Here is the card I promised earlier. This example of embroidery on paper came from a book of embroidery on paper designs.

I chose the design, then made a photocopy of it on a piece of scrap paper. What's nice about using a photocopier is that I had the opportunity to change the size of the original design. In this case, I enlarged the original design a little bit. I think it's 125% of the original.

I then temporarily attached the scratch paper to the card stock. I just used a couple pieces of tape to hold it in place. The card stock I used is a parchment-type paper, but it's thick like a greeting card.

I then placed the card stock and design stack on top of the foam piercing pad and used this special piercing tool to prick the design through both layers to create the holes used to embroider.

After the holes were made, I removed the scrap paper design. I then followed the directions in the book to embroider from hole to hole to create the design. In this case, I used DMC Light Effects floss #E3849. Though the photo above doesn't show it well, the stitching has a lot of sparkle. You can see that a little better in this close-up photo.

The ends of the threads are held in place with tape. The backs of embroidery on paper pieces tend to be messier than the backs of pieces stitched on fabric.

These designs stitch up very quickly. I did the finishing work a couple weeks after stitching the design. I used another piece of the same card stock to create a card. I cut a circle in the front of the card. Then using double-stick tape, I taped the design to the card so it would show through the circle. I then cut another piece of the card stock just a tad smaller than the front of the card. Again using double-stick tape, I adhered this smaller piece of card stock over the back of the stitchery to hide all the mechanics.

Now, I'm lucky to have all the specialty tools for this technique. But if you don't have the special piercing tool and the foam pad, you can use substitutions. Just use a fine, sharp needle to prick the holes. Use a stack of corrugated cardboard to protect your work surface. I placed my foam pad on top of a self-healing cutting mat just to be sure I wasn't poking holes in my table top.

The book this design is from is called New Ideas with Embroidery on Paper by Erica Fortgens. Erica has a number of these books out. (Once on the Amazon page, click on the author's name to see her other titles).

This is not the beginner book. In it she teaches how to use the embroidered pieces with paper that you have embossed using the kinds of brass templates that you can find in rubber stamping stores. So there are a lot more ideas here for me to try!

I truly enjoy these beautiful, small projects and am sure to do more. In fact, I finished another card from the kit last night ... and then began a card depicting a baby carriage.

Stitched March 8, 2007
Finishing done on March 22, 2007

Pattern name:	New Ideas with Embroidery on Paper Design C2, page 25
Designer:	Erica Fortgens
Stitch Count:	N/A
Fabric/Base:	Parchment card stock
Floss:	DMC Light Effects floss #E3849
Original Cost:	approx. $16.50
Copyright:	2004

Back to Cameo's Corner: 2007
On to next project: Bird House Card