Many years ago, when Flights of Fancy was in its Flights of InFancy, I wrote a post about different ways of finishing bookmarks. As none of these ways was quite what I wanted for the baptismal bookmarks I was stitching for two church friends, I devised another one. And as you can never have too many ways of finishing your stitching, here is a short illustrated demonstration of how it works.

The first thing, of course, is to complete the stitching. How you do this can sometimes be determined, at least in part, by how you intend to finish it – framing, for example (not that you’re likely to frame a bookmark) requires a lot more spare fabric around the design than mounting in a card. Here I was going for a combination of felt backing and fraying of the main fabric, which needs relatively little space around the design, and as I was planning two bookmarks and I don’t like wasting fabric, I decided to stitch them fairly close together on one piece of fabric. A running stitch outline defined the size of the bookmarks and helped with placing the various elements.

Next: two pieces of felt, cut to the dimensions of the outline.

The felt backings were initially held in place with pins. As it was not easy to see whether the felt was staying put while I was buttonholing (or rather, blanket stitching) around the outline, I adjusted the arms on my lap stand so that the frame was nearly vertical, and sat facing the window so that the light was behind my work. In this way, I could keep an eye on the position of the felt while stitching.

Incidentally, to fasten on I knotted my thread (a single strand of DMC cotton) and with the needle parallel to the felt I took the thread a little way through the felt – not from the back to the front, but travelling “inside” the felt for a few centimetres. The knot was on the side of the felt that sat against the back of the stitched fabric, and the needle emerged on the edge of the felt. I could then take it up through the Hardanger fabric right on the outline to start the blanket stitch.

And here they are with the blanket stitch outlines complete, seen from the front and the back.

Finally I cut around the outline, leaving three fabric threads all around (or strictly speaking fabric pairs, as this is Hardanger fabric), and then frayed the fabric up to the buttonhole line. In the picture below the blue bookmark has been cut but not yet frayed, while the pink one is completely finished.

Cut and frayed, this is what they eventually look like front and back.

And there you have it, one more way of finishing your stitching as a bookmark!

Well, not really – but as it involves bookmarks and ironing it was too good (or bad, according to your definition and taste) a pun to miss. My two bookmark testers did their worst, and they (the bookmarks, that is) bore it all with fortitude; even the one with the weak spots did not go to pieces under the strain, and the stitching stood up to it all beautifully, without so much as a cut end poking out at the end of the test period. The only mild criticism from both testers was that the bookmarks are relatively chunky, which could be a minor problem when used in very light, thin books.

Far be it from me to suggest that everyone should read only thick, heavy books, and although the felt will probably compact a little with use quite naturally, I wondered whether it might not be encouraged to do so a bit more quickly. In other words, I planned to iron them. Felt being what it is, my theory was that ironing them at a higher heat than wool would normally find comfortable might cause the fibres to fuse, making the bookmark both thinner and stiffer. Time, then, to heat up the iron and put my theory to the test. There would have to be a layer of some sort between the iron and the bookmark or I’d probably end up with a ruined iron (not to mention the bookmark), so I confiscated one of my husband’s older and tattier hankies to sacrifice to this great scientific experiment.

Next was the question of when to iron the bookmark; that is to say, at what stage of production. I chose to try it both at the tasselled-but-otherwise-untouched stage and at the stitching-attached stage. Ideally I would like to use the first method as it means I can pre-iron the bookmarks in the kits; however, if by ironing them they end up so stiff and/or solid that attaching the stitching becomes a problem, I’d have to add a note to the kit instructions about ironing the bookmarks after making them up. Not an insurmountable problem as most people have an iron kicking around the house, but nicer if they don’t have to.

Because the felt I use is handmade, no two bookmarks are the same thickness. For this experiment I chose two of the turquoise bookmarks, which seem to have come out a little thicker than the other colours on average. Here they are pre-ironing, a front view and a side view.

