"Serenity Harbor" Stitching Book Instructions"

How To Put Together Your Stitching Book

Supplies in your kit. 

12 x 18 piece of "Vanilla Latte"wool/felt

4 x 6 piece of "Loden"wool/felt

4 x 6 piece of "Blue Spruce" wool/felt

2 pieces of 5 1/2 x 8 cardboard

approx 5 x 8 piece of "Serenity Harbor" combed cotton fabric

Button

waxed cotton string

Dove charm for Peace

A piece of 5 x 7 (30ct Linen) OR a piece of (14ct Aida) "Lambswool"

Cross stitch charted design along with the Personalized Name and Date

What you will need:

All fibers. Please use the same fibers you might have used with your sampler

Needles for cross stitching and a sharp needle for the book assembly

Fray Check

Iron

Pins

Freezer Paper

Scissors

***Just a note that I prefer to hand sew but many of you might have a sewing machine....so please feel free to assemble these with your machine for edging and finishing.....I just prefer to hand sew because my machine is always jamming and it is more relaxing for me than to fight with the machine :)

Starting with your fabric for the cross stitch design, add Fray Check to the edges.  Since the finished design is a 4 x 6 and the fabric is a 5 x 7 this only leaves you 1 inch extra all around, You will not need more than 1 inch extra to finish this piece for your book.  Fold Fabric in half and starting in center cross stitch the design with the same fibers you used for your "Serenity Harbor " Sampler. I have included your personalized Name and Date for the cover design, See Directions in kit.

After all stitching is complete, Iron and fold under extra fabric, press. 

I made a straight stitch across the outer edges of the design (I used a green floss to give it a little more color and a bit of a frame look), when finished set it aside

Next Step is to cut the "Vanilla Latte" wool/felt.

 You have a piece that is 12 x 18

you need to cut this in half so you will 2 pieces that measure  9 x 12 

12' across the top and 18" down the sides, (Before cutting)

Cut in half to make 2 pieces that measure 12" across the top
and 9" down the sides (pic after cutting)

Next to Make the Cotton Pocket

Take the Serenity Harbor cotton fabric and fold under all of the edges to the back,

 approx 1/8 to a 1/4 inch, pin all around, using a sewing stitch and a thread of your choice 

sew all edges under, iron when finished.  

Take one piece of "Vanilla Latte" wool/felt (12" across the top and 9" down the side), fold in half to find center, lay the cotton fabric on the bottom right side of your page, (pin the right side to the edge of the wool/felt and the left side to the center on the wool/felt page) Sew the right side and left side down onto the page. The bottom section will need to be gathered to fit, take needle and thread, make a knot at one end of thread and use a gathering stitch across the bottom of the cotton only, pull the thread to gather and make the fabric fit, pin in place and sew the bottom section down onto the "Vanilla Latte" 

Now to make the floss bobbin holders and a small pin cushion.

Take the 2 pieces of green wool/felt these are the 4 x 6 pieces.

Fold each in half , cut into 4 x 3 (4" across the top and 3" down the sides)

Now you should have 4 pieces that measure 4 x 3, (2 dark green and 2 lighter green ) 

Lighter green has been cut and the darker green is folded in half and waiting for the scissors :)

Take one darker green piece and cut in half . You want to make 2 pieces that measure 4" x 1 1/2"

AND do the same to one of the lighter green pieces, So you should have 4 pieces of 4" x 1 1/2" for the floss pockets and a pin cushion

**Make sure you set  the other 2 ( 4" x 3") pieces of wool aside

(These are for the flowers and leaves on the cover)

I needed to decorate the floss pockets and pin cushion, so I just imagined a small circle in the center, made various French knots either around a circle or filled in a circle, I used a Lazy Daisy stitch for the flower petals and using the same stitch but with a green floss I made leaves. 

