Secret finish!

Well, in the background ever since I started the blog, I’ve been working on this sweet little friendship sampler by JBW Designs as a gift for a dear friend. Her birthday was a while ago and I had gotten the stitching done but it took some figuring to manage the finish. I knew what I wanted but as I have never done something like this before, I didn’t know how to get there. At last! I did it! Unfortunately I didn’t do a step by step of the finish process to help anyone out, much less help me remember what I did! I’ll try to describe it.

Making a tabletop a-frame picture:

1. Cut mounting board allowing 1/2″ margin for design. You need 4.
2. Cut 3 fabric pieces and trim design. 2 fabric pieces for back panel  and one for reverse of design part. A 1″ margin was plenty.
3. Cut batting 1/2″ smaller than boards for each board-need 4.
4. Worked best to put batting and fabric on smooth side of board, mitre corners, (a few stitches helped  for the tricky corners) then use adhesive on “inside” parts to hold down the edges and stick the 2 boards together.
5. Don’t forget to put a ribbon in the center base of each card to brace the bottom! Use glue for this.
6. BUT!!! Glue was too messy and ineffective to use for whole border! Don’t use glue! Much better to ladder stitch the edges together for a nice finish.
7. Stitch top panels together along edge and add bow.

Here is the progress, and finish! I’m quite happy with it!