I recently came across a group on Facebook called Stitch Meditations. The premise is that you take bits of fabric that you think would go well together and add a little hand-stitching to create a panel. I made one for myself and after it was finished I thought I could kick the panels up a few notches by incorporating some lace, buttons and ribbons along with a few charms and die cuts. So I set about creating a few samples to show you. There are no process photos simply because the panels are meant to be individual and you are meant to play but I will describe how I made the samples and give you some tips.
The Basics:
First off you will need small pieces of fabric and if you do not sew, not a problem because you can use a variety of fabrics you have around the house - old scarves, old shirts or blouses, scraps of upholstery fabric, sheets, burlap, etc. If you do sew you can combine any kind of fabric you have on hand.
You will also need something to stitch the fabric to - flannelette is the best option because it is soft and the needle goes through it easily. And of course you need thread and a needle. For threads you can use regular sewing thread, metallic threads or embroidery floss. The floss comes with six stands of thread and I found I liked the look when I used three strands.
The Rules:
While there are really no rules, you should remember the following:
- Don't take any more than 10 minutes to select your fabrics.
- Don't try to make your hand stitching perfect, which means no ripping it out and starting over.
- Do make simple stitches but if you know how to do fancy stitches, then go for it.
- Do add beads to your stitches, if you wish.
- Don't worry if the finished product isn't square even though you started with a square of flannelette.
- Do add as few or as many embellishments as you want.
- Do add papers or other mediums if you can sew through them.
- Don't add any glue or other adhesive.
- Do tear your fabric, or cut it if you wish.
- Do finish the edges if you want but you will have to allow extra fabric to turn them under.
Salmon and Yellow - Sewn with embroidery floss
1. Start with 4" square of flannelette
2. Top with slightly larger square of yellow floral print
3. Add strip of plaid ribbon (remove wires from edges first)
4. Add square of salmon linen fabric
5. Add strip of venise lace
Cream and White - Sewn with embroidery floss
1. Start with 4" square of flannelette
2. Top with slightly larger square of white brocade fabric (it only shows at the bottom - oh well)
3. Add a strip of burlap
4. Add a strip of eyelet fabric
5. Add a strip of muslin
6. Add a strip of lace
7. Add another strip of lace between the burlap and the eyelet
8. Add some knotted fibres between the eyelet and the muslin
9. Add a die cut flower made from crinoline and dyed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink - french knots added for the centre
Purple - Sewn with embroidery floss
1. Start with a 3" square of flannelette
2. Add one strip of purple floral fabric
3. Add second strip of lilac fabric
4. Add two pieces of venise lace
5. Add die cut flower made from crinoline and dyed with Dusty Concord Distress Ink
6. Add floral wooden button to centre of flower
Black and Rust - Sewn with embroidery floss
1. Start with 3" square of flannelette
2. Add square of cream and black floral fabric
3. Add strip of black fabric
4. Add strip of rust fabric over edge of black fabric
5. Add bow made from black crochet ribbon
6. Top with tiny heart charm inked with Copper Mixative Alcohol Ink (the charm was in a little goodie bag from The Funkie Junkie Boutique)
Denim - Sewn with silver cord
1. Start with a 3" square of flannelette
2. Add a strip of silver metallic crochet ribbon
3. Add die cut snowflakes made from mulberry paper and topped with a silver sequin and a crystal seed bead
Red and White - Sewn with embroidery floss
1. Start with a 3" square of flannelette
2. Add a slightly larger square of red gingham fabric
3. Add a strip of red and white polka dot fabric
4. Add a strip of venise lace
5. Add a vertical strip of red burlap ribbon
6. Add a snowman wooden button
Now you are probably asking what you can do with the panels. They could be used as one element in a collage, in junk journals, on cards or on a tag like the one I am sharing with you next. OR, you could just sit and admire your handiwork and meditate while you make them.
The tag is hand cut from mat board and is 3.5" wide by 7" tall. I found the background paper with the snowflakes in my saved box - it was a reject from an earlier project. I had used some checked paper from my stash and added some silver embossing paste through a snowflake stencil. To add it to my tag, I cut it to the proper width and then split it in half since it wasn't long enough. I used a fan paintbrush and splattered some watered down white Gesso on the snowflake background. It ended up being way too busy so I inked over it with Candied Apple Distress Ink and then buffed it with some paper towel to bring the silver back up since the embossing paste acts as a resist.
I adhered my fabric panel to a square of silver card stock and then added it to the tag. Snowflakes were cut from a scrap of white card stock using the Paper Snowflakes Mini die and then splattered with Brushed Pewter Distress Spray Stain (the spray nozzle wouldn't work). They were topped with some crystal gems that came in one of the little goodie packages from The Funkie Junkie Boutique.
I used some Snow Cap Mixative Alcohol Ink to alter the colour of a snowman charm and added him to a bow that I fashioned from some silver crochet ribbon and tied together with silver thread from my sewing stash. Another gem was added to the centre of the bow. Finally I added some white satin ribbon to the top of the tag.
There you have it - a new way to use lace, buttons and ribbons from The Funkie Junkie Boutique. I love the frayed look so any of my stitched panels that I make for use on projects in the future will have some extra added to the fabric so I can give them a good quarter of an inch of fray around the edges.
If you don't want to spend time hand stitching the panels, feel free to machine stitch them but believe me there is some sort of satisfaction in doing it all by hand. I hope you will give this a try no matter how you choose to do it.