There are many ways to add texture to a project, but one of my favorites is stitching. Whether by hand or machine, there are so many ways to add a little something extra. What I am going to share is adding stitched letters and shapes to your project using both machine and hand stitching.
The first is a monogram card:
I started with a Medium Manila tag and the letter "J" from the Basic Grey (un)Dressed Chipboard Monograms. I traced the letter onto the tag,
and then stitched around it using my very loved sewing machine.
After I was done stitching it looked like this...
A few suggestions for making this easier from my trial and error. A smaller stitch length goes around rounded shapes easier, and I have the option of leaving my needle down when I take my foot off the peddle. This is a very useful tool as well, as I can leave the needle down but lift the presser foot and get very clean pivot points on places like corners or tight spots. I recommend you practice with your machine before you start on a project with product that you don't want to waste.
I traced the letter onto some Cosmo Cricket paper from "The Boyfriend" collection, I used the 12" x 12" as that is what I had on hand, but I think I would have enjoyed using the 6" x 6" better to keep the scale to the card size. After tracing it, I trimmed it down to fit inside the monogram with a little buffer space on the inside edges so it felt lighter. I adhered the letter inside of the stitching, and then stitched the tag down with a little zigzag stitching on two edges. A couple of buttons stitched on with black DMC floss adds a nice touch.
When I was done with that I adhered it all to a card base and tied a big red ribbon through the tag and called it good...
An easy way to make a special monogram card!
The next project is along the same concept, but takes it quite a few steps further. A great technique for preserving some special memories.
First we are going to do some tracing again, the letters for the title and then a few stars, very spooky!
I mixed some paint from the Studio Line, Landscape Green and Sable Brown made a really nice subtle color that fit the look of the Eerie paper I was working on. I filled in the shapes and then went back after that layer had dried and added a very light layer of the green by itself that was pretty thinned down.
After the paint has dried take it to the sewing machine and stitch around it all. This is a place where you have a couple of choices. I stitched with the same color of thread so that if I like how that looked I would be done. My plan all along was to hand stitch, but you never know so I thought that while I was stitching I would try this look. Another option if you are thinking you want to hand stitch is to use your machine to do the hole punching for you. Just leave the thread out of the machine when you do the stitching.
This is what it looked like when I was done stitching with the machine...
When I was done with that I got out my black and purple DMC floss and spent a little time using the holes that the machine had punched to do a running stitch around each of the shapes. After I was done I added a some favorite pictures, a scallop punched border and a few buttons that were stitched on with more black floss.
And this is what I ended up with:
I hope that this has inspired you to look at stitching in a new way, and be sure to check out the next In Touch Newsletter. I will be sharing and exploring more ways to play with your stitching, so please stop by and check it out!
B-
