Embroidered Book Cover - An Extra Layer of Satin Stitch

Earlier this evening, my carnation, carnation bud and design correction looked like this :-



I've finished putting an extra layer of stitching over the carnation bud, and the existing carnation.

I've outlined the design correction carnation using two colours of thread, to help visibility

The carnations look a whole heck of a lot better, hey. (The carnation is one inch wide and one inch tall to give an idea of scale).

Embroidered Book Cover - The Start of the Back Flap

I'm going to call it the "Back Flap" rather than "the extension of the back that half covers the front" or else I'll be here forever.

It looks a bit of a mess atm but I'm not worried at all.

The one thing I *will* have before doing another design is some transfer paper, however.

I had a lovely hand drawn and carefully corrected pattern for the back flap, and then I simply copied it onto the fabric -firstly using pencil to put down a few placement lines and then using a 0.05 mm marker, because that's the only thing I can get to make a discernable line on the fabric.

And I've stuffed up in a few details of the design. Nothing that can't be fixed - but it's an avoidable problem.
Arrive! Prayer to the postal service! Latest order of needlework supplies! There's transfer paper (in multiple colours too) in there.

* I was silly, and on the middle left, drew the strawberry bunch, and what I'll call the "lotus flower" - not leaving enough room for the carnation in between them. I drew the carnation the size it needed to be, but it was all squashed up against the lotus flower on one side. Did I mention the pen I used was waterproof?

It's not at all clear from the markup in red pen, but I'm changing the lotus flower into another carnation which will sit at a slightly different angle to the existing carnation, covering all of the lotus flower design.

I'll do it in reverse colours (but the same colours) for a bit of interest.
Nothing like cheating.



* There is something weird about this piece of the material. It is an edge - there was a selvedge one one side. I'm not getting the coverage with the single strand of thread that I got with the other piece.

I've gone over the mid colour (the pink) and the palest colour (the cream) of the carnation twice. I'm contemplating going over the pink again.

As for the carnation bud, I've gone over the base three times (and about to go over the flower part again) It's so patchy! (not to mention me leaving a small gap). I'm going to swop to two threads for the rest of the piece.

I wonder if it's a warp/weft thing (tho I'm sewing at all angles so you wouldn't think it'd make a difference

I've been re-shaping the carnation bud while I've been at it to make it a bit fatter.

Strawberries

Those leaves I've used are strawberry leaves taken from Jane Nichols' Stumpwork book. The Elizabethan examples have trefoil leaves near the strawberries.

I have to change the shape of the ones I've drawn a little as well. The 'points' of the leaves extend a bit too far into the body of the leaf. There needs to be plenty of inner body for the leaf to look correct. They look a bit like octupii at the moment.
(what do strawberry leaves look like, anyway?)

I've been looking in the English Bookbinding BL site for examples of strawberries. I've found them done in several different ways, and I intend to have a go at each of them, having all different types of strawberries on the piece.
I'll do a post showing the different ways.
Jane Nichols has her way of doing them as well. (what historical accuracy?

What I wanted to do, before doing the carnation, was to have a close look at the direction of the satin stitching in various examples at the Book Binding site. Especially for the base of the flower, where it has those three points, two at a 45 degree angle and then curving down, upon which the flower petals sit. However, I'm on dial up speeds at the moment and it would have driven me mad, so I'll have a bit of an investigate next time I do a carnation.

I'd like to do that for each element, so I can see how they were done - just satin stitch. Looking at the stitch direction and anything else I can pick up. And collect variations on each element (carnations, poppies, hellebores etc)

I'm going to collect some colour combinations and colour placement on leaves as well. That'll be fun. I could do it just using my imagination. I think I'm just making an excuse to have a bit of a look around and a play!

Embroidered Book Cover - Front finished except for the Stranded Gold

Well - I've finished that final leaf. And she's a happy lookin' leaf - since I'm happy to have finished the front cover, except for the work in the DMC stranded gold, which is wending it's way towards me in the post. (Drat Christmas delays)

The leaf is in the same colours as the similiarly coloured leaf further down. The scan shows the colours better in the lower leaf (tho still not very well). The top one looks *really* dark, which it isn't.

In doing that leaf, I *had* to use colours I had already used.
I couldn't introduce a new colour at that stage. It would have been too many colours and started to look ....disjointed.
I couldn't use blue because there is already a lot of blue on that side (the right).
Couldn't use at light colour as an outer colour, because then there would have been 3 elements at the top with light coloured outlines (creating a 'group' where I didn't want one). Dial up speeds are driving me mad.
Yeah - and pink would have been too much with the orange poppy and the pink carnation.

