ES SAL: Erica's Elegant Finish!

Whew! I'm back :) Thank you all so much for understanding, and for the very lovely comments about my Pansy ;) She's gotten so big over the last sunny week that I had to transplant her to a nice new pot today, and I noticed several new buds so hopefully she will bloom again soon! But I'm still behind in blog reading and e-mailing, sorry :(

This is also not the post I intended to write today - I'm sensing a trend here lately - but I have the most wonderful news to share and simply couldn't wait - a new SAL Finish!!! And what an absolutely gorgeous and unusual finish it is too :)

Erica, who blogs at Erica's Stitches and is currently on hiatus, always crafts very creative projects, and her bookmark is no exception! I actually consider it a Spring Garden Variation, and her work is a fantastic example of how you can easily adjust a pattern to make it truly "yours", something that fits your own personality!

Erica is not a fan of hearts, and so she replaced them with geometric floral elements:

Isn't it stunning?!!! The flowers she designed remind me of Chrysanthemums, and along with the pretty colour palette she put together (more about it here and here!), the bookmark has a crisp Autumnal feel, which is very apt given the time of year:

Here's a closer view, where you can see that the innovative layering of the light and dark oranges lends the two motifs their depth and helps give the impression of a large, many-layered flower in what is actually a very small design space!

Erica also replaced the simple spacer bars with lines of incredibly elegant eyelets!!! This is definitely something I want to try stitching in future, and I really like the way she incorporated all her palette colours, alternating light and dark shades!

With so much added detail, Erica minimized the other Specialty Stitch elements - namely the Center Diamond and Algerian Crosses - by working simplier versions, which I think was very smart, as it keeps the eye on all the elements instead of just the center tulip motif. Her bookmark is also a great example of how a few small changes in a design can make a really BIG impact, and the result is so impressive :)

And as the perfect finishing touch, Erica chose this lovely classic botanical print with an inquisitive little birdie, which ties together all her Autumnal colours:

Finally, I really admire Erica's even finishing, and she explained her method to me:

"To finish, I didn't do the sew and flip right sides together - when I do that I can never get nice corners. Instead, I backstitched around the edges of the main design and basted the extra cloth to the inside while mitering the corners. Then I cut some heavy duty fusible interfacing to the same size and fused it to my backing fabric and basted and mitered again. Then I was able to whipstitch the two sides together."

(I'm sharing her own words because her instructions are great, so clear and concise!)

This is most definitely a technique I would like to try in future! My corners, as you have likely noticed, are always wonky - and I thought that you may want to try it out too! If you do, please let me know :) For me, though, I will have to conquer one of my most dreaded Stitchy Foes, The Whipstitch ;) Although a more recent opponent than my staunchest longtime enemy The French Knot, my first effort did not go well.

For that, I will have to work up some courage, methinks, although I do have my poor Blackwork Bookmark (abandoned but not forgotten!) just waiting for its Final Finish. Or perhaps I'll have to stitch up an Autumnal Garden of my own...

Thank you so much Erica for sharing your gorgeous work and lovely pictures!

Final Finish: A Snowflake In Summer!

Wooeth of the Hooeth! I have some very exciting news to share today - I finally finished my Blackwork Snowflake!!! It's only been, oh, two years (?!) in the making!

I am SO very proud of how this turned out, and that I managed to finish this well before Christmas, LOL! (Um, okay, it's actually looooong after the first Christmas it should have been finished for, but hey - now it's so late, it's early! Always look on the bright side, right?!) You can read all about this beautiful pattern - a freebie from WyrdByrd Designs - and my stitching choices in A Very Special Snowflake :).

It wasn't until after I had written that post that I realized my snowflake was actually more than a year old. Like, more than twice that. And, as of that post, I intended to finish it soon, like by the next week - that was in April. *looks incredibly sheepish*

The Final Finish and I, we are not such very good friends. (A big thanks to Karen @ Karen's Colourful Creations for that term!) But I'm hoping that will change soon :)

You know what else I'm hoping to master? The Fine Art of the Tutorial. Seriously, I really tried with this little snowflake! I wanted to do the whole step-by-step thing, like I did for the ES Blackwork Spring Garden SAL Bookmark Finishing Tutorial. Alas, it was evidently not to be. But at least I have some progress pictures to share!

