The little Melissa Shirley mermaid's bullion curls are all finished, and I've added a length of holographic Kreinik to make a hair clasp, so it is time to attach the canvas to the canvas purse I bought. Because the purse is such thick canvas and the needlepoint piece is small, I decided to attach it to the pocket of the purse with glue. So I laid the canvas upside down on a piece of waxed paper and using my Aileen's Tacky Glue, I ran a bead of glue all around the outside edge of my stitching. With a toothpick, I smoothed out blobs so that every part of the outside margin of the stitching had glue on it in a smooth layer. Then it dried all day. That evening I cut out the canvas at the glued edge, one thread from the stitching, using my regular scissors (not my embroidery scissors--NP canvas is too tough on them).
Then I put glue on the pocket and along the back side of the needlepoint at the edge. Carefully aligning the canvas to the pocket, I put the needlepoint on and pressed down hard. Then I put a skinny book inside the pocket and put more books on top of the pocket so the glued needlepoint was pressed down hard to dry.
Once the purse dried overnight, I removed the books and checked how everything looked. As I'd suspected the one thread I cut outside of that wasn't stitched showed on the top and bottom of the needlepoint, but not on the sides. On the sides the pocket trim hide the raw edge. This is easy to fix, however. I just strung enough of my lemon-lime green beads to cover the top on waxed thread, then glued the line of beads along the top and a second string along the bottom of the canvas, hiding the raw edge. Trim is wonderful!
Here's the final result, which is all wrapped and boxed up ready to mail to the Birthday Girl. Note the glass heart attached to the zipper pull in the two last photos. That was an added touch, something I picked up on sale at the local crafts emporium to fancy up the purse even more. Many thanks to Melissa Shirley for allowing me to post photos of her design here as I stitched like the wind to finish it in time for the Big Day!
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
12 comments:
Jane,
This looks wonderful! And stitch like the wind you did -- stitched and beaded and bullion knotted. I am sure that the birthday girl will be thrilled. Who wouldn't be?
I hope she likes it, Missy, but her granddad loves it, which is the most important thing to me as he's never asked me to stitch anything before and rarely admires what I've finished. The birthday girl is almost nine-going-on-sixteen and has perfected the eye roll. So we'll see what she thinks! (Bet she likes the ten dollars I tucked inside!)
I love your mermaid purse, Jane. Your granddaughter will, no doubt, love and cherish the purse. And you, too. I really admire your creativity!
Well. That's it. I have got to make me a tote bag. Yours is lovely and stunning and hip! I'm certain the gift recipient will be thrilled.
Another great job O Whirlwind!
:-)
Glenis
Just make sure someone else at the other end knows about the $10 to ensure she finds it. There are horror stories about such money not being found by the recipient. (No need to publicise this comment - just for you, Jane.)
Glenis
I love this, but mermaids are one of my favorite creatures. Your stitching always amazes me. I especially love the curls you gave the mermaid (being a curly person, myself). You do such wonderful work.
It is beautiful! I especially love the knots on the mermaid's hair. I'm sure she will love it now and treasure it later. I still have a purse that my grandmother decoupaged for me when I was about the same age...(I'm really dating myself on the decoupaging craze)..and I still love it.
Not to worry, Glenis. The adults at the other end know about the ten dollar bill.
Jane, this is absolutely wonderful! She is going to be thrilled!
The finished product is delightful and sure to be loved. I especially like the way you managed the border you added to make the canvas fit the space, how you let the picture spill outside the boundary in places and let the border encroach on the picture in others. Lovely.
Thanks, SL. Some of the border was my doing and some was due to the placement of the mermaid by the designer, Melissa Shirley. It is wonderful to collaborate with such a talented designer when you stitch painted canvases.
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