The Sporadic Packrat

The pattern is from Helan Pearce’s book, Beaded Dimensional Embroidery. I actually like the flat ornament; I just couldn’t figure out how to use it! So I went ahead and made it into the cornucopia. Remember that you can click on each image for a larger view.

The base fabric is very light weight, and I had a tough time with my thread tension, so I ended up using an iron-on fabric stabilizer intended for machine embroidery. It worked great! And added just enough body to the outside and lining fabrics that I didn’t use anything else to stiffen the cornucopia. I used cotton embroidery thread, and metallic gold and silver machine embroidery thread for the embroidery. Two sizes of seed beads and a few sequins embellish the embroidery.

I used a silver embroidered tape for the hanger. The lining is a white fabric with silver lines; I don’t know the fiber content, as it was a remnant from who knows where. I lined it with the fabric stabilizer mentioned above. Before attaching the two layers together, I turned under the raw edges and sewed them down, using some of the metallic machine embroidery thread. The final seam that shapes the cornucopia-you can’t see it in the photo because I thought it was boring-is also sewn with the metallic thread. Seed beads and bells dangling from the bottom complete the cornucopia.