Yule, Birthday and Other Projects 2016/2017 Part 2
In a change from knitting these next two projects are regarding a form of needlework called Cross Stitch.
The first was a hurriedly designed and made Birthday present for a friend. The first point was trying to decide on what to make. Racking my brains for ideas I came up with the concept of doing a Cross Stitch with a French theme as my friend is studying French.
The initial bit was easy. I looked up Happy Birthday in French. There were a few expressions I could use but I settled upon Joyeux Anniversaire. Cross Stitch involves counting squares and I found there were 3 characters in his name, 6 characters in Joyeux and 12 characters in Anniversaire.
Each word was divisible by the number three. There are also 3 colours in the French Flag - Blue, White and Red or if you prefer Bleu, Blanc et Rouge. So I thought why not use the number three and colours in combination in the pattern.
Therefore I decided to Cross Stitch each character in the colours and order of the French Flag. I would also create a border around the message using the same process.
Design Process
The above photograph shows some of the trials and errors of designing the Cross Stitch. The outer rectangle shows the original size of material prior to cutting and rough hemming. The lettering is indicative of trying to gauge the correct width and placing of the characters. Believe me there was much more but that is what was left after I had been busy with the eraser for hours.
Before starting the Cross Stitching I found the centre point by folding the material horizontally and vertically. I also roughly tacked around the edges of the material to stop it fraying during working.
The colours Blue and Red stood out well. However since the White characters were against a white background I decided to enhance them by backstitching around them in Black
When I finished the Cross Stitch I remeasured the amount of material I need to fit inside the chosen frame. I undid the rough tacking and sewed it properly around the edges. Prior to inserting into the chosen frame I washed and pressed the Cross Stitch to flatten it and remove any traces of dirt or oil.
Finished Birthday Cross Stitch
The other project in which I have been working on is that of Little Morton Hall. This was a Cross Stitch Kit which I bought whilst visiting the National Trust Site. I was in a bit of a rush when I bought the kit and did not notice at first that the material was not Aida which I have used in all other cross stitches. Instead the material was Evenweave.
For those that do not know the difference I shall explain. Cross Stitch is made by Cross Stitches over one another in the form of an X hence the name. In order to make life easy the material therefore has gaps in the weave so the needle can easily move in and out.
Explanation of Evenweave Verse Aida
As you can see in the above photograph Evenweave crosses over more than one square. This means that it is easier to do half or even quarter stitches. This was important because of the intricacy of the pattern.
Cross Stitch Kit
As well as being on Evenweave I discovered was that this pattern was coloured differently. Normally cross stitch is sewn by using two threads of the same colour. In addition to this technique this pattern needed some areas to be sewn with two threads of different colours. This two tone sewing thread enabled a larger range of hues and created texture and shading.
During sewing I came upon two separate problems. Firstly I discovered that the kit was short of several threads. I did have some anchor thread that matched of my own which I used. However this was still not enough so I had to contact the National Trust. After several emails, messages via Facebook plus telephone conversations I eventually received additional threads with which to complete the Cross Stitch.
The other problem was of my own making. Somehow or other I managed to add extra areas of wood. I didn't realise this until I was trying to add more detail. This meant that the right-hand corner of the pattern was wrong. After a lot of thought not too mention harsh language I concocted a way of completing the kit. Instead of carrying on working downwards I started working from the river up. Then as I got nearer to the extra area I tweaked the brickwork and surrounding foliage.
Little Morton Hall Cross Stitch
In a change from knitting these next two projects are regarding a form of needlework called Cross Stitch.
The first was a hurriedly designed and made Birthday present for a friend. The first point was trying to decide on what to make. Racking my brains for ideas I came up with the concept of doing a Cross Stitch with a French theme as my friend is studying French.
The initial bit was easy. I looked up Happy Birthday in French. There were a few expressions I could use but I settled upon Joyeux Anniversaire. Cross Stitch involves counting squares and I found there were 3 characters in his name, 6 characters in Joyeux and 12 characters in Anniversaire.
Each word was divisible by the number three. There are also 3 colours in the French Flag - Blue, White and Red or if you prefer Bleu, Blanc et Rouge. So I thought why not use the number three and colours in combination in the pattern.
Therefore I decided to Cross Stitch each character in the colours and order of the French Flag. I would also create a border around the message using the same process.
Design Process
The above photograph shows some of the trials and errors of designing the Cross Stitch. The outer rectangle shows the original size of material prior to cutting and rough hemming. The lettering is indicative of trying to gauge the correct width and placing of the characters. Believe me there was much more but that is what was left after I had been busy with the eraser for hours.
Before starting the Cross Stitching I found the centre point by folding the material horizontally and vertically. I also roughly tacked around the edges of the material to stop it fraying during working.
The colours Blue and Red stood out well. However since the White characters were against a white background I decided to enhance them by backstitching around them in Black
When I finished the Cross Stitch I remeasured the amount of material I need to fit inside the chosen frame. I undid the rough tacking and sewed it properly around the edges. Prior to inserting into the chosen frame I washed and pressed the Cross Stitch to flatten it and remove any traces of dirt or oil.
Finished Birthday Cross Stitch
The other project in which I have been working on is that of Little Morton Hall. This was a Cross Stitch Kit which I bought whilst visiting the National Trust Site. I was in a bit of a rush when I bought the kit and did not notice at first that the material was not Aida which I have used in all other cross stitches. Instead the material was Evenweave.
For those that do not know the difference I shall explain. Cross Stitch is made by Cross Stitches over one another in the form of an X hence the name. In order to make life easy the material therefore has gaps in the weave so the needle can easily move in and out.
Explanation of Evenweave Verse Aida
As you can see in the above photograph Evenweave crosses over more than one square. This means that it is easier to do half or even quarter stitches. This was important because of the intricacy of the pattern.
Cross Stitch Kit
During sewing I came upon two separate problems. Firstly I discovered that the kit was short of several threads. I did have some anchor thread that matched of my own which I used. However this was still not enough so I had to contact the National Trust. After several emails, messages via Facebook plus telephone conversations I eventually received additional threads with which to complete the Cross Stitch.
The other problem was of my own making. Somehow or other I managed to add extra areas of wood. I didn't realise this until I was trying to add more detail. This meant that the right-hand corner of the pattern was wrong. After a lot of thought not too mention harsh language I concocted a way of completing the kit. Instead of carrying on working downwards I started working from the river up. Then as I got nearer to the extra area I tweaked the brickwork and surrounding foliage.
Little Morton Hall Cross Stitch
I also had to do a spot of tweaking on the foliage on the opposite side due to forgetting I was using Evenweave instead of Aida. On the whole though I am pretty pleased with overall result.
After doing the Cross Stitching I then added the final details with backstitching then undid the rough hem and resewed. After that I trimmed, washed and pressed.
The size once finished was larger than a normal A4 size. Therefore it took a bit of searching to find a suitable sized frame. I also wanted a frame that complemented the style of the Cross Stitch. Therefore I decided that since it was a Tudor Timber Building it required a wood effect frame. I was lucky enough to find a frame that fulfilled both criteria.
Little Morton Hall Framed
Not the best photograph I grant you but it was difficult to take and gives a general idea of how it looks up on the wall in its frame.
