August 2006 Greetings Card with Textured Yarn

Please read all the instructions before commencing.

The greetings card has many variations and the design uses small pieces of fabric constructed from material and textured yarn.

If you are using a new technique always practice first.

Always test machine stitches before commencing.

REQUIREMENTS

Bondaweb 5" x 5" (13 x 13cm)

2 pieces of silicone paper larger than the Bondaweb

An assortment of cotton fabric (cerise, magenta, scarlet, cherry) cut into 1" x 5" (2.5 x 13cm) strips

Matching cotton or rayon sewing machine thread

Royal blue cotton or rayon sewing machine thread

1 x TY 122 S Summer Skies Textured Yarn - use yarn 'D'

1 x TY 117 F Flame Textured Yarn - use yarn 'C'

Sewing machine

Sewing equipment - scissors (paper and fabric), pins, ruler, tape measure, black biro, red biro, kebab stick

One or more blank pale cream greetings card (10.5 x 15cm when folded)

Double sided sticky tape

A 10.5 x 10.5cm square will make 4 or 6 cards plus 'leftover' triangles

A 7 x 7cm square will make 1 or 2 cards plus 'leftover' triangles

INSTRUCTIONS

1. On the smooth paper side of Bondaweb using a black biro, draw a square 10.5 x 10.5 cm.  Divide the square into nine squares, each one measuring 3.5cm.  Using a red biro, draw a diagonal line from the top left corner to the bottom right corner of each square.  Draw another diagonal line from the top right corner to the bottom left corner of each square.  You may need to draw over the top of these lines from time to time to keep them visible.

2. Place the Bondaweb, smooth side down and rough side up, on to a piece of silicone paper.  Place the strips, right side up, horizontally on top of the Bondaweb, one overlapping the other so that each strip is roughly 1cm or more and varying the depth of the strips slightly.  When you are pleased with the colour sequence place a piece of silicone paper on top of the fabric and press with an iron in order to stick the fabric strips to the Bondaweb.

3. Using matching sewing machine thread and using a stitch of medium width and length, zigzag over the raw edges of each strip of fabric.  Using the same width zigzag but a slightly shorter stitch length, but not quite satin stitch, and royal blue rayon sewing machine thread, machine for about 1/2" (1.5cm) next to the previous zigzag in several places along each strip in a random order.

4. Turn the fabric so that the strips are horizontal.  Using the same width and length zigzag as used with the blue thread, work vertical lines of zigzag every 1/2" (1.25cm) using the pink and red sewing machine threads. This will start to create a tartan effect.

5. Over the top of every pink and red vertical zigzag that you have just sewn, place the blue 'D' textured yarn.  ('D' yarn looks like railway tracks with blocks of blue and turquoise in between the tracks).  Change the sewing machine to blue thread and hemming stitch (4 or 5 tiny straight stitches and one narrow zigzag).  The straight stitch should be just outside the 'railway track' and the zigzag should cover the 'railway track'.  Work the right hand side of the 'railway track' first, turn the material and repeat on the other side of the 'railway track'.  DO NOT PUT YOUR FINGERS CLOSE TO THE NEEDLE, use a kebab stick to hold the blue 'D' yarn whilst machining or pin it in place.

6. In between each blue 'D' yarn sewn down in vertical lines, place pink and red yarn 'C'.  ('C' yarn is a single thread with red and pink tufts with a hint of metallic thread).  Work the same size hemming stitch in pink sewing machine thread over the top of the single thread of yarn 'C'.

7. Turn the fabric over so that the grid is visible.  Draw over the top of the red lines and the outside square again to make them clear.  Cut around the edge of the 10.5cm square.  Cut along the RED biro lines.  You should have 12 x 1" (2.5cm) squares, 2 x 2" (5cm) 'leftover' triangles and 8 x approximately 1 1/2" (3.5cm) 'leftover' triangles.

8. Stick double sided sticky tape to the back of the squares, remove the protective tape and stick to the greetings card using one of the combinations below.  

A. 3 squares down the middle of the card 1.5cm from the top edge of the card and a gap of  0.5cm in between each square and the stripes on the squares forming a chevron.

B. 2 squares down the middle of the card 1.5cm from the top edge of the card turned to form diamonds with the stripes running vertically or horizontally and a 0.5cm gap in between the two diamonds.

C. 4 squares, two on the top row and two underneath, 1.5cm from the top edge of the card and a gap of 0.5cm in between each square, giving a window effect and all the stripes running in the same direction.

D.  The same as above but the squares are pushed together with no gap in between and the stripes forming a diamond pattern.

E.  2 large triangles, one on top of the other, 2 cm from the top edge of the card with a gap of 0.5cm in between each triangle.  The triangles should have their bases at the bottom and look like two pyramids.

F. 3 small triangles, one on top of the other, 2cm from the top edge of the card with a gap of 0.5cm in between each triangle.  The triangles should have their bases at the bottom and look like three pyramids.

G. 3 small triangles, next to each other, placed horizontally across the card 3cm from the top edge of the card with a gap of 0.5cm in between each triangle.  The triangles should have their bases vertically and look like arrows pointing to the right.

H. 4 small triangles pointing into the centre, 2cm from the top edge of the card with a gap of 0.5cm in between each triangle.  The triangles should have their bases on the outside with the spaces in between the triangles forming a cross.

I. 3 small triangles, the first one with the base horizontally, 2cm from the top edge of the card.  Place the second and third triangle top points under the left and right edges of the base of the first triangle.  The three triangles should form a large pyramid with a small empty triangle space in the middle.

J. 2 small triangles pointing towards each other, 3cm from the top edge of the card. The two triangles should resemble a bowtie or butterfly.

K.  As above.  Using a stitch of medium width and length and using gold metallic sewing machine thread and cream thread in the bobbin, zigzag the two triangles in place.

L. 2 small triangles pointing towards each other, 3cm from the top edge of the card. The two triangles should resemble an egg timer or figure 8.

Try using other colours together to create your fabric, such as:-

TY 122 S Summer Skies - Yarn D - blue

TY 125 S Seaweed - Yarn C - green

 

TY 127 S Stone - Yarn D - stone

TY 139 C Chocolate - Yarn C - brown

 

TY 130 S Sunset - Yarn D - pink/apricot

TY 115 P Peach - Yarn C - peach

 

TY 116 R Rhododendron - Yarn D - lilac

TY 121 A Arctic Sea - Yarn C - turquoise/jade

 

TY 116 R Rhododendron - Yarn D - pink/lilac

TY 123 S Sea Blue - Yarn C - blue/lilac

 

Look at the colours of Textured Yarn to give you inspiration.

©  Torbay Textiles 2006