Special valentine gifts: sewing and crochet patterns

The piece incorporates some couching and minimalist felt appliqué…all with the same color top thread.

Special valentine gifts: sewing and crochet patterns

It all started like this:

I stretched and shaped the doily out until I was happy with the results and pinned it to the solid purple cotton fabric.  For visibility against the white lace and to keep the piece as flat as possible while sewing, I used flat head quilting pins in bright colors to pin it down.

“Couching” is a technique where you sew on top of a thick fiber, i.e. thread or yarn, using a normal (thin) thread to connect it to a fabric.  The thick fiber never goes through the fabric.  My thick fiber this time around was DMC Tapestry Wool, yarn which is used for needlepoint and crewelwork.  I used a zig zag stitch over it to attach it to the doily and cotton.

You’ll notice I left a long tail at the start point, and I did so as well at the end, so that I could pull the tails to the back of the piece using a needle.  This is what it looks like from the back…

From there, I used couching a few more times to highlight the pattern of the crochet in different colored tapestry yarn.

Then I added some imagery to the piece.  The flowers and leaves are not totally stitched down.  But these lines give the flowers more detail, in my opinion.

And there you have it!  To give you an idea of the size of this piece, the heart is about 10 inches at its widest point.

Source:  kormondy.com