Challenge Ornament: Attaching Front to Back

Or have I attached the back to the front? LOL

It doesn't matter. I have stitched two edges together with one ply of my black Splendor silk that matches the black NP canvas. I'm not quite decided about a tassel or whether to use my braided cord for the hanging loop but I'll have to decide so I can attach one to a corner before I can continue stitching the front to the back.

By the way, I used a small sewing needle (if you don't have a sharp sewing or crewel needle, try the smallest tapestry needle you have as the #26-28 ones have a sharper tip than larger sizes) to come through from the back, catching the felt lining, to the front just under the blue edge of the design. Because my canvas and thread are black, one can't see the stitches. In fact, in the photo above you can barely see the needle! I did enhance it as much as possible and switched to a loud thread to help. Hope you can tell what I'm doing.

You can see that I tied a loop in the end of my twisted cord, tucked the loose end inside between the front and back and stitched it down, and will hand sew the trim to the edge all around the perimeter. I am probably going to make a beaded tassel once I have the hand sewing done but I don't think I'll have that all finished tonight. Hand sewing is slow going, especially if you are making the stitches as tiny and inconspicuous as possible.

By the way, you can see the gold lame fabric gleaming underneath the needlepoint stitches on the left side of the Challenge Ornament in the photograph.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Challenge Ornament: Making Twisted Cord and Tassels

The photo above shows a model of the Challenge Ornament from Gay Ann Roger's blog. I grabbed the photo from there to show you how your ornament can look. It has a tassel, ribbon bow, and a twisted cord around the edges. I may or may not finish my ornament this way but the loop and any tassel will have to be sandwiched between the front and back of the ornament when it is assembled, so it is time to talk about how to make these items before I actually assemble my ornament.

You can make your loop from your twisted cord edging as was done above, or use a separate length of Kreink metallic. Just attach it securely to the back of your needlepoint at one tip before you put the back and front together. That's how the tassel is attached to the opposite tip, too. I've found various sites that explain how to make twisted cord and tassels. Here are the links:

Instructions for making twisted cord.
http://www.serve.com/marbeth/twisted_cord.html

Slideshow on making twisted cord.
http://www.slideshare.net/kootoyoo/how-to-make-twisted-cord-presentation

How to make one or two-colored twisted cords (start reading at middle of page) and also how to add tassel to cord.
http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/projects/feast.html


How to make a Simple Tassel
http://www.nezumiworld.com/crochet_057.htm

How to make a variety of tassels, including beaded ones.
http://www.modnet.com.au/~firefrog/twistcord.htm

Here's a simplier beaded tassle on Mary Corbet's goldwork Christmas Ornament (scroll down to see). Her ornament has a bead tassle and twisted cord covering the sides. The loop isn't made from her twisted braid but is a separate piece of metallic thread, probably Kreinik.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_QjhvD47-hd4A0adREk4eacP5fdkH9M7EKG2U9VIKwLx38IqLN_xthEbeXf9BGfbEC6fAb9Nl_9j1ZgGPkOFeP4mE_HaPoNWUDhWjlY6jdP7AtxIwnm6xAtaF48OjB9mKeCgpvV4gZUse/s1600-h/DSC_0007.jpg

Whatever you decide, make your tassel and/or twisted cord now before moving on to the next step.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Challenge Ornament: Lacing

The next step in finishing the Challenge Ornament is to assemble the back of the ornament the same way the front was done. My back side is the felt backing fabric, the quilt batting and then the finishing foam. First I checked to make sure the finishing foam (with quilt batting stuck to the sticky side) was the same size as the front section of the ornament. You eventually are going to have to sew the two together, so you want them as close to the same size as possible. You may need to make the finishing foam a tad smaller if the backing fabric you will wrap it with is very thick, but my felt didn't seem to add substantially to the size of the back.

I clipped the corners of the felt just like I'd clipped the corners of my piece of needlepoint, wrapped it over the finishing foam so that the quilt batting was inside, between the finishing foam and the felt, and pinned it in place. Then I laced the corners. My final step was to lace the top to bottom and sides to each other. This lacing technique (seen in the back half of the ornament above--I've not done it for the front half yet) pulls the sides gently together and makes little "pillows" of the ornament back and front. Many framed pieces are laced over foam core (which is a rigid but light styrafoam-type material) before it is put in a frame. That's one reason why designers leave such huge margins around their painted canvas designs--so finishers can lace a piece.

You would think at this point that the only thing remaining would be to sew the front of the ornament to the back, but actually this is the time when you need to decide whether to trim the edges of your ornament with braid, cover it with beads, make a tassel (or not), whether to use charms or large beads, what color thread to sew the front to the back with, etc. These are the final touches and what really makes the ornament special.

I decided to use black silk to sew the back to the front of the ornament as I used black canvas for my version of the Challenge Ornament, but I haven't decided whether to finish the edges with braid (made from my leftover threads) or with beads (gold and silver ones are laid out above as is a string of Facets, the Kreinik thread that minics beads) and whether to make a tassel or use a large bead to dangle from the bottom of my ornament. This all depends on personal taste and whether you want a flashy or more subdued ornament.

I'll think about it while I lace my ornament front and start putting the two halves together.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow