Earlier this spring, I added a couple gingham embroidery or chicken scratch patterns to Needle ‘n Thread.

I was working on this chicken scratch design in particular while playing around with the stuff, and the resulting square is now something useful.

I call it a Gingham Thingham.

It’s actually just an 18″ square of gingham, embroidered with this design on two of the four corners. I would have done all four corners, or even embroidered around the whole edge, but time was a factor, and I put it aside.

So here’s a corner, finished. It needs a good pressing, but for all practical purposes, the Thing is Done.

The Thingham is really just a simple mat to adorn the center of a table, with a bowl of flowers on it or something to that effect. I’ll test it out on Sunday for Mother’s Day.

The back is lined with a plain white cotton.

So, construction-wise, it was just a matter of basting the ric rac into place on the gingham fabric so that just the little peaks of the ric rac would show, then sewing right sides together, turning inside out, and finishing the turn area by hand.

Ric rac on corners baffles me. There has to be a better way to do it, but this was all I could figure out if I wanted the corners flat and clean looking.

Once it’s ironed and on the table with a cheery abundance of flowers, I think it’ll look pretty cute. It’s a simple way to make use of an embroidery sample, anyway – and it’s a quick way to stitch up and put together a little handmade gift.

You can find more information about gingham embroidery – including patterns and stitching tips – in this index of articles on gingham embroidery.