Getting into the Festive Spirit

Ok, so I know it’s only the 1st December, but seeing as all of my relatives already have their Christmas trees up and I’m not allowed (I seem to have somehow ended up living with Scrooge) I am making a stand and putting on display the first of my Christmas decorations that I have managed to make so far this year.

May I present to you my first ever embroidered table runner! I have to admit, I’m pretty chuffed with this project. I would say it is my biggest embroidery project to date. It’s also my first table runner and my first attempt at mitred corners.

Christmas Table Runner

The fabric is a miscellaneous curtain/upholstery fabric remnant, I got a whole bunch of remnants for a tenner with no real idea in mind what to use them for. I double hemmed and mitred the edges and then, I’m really not entirely sure why, I hand stitched the hem using a red embroidery thread. This looked nice, but I thought it needed something more, so I Googled embroidery stitches and I came across the Pekinese stitch. I used some gold crochet thread for weaving through the back stitch. I am quite pleased with this, although I think the effect may have worked better if the gold thread had been a bit thicker, it was quite difficult maintaining the loop sizes but hey, it was my first attempt at a new stitch.

The main design is copied from a Swedish Christmas Craft Magazine from 1985! This magazine is brilliant, embroidery, cross stitch and crochet and it doesn’t really matter that I can only read about 1 in every 6 words of the Swedish as the diagrams speak for themselves! (As all good diagrams should). I tried my iron transfer pencil for getting the design onto the fabric, but this wasn’t too successful, but after some more Googling I discovered the Sulky Pens. I ordered one in brown and I am in love, will definitely be buying more! Easy to use, and the markings were clear but not too strong. Just right. At last I think I have found my ideal method for embroidery pattern transfer! 😀

Centre Embrodery Design

Side Embroidery Design

I also have to say I am really pleased with the ‘wrong’ side of the embroidery, I tried really hard with keeping this neat as I knew there wasn’t going to be a backing on it. It almost looks like it could be the front of the project!

The back

So, there we have it, my first Christmas craft project of 2011, I have made a few gifts as well, but for obvious reasons the post on these will need to wait til after the big day. I have one other craft project for me, that I would like to get down before Christmas day especially as I ran out of time for it last year, so check back soon.

Oh also I would just like to apologise for the blurry photos I just noticed, I even used the camera this time and not my phone. I must find some tutorials on how to use my camera properly, the OH has taken to fiddling with settings and experimenting with his photos, so I guess I must learn how to reset it afterwards :S

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