow, I bit off a three-article series for December, due tomorrow.
The series is on adding dimension and texture to hand embroidery. The series focuses on threads, other materials, and a small project. This is the small project:
I’m calling it Fiesta Fob!
I really wanted to embroider a Christmas ornament using all types of threads and fun stitches, because it’s that time of year and all that. But a Christmas ornament is too season-specific. So instead, I took the same idea, reduced it in size significantly, and I’m making a small scissor fob instead.
Once I finish the fob, I’ll be taking the same principles and applying them to a larger Christmas ornament, which I’ll share with you here on Needle ‘n Thread. This article on 16 stitches to add texture and dimension to your embroidery will come in handy, because those are the types of stitches I’ll be applying to the ornament.
Back to my Fiesta Fob here. It’s pretty simple in concept: it’s a 1.5″ round circle, with stitchy stuff in it.
I started with the backstitch outline in perle cotton, and then I worked the inside, finally finishing with the chip work in the center.
I used cottons, wools, silks, synthetics (the DMC memory thread) and metal threads on the piece. Nothing like cramming a lot into 1.5″…
There’s no real pattern for the piece – just concentric circles. What you actually do with them is up to you, though I’ll specify in the project tutorial exactly what I did on each round.
I just love, love, love the colored metal threads! The smooth purl in there is from Golden Hinde in the UK, and the color is peacock. The check purl is from Access Commodities and the color is turquoise. You can order the colored check purls from shops in the US (like Hedgehog Handworks) that carry Access Commodities metal threads. I can’t wait to make use of them on a Christmas ornament!
The Most Fun Thing about working a fob or an ornament like this?
Wellllllll…. it has two sides, right? So if you don’t exhaust all your ideas in 1.5″ on one side, you can expand them in the other 1.5″ on the other side!
The other side – above – isn’t quite finished yet. It needs some knots, some beads, and some filling in the center.
I just hope my assembly of the two sides works. I plan to use this Palestrina Stitch edging, with the backstitches as the foundation. We’ll see!
Other than that, the assembly process is pretty much like the fob / ornament process covered in my Lavender Honey & Other Little Things e-book, only I’m just going to stuff this one with fiber fill. The nice thing about the Little Things ebook? The finishing techniques in there can easily be applied to Christmas ornaments.
15% off Needle ‘n Thread E-books Today!
If you’re thinking about making small ornaments this year, why not use the finishing techniques in Lavender Honey & Other Little Things to help you out? The e-book is on sale today for 15% off.
In fact, all the e-books in my shop are a jolly 15% off today! So if you’ve been thinking about any of them, today’s the day to get them. Tomorrow, they’ll be back to full price.
Giving E-Books as Gifts – a Fun Approach
Did you know you can gift e-books? Especially when they’re PDFs, it’s easy to give a copy as a gift – as long as you do it legally.
This is what I do (to make it good and legal).
When I buy a PDF instructional e-book (or a cookbook or anything like that) to give as a gift, I buy a cute little USB flash drive to put it on. For cookbooks, I might buy a food-related USB stick, like these sushi, fruit, and bakery item flash drives.
For needlework or sewing related e-books and patterns, I’ve used these embroidery scissors USB flash drives, which come in different colors.
I load the PDFs or e-books onto the flash drive, and give the drive as a gift, with several fun, instructional e-books on it.
Once I’m sure the recipient can access the e-books and has saved them on her own computer, I delete the original file from my computer. As long as you’re not keeping a copy of the PDF, it’s perfectly legal to do this.
You can do it other ways, of course, but I think the flash drives are a super cute idea. They make great stocking stuffers! I’ve used them for cooks and stitchers, for gifting fun e-books. (I always find PDFs are the easiest types to handle this way.)
I have to admit, I adore my little scissors flash drive. It’s not the most advanced technological gadget in the world, but it works, and it’s so darned cute. I have a pink one. It makes me smile every time I use it!
So, a Christmas Ornament?
Yes, I’m making a Christmas ornament – more or less along the same principles as the fob pictured above. The ornament is a little larger, and shaped differently. I’ll walk you through it here on Needle ‘n Thread, in time for you to make an ornament for Christmas, too! More on that subject, soon.
Over to you…
Any questions, comments, suggestions about the fob, the upcoming ornament, the e-book sale, my way of gifting e-books, or anything else? Feel free to join the chatter below! Would love to hear from you!
