Finishing Made Easy: Sew Those Corners Down

The next step in finishing the Byzantine icons into ornaments is to sew the corners together so the raw edges stay turned under. Take a piece of finishing foam that has gold lame stuck on one side and put it, gold side facing out so it can been seen through the holes of the NP, under the turned down raw edges. [You may have to trim the edges of the lame covered finishing foam with your scissors--not the good embroidery ones!--so it fits well inside the needlepoint cover. Trim a little at a time, an edge at a time, until the finishing foam fits snugly without bending the NP front.] Bend the raw edges down again over the finishing foam, but this time once they are just where you want them, use banker's clips (or straight pins or clothes pens) to hold the corners shut over the finishing foam. The photo above shows my banker's clips in action. Because the Byzantine icons are small pieces I didn't need quite so many clips for them.

What I do next is sew the corners closed so they stay put. After all, I can't leave the banker's clips in place!

You might want to use glue here instead of hand sewing, but I find glue messy and I think it isn't as strong as regular sewing thread. However, my friend Pat who does magnificent finishing uses glue a lot for her ornaments, and of course ornaments don't get the wear that a pillow would. Note that instead of sewing thread you can use a ply or two of DMC cotton floss. It doesn't matter what color you use, what matters is that the corners are neat and tightly sewn in place. You might want to use a thimble to push the needle through the layers of NP canvas. I aim for the holes but occasionally miss, especially since there are layers and they don't always line up their holes.

The photo shows the two icons with their corners turned under and sewn together. You also see a loop of Kreinik gold metallic which is how the ornaments will hang. Once you get the corners of the front turned and sewn, make a loop and stitch it securely to the top of your ornament at the back. The felt covered pieces of finishing foam which will be the rear of each ornament are at the top of the photo. You don't need to do anything with them right now. Just get the fronts ready for the next step which I'll describe tomorrow.

It took me almost an hour to sew the corners down for the two sets of fronts and then attach the hanging loops. I am a slow stitcher and I am interrupted as I work, so you may not need as much time. Remember, finishing is a slow process. Turtles do better finishing than racing rabbits!

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Rosalyn Cherry-Soleil on Needlepoint as Art

Don't miss this interview with Rosalyn Cherry-Soleil talking about her needlepoint art.
http://www.stitchamaze.com/about.aspx

Her website is full of photographs and more details about pieces she has stitched or which are in progress. Explore and enjoy. Of course people who subscribe to Needlepoint Now magazine will have read her articles about her work and inspirations over the past year.

Thanks for doing this, Rosalyn. You don't know how inspiring it is to see an artist at work using our own needlepoint canvas!

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Finishing Made Easy: Cut It Out

The first thing I did when I had all my supplies together ready to assemble the ornaments was make a black and white xerox copy of both designs. I cut out the paper copies so that they were the same size as my icons. (The photo above shows the pet guardian angel paper copies lying on one sheet of finishing foam. The second photo below shows a paper copy being cut.) Using a loop of Scotch tape, I stuck these paper templates onto my finishing foam and cut out the foam to the correct size. I did that twice as I need two piece of finishing foam for each ornament. The needlepoint goes over one piece of finishing foam and the black felt backing goes over the other.

So for the Red Madonna I had: one NP canvas, one paper copy, and two pieces of finishing foam. Ditto the Blue Angel: one NP canvas, one paper copy, and two more pieces of finishing foam.

Because I bought self-stick finishing foam, I peeled off the backing and stuck two foam pieces to the black felt, then cut out the felt with a little margin all around the edges. These two pieces of black felt will make the back side of my ornaments.

After than, I took the two remaining pieces of finishing foam, peeled off the paper backing and stuck them to the gold lame fabric. This time when I cut out the gold lame, I didn't leave any margin sticking out. These gold lame covered finishing foam sheets go behind my needlepoint with the gold lame facing out so that you can sort of see it in the empty holes of the gold background I didn't stitch. This adds sparkle to the Christmas ornaments and also hides the innards of the ornament from view.


The next step now that the finishing foam pieces are cut and glued to the fabrics, is to cut out your needlepoint, leaving a margin of about a half inch all the way around. (For my 14 count canvas I cut to within 7-8 threads of the stitched area.) With rectangles, this is really easy, unlike the pet guardian angel shapes which you see above. Those have curves which have to be clipped, etc. For your first project, I'd recommend a square or rectangle ornament as those are very easy shapes to cut out and then turn under. MAKE SURE you do not use your good embroidery scissors to cut the needlepoint canvas. That will dull the blades very quickly.

Once you have trimmed your needlepoint canvas, using your fingers press the raw edges under. The edges will stay sort of turned under on their own once you mash them. At the corners it is often easier to mitre the corners. That just means you turn under the corner so it looks like a triangle on the back side, then fold the top and side edges together. This website shows you how in Figures 1 and 2.
http://books.google.com/books?id=mgivU2XxDvUC&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=embroidery+how+to+mitre+corners+in+finishing&source=bl&ots=asqEzVSBwf&sig=gqQ0nlckzThFfhSWhNmT3bQe7AQ&hl=en&ei=qeY4SpmmMYOHtgfDqZ3jDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2

Or Tiny URL
http://tinyurl.com/lny3rv

That's enough for today. I estimate all the above takes about 60-90 minutes for two ornaments but I've done this many times. Your first attempt will take you longer, particularly if you are constantly interrupted as I usually am or if you have to pull together all your supplies from all over the house.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Finishing Made Easy: The Ingredients

As I assembled the two small Byzantine Icons into ornaments, I took careful notes and photographs so that I could explain how I finished them. It's not a hard process, just tedious and time-consuming. Let me start by listing all the stuff I needed to finish the ornaments. Things that are optional are noted.

