Star Ornaments - Finishing Them Off

I've completed stitching the star ornaments, and now must add backing and hangers to finish them off.

I wasn't sure how to finish the backs.  Unless they're hung against a wall, someone's going to see this mess and it'll ruin the cute ornament experience!

So, off I went to Etsy, which is not only a wonderful place to get inspiration, buy gifts, and enhance your personal collection of handmade prettiness...it's also a great place to see how others solve crafty problems like embroidery backs (but no stealing designs!  That's not o.k.)

There are a number of approaches...some folks cut the background cloth even with the back of the ring (and perhaps apply glue to prevent slippage).  Others glue the cloth edges to the inside of the wooden ring and cover the embroidery with another piece of cloth.  And some just tie the bits that hang out in back together so that they won't show from the front.

I haven't left much extra cloth in some spots, so decided to cut it almost even with the rings.  Happily, this velvet doesn't want to unravel, and ornaments don't see hard use, so I can leave an unfinished edge.  Then, I cut circles of velvet and glued them over the backs to hide the stitches.  It ended up looking sorta like a pie crust before you smoosh the edges together.  I don't think this would work if I were using Aida cloth, which tends to unravel easily.

Here's the finished product:

So, that finishes the star ornaments.  I've learned a lot with this project, and think my sister will enjoy the results.  Happy Holidays everyone, and please join me for a new project in the New Year!

Anne

The Biggest Star Ornament...and a little math...

This is the last star in my star ornament project!  I have four smaller stars on 3" embroidery hoops, and now I'm going to add a larger ornament in a 4" hoop.  The 4" hoop seems so much larger than the others.  Hmmmm....

Ooo - high school geometry alert!  I think I remember this one.  A circle's area is pi*radius squared.  (I admit - I had to look it up.)  So, the area for a 3" hoop is 3.14 * 1.5 * 1.5 = 7.065 square inches and for a 4" hoop is 3.14 * 2 * 2 = 12.45 square inches.

So, even though a 4" diameter is only 1/3 greater than a 3" diameter, and it seems like it'd only be a teensy bit larger, the surface area for a 4" hoop is 78% greater than the area of the smaller hoop!

Still with me?  Whew!  Embroidery math.  I promise not to do that too often, but that was kinda neat!

I stitched this ornament with DMC cotton embroidery floss in Blanco.  I still think the ecru looks better than the bright white on this vintage velvet, but since this design has so much unfilled space, the white isn't too assertive.  I'm glad I made a little constellation on the large ornament instead of one big star.  Melds with the little ornaments nicely, I think.

You may have noticed that I left the first, fuzzy ornament out of the set.  Just didn't look right.  And, I never made one with kitchen twine.  My needles are too small.  I'll use that for hanging.

Next, we finish off the backs!  Not sure how to do that....stay tuned.

Star Ornament from Recycled "Straw"

The straw ornament (made from recycled plastic purse 'straw') turned out well.  It's style is...shall we say...rustic.

I had trouble getting the arms of the star to be the same length. For the next star, I'll try using a ruler.  I won't be too accurate, because these should look handmade, and I think that a little imperfection looks attractive.  But, some basic guidance would help.  On this star, I had to add dots at the top and bottom of the central vertical arm to lengthen it to match the horizontal arm.

I've also been thinking of how to finish these ornaments.  They look adorable on the front, but unless they're hung against a wall, we'll be able to see the messy backs!  Wish me luck :)

Recycling Materials

Today, I tore up an old purse.  It was one of those fake-straw summer jobs.  I forgot to take a picture of it before I tore into it with the scissors, but here's the "straw" that I salvaged:

The individual straws are only about 10 inches long, but they should be usable for embroidered details.  The straws are very pliable, and probably made of plastic.  I like the pale straw-y color and the slight waviness from being part of a woven piece.  The purse was a total goner, but had served me well for 4 years.  I'm glad I could save some of it.  Also saved some hardware...perhaps that will show up on the blog sometime in the future.

Next:  can I use these to make a star??  We'll see :)

A Simpler Star

After the gaudy silver star, I decided to make a simpler one.  This star was made with DMC Pearl Cotton floss in Ecru.

I really like the look of the Pearl Cotton.  It isn't as shiny as regular DMC floss, and because it is a twisted, 2-ply floss, it has a textured effect.  I think that the ecru color coordinates with the vintage velvet I'm using better than the silver thread in last week's star.  The simpler design probably helped it, too.  Or, is it too simple?  What do you think?

Next:  A star made out of an old purse!

Sad News - Erica Wilson

Sad news among all who love needlepoint today, as Erica Wilson has passed away at 83.  If you don't have one of her embroidery books around the house, the New York Times obituary gives a lovely explanation of her life's work.  My grandmother and mother both kept her books.  Lovely work themselves, and they continue to inspire and instruct.  Thank you, Ms. Wilson, for adding beauty to so many homes and lives.

A Silver Star for the Holidays

I've completed a silver star!

The DMC Metallic Pearl floss is nicely shiny and a little stiff. Seems to be composed of 8 or so smaller threads, but it is not divisible.  As soon as I cut into it, the tiny threads started to shred apart.  You can see how it shreds in the picture below.  So, best to thread the needle and get to stitching instead of letting it sit around and unravel.  Glad I didn't cut into it before my 6 month hiatus!

The star has a nice sparkle, but I went a little overboard on the design.  I'm not using a pattern and maybe got a little carried away with the pretty thread.  But that's ok!  A sparkly ornament is a happy ornament, yes?  There will be plenty of opportunity for more subdued, elegant ornaments.  I've got lots of velvet to stitch them on!

Bad Embroidery Blogger!

Yikes! I posted two successful articles and promptly put the embroidery away for 6 months.  Alas, knitting got in the way...two blankets for my nieces.

The star project has been sitting on my desk the whole time! But now, Christmas is approaching and if I don't finish, I won't be able to give these to my sister before the holiday.  So, I went to the craft store and procured some supplies:

• proper embroidery needles
• DMC floss in Blanco
• DMC floss in Ecru
• DMC Metallic Pearl Cotton in Silver
• DMC Pearl Cotton in Ecru

I think that the ecru colors will coordinate with the old fashioned velvet better than the bright white Blanco and the silver, but we'll see!  I will post results as soon as I have them.  In the meantime, have a wonderful holiday season, everyone!