Skip to main content

Boutis Christmas Ornaments

Celebrating the 1st Advent with Boutis

Just in time for the season, I finished these three elegant little boutis ornaments designed by my friend Karen at Averyclaire NeedleArts and available as a kit in her ETSY shop. Using only a running stitch, these ornaments come together quickly and easily following Karen's clearly written instructions.


Included in the kit are all materials required to finish the project, including three different colours of yarn. From time to time, a hint of colour may be added to boutis by cording the channels with a coloured yarn instead of the traditional white.  I chose to do the first ornament below, "Noel", using only red yarn for the cording.


The snowflake is done in the traditional white on white.


The colours of yarn included in the kit are white, red and green. The last ornament has been corded with all three colours.

There are a number of ways to finish the edges of a boutis piece. The most common, and the method I used on the first two ornaments, is a narrow rolled hem invisibly stitched to the back of the piece. Another technique frequently used on smaller projects is the buttonhole stitch, which I have used in this last ornament below.


The ornaments are available in a kit which includes the 3 patterns with clear, concise instructions, fabrics, thread, yarn, needles and finishing ribbon. The little crystal on the ribbon was my own addition. Because they do whip up fairly quickly, there's still time to get them done for Christmas.


Further information on these kits can be found at Averyclaire NeedleArts.



Comments

  1. Your ornaments turned out delightful! I like the one color Noel with all red yarn! Nice work. Thanks for adding my info to your post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You have done a really beautiful job with these. They are so snowy white! Great designs, too. :D

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Boutis: Traditional French Needlework

" Piqûre de Marseilles" or "Boutis" is a traditional French hand stitched and corded needlework technique, which uses embroidery stitches to create intricate channels that will later be stuffed with yarn, thereby creating a raised design with three layers. It's origins, and it's name, can be traced to the port of Marseilles in southern France to the 15th century. Traditional boutis was a technique invented to embellish otherwise plain white cotton with intricately patterned channels that would later be stuffed with a plump white yarn to give it relief. The resulting corded whitework created an elegant, embossed textile that was much sought after. Not only was it aesthetically appealing, but it also provided warmth and absorbency, so could be used for bed coverings, toilette linens (like towels), clothing items, home decor, etc. The first two photos below are from the collection of Mme. Monique Alphand, a well known French expert and collector of antique t

Amish Hand Quilting in France with Esther Miller

Esther Miller, was born into an Amish family in the U.S., and now lives in Germany where she has for many years taught the techniques and methods of Amish hand quilting to anyone interested in learning these skills. As a child, she would closely watch as the women of her community worked together on a quilt, and eventually she was rewarded with a needle of her own and encouraged to join the group. Through the years, she has mastered these skills and techniques and now generously shares them with anyone who has a genuine desire to learn. Esther Miller in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines in Alsace France. An example of her own work, Esther brings this intricately and perfectly hand stitched wall quilt to class as inspiration for her students.  Last week, at the "European Meeting of Patchwork" in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines, in Alsace France, www.patchwork-europe.com , I had the privilege of taking a 2 day workshop with Esther. The Amish quilting method requires a free-standing simple

Blocking and Squaring Boutis

The door of her cage has been opened. She is free to fly off and find her destiny. After many months of hand stitching and then many more months of cording, my little "colibri" is ready to set off on her own. As this was my first attempt at designing so large a boutis piece, it was a learning curve. All of the tight swirls, curls and circles are a great deal more difficult and time consuming to cord then are the longer more gentle channels. Maintaining an even tension is absolutely necessary throughout the process, so patience comes in very handy when doing the cording. The process of stitching and cording a work of boutis subjects the fabric to a lot of handling and manipulation that can distort the design. For this reason, once all of the stitching and cording is complete, the boutis must be washed, blocked and squared.  The first step of washing is to remove all traces of the marking pencil as well as any soil that may have collected over the many months of working w