Be sure to hide your knots - unless they are a design element.
A. Tomato
You will need:
- 1 big wool bead - any color is good!
- a scrap of green felt
- green and gold embroidery floss
- embroidery needle
Cut a strip of green felt 3/8" x 1" long. Fold or roll the strip to make a stem 1" long. Sew it closed with 2 strands of green floss.
Cut a green, leaf-like top for the tomato. Center it over one of the holes in the bead. Blanket stitch it in place with 2 strands of gold floss.
Cut a small slit in the green tomato top. Insert the stem. Sew it in place as invisibly as you can. Embellish the top of the stem with some wraps of gold floss if you want to.
If you want to flatten the tomato a little cut a 3/8" x 3/8" scrap of green felt. Use 2-3 strands of matching green floss and a long needle. Sew through the area at the base of the stem through the center of the bead and out the bottom. You may be going through the hole in the bead, or not. Sew through the scrap of felt and then back up through the bead. Squash the bead with your fingers and pull the thread tight. Do this a few times. You will need to catch some of the bead itself on the bottom side of the tomato so that your scrap of felt is not pulled into the hole.
B. Flowers & Leaves
You will need:
- 1 big blue wool bead
- a scrap of green felt
- 1 each gold, orange, and fuschia felt flowers
- embroidery floss to go with flowers and leaves
- embroidery needle
Cut several green leaves - we cut 7 in varying sizes. Arrange leaves and flowers on the bead. Use pins to hold them in place.
Blanket stitch the edges of the leaves and flowers with 2 strands of floss. Run a line of stitches down the center of the leaves. Add some random stitches in the flower centers.
C. Stripes & Flowers
You will need:
- 1 big green wool bead
- a scrap of darker green felt
- 2 orange felt flowers
- gold embroidery floss
- embroidery needle
Cut 6 green strips 3/16" x 2 1/2". Arrange the strips around the bead - start at the "north" hole and end at the "south" hole. There is no need to overlap the strips, trim as necessary. Use pins to hold them in place. Space them equidistanly. Sew the strips to the bead with a running stitch and 2 strands of floss.
Using 6 strands of floss, sew a cluster of french knots in the center of each of the 2 flowers. Center a flower over north and south ends of the bead. Blanket stitch the edges of the flowers with 2 strands of floss.
D. Leaves & Flowers
You will need:
- 1 big blue wool bead
- a scrap of bright green felt
- 2 blue felt flowers
- embroidery floss
- embroidery needle
Cut 10 green leaves approximately 1 1/2" long. Find the hole at the top of the bead. Arrange 5 leaves around the hole - one point of the leaf is at the "north" hole in the bead, the other end of each leaf is pointing toward the "south" hole. Use pins to hold them in place. Sew the leaves to the bead with a blanket stitch and 2 strands of floss. Add a stitched vein in the center of each leaf.
Repeat, adding 5 leaves to the other side of the bead. These new leaves fall between the previously sewn leaves.
Using 6 strands of floss, sew a cluster of french knots in the center of each of the 2 flowers. Center a flower over the north end of the bead. Blanket stitch the edges of the flowers with 2 strands of floss. Repeat for the south end.
E. Felted Flowers
You will need:
- 1 big blue wool bead
- 7 felt flowers
- embroidery floss
- embroidery needle
- a felting needle - the Clover felting tool with 5 needles makes quick work of this
Using 6 strands of floss, sew a cluster of french knots in the center of each of the flowers. Place a flower on the bead and felt it in place. Continue adding flowers and felting them to the bead until you are happy with it.
These are just a few ideas. We would love to see what you come up with!
