Hardanger Ornament Postcards

These are probably the most special postcards that I've ever made. Even Chris says that these are his favorites.

I unearthed these embroideries from one of my Bins of Magical Things a few months ago. I made then YEARS ago and they were intended to be ornaments just like you see in the pattern photo. I did the embroidery but never actually made the ornaments. It was time to do something with them.

The first step was to pick some fabrics. I had a nice red satin that would be a great background for the 6 red and green ornamants and this green would be a perfect frame for both designs. I eventually dug up a pretty purple satin for the background of the gold embroideries.

The first step was to fuse WonderUnder on the back of the green fabric and cut out the circles that will frame the embroideries. I used WonderUnder because I wanted to be able to draw guidelines to help center the circle.

To put it together I first cut the embroidery about a half inch larger than the hole and then centered the embroidery in the hole and tack fused it in place. The teflon sheet is so helpful. I had prefused the back of the satin fabrics and then cut out circles the same size and the hole in the fabric. I used the paper backing to position the satin fabric on the postcard base and fused it down. then I flipped the embroidery part on top of that and fused all the layers together. I used a pressing cloth to protect the embroideries.

I did a satin stitch around the ornament and added a hanger and bow.

I stitch lines like the bow and hanger at least 3 times to build up a bold line and to hide any bobbles.

Here's a close up of the stitching. These cards will be mailed in clear envelopes to protect the stitching. I made 12 of these cards, 6 in each design.

I also unearthed these two old/vintage cross stitch projects that I might have done over 35 years ago! I used the same method to turn them into cards too.  That's 88 cards made this year!

There's still a ton of stuff in that bin.....