EAC Name Tag

I've been working on this name tag for a long while. I think I started back in December. As a guild member, I am always supposed to wear a name tag at meetings and such. So I was given a packet with guidelines and a scrap of Aida and needle. I obviously ditched the Aida for some evenweave linen.

I didn't want to spend too much time on this project, so I decided to use an existing pattern by the Victorian Sampler for a name tag. I converted all the specialty threads for DMC and I decided I wanted to do drawn threads instead of specialty stitches at the top of the design.

That was me "saving" time. Now here is me over-complicating a name tag. I decided since I belong to two guilds it wouldn't be fair if both weren't represented. I decided I wanted to stitch the EAC logo at the center, with the logos of my two guilds on either side with the year I joined. This piece would go on the back of my name tag.

I kept with the purple theme and I decided to backstitch the maple leaf and then whip stitch it. I then padded the letters with stem stitch in #8 DMC perle cotton. This was then covered with a satin stitched using 1 strand of white DMC thread. This part took a while since it requires good eye sight and I tried to only work on it when I was feeling rested.

For the needle and thimble, I back stitched using Kreinik #4 in some silver I had left over. The logos on either side were backstitched. The Lakeshore guild provided me with a pattern of the logo, but Virtual Threads doesn't have one. A member is working on creating a pattern for Seminar 2018 which will be hosted by the guild, but I obviously didn't want to wait. So I improvised.

Since I decided to do drawn thread, I needed to cover the open space. I bought some satin fabric in this really nice silver blue/grey/green (no idea what color it is really but it matches one of the threads I used).

I used the same technique I learned in Kathryn Drummond's classes to attach the fabric to the back of my work using #8 DMC perl cotton.

Now that the stitching was finally done, I trimmed the excess fabric and started whip stitching them together. I placed a piece of cardboard I had that I cut to size. It's actually from Le centre des textiles contemporains de Montréal business card, which is very apropos as they also offer embroidery classes :)

I could have done a better job whip stitching, the sides are not very even, but I'm glad it's finally done. I'm now ready for Seminar :)

What I learned from this project: Satin stitched Monograms are not for me. It is very hard on the eyes and not relaxing which is not the point of this hobby. I'm glad I tried it all the same.