First, I decided the piece needed more gold that just the brass medallion on the bottom. So, in lieu of perl cotton, I chose gold Petite Treasure Braid (#PH03). To make sure it would withstand the tight tension needed to pull the pieces together, I did a little sample of the assembly stitches in an unused corner of a piece. This also allowed me to test iron the corner to make sure it could handle a hot iron. |
To my delight, both tests passed with the Treasure Braid.
So I moved along and worked the backstitches around all 18 pieces. To make sure the backstitches wouldn’t come out when I went to assemble the pieces, I tied the two ends of the thread in a square knot, before whipping the tails back and forth through the back side of the backstitches. |
Here are all the completed stitches.
I want to take a quick moment to tell you how much I enjoy working with Treasure Braid. I prefer stitching with it over Kreinik. It it more pliable the Kreinik, so I don’t get frustrating with it when I stitch on linen. Also, I am able to use long lengths (30″) and barely shows any wear on the thread when you get to the end. If you haven’t used it, I really encourage you to pick some up next time your at a needlework shop. Okay, back to the finishing.
Once I had all the backstitching done, I made a paper template of the two different shapes (a square and a kite shape). I used these templates to cut out fusible interfacing and cotton batting. |
So, with my templates, I cut out interfacing (I use lightweight Pellon) for all the pieces so that it fit just inside the backstitches.
With a hot iron, I pressed the interfacing to the wrong side of the linen. I pressed my pieces on a soft ironing pad to so I wouldn’t crush the beads. |
Once the interfacing was fused on, I cut all the pieces out using a 3/8″ seem allowance.
Then using my templates, I cut batting for all of the pieces. Because batting is thicker than interfacing, I cut the batting a tad smaller than the interfacing. |
The pattern doesn’t call for either interfacing or batting, but I find the interfacing stabilizes your pieces and prevents the poly-fil from bearding through the holes of your linen. The batting I use to wrap the seam allowance around, so they don’t create a ridge on the front of the work. It also helps smooth out the lumps that can sometime appear when you stuff something with poly-fill. |
Then I finger press the seams. I start by pressing the corners so they can be mitered. Then I press right along the backstitching. |
Once the piece is finger pressed, insert the batting and using a contrasting color of sewing thread, baste the seam allowances down. I pierce through the batting and to the front/back. This holds the seams down and keeps the batting in place when I stuff it later. |
Then with more Treasure Braid, I whip stitched the pieces together. |
Here’s how the bottom looked once the bottom 6 “kite” pieces were assembled. |
Then I added the middle squares. |
Here you can see it starting to take the shape of a ball. |
The brass medallion that comes with the pattern is flat. I didn’t want the bottom of my ball to be flat, so I took my medallion to the garage and hammered it into a curve. Then I used the Treasure braid to attach it to the bottom. I tacked it down at each point. |
Using the same DMC colors I stitched with, I made a few different color variations of cording. It was a tough choice, but I ended up using the cord on the right. The colors look so rich together in that particular cord. |
I then assembled the 6 “kite” shapes of the top and before I sewed the last piece into the first to close it all up, I inserted my cord, this a knot to keep it from slipping through. |
Here’s how it looked from the top before I closed it up. |
With the cord attached, I then whip stitched the top to the bottom section. |
I stuffed the ball with poly-fill and stuffed it really tight. Closing it up was tricky. Once it was all stuffed and assembled, I removed the red basting threads and , voila, it was done! |
Liz –
This stitching and finish was more than fabulous. I can’t believe you had just started the finishing when I saw you on Saturday.
Can’t wait to get mine started.
What a great program director you are. Our group will benefit greatly from your leadership and project choices.
I was thinking this looked familiar and then realized I was reading your blog! I can’t believe you completed the finishing already! Your Garden Ball looks great…love the bit about hitting the medallion with a hammer! lol
Liz, I love how you finished the Autumn/pumpkin design into a pillow – so cute and the rick rack adds just the right touch ! Perfect!
I love the Garden ball – the new pics really show it off. I like how you had the step-by-step pics – you are so good at this Liz!
Your garden ball turned out beautifully. All the detailed pictures you included in this post will be a helpful reference for me when I put mine together.
[…] stitched piece into a 3D object). It was good practice for another project the EGA group is doing, A Patchwork Garden Ball by Twisted Oak Designs. We got the garden ball kits in February, with the idea we should stitch […]
[…] out Liz’s blog to see what the garden ball will look like when it is finished. This entry was posted in Stitching and tagged photos. […]