Pendibulle tutorial

You need these materials for a pendibulle:

• Square piece of fabric
• Embroidery floss
• Tapestry needle
• Polyfill, quilt batting or thread clippings
• ~20 cm (7.9'') of ribbon
• Design suitable for corners

I chose 28 count pewter Lugana, some unknown floss from my leftovers, white polyester ribbon and parts of Ring of Roses #1 for the corners.

1. Backstitch a square big enough for your corner motifs on your fabric (my square is 50 x 50 stitches). It is preferred that you use floss which shade is very close to your fabric's shade. I chose a bit darker for this square because it's more visible and therefore better for purpose of tutorial.

   

2. Stitch the motif to opposite corners.

   
   
   

3. Trim off the excess fabric. Leave ~8mm (1/3'') of seam allowance on each side.

   

4. Wash and iron the piece. Iron the the seam allowances to the backside to make the finishing process easier.

   

5. Fold the square so that it becomes a triangle. Note that the corners of the motifs are supposed to be facing each other on the tip of the triangle.

   

6. Take one ~1m (1.1 yards) strand of the floss you used for the backstitching, thread it and attach it securely to the back of the backstitches in the corner.

7. Take the ribbon and knot both its ends. Place the other end to the corner where you start (you can attach it with a pin if you feel like it).

   

8. Use whipped backstitch to sew the pieces together.

9. When you have closed about 75% of the edge, fill the pendibulle. Note that the "wings" shouldn't be filled.

   
   

10. Attach the other knotted end of the ribbon to the tip of the other "wing" and close the seam.

    
    
    

11. Don't end the floss yet, but use it to attach the tips of the wings to each other. You can do this by few small, well hidden stitches in the backstitches.

    

12. Now, you basically have a pendibulle and you can secure and finish your thread.

    

13. ... but I will add one more step and attach the tips of the wings to the body of the pendibulle with few well hidden stitches.

    

14. Then I decided to add a bow to hide the tips (which I had no need to do, it was neatly done, but I wanted to have some decoration).

    

15. Now, it is ready to be hung.

    It wasn't all that difficult, was it?

When I started making this piece I decided to give it away, so, if you wish to have this just leave a comment with your email address before 31st fo March, 2008, midnight and I will draw the winner in April Fools Day.

(Yes, those are chess boards. I was playing CC (as I have recently got badly addicted to it) when I was making this.)