________________________________________________________

• Stitched needlepoint pieces
• Black and white xerox copy of my stitched icons
• Scissors (both good scissors for threads and fabric, and not-so-good ones to cut paper, NP canvas and finishing foam)
• 2 sheets of finishing foam, one for each ornament (may substitute 2-4 pieces of plastic canvas, you’ll need extra to put inside to stiffen the final ornament, or a piece of matte board)
• Tape (either Scotch tape or masking tape)
• Fabric glue if your finishing foam isn't self-stick (I generally use Aleene’s Easy Flow Tacky Glue)
• Felt (in a color that coordinates with your stitching)
• Sewing thread in a color that matches felt (may substitute one ply of DMC cotton floss)
• Sharp sewing needle (and thimble if you like)Trim or beads to cover edges of ornaments
• OPTIONAL: 6-10 Banker’s clips or clothes pins or straight pins to clamp ornament parts together
• OPTIONAL: Gold lame (to put behind the ornament)*
• OPTIONAL: Waxed paper to protect your working surface from glue

________________________________________________________

*Since I didn't stitch the gold background of my two icons, my gold lame fabric isn't really optional since I have to hide the innards of the ornaments with it. However, you may not need this to cover up or add sparkle to your design. Lame comes in many colors--I mostly use gold but I have some silver and some variagated blue that I use occasionally when gold's not the right color. Pick the color that works for your project.

Before I end for the day, I need to explain what finishing foam is. It is a slightly rubbery sheet used in kids' crafts that you can easily cut with scissors. Lightweight but rigid, I love using it in finishing. You can buy it at the big crafts stores like Michael's and Hobby Lobby or at Joann's Fabrics. Look for something called "foam sheets." It comes in various colors and also in metallic sparkled sheets, you can buy it in archival quality, you can buy it with a peel off back that will self-stick to your fabric. It also comes in various thicknesses: Be sure you buy sheets of the same thicknesses if you plan to use it in finishing.

Here are some photos to help you find it. You can buy single sheets or a package of a dozen or more. I usually buy a big package with a 40% off coupon every other year. There are a lot of brands. As far as I can tell, they are all the same thing.
http://www.craftsetc.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=41880&dep=50&cat=4&subcat=5&Search=Y

http://www.craftsetc.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=44260&dep=50&cat=4&subcat=5&Search=Y

http://www.craftsetc.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=41884&dep=50&cat=4&subcat=5&Search=Y

My local stores carry a huge variety of this stuff in kits of cut out letters and shapes to be glued to plain sheets in contrasting colors for signs or to be glued to foam hats to personalize them. If you find packages like this one in the link below, that area will also have the plain sheets nearby.
http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=gc1394

Note that many folks like using matte board inside their ornaments. I personally find it hard to cut to anything but the most simple shapes in matte board but that's just me--not to be trusted with an Exacto knife! I've also used plastic canvas inside my ornaments. I find plastic canvas sometimes isn't rigid enough and I have to add an extra piece sandwiched in the middle of my ornament. I also sometimes think one can see the grid underneath the fabric backing so I have to put quilt batting around it. Also, plastic canvas is not as easy for me to cut with scissors as finishing foam. However, whatever material you use to make your ornaments rigid is up to you and depends on personal preference and what materials you can easily get in your area.

Tomorrow I'll start explaining how the Byzantine icons were assembled.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

More New Trade Show Items

Designers and shops are starting to update their websites with the latest new items. Needle Works in Austin has added a PDF file with photos of new Mindy painted designs and their What's New page has photos of some of the large Leigh Designs Guadalajara pieces. Nothing on the small Guadlajara ornaments yet. Click on What's New to browse painted canvases or on Mindy to open the PDF file with photos of her work.
https://www.theneedleworks.com/new.html#new

BetsyB Originals has a small slide show up of their new pieces. Although BetsyB is known for their sorority and fraternity designs, I think you'll really enjoy the new Twelve Days of Christmas series which resembles painted French porcelein.
http://www.betsyboriginals.com/Betsy_B._Originals/Whats_New!.html

There are a few more new canvases up on the Melissa Shirley website but it just went down (probably either crushed under the weight of fan visits or to add more items). Check it out and return if it is still not available now. She's always worth the wait!
http://www.melissashirleydesigns.com/

Right now everyone who went to the trade show is doing laundry, answering their emails and taking naps, but new items will start showing up in the shops over the summer and early fall.

Until then, how about NP cumberbunds? Which are spelled c-u-m-m-e-r-b-u-n-d also. My way is a regional variant. So now go wonder about my accent....LOL
http://www.needlepoint.com/blog/?p=114

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow