It’s time for a mini happy dance, I’ve finally made all the individual pages and stitched them together into ten double sided pages.

Three weeks ago I had finally worked out how to create the actual pages. Each embroidery is backed with pelmet vilene, the raw edges were then pressed to the back and the two sides slip-stitched together.

A couple of the early pages weren’t quite big enough so I needed to add a couple of extra strips of fabric to two sides. The magnolia page was the first one to tackle in this way…

The Jack Brunnera page was also too small so I added a couple of borders again, this time I felt they needed a little embroidery too as otherwise they would be the only seams without any. I just did a line of feather stitch down the seams, either double or triple feathers. I also added a little triangle to the top corner so that just got a bit of fly stitch. I think these two pages go well together.

I also realised I needed one last page, the very back page. I decided to keep it simple and just use it to add my details. I used a pretty muted floral background and some soft green linen.

So I now have a pile of ten prepared pages. I just have to decide how to finish them. I need to make a cover but first I need to decide the final look of the book. Last time I made a book I learnt coptic stitch to bind them. It can be quite decorative, so I have to think whether to make a front and back cover and have the coptic stitch on show. This is the coptic stitch on the book of days I made back in 2021…

With the Book of Days I then stitched the book onto the cover so the coptic stitching was hidden by the spine…

I’m tempted to do that again as it does help protect the edges of the pages, but I equally quite like the idea of an exposed coptic stitching. I might do a bit of googling on more decorative coptic stitching…I could always make a bag to keep the book in 🙂

This SAL is organised by Avis from Sewing by the Sea, we post our progress on our chosen project every three weeks, perfect for keeping us motivated and moving forward on a long project. Please follow the links to see what everyone else has been stitching.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy