Quick and Easy Embroidery Project- Embroidered Felt Bookmarks Part 6, Grossgrain Ribbon Backing

The Tutorial posted just prior to this post explains how to finish the felt bookmarks with grossgrain ribbon. Look for it here- (click here)

Using Sublime Stitching designs, Cat-a-Rama, Monkey Love and Craft Pad, coffee I drew on my own…using crayons to tint fabric…and using grossgrain ribbon as a backing…here, the showcase of the finished embroidered felt bookmarks.

Here they are in all their glory. They are neat. They are functional. They are easy enough for any beginner to feel confident with this project!

Tutorial-Backing with Grossgrain Ribbon and Stitch Witch

Separate from the post showcasing the final felt bookmarks with grossgrain ribbon backings, is this tutorial covering the procedure I followed to adhere the grossgrain to the felt bookmarks.

I hope you find it helpful. Please let me know if you try it and it works for you! I’m always hoping for comments.

Part 1, to begin ————————————-

Get some “Stitch Witch”. I think it is Stitch Witchery, adhesive, but, as you can see, my WalMart calls it Stitch Witch. 😉

Cut the Stitch Witch to match the width of the felt bookmarks. In this case the bookmarks are 1.5 in. wide and I used a rotary cutter and a cutting mat to trim to size.

Gather all the materials. I have the stitched felt bookmarks, the Stitch Witch strips, and the grossgrain ribbon. I’ve heated the iron and have the ironing pad ready. Also get a thin sheet of material (muslin) to use as a cover sheet to protect your finished bookmark from any hot iron or glue residue.

Let’s look at the end of the grossgrain ribbon. You will need some scrap Stitch Witch to finish the ends.

To finish the end, fold under.

Cut a small scrap piece of Stitch Witch to adhere folded end under.

Hold the Stitch Witch in the fold, get ready to seal with heat from iron.

Iron to melt Stitch Witch, sealing the raw end.

Part 2, make the sandwich of one end—

Layer the parts. The felt bookmark, the Stitch Witch strip, and the grossgrain ribbon should line up.

Cover the bookmark sandwich to protect the fabric from marks made by the iron and from any glue stickies that may come from the Stitch Witch.

Press with a hot iron. Only press on the ONE END of the bookmark. You only want the END to sandwich together!

The end is the only part sandwiched together. The rest of the bookmark should be free.

Part 3, make the sandwich in the middle—

Now, realign the sandwich parts to make sure the middle section is straight and lined up the way you want it.

Cover with the protective cloth again to get ready to iron.

Now press with the iron on the MIDDLE section. Do NOT iron the entire bookmark. Leave the other END free.

Check the middle section. It should be sandwiched together and the END should be free.

Part 4, fix the raw edge for the end cap—

The end has lots of material extending from it that needs trimming. Trim the Stitch Witch even to the felt bookmark.

Next, trim the ribbon. Leave enough at the end so that you can turn it under and slip some Stitch Witch under it.

Fold it down to match the finished edges.

Hold it in place, get ready to iron it so that it will crease.

Press with hot iron to form a crease.

Now, cut a scrap piece of Stitch Witch to fit in the folded crease.

Now sandwhich the Stitch Witch inside the crease to and get ready to press with the hot iron.

Now press with hot iron.

Raw end is sealed.

Part 5, Finish the bookmark sandwich—

Now, line up the finished ends.

Cover with a protective fabric.

Press with hot iron.

And…

You are done!

The grossgrain ribbon is secured on the back of your felt bookmark and all the raw edges are neat and finished.

Enjoy!

You life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun!

Find Embroidered Felt Bookmarks Part 1-(Click Here)

Find Embroidered Felt Bookmarks Part 2-(Click Here)

Find Embroidered Felt Bookmarks Part 3-(Click Here)

Find Embroidered Felt Bookmarks Part 4-(Click Here)

Find Embroidered Felt Bookmarks Part 5-(Click Here)

Quick and Easy Embroidery Project- Embroidered Felt Bookmarks Part 5, More Sublime Stitching and Prep for Grossgrain Ribbon

I had so much fun with the crayons when tinting the fabric for the Sublime Stitching, Monkey Love monkeys, I just had to use the crayons on the felt bookmarks. (I use Crayola crayons.)

Get out your colors and color that felt!

After posting yesterday, about thinking of rubbing felt with crayons, I got many emails wondering about how the felt would ‘take’ the crayon…the rubbing and scuffing and fluffing the nap…all that abuse. Well…as I was coloring the felt, I realized that I am not afraid of felt like other people seem to be. LOL You see, while in Louisiana, (New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina, long story), I met Margrett and Lloyd and all their sheep of Running Moon Farm. I learned a lot about spinning and a lot about sheep. I also saw what that wool goes through ON a sheep. And from what I now know, felt is the result of the end all of all abuse that you could put wool through, so, a little more isn’t going to hurt it. 😉

(Again, all the ironed on designs are from Sublime Stitching by Jenny Hart.) I drew my own own coffee cup.

I tried this:

Cat- white, eyes a teal

Monkeys- browns, beiges

Bird- blue, yellow

Coffee- just some tan

I heated the iron and got the paper sandwhich ready for the ironing.

I held my breath and pressed the hot iron down on the bookmarks.

I ironed until I could smell hot wax and saw the waxy mess on the paper.

The ironed, colored felt bookmarks are ready for stitches! The areas with crayon feel a little ‘stiff’ but they seem very durable. I did NOT iron the coffee cup because the blue pen is water soluble. Heat will set the blue pen. I will have to stitch over the blue pen, rinse out the pen, recolor with crayon, and then heat melt.

I chose some colors and some stitches for each bookmark.

Coffee: Back stitch (all), French Knot (center of swirls)

Bird: Stem Stitch (all outline), Satin Stitch (beak) , French Knot (eye, ends of feathers)

Cat: Stem Stitch (outline), Split Stitch (around eyes) , Granitos (eye), Satin Stitch (bow and nose), Straight Stitch (whiskers), The bow needs some ‘bling’ for the center there before adhering the grossgrain ribbon backing.

Monkeys: I did one in all Back Stitch, French Knot (eyes), Straight stitch (hair); the other Buttonhole Stitch(outer ears), Satin Stitch (inner ears and nose), Back Stitch (outline), Couching (outline of face), French Knot (eyes), Straight Stitch (hair), Stem stitch (mouth)

The “crayon on felt” went very well. I’d call it a success! The stitching went quickly. This is a very do-able project for any beginners. It’s easy to handle with minimum effort and clean up. (Unlike paint) It’s a great way to expand your creativity even if you are a ‘seasoned stitcher’. The “crayons for tint” add so many possibilities!

I’m off to get the Stitch Witch fusible sheets and the grossgrain ribbon ready to attach to the backs of these. Let’s hope that part turns out well!

Get your crayons! (Now that school is out, the new school supplies are out there and on sale!)

Your life needs fun! Go ahead, have some fun!

Find Embroidered Felt Bookmarks Part 1-(Click Here)

Find Embroidered Felt Bookmarks Part 2-(Click Here)

Find Embroidered Felt Bookmarks Part 3-(Click Here)

Find Embroidered Felt Bookmarks Part 4-(Click Here)

Find Tutorial, Tinting fabric with crayon, Giggleface Studios (Click Here)

Find Tutorial, Mary Corbet’s Needle N Thread, Video Library of Hand Embroidery Stitches (Click Here)

Quick and Easy Embroidery Project- Embroidered Felt Bookmarks Part 4, Sublime Stitching and Grossgrain Ribbon

I went roaming yesterday. I found lots of goodies.

Mary Corbet, over at NeedleNThread, wrote in conjuction with my bookmark experiment. She says she is interested in the results of with bookmark backings. That’s a good prod for me to spring into action on this activity. Hopefully, I’ll stay ahead of her Summer classes, just in case one of these techniques could be more suitable for her lessons. (<wink> to team teaching over many miles, eh?)

While thinking of the bookmark experiment, I went hunting for some grossgrain ribbon. Some of my Yahoo! Groups email pals say that grossgrain really does come in some wide sizes. Well…not readily here in Hawaii. I think it might be available at a specialty type shop somewhere, but I finally ended up at a Wal Mart, for fusible pellon, and I stumbled upon some rather “hip” ribbon.