Before we get to the photos: this type of finish is the standard Stitched Christmas Ornament in my house, taught to me by my Stitchy Guru Mother who is amazingly adept at making them in a wide variety of shapes, including circles. Me, I stick with squares, for obvious reasons, LOL! It's so much easier to just follow the Aida lines :)

The definitive element is the cording, which is unwound and fluffed out to make the tassel at the bottom :) Everything - from the tassel to the top hanging loop - is only one piece of cord! And this looks even prettier with metallic cording. In fact, I had bought silver cording but decided it overwhelmed my little snowflake - it made the beading look dull - and so I went with the plain navy instead.

Usually, we stuff our ornaments with polyfill, but this time around I did a square insert made from two layers of quilt batting, just like in the Bookmark Finishing Tutorial. Most of the steps are the same and can be easily adapted :) So I'm just going to skim over most of the steps; for more detail, please read the bookmark tutorial.

But what I am going to try and describe in depth is the cording attachment process!!! This has been - by far - the hardest part of making ornaments like these for me, and I hope that this post might help anyone else who has problems with cording too!

Note: To see any photo or collage LARGER, just click! It will open in a new window.

Tutorials are made for sharing! Please use this image and link back to this post :)

Here are the supplies I used for my Blackwork Snowflake Ornament:

~ Stitched Motif (September Snowflake variation, freebie from Jeanne Dansby)
~ Backing Fabric (metallic snowflake print, V.I.P. Fabrics, from an old collection)
~ Fabric Scissors - Large and Small (both shown above are Fiskars)
~ Matching Sewing Thread (navy)
~ Matching Cording (navy)
~ Quilt Batting (for padded insert)
~ Hand-Sewing Needle - sharp (I used one from my Singer assortment)
~ Coloured Pins

Not pictured: Poker-outers for turning (I used a pen and plastic cuticle pusher)

I started by roughly cutting out my backing fabric:

And then I pinned it to my stitched motif, right sides together and wrong sides out:

When working with dark fabric, it's hard to mark your outline with a pencil (like I did on my bookmark). Instead, I use guideline pins. Top Row: The red and light blue pins mark out my boundaries - there are four stitch blocks between them, and my outline will run down the middle line between the two blocks (1). These pins only go through the Aida (2). Bottom Row: The yellow pins mark my actual outline (3), and pin through both my Aida and backing fabric (4), keeping the layers together.

This is just a quick and easy no-measure way to make sure that your stitching is even. I used to just eyeball it, but after a big goof (not realizing until it was finished that one side was larger than the other on one of my first ornaments), I got into this habit :)

Then I threaded a long sharp needle from my Singer assortment with navy thread...

...and got to stitching :) This is the boring but necessary part!

Like my bookmark, I used backstitch because I'm comfortable with it. Leaving a gap at the top for turning (roughly two inches), I anchored my thread at the top right, stitched around in a square shape following my outline pins, and ended my thread at the top left. As I stitched, I removed my guideline pins, leaving the top pin until last.

Then it was time for the close cut! I counted Aida squares and pinned in my outlines again for easy cutting (the red pins), leaving a little extra at the top (the yellow pin is the actual line). I've learned that this really helps when sewing up the opening later:

When it comes to snipping the corners, a little quick pinning can help to get them even too - the light blue pins are on the same three-Aida block diagonal...

...which makes the snipping a breeze! And a little less nerve-wracking, LOL ;)

Then I removed all my pins and turned my ornament out and stuffed it!

These are exactly the same steps I used for my bookmark (which are covered in detail in the tutorial), just a square instead of a rectangle! Top Row: here are some photos after the Topsy Turn-Out, before the corner Poking-Out :); Middle Row: showing the making of the padded insert - I used two layers of quilt batting and Blanket-Stitched the edges, securing the layers with lines of Running Stitch; and the Bottom Row: shows the padded insert being folded and stuffed into the ornament.