Using the handkerchief as a buffer between the iron (set to “Cotton”) and the felt, I got to work. Nothing much happened. The bookmark looked a little smoother, and a little thinner, but there was no fusing. Perhaps this is what I should have expected from pure wool. I tried ironing a bit without the handkerchief. No fusing, no bits of bookmark sticking to the iron. More ironing. The bookmark got a little flatter and smoother still. After a while we seemed to have reached maximum compaction, so I stopped.

So was this experiment a success? Well, the fusing and stiffening I had rather hoped for didn’t happen. On the other hand, the bookmarks are definitely thinner and smoother, and they as they didn’t stiffen it is fine to iron them before attaching the patch. This is a definite plus as the one I ironed with the patch already on it came out looking just a little, well, flat. The stitching looked a bit lifeless and had lost some of its 3D quality. The enhanced smoothness doesn’t show up very well in the picture below, although it will at least give you an idea, but the side view does show the bookmarks to be thinner than they were.

As the bookmarks definitely looked better ironed, as well as being a bit thinner, I decided it would be worth ironing the ones already in kits, as well as the ones I’ve got ready tasselled for my charity stitching. And as I was on a roll, I then did the two small stacks of untasselled ones I have in stock as well. Out of curiosity I decided to measure the stacks; both were 6cm high. Post-ironing one was 4.5cm high, the other 4.8cm – a 20%-25% reduction in thickness! It’s always nice to get confirmation that you’ve done the right thing .

Not having stitched at all for some time now (I just can’t seem to get round to picking up a project), I felt I needed something small to get me back into the swing of things. How about some of those charity bookmarks I’d been thinking about? But I still needed to work out some simplified finishes – the variegated buttonhole edge looks lovely but unfortunately is the most time-consuming part of the whole bookmark. Idea: stitch the adapted bookmark design, attach it to felt with running stitch, then cut around it with pinking scissors, and fray the fabric up to the running stitch. We’re preparing for a trade fair at the moment (for the day job, not for Mabel), but I’ll try this out when we’re back.

Then I had another idea. (Two ideas in one day, I was obviously on a roll.) Remember those felt gift tags from Blooming Felt? How about threading a tassel through the hole of the gift tag, then attaching a little Hardanger motif to the tag, and using it as a bookmark? It wouldn’t be quite so long as most bookmarks, but after all there is nothing against slightly shorter ones. Might even be useful if you read a lot of small books.

I worked it out in a bit more detail. Use the matchbook design, working the backstitch motifs in a variegated perle #8 to match the colour of the tag. Make a tassel from some more of that variegated perle together with a little white perle, and attach it by feeding a loop through the little hole in the tag, then pulling the thread ends through the loop (I’m sure there’s a name for this sort of fastening but never having been a boy scout – or even a girl guide – I have no idea what it is).

Here I hit the first snag. When pulling the tassel taut, the thin edge of the hole pulled away from the tag, leaving me with a disconnected tassel clinging on to a wispy scrap of felt, and a hole-less tag. Hmm. This obviously needed some thought. I decided to trim the tag so it looked nice and tidy again, then use a needle to pull the bunch of threads through the felt until there is an equal length of threads on both sides, and knot the whole bunch together. This worked better and the tassel withstood my experimental tugs admirably. The little Hardanger motif was soon stitched, so all that remained was to attach it. I realised it would be difficult to trim the fabric after it was attached to the felt, so I trimmed it first, then worked running stitch all around it, two threads from the edges. Fray up to the running stitch, and voilà, bookmark!

Now I did say “first snag”, a little while back. There were two more. One is that it’s quite fiddly to get the motif on to the tag straight. I kept tugging and adjusting while putting in the running stitch, and it still came out ever so slightly crooked. We may just have to accept that as being part of its genuine hand-made charm. The final snag is that although I think the running stitch is secure enough, in one spot it looks as though the fabric might one day try to escape, especially if it is handled a lot – which, as a bookmark, of course it will. So I may use a slanted stitch for the other ones, which should prevent any of the frayed edge from working loose. And then all people need to do is buy them at the Charity Fair!

Stitchers are fortunate people. For all sorts of reasons, but the one I’m thinking of at the moment is that they always have the means to make a very personal gift for people who are getting married, celebrating a birthday or having children, for people who have done something that needs a Thank You, or for people who are going through a difficult time.

