Hi everyone I hope this post finds you well.
When I put in my submission to join Make it Crafty I was nervous and one of the main reasons being was because I knew I had to write a tutorial!
So today it is with lots of nerves that I bring you my very first tutorial.
Today I am sharing with you different techniques for faux stitching. I would like to clarify that I did not come up with the idea of “faux stitching” I am here just to show you how I do it. I personally don’t own a sewing machine so 99% of the time of use “faux stitching” , yes 99% as occasionally and very occasionally I might hand stitch. If you ever get a card with real stitching on it from you your know you are special!!!
I know that some people use a roller that perforates the paper but I actually use a matt pack from Stampin Up! together with my paper piercer. You can also use a ruler and a foam mat or I am sure that there are many other companies out there that have a paper piercer guide/template.
Let’s begin shall we:
Step 1.
Place the paper cardstock on top of the matt.
or
Tip - If you have a dark colour cardstock and your matt/foam pad is dark then use a bit of scrap paper behind it so that you can see the edge of your cardstock clearly.
Step 2
Now depending on which tool you are using either use the template/ruler as a guide and use your paper piercer and poke holes into the paper.
Once you have pierced all your holes, as desired, your cardstock should look like this:
Tip – Make sure you hold that template or ruler down tight otherwise your cardstock will slip underneath and you will end up with a wonky line!
Sometimes I like to stop it here and not add any stitching. It really does depend on the look you are after.
Step 3
Using a gel pen, fine liner, sharpie whatever you prefer, draw lines connecting your holes together on your cardstock.
Here are some different methods of stitching you could try:
- Straight Stitch. Using the ruler over the holes rule a line through the holes. I personally feel this gives a too perfect line and not as realistic.
- Going freehand I join draw lines between each hole, stopping at each hole. I feel this gives a better definition. I try to put a slight curve to my line when doing this.
- Cross stitch. Draw a diagonal line to the centre between the holes and then I come back from the other direction
- Ever other Stich. This is simply leaving a blank between the holes
Now I know sometimes even the effort of piercing all the holes can sometimes be too much!
So depending on my mood I don’t pierce my paper and I do some freehand cross stitching or stitching.
Cross stitch example
Straight Stitch example
Line dot example (excuse the wonky stitch in the corner!)
You can also choose to add some doodling to the edges as another sort of border. I really depends on what you are doing as to whether that would suit. Doodling can look great on scrapbook layouts or journaling books.
Here are some different samples of doodling I have done for you.
Really as to what you doodle comes down to your own creativity!
I think I have exhausted the varieties of stitching you can do and ways to do it!
Here is a card I made using some of the different faux stitching techniques.
Copic's Used:
Hair - E79, E29, E25 & E21
Purple Flowers - V9, V95, V93 & V91
Teal Flowers - BG78, BG75 & BG72
Skin - E00, E21 & R20
Now I did not have any flowers that matched my card so I grabbed some white ones and coloured them up with my V91 to match in. I do this all the time.
I hope you have enjoyed my first tutorial and even picked up a pointer or two!
Happy Crafting. Bron xo
