Tapestry Brooch Tutorial - Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew

Welcome to the April Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew Link Party.

The Link Party that aims to have you all organised with a cupboard full of handcrafted goodies by the time that December comes around :)

This month I am delighted to bring you a guest tutorial from Tina Francis, the creative genius behind such gorgeous makes as these colourful cushions,

and the driving force behind

Something we can all empathise with!

Tina has generously provided us with a tutorial for one of her lovely tiny, tapestries that can be made into a brooch or necklace like these. Aren't they great?

"You will need

12 count Interlock canvas
50 cm of each wool colour
A tapestry needle
Brooch finding (if using)

You can use tapestry wool or why not search in your wool stash for 4 ply, this project is about using what you already have so if you want to use the stitching for a card or gift tag (just attach it with stitch) then it does not matter what count of tapestry canvas you use.

These patterns are great scaled up and you can see from the images that they suit cross stitch too!"

 You can find instructions for the tent stitch used in the brooches here

The chart for the Inca pattern above can be downloaded here

If making a brooch, once you have completed the stitching from the chart trim the canvas so that is has a border of one canvas hole around the stitching. Place the trimmed stitching into the brooch front then push the back into place and fold down the flaps to hold the brooch back in place.

Tina has also offered either a Small Squares or Inca Pattern Booklet (£10), 2 goldtone brooch findings (£6.40), 12 count interlock canvas enough for all 7 brooch patterns in the booklet (£2.50), two John James Needles one size 18 and  one size 24, a small amount of wool to complete one brooch front as this month's giveaway prize. So, one lucky linker could be adding one of these lovely brooches to their Christmas gift stash!

The winners of last month's sewing themed charms were Melissa at Happy Quilting and Sally at Wonky Patchwork.

As ever the link party closes at 23.59 GMT on April 30th, so you have lots of time to get those projects linked up. No blasts from the past though, we are all about stockpiling throughout the year here so restrict yourself to links to projects you have worked on this month:)

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks again to our lovely giveaway sponsors who have been so generous in their support of the link party.

  

 

Tiny Tapestry

In my Stitch magazine that arrived during the run-up to Christmas there was an article and instructions for some lovely little tapestry brooches. Needless to say despite meaning to have a go at them I didn't actually get around to doing anything about it until now.

Turns out they are such fun to do and might even be addictive! The brooch on the left is stitched with tapestry wool that I had on hand and the one on the right is stitched with stranded cotton that was also on hand.

 They were so quick to do that I might just have got carried away and kept stitching!

The stitching on the left is more tapestry wool whilst the one on the right is a combination of hand-dyed stranded cotton and cotton knitting wool.

I bought the canvas squares and brooch findings from Tina Francis Tapestry and with another 3 squares of canvas waiting to be stitched I think I will definitely be going back for more brooch findings.

Tina is also one of the giveaway sponsors for this years Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew Link Party, so if you would like to try your hand at these cute brooches be sure to link up in April. Of course if you can't wait until then check out Tina's kits here

The Link Party fun kicks off on Monday so be sure to check back then when there will be a chance to win a great giveaway prize for one lucky linker and a new Christmas home decoration tutorial to add to the Ho, Ho, Ho archives.

Grab this year's button and be ready to link up :)

Linking up to