When life gives you lemons, make miniatures

In January I had the unfortunate luck of being knocked over by a car on a zebra crossing.  

This resulted in an extended stay in bed and off work, but without much mobility.  I decided to tackle the library armchair petit point, as it was a project I could do without too much movement or equipment.  

This was the chair we last saw two posts ago, when I was very rude about picot braid (I apologise to anyone who uses it), and decided to do some reupholstering.  I decided on petit point as it is quite a relaxing way of sewing.  

I hate following charts:  I invariably get lost, or make a mistake, or get a bit bored.  I think I am too much of a free-style embroiderer.  So  I'm going to show you my method of petit point pattern designing.  Actually, this is just the original method, before  Berlin woolwork introduced paper charts in the 19th century.

First, I made a template of all the pieces I needed.  Then I drew the floral designs.  I chose a twining design of vines, leaves and flowers.  I used colouring pencils to give a little colour.  

I then traced the design directly onto the silk gauze with a B pencil.  I am using 40 count silk gauze as it is small enough to be in scale, but not so small that I need a magnifier.  Good light is alway necessary though.

I (luckily) have an enormous stash of embroidery threads, as I do a lot of larger scale embroidery (especially stumpwork).  Some of the threads are vintage, which gives them a lovely sheen, but it is important to make sure that the background threads come from the same dye lot, so I tend to order the background threads for each project I do.  Here I have a mixture of DMC and Anchor cotton thread and silk Waterlillies in variegated green.

I start by embroidering the stems in tent stitch (half a cross stitch), and then do the leaves and flowers.  I always leave the background until last, and generally try to find a good TV series to watch at the same time.  This chair was done to an Elizabeth Gaskell box set of 'North and South', 'Wives and Daughters' and 'Cranford'.  Highly recommended to pass the time!

Just checking the colours 'in situ' to make sure they work in the library

Some of the threads were left-overs from the rug project, which means that although the designs are very different, the colours in the chair don't clash with the rug.  I wanted to keep the cosy feeling of the library.

The seat covers and stool took quite a long time to finish, but they kept me well occupied.  I still have to complete the back of the chair.

I think the worst part of the process is the actual upholstering.  After all that work, it is a risky process cutting the fabric and using glue!  I trim the gauze with a generous hem, and use superglue around the edge to stop it from fraying. 

 I then fold the raw edges over a fine card template (usually a cereal packet), and sew the opposite edges together in a zig zag, making sure the fabric is pulled tight.

I should have taken a photo of this part of the process, but I was concentrating too hard!

When the pieces were covered, I glued them to the chair.  The order of gluing is quite important:  sides first, then back, then seat.  This way the risk of glue smears is lower, and the pieces slot together nicely.

Small clamps are an absolute necessity to make sure the edges are firmly glued.  I use my clamps for all sorts of things, so I made sure that they were clean before I used them on the embroidery.

Ta da!  One cosy armchair to sink into with a good book, and a footstool to put your feet up.

Of course, I couldn't resist finishing the stool and chair with some tassels.

For the braid I used the background colour embroidery thread twisted into cord.   I won't apologise, I think it looks better than picot ;)  !

Jonquil