vintagemotif

Your work is beautiful! I love that you have used beads and other items to embellish your work.

KastleKitty

This is the original fern, with larger swatches of fabric inserted which create the fern, as in the library bag. I am going to try making a needlebook instead of a bag with this one. That is why it is placed on the fabric as it is. Also I have cut batting. Many times I will embroider through cotton batting, which might get a call from the quilting police. But I will pull whatever tiny bits of fuzz come through in order to have a more sturdy piece, especially since I will apply beadwork. At this point I will carefully place this in a frame and start hand embroidery. Sometimes I will straight stitch very carefully around my applique, especially if I think it is going to get some rough handling. I did not do it on the library bag. It has been washed 4 or 5 times in a regular cycle. I turn the beadwork to the inside before washing it. It shows no signs of coming apart, even though I did not topstitch the applique before hand embroidering it. But fusible web is only a temporary fixative. It may be the small stitches on the fern leaves that help keep it secure.

KastleKitty

Here are the leaf patterns for the dandelions. I made them by folding strips of freezer paper in half lengthwise and then cutting the jagged shape of a dandelion leaf along the cut edge. You can make your own easily. I have included these here if you would like to use them. You can see the fold running down the center of each leaf. Many times I make my own patterns.

KastleKitty

Detail of seed head:

KastleKitty

I used tulle on a spool that is 6 inches wide. I cut 36 inches of tulle, then folded it down the length and cut it in half. This gave me a length of tulle that was 36" long and 3" wide. You can purchase tulle by the yard and cut it with the rotary cutter. I happened to have this in my stash so I used it. Some tulle by the yard has a fancier sparkly finish which may add to the appearance of the piece. This piece is intended to be the front of a pillow, of course for show only.

KastleKitty

Fold the cut piece of tulle 36"x3" again down its length making it 1 1/2 " wide. Gather it with a running stitch along the cut edges. When you have it stitched along the length, gather it together and knot it so it won't come undone. This I flattened with my hand to make it easier to stitch to the fabric.

I worked french knots randomly onto the seed head to hold it flat against the fabric. Later I added the beads. You can see when you look at the whole piece that I don't have beads on all of the seed heads yet. This is a work in progress. I will try to get it done soon and post it here.

KastleKitty

These are the beads that I used on the seed head. I think they are called bugle beads, but don't quote me. Memory fails again! I plan on stitching some directly onto the green background fabric to look like little seeds floating in the air.

KastleKitty

Detail of snail & butterfly:

Luv Quilts and Cats

Wow!

KastleKitty

And just for fun, I included a couple of pics of my bead collection that I use for embellishing! I always try to read every post about sewing rooms so I can see everybody's stash and all their crafting stuff they have accumulated through the years. It is great fun for me!