Crikey Not Christmas 2022 Part 12

 Crikey Not Christmas 2022 Part 12

Okay I have not had a good day. Even with the Holly Leaves Sewn together I am still having problems.

Pipe Cleaner

 

I have been desperately trying to place the Holly Leaves in Position trying to find the best spot. However they are simply Flopping all over the place. I need to find a solution. 

My idea is to imitate nature. Normal Holly Leaves have Stalks and Stems. Therefore I need to Brace the Leaves. My first thought was a Pipe Cleaner but that was way too big.

Black up Wire

 

I had found some Wire but was concerned that the Colour would show through. Therefore out with my trusty Permanent Marker Pen.

Cut Black Wire

I measured the Black Wire against my Leaf. I cut it slightly shorter so as to prevent any Sharp bits sticking out. I then carefully Slid the Wire through some of the Stitches on the Reverse of the Leaves.

This was easier said than done as the Wire kept snagging on Strands. I had to patiently manoeuvre any bits of Wool out of the way before continuing. Otherwise I would have broken a Stitch and it could have Unravelled.

Holly Standing Up

After I Wired one Leaf I Sewed it in place using the Tail of Wool. I then proceeded to Repeat with the other Leaf. As you can see from the above photograph the Wire has made a huge difference.

Instead of flapping Loosely when I pick it up it now holds its Shape. This will now assist me making my Wreath.

Crikey Not Christmas 2022 Part 11

 Crikey Not Christmas 2022 Part 11 

Right I am absolutely sick of trying to make Pom-Poms. Therefore I am going to do the sensible thing and do something else and come back to it.

Holly Leaves

 

Due to copyright restrictions I cannot say too much about how I made these. However I will paste the site below at the bottom of the page.

Pair of Holly Leaves

 

I had made 6 Holly Leaves in total but I wanted to put them into pairs. The first thing to make sure is that they are the right way up. They are so similar that unless you look carefully you can put one or both upside down. The trick is to see which way the Stitches are pointing.

Sewn Together

 

I got fed up trying to hold them in place so decided to Sew them Together. This made life much easier.

Holly Trio

 

I was so please the way it came out I decided to Sew all the Holly pieces together in pairs. I now had a Holly Trio

Pattern Used can be found below

Holly Leaves by Candice DeWitt Stitch & Skein – www.stitchandskein.com

 

Crikey Not Christmas 2022 Part 10

 Crikey Not Christmas 2022 Part 10

Right I left you in the last blog with what can only be called a complete pig’s breakfast. Let’s see if I can find the mistake.

Undo Clips

 

I tried again retracing each Step. It had been a long time since I had made the Tests. After a bit of a hunt I found the Instructions.

Forgot they Opened

 

I could have seriously kicked myself. I had completely forgotten that these things came apart. So follow the Steps in the last Blog and do the Cutting and Tying. Next open the Clips and pull gently apart.

Squashed

 

So now it should be plain sailing right? No after removing it I found it was Squashed and no matter how I tried it wouldn’t form a ball. I thought perhaps I had pulled the Wool too tight when I tied it.

No Fluff

 

I tried again. But it just laid there not Fluffy at all. What is more it seemed too big. I tried Winding only twice instead of 3 times and that came out even worse. I was beginning to get a bit desperate. I was using so much good quality Wool.

New Tack

 

I wasn’t confident that I could make a paper Pom-Pom Maker small enough. Therefore I struck upon the idea of using two small Washers.

After all they are circular and not likely to tear. I found some Embroidery Thread I could use as a Test rather than waste wool.

Needle and Thread

 

The Needle helped Wind the Thread pretty easily. However Cutting something this small was a Nightmare. Not only that, it was practically impossible to tie. So I managed to save my Wool but what I ended up with was bits of Thread spread across the entire bedroom.

I am either going to have to come up with a better alternative or simply go and buy some small Pom-Poms.

 

Crikey Not Christmas 2022 Part 9

 Crikey Not Christmas 2022 Part 9 

This is going to be those how did I get it so wrong blogs?

Pom-Pom Test

 

I knew that I wanted Smaller Pom-Poms than I normally made so therefore I spotted this little Gadget. It is a twin pack that makes a ¾ Inch and 1Inch Pom-Pom. I made a couple of Tests so I got an idea of how it would look.

Pom-Pom Maker

 

I decided on the Pink one which makes the Smaller one of the two. This is how it looks straight out of the packet. I will go through the instructions for those that have never used one.

Maker Open

 

First completely Open the Gadget. You will find the Sections are reversed.

Wind Wool

 

Take one Section and begin to Wind your Wool. (I am using Wool rather than Yarn)

Close Half

 

When finished Winding. (I think I did 3 Layers on this one).Then Close the Section you have used and repeat with the second.

Cut Through Middle

 

Cut through the Middle of the Wool as you would do with a Paper made version. I found Small Scissors good for this.

Tie Pom-Pom

 

Then Tie a Piece of Wool around the Centre and pull Tight.

Ok What Happened?

 

Ok that shouldn’t have Happened!

Crikey Not Christmas 2022 Part 8

 Crikey Not Christmas 2022 Part 8

In the last Blog I had realised that the way I was going to Embroider the Yellow wouldn’t work. It would take far too much Thread

Spreading the Yellow

 

I decided to Unpick and Start again. This time I would only Embroider right at the Edge. I simply did this by putting my Needle through again and again. It is like Blanket Stitch but without crossing the Thread.

Bottom Right Side

 

After I had thought I had done them all I found one lurking down the side. Typical! However I decided to do this one slightly differently.

I was quite anxious regarding the amount of Thread I had left. I only had 2 Skeins of this and it was so old I wasn’t sure that I would get a good match even with the same number.

Bottom Left Side

 

I had completed the Right Side and now started on the Left Side at the Bottom. This is slightly different to how I had done the others as they were being Embroidered up the Sides at the same time.

Top Left

 

I could now Gauge how much I Thread I had used for the Bottom in total. I decided the best process was to now move to the Top. I began on the Left.

Double Top

 

Once I had finished the Left I changed to the Right Hand Top Side. I was Embroidering this Leaf far more Densely than I had the ones I had put to one side.

Yellow Trimmed Ivy

 

The tails were beginning to annoy me so I decided to Cut them off. I then added a few more little bits of Embroidery. As you can see in the above photograph the Yellow does not go entirely around the Leaf. This is because it doesn’t in reality.

Ivy Leaf Collection

 

After finishing the Single Ivy Leaf I now had an example of how to continue with the other Leaves. I Embroidered the Tops and Sides. Then I added little touches of Yellow ad hoc.

I also went over areas that I had already done and increased the Density of the Yellow Edging. I just managed to finish the last one when the 2^nd Skein ran out. Phew that was a close call.