Gingerbread Christmas tree by Victoria Sampler 1: starting the seascape side

Each autumn, for the past three years or so, I have stitched a building from the range of Gingerbread-style cross stitch models that Thea Dueck of Victoria Sampler has designed, ready to display under my Christmas tree. They are available as chart pack booklets from her website, and they are just lovely to make! Here are the ones I have made so far – from the left is the Gingerbread Candy Cane Cottage, the Gingerbread Church, and the Gingerbread Stitching House (which is an etui set – the roof lifts off to show needle book pages, and the chimney is a pincushion).

This year, I am going to make the Gingerbread Tree Etui. It stands about nine inches high when finished – about the same height as the church. There are accessory packs available for these chart packs, but this time I’ve chosen to use stash threads, and some of the threads left over from previous packs that I bought for the other buildings.

EDIT: Thea recently said (November 2019) that materials packs are on their way for these, and will be in stock soon, if you’d like to buy the threads and beads, etc., rather than use your stash).

The fabric I am using is Zweigart’s Cashel 28 count linen, Cognac colour, which is a deep orangey rust. It’s darker than the fabric Thea uses, but that one, Antique Almond, is no longer available, and I love the deeper colour of the Cognac fabric. I bought a whole metre of it when I started making these buildings, and I should have enough to do seven or eight of them from the metre. I don’t think this fabric is available now either, though, so I hope I have enough to do all the Gingerbread buildings that I want to!

I am starting with the side that features a seascape in the snow. Each side has a treetop to stitch first (the same for each of the four sides), with a different scene at the bottom of each side of the tree. The treetop is quite random, so I needed a plan! I decided to stitch all the darkest green crosses first, as these mainly occur in more or less horizontal lines, so they are easy to see on the chart.

 

Then  I filled in the medium green, doing one ‘band’ at a time.

The rest of the treetop is off-white, so I stitched all of the outlining stitches, and then simply filled in with white – like doing ‘flood fill’ in a design software program!

This is the treetop once completed.

Next is a ‘bargello wave’, stitched with one strand of fine gold thread (Thea suggest using Kreinik gold, #4 fine braid, but I used one strand of Splendor Petite Treasure Braid, shade PB2), and then one strand of DMC Perle 8 in white under the gold. This bargello wave looks good when it’s finished, but was a nightmare to do – I kept losing my place on the chart, and having to unpick it. In the end, I copied the chart page from the booklet, enlarged it, and coloured in each stitch as I made it, so I didn’t lose my place. The instructions are clear enough, but Bargello Stitch just does my head in!

Next, I need to do the cross stitch scene at the base of the tree…..

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Flowers for Elizabeth embroidered sweet bag: 11 – making the cords and tassels, and it’s finished!!

This is the final post about the ‘Flowers for Elizabeth’ sweet bag project from Inspirations magazine Issue 51. I’ve just got the cords and tassels to make, to complete this lovely project!

To make loops for the tassels, I stitched a row of Corded Coral Stitch along the bottom edge of the bag (as on the top edge – but, again, I wasn’t very happy with this stitch, as it came out rather messy). Part-way along the bottom edge, I made two Buttonhole Bar loops, to hold the tassels.

The cording for this bag is quite ingenious – you have to make cords that use four colours at once! The instructions on the pullout sheet are clear, though, which helps. I started by making one cord with two of the colours, using lengths 44 inches long of each colour. Then I looped two new colours through one end of the newly made cord, and twisted a second cord (this did mean that with every twist, the already-made cord flips over and over, which seems a bit weird, but just get a helpful person to keep untangling it as you twist, and you’ll be fine!). Then you twist the cords into one and knot the ends. You need to make several of these, in different colour combinations.

Two lengths of a  pastel-toned cord are then threaded from either side through the orange Buttonhole Bars on the front and back of the bag to form the drawstrings. Another cord is stitched to the sides of the bag, with the knots at the base cleverly hidden by tassels being made over the knots, to hide them. More tassels are made to loop through the Buttonhole Bar loops along the base of the bag. A darker-toned cord forms the long handle.

So, here it is! Finally finished!

This has been a very interesting project to make, and, as usual, a good design from Susan O’Connor.

It’s not too difficult to make (even the assembly isn’t too bad!).

