Victorian Pincushion on spindle stand: 7 – assembling the ‘strawberry’

The little emery ‘strawberry’ is the final part that I need to stitch as part of the Victorian Pincushion on a spindle stand project that I am making from the Victoria sampler chart  booklet.

Victorian pincushion embroidery by Victoria Sampler

This is a pretty little ‘small’ that didn’t take long to stitch. To make it up into the actual strawberry, I first trimmed the fabric to within a centimetre of the running stitch outline round the embroidery. Then I folded the fabric in half and stitched a backstitch line just inside the running stitch (so that I didn’t need to bother removing the running stitches later), to make the fabric into a cone.

Embroidered emery strawberry

Next, I turned it right side out, and ran a line of running stitches around the top edge using number 12 Perle thread.

Embroidered emery strawberry

I lightly stuffed the shape with wadding (not emery powder, as my strawberry is only going to be decorative!). I pulled up the ends of the thread, turning in the seam allowance at the same time, and knotted the thread to make the strawberry shape.

Embroidered emery strawberry

It looked a bit messy at this stage, but the embroidery will cover that up, hopefully!

Embroidered emery strawberry

I then stitched a few long straight stitches in dark green silk around the top of the strawberry, and then added three little silk ribbong bows in dark green. Finally, I added a central loop in variegated silk ribbon and tied a small bow at the top, to hang the strawberry by, on the pincushion spindle.

Embroidered emery strawberry

And this is it finished:

Embroidered emery strawberry

So, my lovely Victorian Pincushion etui set is now complete! I am really pleased with this. It will look lovely in my glass display cabinet with all my other embroidery, but will also be useful when I’m doing even more embroidery.

Embroidered Victorian pincushion on spindle stand by Victoria SamplerThis is such an unusual project from Thea Dueck of Victoria Sampler. Take a look at her website to see lots of other unusual and creative embroidery projects.

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Victorian Pincushion on spindle stand: 6 – stitching the ‘strawberry’

This week  I’ve stitched the embroidery for the little ‘strawberry’ that will hang from the Victorian Pincushion spindle stand with the  needlebook. Here’s the front of the chart booklet, to show you what I mean:

Victorian Pincushion embroidery

It’s the tiny thing hanging down on the left! It’s supposed to contain emery powder, to help clean needles, but I have tried making one of these before with emery powder in, and it is very messy black stuff that gets everywhere. So, as this is really just a decorative ‘small’, I’m going to make mine just stuffed with wadding instead, I think.

The embroidery design is a motif taken from the top circular design, and it doesn’t take long to stitch two repetitions:

Strawberry emery design

I just need to stitch it into a cone shape and stuff it now, and this project will be finished.

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Victorian Pincushion on spindle stand: 5 – assembling the needlebook

I’ve embroidered and assembled the Victorian pincushion on its turned spindle stand from a chart pack from Victoria Sampler, and now I’m starting to assemble the needlebook that will go with it.

Victoria Sampler pincushion

First, I made a template of the front area of the needlebook from tissue paper by placing the stitching and the tissue paper on my light box and gently drawing the outline in pencil onto the paper.

Victorian pincushion Victoria sampler needlebook

Using the template, I cut the front and back stitched areas out (allowing a centimetre seam allowance on each) and a front and back lining piece from cream satin, again with a one centimetre seam allowance. I then cut two  iron-on interlining pieces to the exact size of the template, and ironed them to the reverse side of each piece of satin. The inner page of the needlebook was cut from white felt to the size of the template and then trimmed to be an eighth of an inch smaller all round, so that it won’t stick out at the edges when the needlebook is closed. I also cut two thick card pieces to the exact template size, to stiffen the covers of the needlebook.

Victorian pincushion Victoria sampler needlebook

I temporarily tacked the seam allowance of the satin to the reverse on both lining pieces.

Victorian pincushion Victoria sampler needlebook

I laced the front and back stitching over the stiff card with strong quilting thread.

Victorian pincushion Victoria sampler needlebook

This is the back panel of the needlebook once laced over the card.

Victorian pincushion Victoria sampler needlebook

Placing the stitching and the lining wrong sides together, I slip-stitched them together all the way round.

Victorian pincushion Victoria sampler needlebook

Finally, I removed the tacking stitches from the lining piece.

Victorian pincushion Victoria sampler needlebook

Holding the back piece, felt inner ‘page’ and front piece together, aligned carefully, I threaded narrow silk ribbon through the three eyelets. The two outer ones I tied in a small bow, and the centre one I looped through, knotted three inches from the loop, and then tied a bow at the end.

Victorian pincushion Victoria sampler needlebook

This shows what I did with the ribbon:

Victorian pincushion Victoria sampler needlebook

The needlebook can now be opened, and needles placed in the ‘page’ inside.

Victorian pincushion Victoria sampler needlebook

This is such a pretty needlebook, which can now be hung on the pincushion stand from a pin placed in the cushion pad on the top.

Victorian pincushion Victoria sampler needlebook

Now I’ve just got the ‘strawberry’ to stitch and assemble, and the whole project will be complete!

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Victorian Pincushion on spindle stand: 4 – stitching the needlebook

I’m currently stitching this gorgeous pincushion on a wooden base from a Victoria Sampler chart booklet in my stash. Having stitched the pincushion itself, I’m now stitching the smalls – starting with the little needlebook.

Victorian pincushion embroidery by Victoria Sampler

This pretty needlebook takes motifs from the pincushion itself, as well as a Bargello wave along the bottom. Three little square eyelets at the top will become the method of making the ‘pages’ of the needlebook hold together – I’ll be threading ribbon through those at the final stage.

This didn’t take long to do, and I was quite pleased with how it turned out…..until I realised just as I was finishing the stitching that I had miscounted somehow, and made it eight fabric threads too long! I think it was when I was working out the placement of the little pearl beads.

Not being a perfectionist, rather than unpick loads and do it correctly, I decided to make my needlebook just a bit longer than the Victoria sampler one! It just means that I have to make sure the reverse side of the needlebook is adapted to be exactly the same shape as this front panel, and adjust the shaping when I assemble it.

Victoria Sampler embroidery needlebook

It was easy to make the adjustment for the extra length on the reverse side, as there is a lot of ‘blank space’ between the eyelets and the main design.

Victoria Sampler embroidery needlebook

Shhh!! No-one will notice…..

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