Today I finished Flower Thread's "Cancel My True Love's Order" ornament from the 2002 JCO issue. It was stitched in 2006.
For this finish, I stood in the wood aisle at Joann's trying to shove a stick that was secured in a plastic bag into a wooden bead in a plastic bag (see photo) so I could determine whether I could make a bell pull from them. The small humiliations I go through for this blog...* It seems ridiculous to order fancy bell pull hardware when this nets me about 12 bell pulls for under $6.I measured the stick with the stitched ornament and cut it with craft scissors. (Doing this again, I'd give a little wiggle room for the hanger.) Then I glued the beads onto the dowel and spray painted my "hardware." Once it was dry, I backstitched the ornament onto the dowel, using a flower thread that was as close to the linen as I could find. I made twisted cord from three lengths of Kreinik cable and tied it onto the hanger. (My krazy glue is hardened or I'd put a couple drops of glue on the knots.)
In addition to needing hardware for this finish, you need to stitch a finished edge onto the ornament. I used buttonhole, which was called for in the directions. But you could use:
Pinwheel Ponders (creator of the first two pages above) has a few ways of creating what she calls the "bound ornament." Take a look at her ornament finishes because she takes this theme and really runs with it. For example, she uses cord instead of bell pull hardware.
*Of course there are loads of big humiliations, like admitting how long these projects have been sitting around waiting for me to do something with them.
14 comments:
Great finish Nikki. I want to try this one.
Linda
Cute ornament and nice finish.
it just occurred to me--how have you kept track over lo, these many years, of the origin of the charts of your finished items? And please don't tell me you have it attached to each finished item of stitching!!
Great job on creating bell pull hardware and finishing off your ornament!
Robin in Virginia
Great job, such a cute finish.
Take Care ...... Hugs, Sandy
love!!! I'm enjoying all your finishing and will be stealing a few of them :)
Fantastic finish, Nikki! This reminded me that I have those banner thingies somewhere....ned to go a-hunting.....
Another creative, cute finish.
xxx
Very nice and a little different. I like that, too! Worth the small humiliation?!
I love it! Who cares how long it took? Now you have more holiday decor!
I have the same question as " Needle Nicely". Do you diarise all your stitching? I like this one and your explanation for finishing - might even try this myself:-)
This saying makes me smile! I like your cheap way of making bell pull holders too, very economical.
Here's a tip you may already know - if you don't have thread the exact colour, remove a thread from the edge of the fabric and stitch using that. You may need a needle with a slightly bigger eye than for your stitching.
Great finish, Nikki! I love how you created your own bell pull hardware. :)
Great idea for the bell pull hardware. I like that you coordinated the bead ends to the stitching. May have to steal your idea...
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