A Piece of Cake

Beautiful, fun free-motion embroidery cards keep popping up on my Pinterest feed so I thought it was about time I had a go at some.  I started by just trying to cut shapes from fabric but soon realised that making templates would make the job loads easier.

For the background, I cut a 5” square of light canvas and used that as my guide when sketching a slice of cake on a plate, with a candle on top.  I drew all the components out individually on cardboard and cut them out.

The templates were drawn around onto Quiltlines Superweb and roughly cut out.  After selecting some complimentary fabrics, the shapes were glued onto the back of the fabric using a hot iron and carefully cut out.

The shapes were arranged on the backing canvas and then pressed in place with the iron.

Next, the fun bit!  This is like doodling with a fine liner pen but using thread and a sewing machine instead.  I dropped the feed dogs for free-motion sewing and started by attaching a strip of ribbon wrapped in lace for the cake filling.  Then I just continued stitching around the edge of all the pieces.  This really bring the image to life.

To finish, I pulled out a few threads to fray the edges and using my MISTI, I stamped the sentiment using Ranger Archival Jet Black ink.  I used my MISTI as it took 3 or 4 repeat inkings to get the stamped message dark enough on the canvas.  Finally, I positioned the panel on a kraft card blank and stitched a border around to secure it to the card front.   This is the coffee and walnut cake…

Pistachio cake with blueberry icing…

Raspberry cake with pink sprinkles!