When I started this project, I was sure it would take me until winter to finish it, but once I got started with a few stitches now and then, it went rather quickly. I chose to make a pair of embroidered pillowcases:
The pattern was very old and I was almost certain it wouldn't transfer two times, so I cut around it and took it to the copy machine for a pattern I could use to transfer to tracing paper.
To transfer, I used a light box (an old gadget used to view x-rays which the farmer acquired while teaching Physics; a case of his trash becoming my treasure). I slipped the pattern under tracing paper and marked the design with a transfer pencil.
The design was ready to be transferred to the pillowcases I had made. Now it was time to choose thread colors. I have a sweet little yellow rose whose petals are tinged with pink, and although a red or bright pink would have been a bolder color, I chose the yellow and by the time I had the first one finished, I knew something had to be done to make it more colorful. I had read about using crayons with embroidered designs so I got out my Crayolas and filled in the larger areas.
The upper pillowcase is without coloring as compared to the lower one with coloring. There are lots of good tutorials for this, but as is typical with me, I didn't look for them until after the fact. Most of the tutorials tell one to color first then embroider; I did the opposite, but I guess it will be o.k. The wax in the crayons is set, using a hot iron; but if the color fades it can be colored again. Years ago a crayon got in the dryer with a set of my sheets and there are still traces of it.
What do you think? Did I ruin the pillowcases by using crayons to fill in the design?
Charlotte