Here’s the label. I think a half yard should do at least 2 bookmarks. Proof that it is at least very inexpensive, for the purpose of bookmarks anyway! I also think that Wal Mart has made its way into just about every nook of the US, so most continental crafters should be able to grab some. I am curious as to what all of you outside of the US have. Let us know in the comments section. Maybe we could send you some inexpensive ribbon…hey, you never know, right?

I got the ribbon home, and pulled some felt. I found some colors that match well. Some great fun patterns to match some new felt. Blues, greens, oranges, pinks, and yellows.

I had to adjust the previously cut bookmarks to fit the ribbon. I found that the grossgrain ribbon is thinner (1.5 in.) than my originally cut bookmarks (2.5 in.). I recut some of the previous bookmarks and cut out some new ones with the rotary cutter and the cutting mat.

While out and about I also found some new Sublime Stitching transfers. Here is the Sublime Stitching Monkey Love pattern (again), the Cat-A-Rama, and one of Jenny Harts books, Sublime Stitching Craft Pad.

A cute little bird might do well on the orange. The bird is from the Sublime Stitching Craft Pad.

Some monkeys too! This is a smaller monkey face from the Monkey Love packet I first bought. I did get a second Monkey Love set since I plan to cut up the first one. (More on that later…)

I found that some transfers didn’t really ‘fit’ but that didn’t stop me!

The cool cat from Cat-A-Rama is way too big as you can see, but I placed it over the little felt bookmark and ironed right over it. Yes, part of it in on my towel…lol.

I also got water soluble blue ink pen to draw my own design. Can you see it?

Here are the new bookmark goodies, now in testing for this round. I liked the process of tinting fabric with crayon so I’ve decided to take some crayons to these and see how it fairs!

I’m off to find the crayons, heat up the iron, and get stitching on these!

*I need your help. If you could suggest a few stitches for any of these bookmarks I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment with your suggested stitches. *

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun!

Find Embroidered Felt Bookmarks Part 1-(Click Here)

Find Embroidered Felt Bookmarks Part 2-(Click Here)

Find Embroidered Felt Bookmarks Part 3-(Click Here)

Tutorial, Tinting fabric with crayon, Giggleface Studios (Click Here)

Quick and Easy Embroidery Project- Embroidered Felt Bookmarks Part 3, Blanket Stitch Looped

Find Part 1 Embroidered Felt Bookmarks Click Here

Find Part 2 Embroidered Felt Bookmarks Click Here

Dr. Seuss’ Truffilla trees? Crop Circles? What IS this?!

I am trying out the Blanket Stitch (Looped) and the Rope Stitch for the very first time on this bookmark.

The Embroiderer’s Handbook shows this stitch, Blanket Stitch (Looped), “in the round” using 2 concentric circles. I used hubby’s handy dandy bottle of eye drops as a pattern guide.

Now to stitch onto the pink felt. Just trying to get the thread onto the felt with the first few stitches was difficult.

Here is the first trial at the stitch. It is stitched with 2 strands DMC floss.

After completing that one flower and seeing the gaps in the rounds I tried it with 4 strands DMC floss. Here is the second trial.

This is the third trial. Again, stitched with 4 strands DMC floss.

I really enjoyed this stitch. It is a tough one to just pick up and get perfect. I know this isn’t the end of the ‘practice’ nor is it perfected, but I really like the overall look. After all, the tallest flower is the oldest…so it can be a little more ‘worn’ right?

I used a Pigma pen to draw in some squiggles for the stems.

I enjoy stitching the stem stitch, so for the stem, I forced myself NOT to use the stem stitch. Instead, I attempted the rope stitch, in black. I like the black on the bright pink. This stitch is really fun to make! I would definitely use this one again.

Here are the stems. My first trial was the littlest stem with 4 strands of DMC floss. I thought that was a little too thick to the other 2 are done with 2 strands DMC floss.

I’m off to make another bookmark with a few more new stitches. After those are done, I will test out a few backings. Are you making a stitch sample bookmark? Write to me and let me know.

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun!