Brooke’s Books “Spirit of Christmas Stitching”: 2

I’m half way through stitching this Brooke’s Books ‘Spirit of Christmas Stitching”   angel on perforated paper.

The pieces that are to be stitched on the gold perforated paper are next. This wasn’t so pleasant to stitch as the half on the brown paper, as the shiny gold made it harder to see the holes.

This is one of the angel’s wings.

This is the completed gold panel, with the individual elements all stitched and ready to cut out.

They need to be cut out carefully, one set of ‘holes’ away from the stitching, so that the stitching doesn’t get cut and start to unravel. I used nail scissors, as I didn’t want to spoil my embroidery scissors.

The wings need to be cut out as one piece, with a joining section.

This part always reminds me of those paper dolls that you used to be able to get, with tabs on all the clothes so that you could change the doll’s outfits!

You then stick or stitch the pieces into place, as on the front of the chart booklet.

It gives a great layered effect, which is easier to see in this picture, taken at a low angle.

I made a support for the back of the angel out of mount board (as on a picture frame), so that the angel can be stood upright.

And here’s my finished angel, alongside the one I stitched a few months ago – the Spirit of Holiday Baking.

So, that’s two down, twelve to go!

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Brooke’s Books “Spirit of Christmas Stitching”: 1

A couple of years ago, I received a set of these wonderful chart packs designed by Brooke’s Books, to make as ‘angels’ on perforated paper. Brooke Nolan has a great Etsy shop here. Each angel stands about seven inches high when finished (with a card support at the back to make them free standing). I love all of them!

They use this 14 count perforated paper, which is widely available from Mill Hill, but there are other brands available too. Most of the angels use brown, gold or silver paper, so I bought a selection to start me off!

Although it’s called ‘paper’, it’s actually quite sturdy – like thin card – and the holes are large. 14 count perforated paper is a lot easier to stitch on than 14 count Aida, for instance.

Out of my collection, I’ve decided to stitch this one next – the ‘Spirit of Christmas Stitching” .

The chart pack gives a key for DMC threads, but I prefer to use Anchor, so I used a conversion chart to look up the correct Anchor thread shades. The design also uses three shades of Kreinik fine braid, and some seed beads.

I taped round the edges of the perforated paper with masking tape, so that my threads wouldn’t catch on the edges. With perforated paper, you don’t use a hoop or frame, as it would damage it, so I just hold it to stitch on it.

Half of the design is stitched on an A 5 half sheet of paper – one brown, and one gold. They are good projects for when I am not at home, as I don’t need a magnifier to stitch these, due to the large hole size of the paper, and they are easy to carry about. I did all this part during a week of camping!

As the pieces will later be cut out, the extra little shapes are stitched in the gaps around the main figure.

So, that’s half the design done. Next is the other half, then the assembly of the pieces to make the 3D angel  🙂

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