'Here Kitty'...

I have chosen to do a design on one of the sewing accessories that I use everyday, I love my little scissors and I like to keep them safe when not in use tucked inside this holder. 

Here on my blog you will find lots of extra photos which I hope will help you make your 'Here Kitty' scissor holder. It was such fun taking the pictures as I made my sample, it felt as if you were all here in the room with me having a lesson, it was a bit crowded and quite noisy but lots of fun.

So lets get started....

Requirements:

20cm square (8” sq.) of background fabric, for stitchery

20cm square (8” sq.) of print fabric for back and lining

20cm square (8” sq.) lightweight batting/wadding

20cm square (8”sq.) iron-on stitchery stabilizer, optional

DMC thread, I used #3857 dark country red

Fine tipped fabric marking pen

Lightbox, optional

Craft glue

Template plastic

Thin card, I used a cereal packet

Transferring the Design:

Using a light source such as a light box or a window, trace the design onto your background fabric, remember to leave enough space between the two bits of stitchery to allow for cutting out. I like to use a fine tipped permanent fabric marking pen (such as a Pigma Micron 01) in brown, why brown? Well brown is easily covered by the stitching but black sometimes shows through. If you don’t have one of these pens you can use a very sharp 2B pencil but press lightly.

If you are using an iron-on stitchery stabilizer you will need to iron it on before the stitching can be started, by putting this on the back of your stitchery you will not get shadows from the threads on the back of your work. On close inspection of your iron-on stitchery stabilizer you will see that it is shiny on one side, place the shiny side to the wrong side of your fabric. Following manufactures instructions bond iron-on stitchery stabilizer to wrong side of your fabric.

Stitches used are:

Backstitch (BS), satin stitch (SS), cross stitch (CS), lazy daisy (LD) and French knots (FN). I used two strands of DMC #3857 dark country red, for my scissor holder.

Once all the stitching has been completed, press gently. Place aside for later.

Tassel and Cord:

To make the tassel cut a piece of card 1¼” wide, take six strands of the DMC #3857 and wrap it around the card approx. 20 times. Remember to start counting wraps from the bottom of card. When you have reached desired size tassel, carefully slide off card.

Take two lengths of DMC #3857 approx. 120cm. Anchor one end of the two threads under something heavy or if you have a friend available ask them to hold one end firmly whilst you twist them in a clockwise direction until the cord wants to double back on itself, but don’t let it yet!

Thread twisted cord through top loops of the tassel you just made, centre the tassel on the cord and now let the cord double back on itself. Hold onto the ends whilst it twists, then tie a small knot at the end to secure the twisted cord.

Cut through bottom loops, of the tassel. Take a short length of  DMC and wrap it around the tassel about ¼” from top loop.  Secure with a knot and thread ends out of sight.

Scissors Keeper:

From template plastic make templates for the scissor holder front and back, see pattern sheet. Place the templates onto the wrong side of your stitchery and making sure that you have centred the stitchery draw around the template with a pencil, seam allowance is not included, cut out approx. 3/8^th inch beyond the drawn line.

Cut 2 x back and 2 x front from thin card, 1 x back and 1 x front from lightweight batting, 1 x back and 1 x front from print fabric. Take one back and one front piece of scissor holder card and glue the thin wadding onto one side of each of them. 

Place card shapes onto wrong sides of appropriate fabric, the shapes with thin wadding on them should be wadding side to wrong side of chosen fabric. Carefully put glue around the edge of the card then bring the ¼” seam allowance over the edge onto the glue.

*Tip. To ensure that stitchery is centred on the card, hold the stitchery up to light with card shape behind, you will easily be able to see if you have it in the correct place.

Once the glue has dried you can then take both front pieces of scissor holder and with wrong sides together glue the two corresponding pieces together. Hold together whilst the glue is drying. Repeat process for back but remember to place the end from the twisted cord with its tassel in the centre top between the two back pieces.

You will now have a back and a front for your scissor holder.

 * Tip. Whilst the glue is drying to ensure that it bonds well around entire edge use washing pegs to hold layers together.

With two strands of embroidery thread and doing herringbone stitch, firstly across the seam of the top front edge of the scissor case and then using the herringbone stitch to join the front to back, stitch all around the edge of your scissor holder. 

I hope that you all enjoy making your scissor holder and pretty please send me some pictures of yours so I can share them with everyone here on my blog.

Have fun

You can download the pattern Here...