After I spent some time smoothing the ornament with my fingers to make sure that the insert was lying flat and filled out the corners, it was time to sew up the gap. For that, I used the Invisible Ladder Stitch that I explained in my bookmark tutorial, and here is that graphic again (it's really rough - sorry! - but feel free to share if you like):

Here I am anchoring my thread - I *had* to put this one in because of the beads -

Didn't they turn out so pretty and sparkly? And then I turned the ornament around, so that the Aida seam was facing up (as in the LS diagram) because I find it easier to place the stitches this way, and placed a red pin as a guide along my stitch line:

And here is the ladder stitching pulled tight!:

At this point, you can get creative and use any type of edge finishing you want! This is a great basic way to make a padded ornament :) I thought about trying a beaded edge, but I was on a roll by this time and wanted to final-finish my snowflake off!

A word about cording: Commercial cording comes in many different types and sizes, and I buy mine in the trim section at my local fabric store (when it's available!).

Here are some examples from my - er, my Stitch Guru Mother's - stash ;)

The top two examples attached to bands are meant to be sewn into (rather than sewn onto) a seam, and so are hard to use for small projects - like this ornament - that need to be hand-stitched and turned. The middle cord - the burgundy and gold twist - is an example of my favourites type of trim, the combination and the metallic (the gold is sparkly). But it's harder to hide your tacking stitches with a two-tone cord! And the two at the bottom are plain cording, like the navy cord I used.

You can also make your own cording with floss, which is great for colour-matching to your stitchery!, but I do find that the tighter twist of the commercial cording is easier to tack down. So I recommend the commercial cord for the first try at least :)

Now, for a near-invisible join, it's best to match your sewing thread to your cording as closely as possible. So I used navy thread with my navy cording. However, that didn't make for very good pictures! LOL :) And I have had so much trouble attaching cording in the past that that's the part I really wanted to show you!

So I decided to make a little test piece and do a demonstration; unfortunately, this really close-up stuff is where my photographic skills fall short :( Although that makes the process more confusing than it should be, I hope the basic concept gets through:

In these photos, I'm using red thread with navy cord. Top Row: Anchor your thread (1) and come up through a twist in the cording (2), then take a stitch into your seam (3). Middle Row: Complete the stitch (4) bringing your needle through the fabric, place thread over cording (5) and tug gently until it settles into the space between the twist (6); Bottom Row: Tug firmly until thread "pops" into place (7), take your next stitch (8) - sewing back through the seam - and prepare to loop again (9).

Here's a close-up of the looping process in action:

From the top down: taking a stitch through the seam (1), pulling the loop gently until it's lying snug into the twist (2) and tugging firmly until the tacking stitch "pops" - you'll feel it! - into place (3) and starting the next stitch. And that's it - just repeat this stitch-loop-tug-pop-stitch process as long as needed! This is what happens:

In these photos, I've pulled the stitches loose (1), looser (2) and loosest (3), LOL, so you can see the actual stitch formation that happens! When pulled together tightly, this is how it looks - as you can see, very little red thread is showing:

Pretty amazing, isn't it? And when you use a coordinating thread, the stitches blend in so well they're virtually invisible! I hope that this process is understandable :)

Back to my ornament! Measure your cording around your ornament, including enough for the hanging loop and tassel tails - and then add a little bit extra, just in case you need it! Tie the ends of your cord before you cut it, and pin it into place:

Anchor your thread and then start sewing your cord on:

When you arrive at the hanging loop, stitch through the front and back cords where they join several times to secure them and then keep on stitching as usual:

Once you get the hang of it, cording attachment actually goes fairly fast! Before you know it, you'll reach the end - but don't cut your thread just yet:

There are several ways you can tie the knot at the bottom, but I always go for a basic overhand knot; make sure your cord ends are even and parallel for a smooth finish:

Because commercial cording is stiff (this part is easier with hand-made floss cording), your knot may not come together on the first try - just keep tugging at it gently and smoothing it out with your fingers until you like the look. Then pick up your needle and take a few random stitches through the knot to the bottom seam, adding as many as you need. These stitches will help your knot to sit right and keep it's shape!