So, in short, I didn't have any choice in using that dark red (and having it on the outside)

Of course, if I hadn't changed the design part way through, or had, and coloured it all in in pencil, I could have given myself more colour choices in the colour arrangements. I was lucky - I might have been stuck with using a colour I felt didn't work for the last few elements.

Once day I'll colour up a design before doing it. Promise

Embroidered Book Cover - The Design for the Extended Back

ooops, I forgot to rotate it.

Anyway - it's a compromise between the strawberry theme, and the mixture of flowers on the front cover. Dropping the roses (I'll do some another time) and adding in a carnation, and two of the blue/green flowers from the bottom right of the front cover.

Still that leaf to do on the front cover, then I can start on this :-)

Embroidered Book Cover - Back Cover Design

I've drawn up an alternative to 'the strawberry theme'.

It's not half as pretty, and the carnation is way out of proportion.

Maybe I can find a compromise between the two designs .......there is a lot of wasted space in this version.

Embroidered Book Cover - Leaps and Bounds

I've made a heap of design decisions, and I've also almost finished embroidering the front cover.

The Embroidered Book Cover overall

OK. To recap, here's the book I'm making the cover for. (well, the embroidered slips that will be sewn onto the cover once I make it) :-

As I've described before, the back cover folds over and extends over the right hand side of the front cover to cover half of the front cover. Those blue leather strips at the edge of the extended back cover have strings attached, which are wound around leather buttons on the book's spine, and lo, the book is secured closed.

Here is the embroidery slip for the front cover of the book. This will be half hidden when the book is closed. (The left hand side will show)

And here is the design for the part of the back cover that extends over the front cover (this is new)

About the front cover :-

I haven't done much work since last showing the front cover, but it's near the end so it seems like a lot.

I finished the poppy that is in oranges at the top left.
I needed to give it some leaves, to fill that curlique a bit.
Since that poppy now had leaves, I gave some to the other poppy.

I attached my gold spangles. These are the ones that I got on a fragment of material from an op shop and I used almost all of them.

I read an article on "How to attach spangles" - an SCA article, the other day. It said to use 3 connections, 2 being in a V shape.
Mary Corbet, at NeedleNThread.com uses only two connections.
I think 3 is a bit much, having done it.

I've also swopped to using a gold coloured cotton thread, rather than gold Madeira thread to do my couching, and attach the sequins. I've read in Mary Brown's Goldwork book that you are supposed to use gold coloured cotton thread (gutenberg 968). It makes life easier, not having to struggle with *two* gold threads when couching.

I have one more element to satin stitch - a leaf. I'm going to do it using the same colours as the other leaf in the same shape, only inverted. (The dark colour on the outside)

I also have those curliques that are currently tacked in brown thread to add in DMC stranded thread, that I'm waiting to arrive in the post.

Back to the Embroidered Book Cover overall :-

I've attached some black and gold trim around two edges of the front cover. (currently only pinned).
It intensifies the colours, and gives it more of a finished look, in addition to the couched gold thread edging using stranded DMC that I complete once I have more of the thread.

It's only on two edges because
- any increase on the right edge of the front cover would get squished by the fold over of the back cover
- any increase on the bottom will get squished when the book sits up.

Because this trim is black and gold, I'll do the supporting base book cover (to which the embroidery will be sewn) in black velvet, so it all hangs together.

I will attach more of this trim to the back side, top and bottom, so when the book is closed there is a double layer of the trim extending from the edge of the book on 3 sides, separated by the thickness of the book.

The trim came from a not very nice napkin that I picked up years ago at a garage sale. I didn't like the design on the napkin at all, but I thought the trim on it might come in useful one day - and it has :-)

The Back Cover :-

I've sketched up a preliminary design for the back cover.



It's strawberries with a single rose (which I plan to do in needlelace or other fancy method). I'm using Jane Nichol's Complete Stumpwork book heavily as a reference for this part of the book cover.

I really like my design, but am wondering if it'll work given it's a "theme" (strawberries) and the front cover is just a general collection of flowers. I've had a think, and can't get any of the elements from the front cover to work on the back cover in conjunction with the strawberries at the moment.

Maybe I could put in another of the small blue/green flower from down the bottom of the front cover, or small versions of the frilly edged leaves (which are similar to the strawberry leaves anyway) could be repeated. Or use the frilly edges ones *instead* of the proper strawberry leaves.

I don't want to do a poppy, because I want to do some cross hatching on the strawberries, and it'll be cross hatching overload.

It has to be a smaller version, whatever it is, because the back cover extension is only half the size of the front. I've marked in the 3mm where the gold thread couching (which I will also be doing on this piece) appears on the borders. With just one long vine with things hanging off it, there's not a lot of room.

I will definitely be repeating some of the colours from the front cover or it it just won't hang together as a coherent design for the whole book cover. I'll use the colours of the carnation (the pinks, dark red and olive greens) for the strawberries.

These are the strawberries (and strawberry leaves) that I'm basing my design on. I'll do some with french knots in red, pink and cream, and some with satin stitching in those colours with cross hatching over the top in god. I don't like the 'layered' one so much.


I did consider using some of the black/gold trim on the left hand side of the back cover extension - but it'll just hide more of the front cover when the book is closed. So I won't.

Embroidered Book Cover - Design Outline Finished

I've run out of DMC stranded metallic thread, so can't do any more stalk, outlining or border for the moment.

What I have done is tacked where I want the rest of the stalk (with some little curliques) to go, and drawn in the final leaf (similar to the one with the jagged edges and red heart). There will be the paillettes as well in the background.

Embroidered Book Cover - How to Cover a Book

Lady Martel's
Embroidered Bookcover

http://aeg.atlantia.sca.org/projects/howto/martbook.htm

Materials

• Ground fabric
• Lining Fabric
• Embroidery supplies and pattern
• Craft paper to make a pattern for the cover
• Scissors
• Pins
• Sewing Needles
• Thread to match the cover fabric

Take the book you are going to cover and measure it, from a point halfway INSIDE the cover, around the front edge, across the front, around the spine, across the back, around to a point half on the INSIDE of the back cover. Then measure from the top edge of the book cover to the bottom edge of the book cover.

Make this measurement with the book CLOSED. If you just lay the book out flat the spine will bunch up and your cover will be short.

Transfer both of these measurements to brown craft paper to make a rectangular paper pattern for your cover. You should increase your measurements by 5/8" on EACH side for the seam allowance.

Cut out your pattern and check again to be sure it fits around your chosen book.

Mark on the pattern where the spine is.

Mark on the pattern where the fold will be on the edge of the book cover.

Think of this being just like covering a school book when you were a kid.

Measure and mark on the paper pattern where your embroidery will be CENTERED on the front cover. Remember -- DO NOT mark your embroidery area at the far right edge. You need to leave fold area for the pocket that the book cover will fit in.

Take your ground cloth and mark it with the pattern. DO NOT cut out your book cover just yet. If your ground is quite excessive, you can trim it down leaving enough extra edge to allow for stretching. Stretch your ground fabric in the way that best suits you or your fabric.

Do the embroidery. La la la. Stitching, stitching, stitching. Okay, done with that.

Next cut out your cover following the lines you marked from your paper pattern.

Cut out a second piece from your lining fabric using the paper pattern.

Lining your book cover takes a little bit more effort but it protects the underside of your needlework and gives your cover a better, finished look.

Sew the cover and the lining, right sides together, along one long side, down a short end and down the other long end. Clip the corners. Turn your cover right side out and finger press the seams open to be sure your cover is opened and totally flat. Test the cover against your book to be sure it fits properly.

To close the open end, clip the corners and fold the raw edges in. Whipstitch the edge closed using thread that MATCHES the cover fabric in color.

Wrap the cover around your book centering the embroidery on the front cover and folding the flaps to the inside, with the cover on and the book closed on it. Using thread that matches the cover, whipstitch the flap to the front cover fabric at the edges of the book. Pull the stitches snug so that the lining does not show through these seams.

Your cover should be snug, but not tight. If your book does not stay closed when laying flat, you've sewn the cover too tight around. Snip the stitches on the fold and let it out a bit.

If you are making a cover for a spiral-bound notebook, you can catch the top and bottom wires to the cover with a few whipstitches to hold the cover securely.

Embroidered Book Cover - The small element

I mentioned last time that I needed a small flower or leaf to fit into the lower right hand corner curlique.

I saw something on one of the English Bookbindings and modified it a bit.

I'm not sure that the shape is quite contemporaneous, and I also think it looked better before I couched it's outlines, because it's quite a delicate figure.

In spite of all that, I really like it.

I've started on the top - um, what is that flower called? I'm going to call it a poppy for the moment. I'm using a slightly different orange compared to the 2 orange'd leaf near the bottom - damned if I know where the lighter orange thread has gotten to.

I need to re-do it's ovary. It looks too much like a pineapple with the new lighter orange. I'll use the very lightest colour I'm going to use in that flower - a light cream. - and make the cross hatching a bit less dense while I'm at it. Now the similarity to a pineapple has struck me, it just won't go away.

I didn't know what to call that cross hatched part of the poppy, and I thought not knowing the part of the flower, nor which flower is actually was was pretty shocking, so I looked up, and scanned this in :-

And according to this (which is page 24 of "Beautiful Botanicals - Painting and drawing flowers and plants, Bente Starke King, North Light Books), on the rose, that part is identified as an ovary.

I'm thinking of adding a few little leaves to the poppy's base, (some 'bracts' like iris have) or just a bit further along the stem, since the rest of the curlique surrounding it looks a bit empty. This is the 'design on the go' after the change in the design from losing the sequins, so I'm kind of playing as I go along.

Once again, it currently looks very black, because of the marking up with pen.

There is one last large curlique to go into the top right hand corner curled in the opposite direction to the large curlique at the top left. It's marked in chalk but not very visible.

I will also be adding several small curliques to the gold stem overall.

I can't do any more outline couching or anymore of the border for a bit because I'm out of the gold DMC metallic stranded thread. I didn't know which thread it was until Mary of NeedleNThread was kind enough to identify it for me.

I know that I'm getting towards the end when I can identify the remaining tasks.

I'm going to add some buttonhole couching to the inner edge of the border, to give it a bit of a frilly look, to add interest. Well - take the idea from the buttonhole couching stitch, and add some buttonhole stitches along the edge of the already couched down threads. I don't think I could have coped with ctontrolling several threads to couch and buttonhole simultaneously anyway.

I had another flower or leaf (probably a flower) to add to that top right hand curlique. I was going to do a poppy bud, but I think having 3 cross hatched ovaries all up at the top of the design might be a bit much.

And I'm going to use those sequins that I found in the op shop - sprinking them around the background. I probably won't have enough to do the same on the 'back' cover, but I might as well use them and use them for one of the covers. It is in the "satin and spangle" style of bookcovers after all.

Embroidered Book Cover - Leaves

I *had* to re-do the dark red/gold/cream leaf near the bottom. I just wasn't happy with it.
I unpicked it (a nightmare since I did it in split stitch), then padded it (the background material not being very happy after all it's usage) and did a leaf in oranges over the top.

I'm well pleased with the leaves for the carnation. One isn't quite finished - I'm waiting for some more of that light green to arrive.

I'm going to do another carnation (in the oranges of the re-done leaf) in the top curliqued stalk, and a carnation bud on the top right hand side. I need to decide what I'm going to put in the curlique at the bottom. I drew too much of a curlique - it goes around one too many times. And I drew it in pen. I need a small flower or something to cover it.

The leaf that matches the carnation - I did an outline in buttonhole stitch, with the 'prongs' of the stitch facing outward (I've seen that design, with little lines extending from the edge of the leaf, although I don't know if it was buttonhold stitch used) - but I ran into trouble because the leaf has spikes. I ended up doing my normal gold couching.

Embroidered Book Cover - The Cornflower

Well, I think it's a cornflower.

I'm very very pleased with it.



I used some ideas from Mary of NeedleNThread - the construction of the first flower described in http://www.needlenthread.com/2007/07/silk-work-embroidery-sampler-update.html

She wrote :-
"This is the center of the flower. The image is a bit fuzzy (!) This is how I stitched it: I began with a light gold Soie d'Alger, and backstitched around the circle. Then, inside the backstitch (so, on the inside of the circle), I stitched one layer of loose satin stitch in the Soie d'Alger. Then, I satin stitched the whole circle (going outside over the edge of the backstitch) in a flat silk, in gold. Then, I worked a square lattice in the dark red, and couched the intersections with the lightest coral in the flower. Then I worked a stem stitch around the circle, using two strands of Soie d'Alger in the medium red."

That's pretty much what I did for the pod of the flower. (I'm sure there is a proper name for it). I wasn't going to couch down the brown thread which criss crosses on top, but I noticed that they were moving around quite of their own volition, mucking up the pattern. I used the same brown to couch them down and I like the effect.

I did french knots for the centre of the flower.

For the petals, I copied the shape of the outer edge and did it in stem stitch in the darkest blue about 2/3 of the way up each petal. I blended the dark and medium blue inside this stem stitch 'barrier', and then put plain light blue between the barrier and the outer edge. The light blue looks padded, but it isn't.

I also used satin stitch, (!!!) instead of my usual chain stitch! It's a bit mucky in places.

The light blue is very very shiny and lovely. I have to wonder if it's an ordinary DMC thread. I recently bought two floss boxes full of threads on ebay and there are a few non-DMCs in there but the type is usually marked on the card. Not for this one.

The small leaf with the orange red as the darkest colour along the spine of the leaf turned out in an interesting way. There is a gold colour as the medium colour but it can't really be seen. But as I was embroidering (what over-sewing?) I noticed that having it there enhanced the colour of the orange red. I'm going to have to use that colour combination again to tie the colours of that leaf in, because it looks a bit lonely at the moment.

Since I'm not going to be using sequins after all, I've got a bit of space to play with.

I'm going to put in the stems (in stem stitch) that I've marked, and then do more leaves for the carnation. I haven't got a clue what the gold thread that I'm using to couch the elements is. Something I found in my sewing box, and I have to detangle a length each time I need some. I just hope I don't run out before I finish this front cover given I've still got two sides of the cover to edge using it.

I've curled the ends of the stems. I have a tiny scrap of vintage material with just a few small gold sequins and matching beads (about the size of Mill Hill beeds) on it. I'm going to put a sequin, with a bead on top, at the end of each of these curls.

The leaves are copied from :-


and I'll use that lovely light blue for the silvery appearing parts of the leaves. And the greens I've already used in the carnation erm, pod, and bud for the greens.

Embroidered Book Cover - Sequins are not the go

I've done half of the outer border with the sequins, and some of the inner 'flower'.

I've decided that the sequins aren't working.

* The contrast, in black, is too much. It makes the rest look wishy washy.

* the 6 mm sequins are too big.

I'll undo it all, and find another border to use - or not use one beyond the lines of couched gold cord that I've already put on two edges.

Gold spangles would look a lot better.

Embroidered Book Cover - Sequin Arrival

I've just been down to the mail.

Wildness4u, who has an antique and vintage sequin and button store on Ebay had sent me my French black patent leather sequins, 6 mm

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170121412122

I've been to her store many many times to drool over the things in there. Peach and tan striped sequins, anyone?

I had a bit of an email conversation with her, because I needed some tiny sequins (2.5 or 3mm) or else my sequin border would take over my entire piece. She had some lovely lovely sequins that are suitable, but at $au21 were a bit too expensive.

We didn't end up getting anywhere in the conversation, but today I've opened the sequins to find some extra ones! Some teeny little black ones! They are matte, and very obviously vintage.

So my thanks for the day goes to wildness4u, and to her store

http://stores.ebay.com.au/ALLWILDJEWELS_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm

and yes, this is blatant advertising for someone that has done me a good turn. *smile*

Embroidered Book Cover - Sequin Layout

Having finished the carnation (and it's bud, shown below), I realised that I needed to know the actual size of the sequin border in order to embroider any more elements.

So I grabbed my not very trusty compass and did some measurements.



The border is awfully large. Looked at the 'back' cover (for the part of the back flap that extends over the front, which I'll do seperately) I realized that I'd have to loose elements or some border. But that is an issue for another time (and I'll loose some border)

Now I knew exactly where everything went on the front cover.
I drew in the border margins in chalk, and the outlines of the three remaining elements (one flower, two leaves) in pen. I'll leave drawing in the connecting stalk until everything is there.

I put the embroidery into a larger frame, so the cover is flat and I can access all of it.

Since the last post of the actual embroidery, I've finished the bud for the carnation, which I'm also very pleased with, and started on one of the leaves.

The colours for the leaf are more of a gold colour, whereas the carnation tended towards beige/pink.

The placement of the elements is working in nicely with the foliate of the brocade on the material, too. Not something I especially planned.

You can see from the chalk marks (especially the ones at 45 degrees) how much room the sequins are going to take up.

The darkness in the middle of the leaf I'm currently doing is from the multitude of pen markings, which remind me of stitch direction as I sew the length of the leaf. I think I should be using something other than a black pen given I'm using a light coloured embroidery thread. I'll see if I've got a very fine brown fibre tip (forget the proper name. I use them for calligraphy in outling quick projects)

Something that can't be seen in the JPEG is that I've sewn the leaf backwards! With the spurs pointing back towards the origin of the leaf, not towards the tip. Ooops!