And they needn’t be big projects either. Of course it is possible to stitch an alphabet afghan for the baby or a poster-sized sampler for the bride & groom, but often a card or small gift is equally appreciated. Cards with the birthday boy’s or girl’s age (be tactful here!), the anniversary celebrated, or the baby’s initial are quick yet personal and can be framed by the recipient if they would like to display it more permanently.

from "1-2-3"	from "A-B-C"

If you prefer to give something that can be used, there is once again a whole range of possibilities, from large projects like bedspreads or table linen to smaller items such coasters, cotton shopping bags or bookends, or (my subject of today) bookmarks.

I love bookmarks myself – I’m generally reading about three books at any given time, so they come in very handy. But they also make great gifts. They are easy to personalise; they are usually relatively quick to stitch; and there are at least five different methods of finishing them. Don’t believe me? Here they are!

I’ll just mention the first two briefly, because they are fairly self-explanatory. One is to use ready-finished bookmarks to stitch on. I haven’t actually done that yet, but I do have one in my stash for a future occasion. The second is to use a double fold aperture bookmark, in which you mount your stitching in much the same way as you would in an aperture card.

Then there is the option of stitching on a material that can be cut and doesn’t fray, like vinylweave or perforated paper. Once it has been cut into shape it can be backed with adhesive felt, or for a slightly neater finish (which is unfortunately also more labour-intensive) you can cut some felt to the size of the bookmark and attach it with blanket stitch. Below is the back of the Assisi bookmark you can see in the Gallery.

A very decorative way of finishing a bookmark is with four-sided edging. This is a very neat and quite sturdy finish, and if the back of your stitching will stand inspection you could leave it at that. If you are afraid stitches might catch or come undone, or if the bookmark uses cutwork, it is a good idea to back it with felt cut slightly smaller than the bookmark. If you attach the felt with matching thread by catching the upright threads of the four-sided edging it will be almost invisible. Below is the back of the complimentary Matchbook bookmark you can see in the Gallery

Finally there is the whipstitch finish, which comes in two variations. For a whipstitch finish you first backstitch a bookmark-shaped outline around your stitching. You then stitch an identical outline on a second piece of fabric which will form the back. Cut about 5 threads away from the outline, fold the hems in, and then whipstitch the two pieces of fabric together (I’ll show this in more detail a bit later). You can choose to backstitch and whipstitch only the long sides of the bookmark (placing some thin wadding between the two layers if desired), then stitch a line of double running stitch across the short sides and fray the fabric up to that line.

The other variation uses backstitch all round the bookmark, and can be rectangular or have a point at the bottom. This is what I used the other day to finish two bookmarks for friends of ours who are going to be baptised this Sunday. What do you need? First a stitched bookmark with a backstitch outline. If you use a whipstitch finish for something that will be stuffed (like a pincushion) keep the backstitches small, as this will make the seam stronger. For a bookmark I use backstitch over 4 threads for the straight lines, and over 2 for the diagonal lines. Next you’ll need an outlined back as well, and if your bookmark uses cutwork, some felt to go between the two layers and show through the cut areas. Cut the felt so that it is about 5mm smaller all round than the outline.

Fold the hems in and press them with your fingers. Make sure your hands are clean – you’ll be fingering the edges of your bookmark a lot! Now decide whether you want the whipstitching to stand out or blend in. For an invisible finish, use a colour matching your fabric both for the backstitch and the whipping. For a decorative, cord-like edge use a contrasting colour for the whipping; here, I matched the whipping to the felt. Now tie a knot in the end of your thread and take a few small stitches along the top of the felt; fit the felt inside the folded edges of the front of your bookmark, and bring the needle up between two backstitches a little away from the top right-hand corner. Place the back fabric against the front, and whipstitch all around the bookmark by taking the needle underneath facing pairs of backstitches.

Finish off with a knot around the first whipstitch, then take the needle down between the two layers and bring it up a few centimeters further; pull firmly so that the little knot disappears into the fabric, and cut the thread. And that’s all!