Here’s some ideas for finishing your needlepoint. Our ideas range from very simple to ” We need Grandma’s help!” We’d love to share your finished needlepoint so please send us a photo of your own creative ideas!
We used a 5″ paper mache’ nesting box from Jo Ann’s fabric store, (with a coupon of course =) Our SL-2 Simply Striped canvas was hot glued to the lid before decorating the box. We covered the box with fabric strengthened with fusable webbing and then decorated with ribbons, trims, and decorative ball feet. It is felt lined and has a felt bottom to cover the fabric edges. Our SL-2 Basic Bars canvas is used here as a pillow insert in a 10″ x 10″” pillow. Any of the canvas colors can be accented to completely change the look.Here is SL – 3 Two Blooms. These wonderful little sturdy wooden frames are at Dollar Tree, one of our favorite stores here in Florida, a true $1. store =) They are a perfect 5″ x 5″ inside size and have a silly saying in them which we removed. We painted the frame to coordinate with the canvas with 2 coats of acrylic paint found at any craft store or Walmart. We trimmed the canvas to an unstitched 1/2″ edge, folded it back and hot glued it, checking it for fit before gluing back each side. Then we put a few dabs of hot glue on the canvas back and tucked it into place. Add trim as desired.This is our SL-4, Sunny Sail design. We cut 2 thicknesses of foam core board 5″ x 5″ and hot glued them together. Then wrapped the canvas around the foam board and glued it snugly on the back. Cover the edges with any trim you want and glue or use decorative pins if you like. We used a thin piece of card board cut to fit our frame, and covered it with a coordinating fabric using fusable webbing. We found a watery look fabric in our stash so we went with that. We centered & glued it to the fabric covered board and inset it in a shadow box type frame from Michaels. This is SL -5 Funny Bunny using another Dollar Tree find – a little wooden stand up with a saying on it. We painted it with a coordinating pink and then glued the canvas on. We used some bridal satin and trims from stash to frame the canvas. It has a felt back. Felt and trims can always be used to hide edges where canvas or fabric meet. We added a little white pom pom for a bunny tail on the back. Silly kid stuff, whatever they think of, we go with. Note: To make the whiskers, we split the black yarn into thinner strands since we thought thinner looked better but do as desired. Bring the needle up at one point, stretch it across and go down where you you want it, then do the next whisker until you need to secure it on the back.Our SL-6, Coat of Colors, canvas we made into a simple wall hanging. Glue 2 pieces of 5″ x 5″ foam core board together. Then trim the unstitched canvas edge down to less than half an inch, and glue it to the foam board. Cover the back with felt cut to fit, and add trim to cover the edges leaving the extra length for hanging. Start and end your trim at the bottom and it will be secure. Here’s the SL-7 Sunshine, in one of those Dollar Tree frames. Again we painted it to coordinate, folded & glued back the canvas edges, then glued the canvas into the frame. It can be hung up or used as a standup. This one was fun! Using our SL-8 Patchwork, we inserted it into a 12″ x 12″ pillow and finished it with coordinating fabric, ruffles and eyelet trims. We found these great little matching flowers at JoAnn’s and just glued them into place. There’s no end to the color choices and styles with this one. Hootie, SL-9, is one of our many favorites. This is an 8″ x 8″ photo album that we found at Hobby Lobby, but you can also make a journal cover or Bible cover as well. We lined the lightweight fabric with fusible webbing to make it sturdier but you can also just use a little bit heavier fabric. It’s pretty much made by folding the fabric like the old paper bag book covers (go ask Grandma) and then stitched along the upper and lower edges to secure. The edges of the Hootie canvas were trimmed to 3/8″ and then was just centered and hot glued on the finished cover. We then glued trim around the edges to cover the raw canvas. Endless possibilities here as well. Our Bold Beginner, SL-10, is mounted on a simple cotton satchel bag we found at JoAnn’s. We placed the canvas diagonally for a different look. We added the trims prior to gluing it to the bag. The two color trims were glued with craft glue, then the canvas color binding was stitched around the edges. We used craft glue for the trims to have better control of placement. The entire trimmed canvas was hot glued to the bag. White Sparkle, SL-11, is a 5″ round design. We added green sequins, and clear beads to the centers of the squares after it was completely stitched to add some extra bling. We used several layers of foam core board to thicken up the canvas so it was the thickness of the ribbon we chose to cover the sides. Extra trim bindings can be used around the edges and a ribbon for trim. A hanging cord was glued securely to the top.Our Red Sparkle canvas, SL-12, we chose to use as a box top. In an effort to save time, we ordered a 5″ round paper mache’ box from Amazon. the paper mache’ boxes are great to work with and can be used for so many things. We sturdied up our red suede fabric with fusible web, (a long rectangle shaped piece wrapped lengthwise around the box, that leaves one seam on the side) the glued it with craft glue around the box tucking in an inch over the top edge inside the box and another inch wrapped under the bottom of the box, all glued in place. A 5′ round felt piece was glued to the bottom and felt was cut to fit inside the box and glued in place. The lid is left plain inside as it needs to slide over the box. Coordinating ribbon was glued around the sides, and an extra trim and ribbon were added to the top edge. Later Gator, Sl-13, is another favorite. This one was simply & quickly finished with our previously mentioned Dollar Tree wood frame, painted to match and canvas glued inside. Our Pretty Pony unicorn, SL-14 was used to decorate a very reasonable white canvas bag we found at Michaels, coupon of course 😉 The unstitched canvas edges are trimmed to desired size depending on what trims you’re going to add. You can use one or a bunch for different effects. After the trims are secured to the canvas by sewing or gluing, then glue it in place on the bag. It could also be sewn on as well, but hot glue holds really well to the fabric for a quick solution.