I think I may have another addiction (as well as altering matchboxes that is!) - fabric collages!
This post follows on from the previous one where you'll see I've made 3 of these collages in not as many days!
Here's a brief summary of how I put the 'Daisy Cottage' fabric collage together.
Start off with the cross stitched cottage
Cut a rectangle of cotton for the base
and re-inforce it with something sturdy - I had this roll of strong hessian type stuff which was ideal.
Machine stitch the hessian strips onto the cotton base (sorry the photos are a bit dark)
I machine stitched up and down each row and top and bottom, this is what the back looked like when I'd finished.
Stitch a narrow edging of lace around all four sides
At this point I machine stitched a handwritten label on the back
That's the base done, now to start decorating the top.
I decided to use some paper - sheet music and aged it around the edges with Distress Ink.
The next stage is the most time consuming, but also the most fun - sorting out what layers to use. I laid the various lace and fabrics onto the base before stitching anything down to get a rough idea of what it'd look like.
When happy with it, start stitching!
I coloured a bright white lace flower from a curtain edging (thanks Mum!) with Distress Inks so it blended in better.
I also added a few beads to the cross stitching, a vintage button for the centre of the flower, some hanging beads at the bottom and a horseshoe for good luck at the top right hand corner.
I gave it a simple hanger of twine (braided three lengths together and knotted them at the back).
Here's what the finished back looks like.
I attached rusty keys to the first two fabric collages
I think I now need to go shopping and hunt down more cross stitched cast offs, lace, buttons, keys - and anything else which I could use to make more - these addictions must be fed - lol!
Thanks for looking!
