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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Flowers for Elizabeth embroidered sweet bag: 9 – stitching the border, and the initial on the back

This is how far I’ve got with the ‘Flowers for Elizabeth’ sweet bag that I am stitching from the design in Issue 51 of Inspirations magazine. I’ve been stitching the border recently, and the initial for the reverse side of the bag.

The border is composed of two rows of Interlaced Chain Stitch. It’s a simple stitch to do – you stitch the Chain Stitch line first, and then take a new thread (in a different colour, in this instance), and interlace the new thread down each side of the chains, without going through the fabric, so that the chain stitch ends up looking bi-coloured. It really helps to use a tapestry needle, and not a sharp needle, when doing the interlacing!

It is important to get the direction of the lines of Chain Stitch correct, as when you interlace the sides, it highlights the direction somewhat. I started in the top left and bottom right for each colour of border line, working outwards from those two points around the bag’s edges. That is, I didn’t start in one corner and go all the way round. Does that make sense? Hope so!

Once I’d done the inner border line, I couldn’t resist adding the little sequins, rather than waiting till last. These are tiny ones – only 3mm diameter. I had to buy what seemed like millions to get hold of these at all (from Etsy.co.uk), but they are very pretty. Larger ones wouldn’t have looked as dainty. The instructions called for 2mm sequins, but I couldn’t find those anywhere.

The outer green border was then stitched like the inner border, so now it’s complete.

I’ve just noticed, as I’m writing this, that I missed describing the little ladybird on the small leaf in the lower left hand corner at the time that I stitched it. That was stitched after the Satin Stitch for the leaf had been done, mainly by eye as I couldn’t mark the shape on the fabric due to the Satin Stitch of the leaf itself. It’s worked in Padded Satin Stitch for the body, with the dots, legs and head in Straight Stitch.

In the magazine’s instructions, I felt that the next part was a bit of a cop-out. It just says to ’embroider the leaves, strawberries, flowers buds and tendrils in the same manner as the front’. What it doesn’t tell you is that you have to design it yourself! They give you a basic alphabet outline to start with, which needs enlarging, but all the flowers, buds, leaves and strawberries have to be added by you…..

It’s not so difficult for me to design something like that, as I do embroidery designing for a living, but I really think they should have bothered to design the letters, or at least design something generic as well for people who couldn’t design their own.

Anyway, here’s the letter J that I designed for mine:

This is only three inches high, so the embroidery has to be quite fine. The strawberries are about 3/8 inch diameter, but I still padded them with two layers of Satin Stitch padding in the same way that I had for the larger ones on the front of the bag.

The other elements were stitched as on the front, too.

I’m really pleased with how this turned out – it’s very pretty, but still readable:

Seen from this sideways angle, you can see how the padding really makes a difference to this piece.

That’s all the embroidery done. Next up is the assembly…never my favourite part, but I want to see this finished now!

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Flowers for Elizabeth embroidered sweet bag: 8 – stitching the large and small leaves

Now that I’ve stitched all the flowers, buds, and strawberries on the front panel of the ‘Flowers for Elizabeth’ sweet bag (from Issue 51 of Inspirations magazine), I’m ready to start stitching the large and small leaves. And there’s quite a lot of those in this design!

As with all the other elements, I had already outlined each shape with Split Stitch, using one strand of Au Ver a Soie silk thread.

So it was simply a case of working Long and Short Stitch shading over the whole of the large leaves, starting at the outer edges (and covering the Split Stitch as I went, to make sure I got a smooth outline).

I decided to do all the lighter green first on all the large leaves, and then do the darker centres in one go, too. That took quite a long time.

I also stitched the smaller light green leaves as I went over the design. These just needed Satin Stitch to be worked over the whole surface, angling the stitches in to the centre vein of each leaf, so they were quick to do.

The little pansy leaves were worked in the same way, in the lightest grey green.

The single honeysuckle leaf had one small area of the lighter green.

Then I went back to the large leaves, and filled in with the darker green (as in the far right hand large leaf). To complete each one, I stitched a line of Stem Stitch in brown down the centre vein (as on the left hand large leaf). This helped to disguise any scruffy Long and Short Stitch shading that didn’t quite cover the fabric properly!

So, here is my front panel, now that all the embroidery on the main area is completed. I’ve still got the border to do, and the sequins to attach to the background randomly. It’s turning out really lovely, and I’m very pleased with this.

After the border (which shouldn’t take long), I’ll be stitching the initial on the reverse of the bag, too.

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