Merry Christmas Sew-Along 2018 ~ Snowflake Frills

It’s time for the next ornament in the Merry Christmas Sew-Along 2018!  I’m so excited to show y’all my new design – snowflake frills! As a reminder, I’m partnering again with my friend Monique of Farm House Quilts to bring y’all 6 ornament patterns we designed over the next 6 months – all for FREE!  We decided to keep it simple this year with a Scandinavian theme & red & white ornaments. Although we have an idea what the other is making, we don’t see each other’s ornaments until it’s released. That means we get to be surprised too when it’s not our turn to post!  Okay, let’s get to the merry ornament making!

We are also having prizes this year! Monique & I will each be picking a prize winner at the end of the sew along. We are picking some fun things from our stash for each prize & I’ll give you a look at what I’ve picked out so far at the end of the post. How do you enter? Make the ornaments & post a picture, either in our Facebook group or by tagging us on Instagram & using #merrychristmassal2018. If you post on Instagram, your profile must be public in order for us to see the picture.

You can check out the Merry Christmas Sew-Along page for a full schedule, a Facebook group link, ornament links, blog links, Instagram handles, & all the details you need to know about the sew-along.

Ornament #2 ~> Snowflake Frills

Snowflakes are wonderful little things with such wonderful patterns that we really can’t see because they are so small. You may have heard that every snowflake is unique. That’s mostly true, as you can read here, but on very rare occasions there may be two exactly alike. Either way, snowflakes are unique things & no one ever draws one the same way. I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone’s version of this ornament because they will all be unique to the person that made it. Hope y’all enjoy the pattern! : )

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Pattern Instructions

This month’s pattern is an embroidery pattern, which is something I’m beginning to love! For the tutorial, I’ll be showing you the stitches I used to embroider the pattern. You can certainly use this pattern to make your ornament out of any medium you choose.

I chose to print the pattern directly onto my fabric using the method shown here. As you’ll see in the tutorial, the thread really covers everything up nicely. Use whatever method you prefer to transfer the pattern.

Supplies

Here are the supplies I used for the sewn ornament:

• Printed pattern {or fabric with printed pattern} ~ Snowflake Frills ~ Ornament #3
• red embroidery thread {I used Cottage Garden Threads #1007, which was a gift from an Australian friend}
• silver seed beads
• 8.5″ x 10.5″ cut of white fabric {the pattern is 4.25″ x 4.25″ but I needed this size because of the hoop I used}
• 8.5″ x 10.5″ piece of scrap batting
• embroidery hoop {I’m using an oval 5″ x 9″ hoop}
• embroidery needle

I’ve been saving this thread for a special occasion because it was a gift from one of my Australian pen pals. It’s 100% cotton, made in Australia, & hand dyed. Just look at that color!

This thread was wonderful to stitch with & it’s already cut to the perfect length. The price point is fairly high for embroidery thread, but this is like buying a skein of hand dyed yarn. Gorgeous!

Embroidery Stitches

I want to say that I’m not an embroidery expert! I usually just stitch things in a random fashion until it looks like I want it to. There are some stitches I used that do have a name and I’ll have those listed. You can check out this handy library of 21 stitches for more information. I’m using two threads together for my stitch work.

I started my thread at the point of one of the triangle shapes in the center of the work.

Then I outlined the shape with long, straight stitches.

Next I crisscrossed the center line & filled in the triangles with a satin stitch.

I did the same for the smaller triangles…

After I finished the satin stitches, I went down the leafy stem with a small straight stitch, ending with French knot.

For the leaf shapes, I stitched two straight stitches on the sides of the leaf…

Then stitched two smaller ones at the peak. I decided not to fill in the shape & opted to just put a straight stitch down the center. I’ll be adding beads to fill in the little circles.

One row done!

Here it is with 3 rows done & a couple of branches filled in.

I used a longer split stitch for the branch shapes. You can see a little extra line in the design in this photo. That was a little slip with the marker when I was filling in my pencil drawing. Just a little extra uniqueness to the design! : D

Almost done! I just need to fill in the spriggles on the sides.

I used straights stitches for the stems & a lazy daisy stitch for the ends. That extra line will just be like a shadow!

All stitched up & ready for beads!

I love how the color changes in this thread!

Adding Beads & Framing

I used some silver seed beads & one strand of embroidery thread for the bead work. Basically I added a bead everywhere there was a circle.

This didn’t take nearly as long as all that stitching did!

I’m going to keep the work in my hoop, so I decided to paint the outside hoop. I used my favorite chalk paint in the color Vintage. You don’t need to paint the inside of the hoop or the smaller hoop because it will not be seen.

I added batting to the back of this because I was going to do some simple quilting on the ends.

After I did it & put it in the hoop, I just didn’t like it!

That all got taken out & after some steam pressing the leftover holes disappeared. I think the snowflake is perfect all on its own!

Now the back of it is a different story! ; D

That was just a quick temporary fix so I could take pictures. : )

Prizes

In the first ornament post I showed y’all things I had gathered for the prize from me. I’ve added a tiny mason jar of wooden buttons to the pile! I picked up a pile of wooden buttons during a recent thrifting adventure & thought I would share some with the lucky winner. Click on the link to the first post to find out more about the rest of it.

Remember to post a picture of the ornaments you make for entries. Find out all the details on the Merry Christmas Sew-Along page. Happy sewing y’all!

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