And now for the fun part - the FLOOFING!!! Honestly, this is always my favourite part ;) Depending on how the cording is made - and what materials it's made of - it will unwind differently. In my experience, metallics unwind the smoothest and look the prettiest. You can test this before you choose your ornament cord by rolling one of the ends between your fingers; if it starts to untwist easily, it will likely unravel well:

From here on out, all you have to do is untwist! This can take a while but it's really fun to watch :) You'll wind up with something like this:

Super Floof Explosion! LOL :) Depending on how funky your ornament is, you could leave your Floof untamed, or you can comb it down with your fingers (a little eyebrow comb also works great!) and give it a trim...

...for a more manageable tassel:

So there you have it! An easier-than-it-seems - honest! - ornament finish :)

If anything's a little hazy, just ask and I'll try to help! I'll leave you with some sparkle:

I used this photo in the original post, but couldn't resist adding it again :)

Have you tried a corded finish before? Do you think you might like to try one now?!

Although finally final-finishing (try saying that three times fast! LOL) my snowflake did not, unsurprisingly, bring snow - alas! - it did bring some much-needed rain and cooler temperatures :) But maybe if I stitch up an actual snowy landscape...? Nah ;)

ES SAL: Bookmark Finishing Tutorial!

Tutorials are made for sharing! Please use the title photo and link back to this post :)

As has long been promised, I am SO pleased to *finally* be able to share this tutorial with you! As I mentioned in my last post, this padded bookmark is a combination of the flat finished bookmarks I've made previously with a two-layer quilt batting insert that I learned to make this past Christmas for ornaments :)

The padding is optional, and you can skip those steps if you want. Mine turned out a little thick - I think I may try one layer next time (with the edges finished the same way to prevent stretching) - but I'm happy with it and you might like to try it too!

Here's my bookmark posing with Robin McKinley's "Chalice", which is medium-book size (smaller than a normal hardcover but larger than a normal paperback, equivalent to a "trade paperback"), to show the scale. They make a pretty pairing!

This tutorial is the most comprehensive that I've ever attempted, and consequently it will be very heavy on the photos, as I've tried to take a picture of each stage as I stitched it myself :) It's EPIC. I finally figured out how to use the self-timer on my camera too, so please pardon the many *really* close views of my fingers! (Eep)

There are essentially three different sewing techniques involved:
1. Sewing the sides of the bookmark by hand, with Backstitch;
2. Sewing the batting insert, with Blanket Stitch or Whip Stitch; and
3. Sewing the top invisibly closed with Ladder Stitch.

I've tried to illustrate each of these stitch steps, so effectively this tutorial is three mini-tutorials in one :) However, I'm not an expert in hand-sewing (hardly! LOL), so there may very well be easier, quicker or better ways to accomplish the same thing, this is just what I tried out this time, and what miraculously mostly worked ;)

Note: As I photographed over two days that wanted to be sunny but were frequently cloudy and occasionally threatening rain, the colours in the photos change a lot!

Necessary Materials:
~ Stitched Bookmark (free SAL design)
~ Ribbon Marker (mini-tutorial here!)
~ Backing Fabric
~ Matching Sewing Thread
~ Hand-Sewing Needles
~ Small Fabric Scissors
~ Pins
~ Pokers: Knitting Needle, Orange Stick or Cuticle Pusher

For the Padded Insert:
~ Quilt Batting (two rectangles roughly bookmark-sized; trim to fit later)
~ Matching Sewing Thread (White) *not shown*

For Pressing Once Finished: *not shown*
~ Iron, Ironing Board and Fluffy Towel

Optional: *not shown*
~ Thimble, for Hand-Sewing
~ HB Pencil and Sharpener

Highly Suggested:
~ Patience (always a virtue! LOL)

I'm making a point to mention patience because this is a sometimes fiddly and finicky process that inevitably leads to much finagling! All finishing is like this (at least to me!) but the Turning of the bookmark is especially fraught with frustration, so don't give up and go slow :) I have to keep reminding myself of that, and you should too!

