Spent the better part of a day this week getting familiar with a new-to-us book Japanese Paper Embroidery by Atsumi, Minako Chiba and Mari Kamio first published ten years ago in Tokyo.
Essentially I played like a kid making Valentines. It was fun. And dinner didn't get made til I was good and finished around 8pm.
If you like to embroider, you may enjoy this twist. If you've never embroidered, this book can serve as a great introduction: there are good stitch instructions/illustrations; you don't need a hoop; and card stock isn't floppy like fabric. Moreover, the holes you punch in the paper for the needle and thread to pass virtually ensure evenly spaced stitches.
Materials
- Card stock paper, cards, journal or even a nice box. I got my cards at Paper Source - they stock a phenomenal variety of colors and shapes in both packs and open stock.
- Embroidery floss, pearl floss or fine yarn, a tapestry needle (blunt tip) with an eye that fits your thread. Grab some scissors or thread snips too.
- An awl, kitchen skewer or even a sturdy toothpick with which to punch small holes in the paper. We usually have Clover brand awls as well as wooden-handled awls from Merchant & Mills in stock.
- A pencil with a nice eraser that won't smudge the paper.
The book has darling template drawings to trace or copy onto your paper.
Here’s how I executed the “A” from their cute alphabet:
After practicing with this, I was inspired to try some of my own designs. This is a simple circle template I got at Michael's.
Here is a card made using a fly stitch and french knots.
Live those Nan! Thanks for the inspiration and happy Valentine’s Day 💕