I have left the color choices and stitch ideas for flowers up to you but shared what I did for a suggestion, Remember these are your own books and make them to reflect what you would like. :)

Pin cushion

Floss bobbin pocket- stitched down the center to make a pocket for 2 bobbins

Assembling the Floss Bobbin Pockets

After you have decorated your pockets, pin them in place where you would like them to be. I placed 3 pockets on the left side of the inner page of the book and above the cotton pocket I added one to become my pin cushion. I stitched these down on the left side, right side and then made small stitches down the center on each one so I can add 2 floss bobbins to each pocket, I did not stitch the bottom closed but you can if you would like. I added one of the 4' x 1 1/2" inch strips to the right side and I sewed this one down all around the outer edges and before I closed it all around I added a bit of fiber fill, (if you do not have fiber fill I have used a tissue before and it works just fine) **Just a note that do not fill this pin cushion to much because it will pucker the wool/felt fabric and will not fit well when sewing all of the final edges together......I took some of my fiberfill out because it puckered :)....learn from me. HAHA

Embellishing Your Book Cover 

Now is time to take your stitched piece and fold your wool/felt piece that will be the cover half. I did not place my design in the center...I placed it a bit off center to the top left. Be creative and place your stitched piece wherever you want but remember you will have some flowers and leaves to finish with.....maybe you can cut out the flower and leaf pieces first, and play with arranging before you stitch down the cross stitched design so it will all fit the way you like. 

Pinned in place

Stitched in place and folded to see placement

Tracing the flower and leaves

I love to use Freezer Paper with wool. Trace the flower leaf patterns onto Freezer Paper(dull side of paper) 2 times....you will need one piece for the darker green wool/felt and one for the lighter green wool/felt, 

Iron onto the wool/felt (shiny side of paper down) cut around  outer edges of paper to make it fit the wool/felt pieces. Cut out all of the shapes and pull paper off. 

Cover Embellishment

Lay the wool/felt flower and leaf pieces around an edge of the cross stitched design.....be creative here.....you can center your design and add some of the flowers to each corner, or maybe the top corner instead of the bottom corner.....have fun with this...When you are happy with your arrangement then baste in place.......Use your floss from the design, to embellish...I used the pink floss and made French knots in the center of the flowers, I used the dark green to stitch down the leaves and made some Lazy Daisy stitches in the flowers.....see close-up in the last picture. 

Adding Button and Waxed String for closure 

After the embellishment is finished  you need to add the button and the waxed string 

see button placement

See photo below for the button placement....the waxed string is stitched down behind the "Serenity Harbor" cotton pocket.......to make sure you will have the correct placement for the string.......lay the cover section with the inside section of the book together (wrong sides facing), fold in half and align placement of button and string 

close-up of waxed string , make sure this is sewed down on the wrong side of the wool/felt to hide the stitches.

Assembling book pages together. 

With wrong sides together (cover page and inside page)pin around the outer edges (top and bottom sections only). Make sure all of your edges are lining up.....Your wool/felt might have become a bit out of shape but still line up your outer edges ...you can take care of any "out of shape edges later with a bit of the iron". Notice that I made a straight line down the center of the book. I took a ruler and using a light touch with a pencil  I made a stitching line for myself and hand stitched down the center. After the center line has been stitched now it is time to stitch across the top and bottom of the book. I used a buttonhole stitch with a matching perle cotton.

The left and right sides are still open and at this point you will insert a cardboard into each side for the front and back pages of your book.  If you feel your cardboard is to snug then feel free to cut it down....I did not have to cut the card board but everyone stitches differently :)

 Pin these edges closed and use the buttonhole stitch to close them like you did the top and bottom.

Your book is finished!!!

Please be creative and finish these as you like.....this is how I finished mine but I would love to see how you finished yours....so please send me a photo to stitchbythebay at hotnail dot com...

Thank you so much for being on this journey with me.....and one more thing I have included the Charm of the Dove for PEACE....I stitched mine down on my inside pincushion and I pray for all of you to have Peace in your lives!!!

Blessings

donna