52 Tags Challenge - Tags 7 & 8

 I am still having fun with the #52tagshannemade challenge. Two more have been completed.

Working On by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

The prompt for tag 7 was hexies. Little hexagons created from circles of fabric by folding and pressing. Plenty of ouchy moments with tiny circles and a hot iron but lots of fun to see each circle change into an even smaller hexagon. Found some scraps of liberty lawn to use and also added more of the same lace and buttons to link back to my other tags. Added some fly stitch to fit a leaf into the gap created by my hexies and a experimented with a row of crosses along the lace.

Hexies by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Tag 8 was another embroidery stitch sampler. I love the way these are being sprinkled through the tag creation so that over time my tags will become a resource of stitches. The stitches introduced this time where ones I have used in the past although not recently. French knots, bullion knots and pistil stitch were all well demonstrated in Anne's video prompt. I wanted to explore using my Inktense colours on fabric so created a seashore background on which to add my stitches. 

Stitching in Progress by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

It was time to add my stitches. I worked in a hoop this time so the first thing to do was trace the shape of the tag onto the fabric to ensure that I stayed in the size needed. That also gave me space to test out the stitches before adding them to my tag. Part of the tag challenge was to choose colours that you would not normally go to and I did this in the bottom section of the tag but went back to my favourite blues for the water. A button added to link back in to my previous tags. 

Seashore by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

I found the bullion stitch challenging and experimented with different needle types before settling for using a milliners needle which has no change in size between the shaft and eye making it a little easier to pull the needle through the wraps of the stitch. I have a sample of  a bullion rose that I made many years ago but still found creating the knots a little challenging. This might have been a combination of the stiffness of the fabric and the choice of thread alongside the need for more practice. A web search led to some great tips about ways to work a bullion stitch and I will have another go as I really enjoyed creating the seashore tag.

What do think about my seashore tag? Does it make you think of your favourite beach? Do you have a favourite beach?

Pistil stitch is a very versatile stitch and I enjoyed creating the grasses section. In this section I experimented with different threads. One was a Perle 8 and the other was a stranded cotton. I used one strand and two strands of a hand dyed variegated Valdini thread.

French knots are another very useful stitch that I have used before. With the finer thread I had some knots that vanished through to the back and that would be because my needle ended up going back through the same hole rather than being ever so slightly next to the beginning hole. Had a bit of fun creating the water drops with French knots.

Already wondering what the prompt for Tag 9 will be.