Thanks to a remark from Madonna, I know how I will finish my Squiggee design of Three Women and a Peach. It is going to be put on the cover of a photo album.
Above you see some of my supplies for finishing this piece--the photo album (covered in brown suede and about an inch taller and 2 inches wider than my 7 inch round canvas), my paper color copy of the canvas before I started stitching it, and a piece of tan finishing foam cut to a 7 inch circle. I used brown finishing foam to put under my NP because the background stitch is an open one that doesn't hide the underlying brown canvas. I don't want someone noticing the backing inside the NP through those holes!
You have noticed that the finishing foam has a piece cut out of the middle. That's because the album is held together with a magnetic flap. You pull the flap away from the magnet to open the album. I put my paper pattern under the flap in various positions and when I was happy with one, I traced around the flap and then cut out the section. I used the paper pattern before it was cut to cut two pieces of finishing foam and then used the paper pattern after it was cut away to trim the same sized slot from one piece of finishing foam. What you don't see in the photo is my second round disk of finishing foam which is currently under a heavy book to help the brocade fabric that covers one side dry. I just glued the fabric on so that item missed the photo shoot.
I plan to layer the two pieces of finishing foam, one covered in fabric, in this order from the bottom up: finishing foam circle with the back covered in brocade facing to the bottom of the layers, magnetic flap, brown finishing foam with the slot cut out that will fit right around the magnetic flap, and then finally the NP canvas itself on top. I don't think I'll put quilt batting inside this piece, but I may change my mind about that. I will need something to pull to open the flap as I won't want folks pulling up on the needlepoint to open the album. I happen to have a carved fake ivory bead shaped like an oval Buddha that I can use as a pull.
The reason that I just happened to have the right bead is that I do a lot of stitching with Asian themes. I keep my eyes open wherever I go and pick up items that look good with this style. I found the bead in the local bead shop near where I work last spring and bought it, knowing that eventually it would come in handy. You can do this sort of pro-active shopping yourself. If you love Santa canvases (or rabbits, or whatever), just watch for beads, charms, trims, etc. that you really like that are also Santa-themed (or bunnies or whatever it is you tend to stitch). Pick them up on sale and put them in your stash for later. I almost always find a use for my bits of Asian things eventually.
The next step is for me to put the trimmed needlepoint canvas I just stitched around the brown piece of finishing foam and lace the sides down. Then I will need to figure out how and where to attach the bead Buddha, put the layers together and stitch the back layer to the front. The final step will be attaching trim around the edges. I don't have the right trim yet. I waited to buy that last as I wanted to have everything else. The trim needs to look good with all the parts and I wasn't sure what I was using until yesterday when stores closed early because it was New Year's.
By the way, Happy New Year. I saw a nice sentiment on Jane's Japanese Embroidery blog. She wrote "May 2009 bring you smooth silks and even stitches."
I hope you have all that and good health in the new year, too.
Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
4 comments:
Hi Jane,
Been reading your post with great interest as this is not something that I would have thought of, at least I don't think so (grinning).
Question: What kind of photo album is this exactly? and was it made with the intent of framing a needlepoint project in it?
Can't wait to see your project finished :-)
Pierrette =^..^=
I wouldn't have thought of this, either. It's all Madonna's fault! (BG)
The photo album is just a regular one. It was not made with a window to insert a photo --you can put a small, thin piece of needlepoint in those-- but is just like a little girl's diary with a flap. I plan to sandwich (and probably glue) the flap inside two pieces of finishing foam, one of which has a slot cut for the flap to fit. The back piece of finishing foam is covered in brocade since with the album open, the back side of the flap will show. The front piece of finishing foam has the NP stretched over it. You will pull on the bead that sticks out on a cord from between the two layers of finishing foam to release the flap from the magnet.
This is an experiment, however. I suspect this will have to be handled carefully to keep everything together, but since I found the perfect color and style of album to go with this design, I really wanted to try it. I get tired of pillows and framed pieces.
Wish me luck!
Jane, the mad scientist of CH experimenting on my Squiggee canvas
This is a great idea! Hats off on that! I am watching to see how this goes!
Thanks, Pat. So far, so good, but I have a long way to go!
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