I still think that not including actual designs for each of the letters of the alphabet was a bit of a cop-out, but the back could have been left plain instead, if I hadn’t wanted to design my own.

It’s a very pretty little bag, and a good replacement for the similar one that I had stolen years ago.

There’s enough happening to keep your interest all through the stitching.

And it’s got strawberries!!

And lots of sparkly bits!

So, are you tempted to have a go at stitching this one? Inspirations magazine sell a digital download of the instructions for this sweet bag, so although the actual magazine is no longer in stock on their website, you can still buy the pattern. So, you’ve got no excuse now, have you?!

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Flowers for Elizabeth embroidered sweet bag: 10 – assembling the bag, and shaping the top scalloped edge

Now that I’ve finished stitching the front and back panels for the ‘Flowers for Elizabeth’ sweet bag from Inspirations magazine Issue 51, I needed to do the assembling of the bag. Never my favourite bit, with any project!

The first thing to do was to stitch buttonhole bars on the front and back panels, to thread a drawstring through. These were made in a similar way to needlewoven picots, but with both ends attached to the fabric, so really I just needed to make three thread lines on the fabric, 1/8th inch apart and half an inch long, and then weave the thread in and out along the bar until it was filled.

I like pictures like this one – it’s the last time it’s possible to take one picture with both sides showing at once!

Having trimmed the fabric to the correct size, allowing half an inch for the seam allowances, I then made a lining from olive green silk, to the same size, and pinned around three sides on each one, leaving a two inch gap along the bottom edge of the lining for turning through later. There is a mistake on the assembly instruction sheet here, because it says to start and end your stitching ‘at the marked points’….but there aren’t any! You just need to start and end at the places where the scalloped top edge straightens out at the sides.

Once I’d worked out the stitch line of the embroidered pieces, I trimmed back the calico lining, to reduce bulk.

Then I stitched the seam (by hand – I couldn’t be bothered to get my machine out!), and turned it right side out.

I also stitched the lining seam, then put the embroidered bag inside the lining bag, right sides together.

I used this template from the instructions to mark the stitchline for the scalloped top on the lining pieces, having tacked lining and bag together temporarily across the top edges. If the lining and embroidered pieces don’t quite match up at this point, go by the front fabric edge when straightening things up, not the lining.

Then I Back Stitched around the scallops with very small stitches, and trimmed and snipped into the curves up to the stitch line.

The instructions said to work Corded Coral Stitch along the top edge, which I did, but I really didn’t like the look of it. With hindsight, I think it would have looked better with a beaded edge.

The finished top edge of the bag.

Now I’ve just got the tassels and cords to make, and it will be finished!

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Save money on dollhouse needlepoint chair kits until Sunday this week!

All dining chair kits are on sale this week – don’t miss out!

Save money on all dollhouse needlepoint dining chair kits on my website this week – simply use the coupon code CHAIRS10 at the checkout to get 10% off!

This coupon code also can be used for the multi packs (of two chairs, and four chairs) which are already discounted – so you get to save twice over! And the coupon code also works for the ‘chair seat packs’ – these are packs that include the stitching components (chart, threads, silk gauze and needle, but no woodwork pieces – perfect for if you already have a chair to make a seat cover for).

 

Simply visit the chair kits page to start saving now!

These lovely chairs look beautiful not just in the dining room of your dollhouse – place one in the hallway, study, bedroom or drawing room too!

The kits include 32 count silk gauze fabric, anchor stranded cotton (floss) threads, colour block chart, tapestry needle, wooden components to make the chair, and detailed instructions.

The usual kit price is 22.95 GBP. The sale price is 20.65 GBP – so, you can save 2.30 GBP on each kit (more, if you buy the multi packs of one design).

This chair below has been stitched by one of my customers, called Chris – she used her own chair, and stitched the Strawberry Thief design for it from a chair seat pack.

 

For tips on how to make and assemble the chair kits, see the tutorial on my

website here.

The sale ends at midnight on Sunday, 13th October, so don’t forget to use the coupon code CHAIRS10   on my website before then!

Postage & packing is a flat rate of 2.25 GBP for UK orders (4.50 GBP overseas) up to 50 GBP order value. Orders over 50 GBP are sent post free, worldwide.

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