If you'd like to see a LARGER version of any picture/collage, just click on the image!

I'm going to divide the tutorial into three parts (with sections) for ease of reading.

Part I: Sewing the Bookmark Together with Backstitch (or Other Stitch)

You can use any stitch of your choice for this, but I used Backstitch, since it's so familiar to me. I also think that it is better to use a tighter stitch to reduce puckering where the fabric joins the Aida cloth. I started by pinning out my guidelines:

Using inexpensive rainbow-coloured quilting pins, I counted from my stitched motif to where I wanted my edge to be and placed my pin along the center of that line:

In my case, I decided that I would like the distance between my stitching and the edge to be five stitches, and working counter-clockwise I pinned around on the lines:

When I finished pinning, I realized that I had quite a lot of excess Aida on the top and bottom, so I roughly trimmed it down to size:

You don't need to be too neat at this point, since your edges will fray (especially during Turning) so it's good to have extra, this just makes it more manageable.

Next, place your stitching on your backing fabric and cut roughly around the edges:

I always cut my fabric a little larger (after I accidentally cut an edge far too close to my stitching once!) and trim it to fit later:

Now, when making ornaments, I often just work from the pinned guidelines since Aida is easy to follow. But when I'm outlining an unusual shape (like a circle) or really want to be certain, I use a little trick my Stitchy Guru Mother taught me:

An ordinary pencil can mark great guidelines! I was *so* skeptical at first, but the graphite sticks to the Aida fibers - it doesn't show through the fabric (if you mark lightly), it doesn't smudge and it doesn't come off on your thread! It's really amazing!

This is just an HB pencil (I have long loved Staedtler's Mars Lumograph drawing pencils, and this is what I happened to have at hand since I don't use regular pencils much any more). These are easier to work with than mechanical pencils, since those leads tend to snag in the Aida threads and snap. Turn your stitching over:

And then lightly sketch the edge lines, following your pins and working around them. I find it's best to use light, quick layered upward strokes to avoid catching the nib:

You can always start light and then go over the lines to make them bolder if needed. I went a little darker than I normally do so that the camera would pick it up:

Here I've removed the four pins, and if you look closely you can see the gaps where I outlined around them. This is useful for the next step:

Sandwich your stitching and backing fabric right sides together (wrong sides facing out). Then pop your pins back in the guideline gaps! Make sure to catch both layers.

The stitches that will join the layers will be nearly invisible (using Backstitch and most other close-sewn stitches) so you could use almost any thread colour but I prefer to use a close match to the dominant colour, in my case pale yellow.

This particular hue is not lemony and not pale enough to be buttercream, and so it was a little hard to match! I finally found an old spool of Coats thread (Y5801, 65% Polyester and 35% Cotton) that still had the price on the label:

Wow, have things ever changed! I couldn't resist taking a picture, and I managed to pull the thread off the spool without breaking the label, LOL :) It's almost antique!

After I got over my amusement, I cut off a long length of sewing thread (roughly double the wrist-to-shoulder ratio; if you'd like sew with doubled thread for extra strength, you'll need to add more; I used one strand) and threaded my sharp needle:

I used one, from my Singer Hand Needle Assortment again, that looked good to me (very scientific, I know). Then I anchored my thread in the top right corner of my bookmark. There are a lot of different ways that you can do this, but I use what I always think of as a "Loop Knot" and since I couldn't find any tutorials to link when I was working on my Ribbon Marker I decided to try to describe it:

Going from left-to-right along the top row: Bring your needle up where you wish to start (1), and go back down near the entry point, leaving a loop with your thread (2) when you pull through. Come up near the loop and catch it with the tip of your needle (3). Going from left-to-right on the bottom row: Pass your needle through the loop (4) and pull tightly, which makes a knot that looks neat from both the front (5) and back (6). I like to end my thread this way too, and darn the tails in the work.

From now on, it's a matter of backstitching around, which is the most tedious part of the process! I timed myself, and it took me a little over an hour, although that's with a few stops for photos :) It's the kind of easy work that goes almost on autopilot once you start though and a little television watching or music listening makes it go faster!

