Tardis Door UPDATED

Hurrah!  The Tardis ornament stitching is finished!  Now all that remains is the finishing.  I hope to be able to upload an image of the finished design shortly.  UPDATE:  Blogger allowed me to upload images normally after I posted this blog entry without photos and went back to edit.  If you are having trouble with photos today, try doing your blog entry first, then edit it to add photos.

Yesterday I trimmed the canvas around both pieces, leaving a margin of bare canvas to turn under on the Tardis itself but trimming right up to the stitching on the right hand door.  I had to be careful not to cut the door attachment wires as I worked but otherwise this is easy to do, even with my regular (not my stitching) scissors.

Using my paper pattern, I cut a piece of finishing foam slightly smaller than the main canvas.  I used the self stitch finishing foam so I could put the sticky side down onto a piece of gold lame, then cut it out to the right size.  I will put the finishing foam in the middle between the large Tardis and the velvet backing, with the gold lame facing out.  This way when the door to the Tardis is opened, the unstitched black canvas will be even more sparkly than it already is.  This is why I choose black canvas with green and gold metallic specks woven into it.  I was already planning to have a black and sparkling emptiness inside the Tardis when the door was opened.  I didn't want to stitch the interior or the Doctor as what I think of when I remember the interior and my favorite Doctor actor isn't what my niece remembers as she's only seen the current programs with the 10th Doctor.

However, using the finishing foam covered with gold lame is today's chore as I assemble the ornament.  Before doing that, I had to finish the door.

I'd forgotten that I needed to add the door handle and brass lock before I cut out the little door piece but not to worry--all I did was stitch a crystal round sequin held in place by a tiny gold bead in the right area for the lock.  The faceted glass sequin is diamond-like but having the gold bead on top makes it reflect gold so it does look like a brass lock if you aren't looking too closely.  Above the lock I used three beads (a yellowish-brown regular size 11 bead, a gold faceted dimensional bead from Mill Hill's findings, and then a second yellowish-brown bead) to indicate the handle.  These are all stitched on as well as I can, using a doubled and waxed ply of my yellow Finca cotton floss that I ran through the beads multiple times.

My next step was to print out a message to the recipient of this gift that was smaller than the right hand door.  This was going to go under a piece of pale blue chiffon so that the door's back side was lined.  The chiffon is see-through, although it does have specks of silver dotted on it.

The photo on the right shows the back side of the door with the message and chiffon.  I hand sewed the chiffon to the door with whip stitches and more of my DMC cotton floss.  The chiffon's raw edges were turned under, I stitched one long side down, inserted the message, turned under the other edges and pinned them in place, then stitched all around the other three sides.  It's not hard, just time-consuming to do this.

By the way, the saying in the message is one I saw on a Dr. Who t-shirt once.  Let me see if it's still for sale....

Yes, here it is.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/popculture/988c/

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow