Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Finishing The Hardanger Ornaments - Part 1

Cutting Around The Buttonhole Stitched Shapes



Whenever I get asked how I cut around the buttonhole stitched hardanger pieces, the very first thing I say is: VERY CAREFULLY. Cutting into the buttonhole stitches of a finished piece and ruining so many hours worth of stitching can be really frustrating. I know, I have been there and it is not a happy place.
Being extremely careful while cutting, using a pair of sharp scissors and sometimes even a magnifier still didn't feel like safe or precise enough, so before actually cutting my pieces out, there is one more step I make: I cut and remove the first fabric thread outside the buttonhole stitches, all around the piece. I have never had a cutting mishap ever since I have been doing this, and besides being able to make a safer cut, the cut out pieces do have a much neater look, too.
Here I have two hearts (the ornaments being double sided) ready to be cut out:


To start I turn my embroidery face down


and cut the first fabric thread outside the buttonhole stitched line, next to both ends of the line, 


then pull it out:


In the corners, the fabric thread that I cut first is the one that is on top of the other in the weaving. 


I keep going like this, VERY CAREFULLY NOT TO CATcH ANY OF THE BUTTONHOLE STITCHES with my scissors, and remove the first fabric threads all around my embroidered piece.


As you can see in the close up photo above, the nice space left by the removed fabric thread makes it so much easier to see where and what I am cutting.


When the fabric threads have been removed from all around the buttonhole stitches, with my embroidery facing up I start cutting around the piece, just behind the loops of the buttonhole stitches. VERY CAREFULLY...


And here is the result, the heart cut out, safe and sound :)


Well, at least this is how I do it and it has always worked for me... Hope it does for you, too.

Part 2 of the Tutorial on finishing the hardanger ornaments is coming up in a couple of hours, so stay tuned.

Happy cutting, Everyone!


11 comments:

Maria Filomena said...

Annamaria,
muitíssimo obrigada pela aula...
eu não sabia que se tinha de tirar um fio....
muito obrigada mesmo!!!!!

abraços de MF

Alicja said...

So gute Arbeit und der ganzes Richtung ist auch wichtig.Liebe Grüße aus Wien:)

Nouli said...

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience and also for being so much detailed and accurate....I'm looking forward to your next post.....

Mary Joan said...

This is brilliant. Thank you so much for explaining this. Look forward to your next tutorial.

Happy Stitching

Mary Joan

Connie Eyberg Originals said...

That makes perfect sense! Thank you for sharing that tip.

SvetlanaBY said...

спасибо!

Wendy said...

what an excellent tip, thank you!

Tracy said...

Attempted cutting around my first buttonhole edged shape using your tips and loved how easy it was. Thanks so much for your tips.

Kseny said...

Mánya, большое спасибо за этот мастер-класс! Очень полезная информация. У меня пока получалось вырезать не очень аккуратно.

Zen said...

Thank you for your tip. I followed it and could breathe easily while cutting around the buttonhole edge of my project. I used to hold my breath while doing that.

Jo said...

This is great. I am new to hardanger but you have made this very easy to understand. Thankyou

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