It's the first leaf I've stitched with Clare Hanham's help, and I was concentrating on all the new information, so I guess I forgot basic biology.

I can really appreciate the skills that calligraphy has given me in doing layouts in doing the layout for this piece. It's the first proper or big piece I've done in years, and since I started calligraphy. For a start, I have all of the proper tools, even if my compass is a bit crap when I'm trying to do 2.5 mm circles.

Embroidered Book Cover - Carnation Finished

As if I ever get scans straight.

So this is the first element for the front cover.
I mucked up the dark crimson shading - in fact, the shading in general is a bit bodge, tho I like the colours I chose.
I'm learning. I'll get better.

I've read Clare Hanham's book now, and should do better. I know about which order to use to make the various parts of the flower stand out more as well. (ie embroider the backmost parts first with shilly shallying around with the outlining)

I'll restart work on "In the Forest" when I'm feeling able to sit up at my calligraphy desk for a few hours.

Actually, I have a piece to do for Nick (modern versals in watercolour pencils, which Kit learnt at a workshop and is going to teach me) to say Thankyou, before I get back to "In the Forest".

And I haven't gotten even close to painting a Christmas card this year ....

Project :- Embroidered Book Cover

OK. There's been a bit of a change of plans.

My dear friend Kit has been struck down by shingles and post shingles neuralgic pain.

So I framed the first of my embroidered panels, and sent it to her.

This one :-



I have designed a new cover, rather than re-doing the piece. I don't mind, because I learnt a lot doing the two panels in the needlepainting style.

The cover design uses elements from a few of the embroidered book covers from the British Library of this type: (noting that spangles is a term for thick, old fashioned sequins)

Satin and Spangles

"A third common type of luxurious book cover is embroidered on satin, often light colored, with long stitches of bright silks, and is often further decorated with spangles and sometimes pearls. This style, and the previous one, become even more popular in the generation after 1600, appearing not only on book covers but also on sweet bags — which were sometimes specially made to hold a particular book.

This particular example is rather informal in design, with flower and insect motifs filling the space very nicely but not at all symmetrically. Other examples feature formal “arabesques”, coats of arms, Biblical scenes, or symmetrical leafy arrangements. Some examples have areas thickly covered with seed pearls. Others have needlework portrait panels, raised flowers in detached buttonhole stitch, or coils of gold or silver wire that have been carefully flattened to appear like braid made from a close series of wire loops. Again, all these are also found on contemporary sweet bags, glove cuffs and other small ornamental items. A few examples are so thickly encrusted with decoration that to modern eyes they seem like overkill!"

This is taken from a page linked to
http://www.bl.uk/collections/early/embin2a.html#covering
I can't find the actual page again - I had it copied into my notes so I could copy it here.

A Satin and Spangles embroidered book cover might look like
Another cover that was a source of inspiration was


As well as these Satin and Spangles covers, I have taken an idea from


for the border, including the corner detail.

One of the corners, close up :-

That flower in the corner, as well as the smaller flowers coming off it, are all sequins - (spangles, paillettes) placed closely together.

Two sizes of sequins are used. I've bought some French black patent leather sequins from AllWildJewels on Ebay. I'm going to get some 2.5mm gold spangles from Berlin Embroidery when I can.

Using this border design is a bit restricting on the amount of embroidery I can put in the interior. It uses quite a lot of space on what is only a pretty small bookcover - 12 by 16 cm.

What will show, with the cover closed is :



Those squiggle lines forming the outermost border will be lines of gold thread, couched down with more gold thread - about 8 lines of them. I noticed that most of the BL book covers had this.

The flower on the right of the cover will look like this :-


but in shades of teal.

This flower was orginally embroidered by Mary Corbett, of http://www.needlenthread.com/

Mary has been of huge, huge help to me in learning needlepainting and is a lovely lady.

This flower came from her silkwork embroidery sampler :
http://www.needlenthread.com/2007/07/silk-work-embroidery-sampler-update.html

The front cover (when the cover is unfastened, and the extension of the back flap is pulled up) looks like :

(I need to add in that carnation bud to the drawing that shows the back cover closed - not that it really matters since the drawing of the front cover by itself is correct - just a bit confusing for young players)

I also need to get those sequins pronto, because I can only embroider a few elements before neeing to do the "spangling border" so I can place elements near it correctly.

I do have loads and loads of couching to keep me busy, should I run out of elements that have plenty of room, tho!