Here I am starting my stitching, I usually go back over the first few stitches twice:

And a bit further along, reaching the first side pin:

This is what the Backstitch looks like from behind, did you know that it's actually Stem Stitch?! I didn't connect the two until I started embroidering and read that the back of Stem Stitch is Backstitch, and vice versa :) It's a nice sturdy line:

Speaking of sturdiness, when I turn corners I like to reinforce the stitches by going over them twice, here I did three stitches on each side:

It takes a LOT of poking to get the corners to pop out when the bookmark is Turned, so it doesn't hurt to make the corners extra strong :)

Stitch around the two sides and bottom only, ending with a Loop Knot at the top left:

As you can see, I pulled out all my pins except the one at the top as I stitched along, to avoid stabbing myself (well, truthfully, to reduce the occurrence LOL) :)

Then it's time for the close trim! Following your guidelines, cut a set number of stitches AWAY from them. Again, I used five stitches on the sides and bottom, but I've learned that it's good to keep a little extra at the top edge for folding so I left seven stitches there. Then clip the corners to reduce bulk in the seams, but be careful not to clip too closely because then the corners can pull apart when you Turn!

It's easy to cut diagonally across blocks of Aida weave, I clipped along the first three-block line of mine. Remove your top pin, and get ready to Turn your bookmark!

Turning Out The Bookmark

This is pretty much the trickiest part of the whole endeavor, and so it deserves some special attention. Personally, this is the part I *always* have the most trouble with - sure, it sounds really easy to just pull it right-side out, but in practice it's really hard!

There's three basic steps that I think of as the Scrunch Down, the Corner Grab and the Topsy Turn Out :) Sounds like an Aerobics class from the 80's, doesn't it? LOL!

First, puff out your bookmark and then use your thumb to scrunch the fabric down close to the bottom corner of your choice, the one you intend to grab:

Remove your hand. You'll have a very sad looking crumpled tube left (1):

While your bookmark is feeling sorry for itself, creep up on it from behind (2) and use your first two fingers to grab your bottom corner (3), getting a firm grip (4).

Tug the corner out - once you have your corner captive, the rest of the bookmark will have no choice but to follow it out :) Gently but firmly coax and cajole the fabric to turn topsy-turvy until it finally pulls all the way inside out!

Unfortunately, Turning is one of those instances where one must be cruel to be kind, LOL, so you now need to commence attacking your poor bookmark with various poker-outers to pop out the stubbornly stuck-in corners :)

From top to bottom (1) and left to right (2): my favourite choice, a Revlon manicure set Cuticle Pusher, the oft-suggested Orange Stick and the it'll-do-a-pinch Knitting Needle. I prefer to use the rounded plastic bottom of the Revlon tool, since it's sharp enough to shape the fabric but not sharp enough to pierce through the stitches (like the points of the knitting needle and the pointy top of the Orange Stick tend to do).

Here it is in action, as you can see the corners turn out slightly rounded:

At this point, if you don't want padding in your bookmark and prefer a flatter finish, you can skip the next Part II and head right on down to Part III :)

Part II: Making the Padded Insert with Blanket Stitch or Whip Stitch

Honestly, I almost skipped this section because I realize that most everyone will not want a padded bookmark, or at least not an insert this thick. However, this is a useful trick for ornament finishing that may be helpful, so I'll quickly cover the steps:

To cut the padding for your insert, lay your bookmark on top of one of your quilt batting rectangles (1) and roughly trim to fit (2). Lay the trimmed batting over the other rough rectangle and trim to size (3), which will give you the two layers (4).

Here are those layers held against my bookmark:

I thought that the two layers would be a good fit, since they compress a little when stitched. The insert does fit the available space well, and looks nice when finished but it's a bit too thick for regular paperbacks. For hardcovers or heavy oversize books (like the Needlework books I've been reading from the library) the weight of the covers and pages helps hold the bookmark in and it works well with those.

