For a quick recap, a dear friend I'll call Horatio asked me to give more detail in making a paper sloyd, curve stitched valentine. The first post concentrates on paper sloyd and the second, on holes. Some students at my school are making valentines as well. One girl sent me a text with a picture of her finished curve stitched heart that she worked on the other night. It isn't homework and she enjoys even the most complicated pattern. Some practiced their curved stitched drawings, while others worked on the sloyd and pinning step. It turned into a bit of a math problem for the girls had to think through (1) why making three points is more beneficial than making two, (3) why careful cutting avoids waste, (3) how many 6″ by 6″ squares would a 12″ by 12″ square yield, and (4) what the midpoint of 15 points is. Math is their least favorite subject, and they didn't complain about these, er, “design" questions.
Horatio emailed an update from her school. She and her class are reading the blog. They have the materials assembled and hearts printed out, and they plan to make valentines.
The very next step is to draw the heart. I've checked and tweaked the original to perfect it. I hope to direct the path to minimize the amount of thread used and make the back as neat as possible. When my mama taught me to cross stitch, she encouraged us to keep the back as neat as the front. Neat, but not perfect. As you follow the directions and draw the heart with a pencil and ruler, be mindful of the order of points. You'll sew in the same order.
The very next step is to draw the heart. I've checked and tweaked the original to perfect it. I hope to direct the path to minimize the amount of thread used and make the back as neat as possible. When my mama taught me to cross stitch, she encouraged us to keep the back as neat as the front. Neat, but not perfect. As you follow the directions and draw the heart with a pencil and ruler, be mindful of the order of points. You'll sew in the same order.
valentine_card.pdf |
Study the two diagrams below carefully. The one to the left is the drawing. Imagine the holes you've made on your picture frame are numbered like the diagram. The starting point is point number 1. I've made a video to show you the order in which to sew. Solid lines represent the visible seam — what's on the picture frame as you sew. The first step is to push your needle from under the card stock through the hole at point number 1. Think of it as pushing up. Leave a short tail of thread dangling under the card stock — about two inches. Then, push your needle down through point number 2.
Study the picture below carefully, keeping in mind the numbering system. Between points 2 and 3 is a dashed line. That's the invisible seam on the underside of the picture frame. Push the needle up through point 3.
The video for you and Horatio's class through the process is a lot of work, so I won't make these very often. If you succeed at the valentine, you'll be able to apply the steps to other curved stitching patterns. This written description will help you get started and understand what's happening in the video. In all pictures, solid lines mean the visible seam on the picture frame and dashed lines mean the seam on the underside. Referring back to the numbering system, push the needle down through point 4. You've now made two visible lines.
Whenever you reach the left edge, try to weave the dangling tail. Push the needle up through point 5. However, before pushing it through, take a peek at the back. Tuck the tail so that the underside seam will come down on it as you finish the stitch. If you do this every time you work on the left edge, eventually the entire tail will weave in and out of the underside.
The next two steps are below push your needle down through point 6 to make the third visible line. Then push it up through point 7 to make another line on the underside. At this point, you should probably see the pattern. I think the video should make sense.
Whenever possible, I numbered the points in order of sewing them. Unfortunately, I had to vary that at times. At point 17, you have to go through a point for the second time. You push the number up at 17 and push it down at point 4. If you've already drawn the pattern, you'll know that it all works out in the end. Follow the order in the PDF file above and you'll be fine.
Another tricky part of the video is when you can't see the new underside line because it's been sewn already. The first time this happens is when you have just made a visible line from point 17 to 4. Then, you push up at 5 before pushing down at 18 to make another visible line. You cannot see the difference between the two pictures below because the underside line has already been sewn. Again, following the directions should keep you on track.
I took pictures as I sewed my valentine to give you some checkpoints along the way. Pause the video and compare your work to reassure yourself. Although I've double and triple checked my work, please let me know if you spot an error. Mathematicians do make mistake from time to time!
Hopefully, I've anticipated some of the tricky bits. If not, please drop me an email or leave a comment. As you can see, the underside is neat but doesn't match the front at all. My goal was to minimize the amount of thread used.