Friday 30 May 2014

Etsy Craft Party and embroidered appliqué papercraft

I follow Nadia van der Mescht on Twitter, having attended one of her workshops for creative businesses. So when I saw her tweet calling for giveaways and prizes for the Etsy Craft Party she’s hosting in Durban next week, I saw it not only as an opportunity to give away a couple of free patterns and be a small part of what Nadia does with and for creative souls, but also as a chance to try out an idea I’ve been toying with since giving an embroidery workshop to scrapbookers earlier this year – embroidered appliqué on paper. 




The winners of the giveaway can choose whichever embroidery pattern or edition of The Stitch & Thimble they want from my online shops. But Nadia obviously needed something physical to give them at the event, so I printed and embellished two vouchers with embroidery and appliqué. And it’s the appliqué in particular that I’d been wanting to try out. 



A scrapbooking tool called a craft pick (which my scrapbooker friend kindly gave me, thanks Kim!) came in handy to make the holes through which I was going to stitch. Once I’d made those, the embroidery was easy. 



But the appliqué was a bit trickier than I’d anticipated, because the fabric shapes slide around on the card. Not only do you have to make sure it’s in the right place before you take every stitch, you also have to work holding the card and fabric up to the light so you can see the holes through the fabric. That said, it’s far from difficult; it just takes a little more time and effort – and the end result is well worth it. Hopefully the giveaway winners think so too.

4 comments:

Paula Marcondes said...

To bad I live far far way.... Very good idea and, as always, very well done!

Kelly Fletcher said...

Thanks Paula. Even I live too far away! Durban is about a six-hour drive from Joburg... And there's no craft party happening in my city.

Shar said...

These are so beautiful. I was wondering if you used some dots or the ultra lite heat n' bond to keep it from sliding. I know I use that for appliques on fabric. I just don't know if that would be a problem on paper. But maybe the dots wouldn't be in the way.

Kelly Fletcher said...

Thanks Shar. I didn't actually use anything to stick the fabric down, I just held it in place and adjusted it as I went to line up with the holes I'd made previously for the stitching. And I did this by holding it up to the light so I could see the holes through the fabric - not very high-tech, but it worked!