So whether or not you choose to use padding depends on what you want to use your bookmark for :) Then I trimmed my batting again, so it would fit under the top fold:

With the little bits of excess I decided to make a test piece to show the stitches. Naturally, I use white thread with the batting so the stitching blends in but that is hard to see in pictures. So I used a contrasting red thread for this stitch experiment:

This is the Blanket Stitch edging that I decided to use for my ornament inserts this past Christmas after learning the stitch for edges of felt. The middle photo shows what the stitch looks like finished, and I've numbered the steps for easy reference.

To start, bring your needle up through the batting at the corner (1), come around the edge and up in the same place - making a loop around the edge - and then pass your needle through the loop and pull tight (2). This is an edge version of the Loop Knot we used to start the Backstitch on the bookmark :)

Next, bring your needle up and through the back and out the front (3), making a loose loop; pass under the loop with your needle and pull tight (4). Voila! This is a blanket stitch. Keep making stitches up the side spacing them evenly. When you get to a corner, skip the turn and make your next stitch in the same place as your last (5); the thread carries itself along the back (6). End with a loop knot and darn.

Since I had some space left over, I decided to change it up and try Whip Stitch, which is often recommended for edgings. I've tried it on a smaller scale before without much success, but the large stitches work up very quickly on the quilt batting:

The stitches themselves are just straight and slanting - this collage is to show the difference in the corners, which are a bit neater. I still prefer Blanket Stitch :)

Before I ended off my thread, I took some pictures to show how I sew up the middle to keep the layers of padding from slipping:

It's simple Running Stitch, just a few roughly spaced long stitches up and then back down again to fill in the gaps, which results in an even unbroken line on both sides.

To assemble my insert, I laid my marker on the first batting layer and then pinned the other layer over it, leaving about two inches of the marker in between:

Taking up some white Gutermann sewing thread to match the batting...

...I started stitching around the edge. I did try to space my Blanket Stitches more evenly this time, since the stitches not only join the two layers but they compress the edges giving the insert it's shape and prevent the quilt batting from stretching out:

Here's the insert held up to the light so you can see how the marker sits inside:

As you can see, when I reached the marker, I tacked it down inside by using Running Stitch along the ribbon inside the insert to keep it from moving.

I continued this Running Stitch down the entire length of the bookmark to keep the two layers of quilt batting together, first going down (1) then back up (2):

Here's what the insert looks like when it's finished:

It looks a lot shorter than the bookmark here because the top has yet to be folded down. To get your padding into the bookmark, fold it gently in half and place it in:

To settle the padding in the bookmark, you'll need to pinch and push and pull it down and then smooth it out with your fingers to make sure the batting doesn't bunch up or get lumpy inside the bookmark:

Make sure that it is stuffed all the way down into the bottom corners:

And there you go! Here's the bookmark before padding (1) and after padding (2):

There's not much difference here because the before photo hasn't been ironed flat.

Part III: Sewing Up the Bookmark Top Invisibly with Ladder Stitch

Before we get to the closure, we need to fold the top edges together and down inside. In the photos that follow, you'll see me working my closure over the padded insert, but if you skipped the padding, just pretend it's not there and work the same way!

Here's the top of my bookmark - you can see my pencil guideline inside. This is where the top fold will go. If you didn't mark your lines, just count out your stitches.

Starting with the top row, left to right: Put a pin on the right side of your bookmark where the top fold begins (1) and fold the excess fabric down inside so that it lays flat against the front (2). Take another pin and insert it through the front of the bookmark and the bottom of the inside fold (3).

From the bottom, left to right: You'll have two pins on the front (4); turn your bookmark around and fold the backing fabric inside, pinning your fold near the top to keep it in place (5) - fold both corners in as tightly as you can (6)!

Now it's time to start stitching!!! :)

Ladder Stitch is a brilliant and easy way to close edges seamlessly! It's most often used in soft-toy ("softies") making but, rather confusingly, this is also the name of a bead-weaving stitch. There are a TON of tutorials online, but most of them are for felt or two layers of fabric. Ladder Stitch with Aida is even *easier*! :)

The blocks formed by the weave of the Aida are a wonderful guide that makes for evenly spaced stitches, which is important for Ladder Stitch because if the stitch lengths are at all uneven the joins tend to pucker.

