I love Kewpie dolls. They remind me of childhood and fairs and fun. Stitch these Kewpie style faces to take a trip down memory lane with me.
Stitchery
completed size: 8cm high by 8cm wide each
Materials:
40cm *20cm lemon homespun
40cm *20cm pink print backing fabric. I
like to use 100% cotton fabric and I also like to back this with iron on
interfacing.
2 panels 39cm * 19cm light weight iron
on interfacing
1 skein DMC 3821 (bright yellow), 938
(chocolate brown), and Black
1 skein Anchor No 42 (deep pink)
Embroidery hoop
Embroidery needle
Chopstick
Sharp 2B pencil
Sewing machine thread in off white
40cm narrow ribbon for loops
Instructions:
Iron
lightweight iron on interfacing to back of the lemon Homespun.
Using
a well lit window and sharp 2B pencil, transfer the stitchery designs to the
front of the homespun as spaced out on the pattern sheet. This will leave enough room to sew the design.
Place
the prepared fabric in an embroidery hoop and complete the patterns in backstitch
using one thread, using pictures as colour guide. Complete the eyes in satin stitch.
After
completion of stitchery designs, press the work.
Return
the completed work to the well lit window wrong
side of work facing up, and mark in pencil on the back of the
fabric the stitchery line for the banner edge from the pattern sheet, noting
the opening for turning.
Iron
lightweight iron on interfacing to back of the pink backing print.
With right sides together, pin a panel
of your chosen banner backing fabric to your stitchery panel.
Using a small machine stitch and
matching thread, stitch on the pencil line (as below on the left side image).
Once sewn, trim back edges to turn (I
use pinking shears to give clean finish).
Be sure to leave a 1cm seam allowance on the unsewn turning edge for
later.
Turn through banner using a chopstick
and iron flat to neaten.
To
complete a flag, turn in a 1 cm seam on the top
turning edge and pin to secure.
Cut two small 10cm pieces of ribbon for
each flag, fold in half, and insert into the unsewn seam using marks on the
pattern sheet as a guide. Stitch top
seam closed.
To complete a banner, insert into the centre of a length of bias tape in complementary colour and stitch. Add additional banner panels as wanted to make a banner of the required length.
STITCHERY HINTS AND TIPS:
- My stitchery is worked in 1 thread of embroidery floss. This means if you have a skein of embroidery floss and you cut a workable length (around 40cm), you need to separate out one thread from the six in the length to work with.
- I have worked these stitcheries using DMC Thread no. 3821 (bright yellow), 938 (chocolate brown), Black, and Anchor No 42 (deep pink). You could try this or any of your own colour combinations. You may also like to colour portions of the completed stitchery using artist colouring pencils. I have used Faber Castel artist pencils to embellish two faces.
- I like to work on homespun (100% cotton fabric) in a light colour that has first been washed and ironed well.
- I transfer the stitchery pattern using a well lit window and sharp 2B pencil. I transfer the design in line with the fabrics grain. The pencil marks are hidden by the completed stitches.
- I like to back my work with iron on interfacing to hide knots behind the stitchery.
- I wax my thread as I work to improve the threads performance.
- I use an embroidery hoop to improve the embroidery outcome.
- After completing the stitchery, I iron the work well. If there are any stray pencil marks, I like to use a fabric eraser to remove them rather than wash the work (which can sometimes make colours move slightly).
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