New Felt Ipad Cover :: Embroidery ::

For a previous le challenge I made an Ipad cover that I really liked using hama beads. Baby MiH really enjoyed the hama beads - and decided that it was much better off my Ipad cover, and in his toy box. This Ipad cover is no more... But I will not be defeated by a 2-year old, and finally made a new cover - stronger from my first cover experience. 

This one is using embroidery - nothing that can be removed too easily (hopefully). The pattern is from my favourite craft book (it is the only book I want to make all the patterns from!). I have already talked about it here. The embroidery resembles a bit Christian traditional symbolism - oh, hold on, 'tradition' is the theme for le challenge - did you think I forgot about the .. interesting.. theme we chose? 

I tried to take a close up picture to show the actual stitching. This is not your regular cross-stitching, it looks a bit braided. It took me a while to get my head round it (because you have to follow the direction the pattern sets as well). But it definitely adds another dimension to the stitching, and also pops up a bit (not sure I needed this considering the colour scheme I chose). The stitch is called Tvistsom - you can read more about it here. It is a traditional Scandinavian stitch - and in traditional there is ... 'tradition', I am SO into this theme! 

It makes a nice change to cross-stitching, I think the overall effect is softer (a mix of the easiness of cross-stitching and the softer effect of embroidery) - but you really have to look up close to understand what stitching is used.  

The felt I used this time is much stronger than the previous one (probably double the thickness). I bought it for a Christmas project that was never to be. I love working with felt - because there is no seam to worry about. It is brilliant. It looks like I quilted the border a bit - it was all planned, and not at all because I had left too much seam allowance... You can find similar felt here. The yarn I used is the same as for the Settler shawl.  

Because of the thickness of the felt I had to use a pointy needle rather than an embroidery one. And my fingers are still remembering it. I am just warning you - embroidery is a dangerous business. And of course I am not that good at making perfect stitches, so I used waste canvas to add the pattern. I love waste canvas... 

I am always late for my le challenge project - but somehow always manage to make something I really wanted/needed to make for some time. It is a great way to get things moving for me. If you would like to join us for this le challenge or future le challenge - all entries and themes are here.