Thursday, April 5, 2012

And here is Gentle Stitches by Shakespears Peddler finished.........Along with at least a couple pieces of pug hair that I missed when I was taking the pictures. The truth is, I have 3 dogs and nothing in my house exists without at least a dog hair or two, sorry. 

About the finishing of this, it was'nt overly fun. Its described in the directions, which I finally read completely after I took it apart the first time, as an easy finish.  Its not terribly hard but I looked at it and said to myself "I know how to do this" and I did'nt. 

First of all, this is finished around a cardboard papertowel tube.  The biggest problem with that for me was that you have to put the stitched piece around it and have it be very snug when you stitch it together . Well, the cardboard tube is very flimsy and it was hard to get it as tight as I would have liked it to be without crushing the tube.  

The ends are felt and I cut the felt smaller than it should have been twice. Of course I did'nt realize that until I had one end stitched 1/2 way around. So I had to take it off and do it again and again. I used a blanket stitch to attach the felt and it looks nice.






I was wondering if instead of a cardboard tube this could be put around something like pvc pipe?  You pad the tube so you would'nt know what it was around. Pvc is lightweight and would be very sturdy. That way when you put the stitched piece on you could really get it tight. I think it would look neater. I may try that some time.

Honestly it was'nt hard to finish. Pay close attention to how long your stitched piece is. I first cut my tube according to the directions but even though I used 32 count my piece needed a slightly longer tube.  Other than that, read your directions, in other words, don't be like me.

4 comments:

  1. very nice finish and if you hadn't told I would not have known it was round a towel tube.

    Keep up the good work I love looking to see what you have done each day.

    Robin

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  2. Thanks Robin!! I think I'm going to make another one, a different design and finish the same way.....May try and get some PVC to do it......the most that can happen is I will have to take it apart and use another towel tube...Thanks for stopping by..........

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  3. Your finish looks very nice. I have this pattern and I'm going to start stitching on it next.I wondered about the cardboard tube when I read the instructions. I would think the cardboard would not be acid-free, so don't know how that will hold up. I'll be anxious to see how mine works up. PVC is slippery but it might work. I'll probably just try the tube and stuff the inside really well with some wool or other fabric and maybe wrap the outside so it won't be next to the stitching.

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