A Year of Christmas Stitching - July
Oh my goodness.....it's officially summer (at least it is here, maybe not where you are!) Here's to long summer days and lots of Christmas stitching :)
This month's free design is a celtic style design that can be used in multiple ways...don't you just love a versatile design like that?
Do you want to make a card? This design is great for that!
Would you rather make an ornament? You can use this design to make one!
Fancy making something a bit different? How about a biscornu? We've got you covered.
This design works for all of these things....and there's a handy tutorial on how to make a biscornu coming in the next couple of days - so get those threads and fabric looked out and start stitching :)
One design, three different finishes!
Another thing that's great about this design is that it's super easy to swap the colors to whatever you fancy. Traditional Christmas colors such as greens and reds would look great on this design - you'll need two greens, (a light and a dark) and two reds (a light and a dark) and just swap the colors on the chart.
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Now no doubt those eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that there's a lot of French knots in this design.....but never fear, if you're a 'I hate French knots' kind of stitcher, just use some seed beads instead! And don't forget that if you decide house seed bead, you'll need to use a beading needle :) This design looks great with seed beads as you can see here...
Of course, you don't have to use French knots or seed beads if you don't want to...it will look great with or without them.
Soooo, how do you make this little design as an ornament?
Simply cut a square of matt board to the size you would like your ornament to be (any stiff board will work - I used an old amazon box as it was all I had on hand ;) ) I cut mine to approx. 9cm square ( 3 1/4 inches) Add a few layers of soft batting - I did one layer shorter than the board and two layers the same size of the board to give the finished ornament a slight dome shape. I use a couple of dods of glue to keep the batting in place.
As always, I added some iron-on interfacing to the back of my stitching. This step is optional but it does help to keep your stitching neat :) I don't even get the ironing board out for this - who has the time for that?!!! I just grab a clean, soft, dish towel and lay it on the kitchen counter and iron away.
Next you need to lay your stitching over the board with the batting and make sure the design is in the center. You can lace your stitching in place, but if you're like me and can't be bothered faffing around doing that, just glue it on the back with some good fabric glue. I use some fridge clips to keep the stitching in place until the glue dries, but make sure to protect the stitching by covering it with some light-weight card. Leave to dry.
You'll need some narrow ribbon to make loop for hanging your ornament and some felt to cover the back of your ornament.
Now you have a decision to make! How do you want your ornament to be....
...square?
Or diamond?
Use the pictures as a guide for placement of the ribbon and glue the ribbon using the fabric glue.
Cut a square of feet to cover the back of your ornament and glue in place. Leave to dry.
Now all you have to do is sit back and admire your handiwork :)
Don't forget to share your finished stitching on social media and use #tangledthreadsandthings and #ayearofchristmasstitching We love to see your stitching :)
- Rhona
Grab your free cross stitch chart here:
AYOXS July
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