Thinking Ahead

I've been struggling.

About the holidays, no less. You know, Christmas stuff.

Yes I know it's just the beginning of summer, but I'm behind. Really, I am!

Every year, I put a hand-made ornament in my holiday cards. A few years ago, I started making them one per week, starting in January or February to avoid the last minute stressy-crunch at year end.

I have an idea for this year's creation. I've been experimenting with it since January.

Problem is, I need about 30-40 'somethings' for my cards. And this idea really needs a process. Making one at a time is fussy and time-consuming, and un-fun.

This week, I feel that I may be onto a 'process.' Here's what I'm doing. . .

Once a week, I'm stitching at least one star motif, using a cool wrapping technique for the stitched border.

After some trial and error, I've got a stack of about 12 stitched stars. I pull out two threads of the stitchery fabric about 5 threads away from the edge of the stitching, creating a gap in the weave.

Then I fold in the corners and raw edges onto the wrong side, so the line created by the thread-gap lines up with the diagonal fold (indicated by the red marks on the photo on the right, below).

The bobbins are nicely suited for 8+ yards of floss like DMC, but as you can see below, my favorite 12-weight hand-dyed perle cotton threads from ArtFabric fit on a Your Nest Floss Bobbin, too. Each ArtFabrik skein has a whopping 130 yards! I do have to wind carefully, especially toward the end of the skein, to get it all on the bobbin, but it can be done! . . . And stacked neatly in their own special box of treasures, so they're ready for my next project.

Then I used Iron 'n Fuse thread by Wonderfil on a square of Stiff Stuff Interfacing by Lazy Girl Designs.

With cotton thread in the bobbin, I sew a wide zig zag around the edge of each interfacing square. The interfacing is cut 1-7/8" square to match the design area of the stitched star. Basically, I chain-zig zagged.

I suppose I could have used fusible interfacing or batting, but the Stiff Stuff adds just enough body without too much fluff. And I only wanted fusible material around the edge on one side of the interfacing. The fusible thread and Stiff Stuff worked perfectly!

I placed the interfacing on top of a 2-3/4" square of fabric - just enough to wrap around the edge of the interfacing, fused the fabric onto the fusible zig zags.

Originally, I attempted to fold the backing similarly to how I folded the stitched star fabric. That left me with sloppy, un-crisp corners.

So, I opted more for a triangular fold at the corner - like how you might wrap paper on a gift box, tucking in the corner. That gave me a sharper point at the corner and allowed me to bury the raw edges.