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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A quick cross stitch project: 3. The Spirit of Holiday Baking (a gingerbread style angel by Brookes Books)

I was determined to get this Spirit of Holiday Baking 3D figure from Brookes Books finished in time to display for Christmas (THIS Christmas, I mean!), and I’ve just about managed it.

This is the second half sheet of perforated paper with  the ‘accessories’ and wings for the angel cross stitched, back stitched, and all the beads sewn on.

Then comes the scary bit! You have to cut each piece out, one row of holes away from the stitching, all the way round. This is where you realise that it’s very important, if there is a part of the design where there is a ‘sharp angle’, that you didn’t take the thread across the back across the unstitched gap – because then, when you get to this stage, you’d be cutting through that long thread, and making your design unravel!

These are all the pieces, ready to assemble with glue dots and a few judicious stitches in a matching thread to hold everything together. This reminds me of those paper dolls that I had when I was little, with the little tabs on the edges so that you could ‘hang’ different items on the main doll to make different outfits.

Assembled!! Didn’t take long, as glue dots don’t need time to dry, unlike tacky glue, which can get a bit messy. From this angle, you can see that the beads really add interest. The layering of the pieces is a simple idea, but really clever, and adds to the cuteness of this project.

Finished (just)! I need to add a mount board bracket at the back so that she can stand up unaided, but she’s near enough finished  🙂

Isn’t she lovely? I’ll definitely be making more from this series, as I have a bundle of over a dozen chart packs for these ‘angels’. I find they are really good projects to take when I’m travelling, as they don’t need to be done in a hoop (in fact, they can’t be, as they are on paper), the holes in the 14 count paper are quite large, so I don’t need a magnifier, and there aren’t too many colours, so it’s easy to pick it up and put it down without getting confused about where I am in the design. Well worth having a go. Visit Brooke’s Etsy shop  if you’d like to buy any of her lovely chart packs.

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A quick cross stitch project: 2. The Spirit of Holiday Baking (a gingerbread style angel by Brookes Books)

I’m trying to get this quick cross stitch project called ‘The Spirit of Holiday Baking’ by Brookes Books stitched in time for Christmas, as I want to display it along with the gingerbread village buildings from Victoria Sampler that I’ve made before (not that they’re in the same kind of scale, but I just like gingerbread things!).

The design itself is quite simple, but deceptively so – the shading is good, considering there aren’t a huge number of thread colours in the design. But the area to be stitched (in a couple of weeks. Yikes!) just for the main ‘angel’ is about three inches by eight, on 14 count perforated paper, and I’m really busy with posting out Christmas orders of my embroidery kits at this time of year, so I haven’t got much ‘free time’ for stitching.

But whenever I get a minute, I put a few stitches in, and it’s growing….

There are two main sheets of designs. One is the angel herself, with a few ‘accessories’ on the spare paper around her (which will be cut out later and assembled into one piece). I’ve finished that bit now – adding the beads really makes it look special. The bare patch on the front of her apron is for a pocket to be appliqued later. She has a cute beaded flower on her hat.

Now I’m doing the second sheet, which is for little gingerbread pieces, and the angels wings. Aren’t these looking great?

I’ve just got the wings to complete, then I can start to put it all together, so it should actually be finished in time for Christmas.

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