Here is a very rough diagram I drew up to help show what I mean by that, with the Aida at the top and the backing fabric at the bottom. This is the way I like to hold the fabrics because I find it's easier to see the backing fabric this way, but you could reverse it! For a really neat finish, you could draw a guideline on your backing fabric before folding to make sure your stitching is straight, but I just winged it ;)

Here I am working the stitch up to the edge of the ribbon marker:

On the first row, left to right: I brought my thread up at the right corner (1) and anchored it with a Loop Knot (2), and then passed through my first Aida block (3).

Second row, left to right: I crossed over and picked up a bit of backing fabric roughly the same size as the Aida block (4) - pick up the innermost layer of backing fabric on the fold only!!! The corners are the hardest because they are bulkier. Then I picked up my second Aida block (5) and went over again to pick up some backing fabric (6).

Third row, left to right: When stitching the "rungs" of your ladder, you need to stay a little loose so that you can see to pick up your stitches (7). Once you've put a few stitches in, pull them tightly as you go by tugging gently but firmly on the thread (8)! Keep stitching until you reach the edge of your marker (9).

If you aren't using a marker, just stitch until you reach the end.

Because my marker was firmly sewn into the insert, it was already in the middle. But even so it's best to check to make sure that it's lined up, and an easy way to do that is to take your needle and sight it down the center of your bookmark like so:

If you haven't used padding, now is the time to position your marker, since these stitches will join it in. The 1/4" Grosgrain ribbon I used turned out to be the width of four stitches, so it was easy to line it up with the pink diamond in my stitching :)

And then you keep working Ladder Stitch *through* the ribbon:

I found it helpful to flip the ribbon back and forth over my fingers away from the side I was working on. You'll only need to make two or three "rungs" so it's quick work!

Keep stitching until you reach the end, at which point I ended with another Loop Knot and darned the end of my thread back into the stitches:

And this is what the finished closure looks like!:

I did have a tiny bit of puckering on the left, but this is the neatest Ladder Stitch closure I've yet to achieve and I'm very proud of it ;)

Even when the ribbon marker is flipped open, you can't see the stitches! Neat, hey?!

Here's the front and back of my bookmark after closing the top up:

Confession: I forgot to curve the top corners to match the bottom corners, so I used a thick, blunt needle to further pop out the bottom corner stitches a little bit:

It's not a big difference, but it helps when ironing the corners! This is the bookmark just finished, before pressing:

In my excitement, I popped it into a book right away, LOL:

I really like how the marker lays against the spine...

...but it *is* a little puffy:

Okay, a LOT puffy, LOL ;) This was before ironing, mind, and it's now slightly flatter. But I overestimated with going for two layers, next time I'm definitely going to try using only one. I still think that padding is a good idea because it lends a smoothness to the bookmark and prevents the seams at the sides from feeling bumpy!

The FINAL Finish!!!

Ironing, to borrow what my Grandma always says about icing and cakes, can cover a multitude of sins ;) As you know, I'm not a natural iron-user, so I followed my Stitchy Guru Mother's advice about Pressing, which is this:

Put an old fluffy towel on your Ironing Board, and place your bookmark *front side down* on the towel. This will keep the stitches nice and crisp and avoid flattening them! Using the Cotton setting and steam, iron the back of your bookmark gently. You can also iron the tips of the ribbon loops on your marker if you like.

Here's my bookmark before and after pressing, from the side:

Pressing makes a HUGE difference! I really recommend it :) I was so pleased with my new, freshly ironed bookmark that I couldn't help but take MORE pictures, LOL:

So there you have it ;) If you've made it all the way here to the end, THANK YOU!!!!! I hope that at least some part of this has been helpful. If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask :) If you would like the SAL design, there's still time - just e-mail me before July 1st to let me know and I'll send you the file.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate all of your interest in this little design and the SAL, your encouragement has been amazing and means a great deal to me!!!

If you're interested in making your own photo collages, I used the free Pixlr Express!