Spring has sprung – so it must be time to think about Christmas haha!! But there’s no time for daffodils and spring lambs, Easter bunnies, primroses, catkins and blossom at Bustle & Sew HQ right now, though they will appear in the April Bustle & Sew Magazine that’s published on Thursday (more about this in a few days).
Having completed the magazine my thoughts have turned towards Christmas and continuing work on my first major project for a while. My last major design was the “Wheel of the Year” that I completed at the end of 2023. (spring segment shown above), and now, just over a year later I’m ready for another large project. There’s a lot that has to happen before the best bit – stitching – begins though and I thought you might be interested to see a little of my design process ….
First comes the research. I scrolled through literally hundreds of images of existing “twelve days” to see what sort of designs are already out there as I absolutely don’t want to duplicate existing designs, though they can offer inspiration to build upon.
Then there’s the design process. I did think about creating another wheel, but the elements of the Twelve Days simply don’t lend themselves to that shape. It works for the months as the animals and plants are just peeping into frame but isn’t so good if we need to see the whole image. So I’ve decided upon bunting flags to hang along my picture rail or above the fireplace, though these designs would work just as well as elements for a wall hanging, quilt or similar.
After sketching out the designs I double check online to make sure I haven’t inadvertently duplicated existing work..
Then the next step is to tidy up my rather sketchy designs so they’re suitable both for embroidery templates as well as printing directly onto fabric – but which fabric should I choose? After looking at various samples I decided upon a nice soft white (not bright optic white) pure linen fabric for my pre-printed panels….
And then at last I can begin to stitch!
Making sure that I write down all the floss numbers as I go along….
And changing my mind about a few times in the process!! Until finally I’ve finished the first design and it’s time to begin the next…
And yes, there’s metallic floss! I don’t think I’ve ever met a stitcher who enjoyed working with this, but it’s worth all the effort and frustration in my opinion as it does add a lovely sparkle to Christmas designs. Then I will make up the finished flags, photograph them, write up the detailed guidance and finally assemble all into a user-friendly form. Phew!
All with the help of my trusty editorial assistant! I’m anticipating that the Twelve Days of Christmas designs will be available sometime in May, but I will keep you posted on this.
I do hope you’ve found this little peek into my creative process interesting and I’ll be back in a day or two with a look at the April Magazine that’s all about spring and not Christmas!
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