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Year In Chalk Finishing Tutorial

June 20, 2016 By Cathy Habermann 4 Comments

Year-In-Chalk-Tutorial-Pic-1

Welcome to A Year in Chalk finishing tutorial. The supplies you will need: stitched piece, finishing board (from your LNS), matboard, cotton batting, stitchery tape (double sided, acid-free), woolfelt or felt, Velcro: Industrial Strength Low Profile sticky back pieces, lacing thread & sewing thread (as well as the usual finishing supplies.)

The full tutorial is shown below but you can also download a PDF here.

Have fun with finishing!
Cathy

Year-In-Chalk-Tutorial-Pic-2

1. Start by placing 2 pieces of the Velcro on the finishing board. I used the “flat” part or the “non-fuzzy” part on the board. You can see my approximate placement. Do not move these around once you have placed them. (They will lose stick-to-it-ness)

Year-In-Chalk-Tutorial-Pic-3

2. Cut a matboard the desired size (save time, cut all 12) 3 5/8”x 5 1/4” if you stitched on the recommended count of linen (30ct). Cut a pice of cotton batting & place on matbord. I liketo keep it in place with a small piece of the stitchery tape. Press & Trim your stitching to approx. 1” from the image.

Year-In-Chalk-Tutorial-Pic-4

3. Center design on matboard, turn over & begin to lace your stitching. I start with a knot, anchor it, and scoop stitch my way across the long side of the board. Pull evenly across the way & make a small knot at the opposite end to anchor again. Look at the front to check the stitching. Move the linen around as necessary to ensure it is still centered.

Year-In-Chalk-Tutorial-Pic-5

4. Turn the remaining ends in. You may need to trim out some excess linen to avoid thick corners. I find the linen naturally pulls in a bit from lacing the previous side, so I secure my corners with a few stitches to get a crisp looking corner on the front side. Scoop stitch across remaining side.

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5. The back of your stretched piece looks like this. This is a basic flat finish. From here you can do marvelous finishes, but we go on for your chalkboard finish!

Year-In-Chalk-Tutorial-Pic-7

6. You are adhering a piece of woolfelt or felt to the back of your stitching. Note: Yes, you can use sticky back felt if you have some. If not, cut 2 pieces of Stitchery Tape & adhere them to the center of the back. Cut this tape with what I call “sticky scissors”: cheap scissor dedicated solely to cutting sticky tape!

Year-In-Chalk-Tutorial-Pic-8

7. Cut your woolfelt or felt to just fit the back of the laced stitching (we don’t want to see the woolfelt from the front view).

Note:  You do need to adhere the middle of the woolfelt. If not, you will pull on it as you change out your months & it will sag a bit. Sagging, even a bit, is never a good thing!

Year-In-Chalk-Tutorial-Pic-9

8. Slip-stitch around the woolfelt. This is why I like a non-woven fabric for this project, no-fraying or bits showing on the front. (This step is not needed if you use the sticky back felt.)

Year-In-Chalk-Tutorial-Pic-10

9. Final step! Line up your finished piece on the board and adhere the other side of the Velcro to the woolfelt. It does not need to be exact.

Note:  The package does say “Not for use on fabrics”. Life is about testing the rules, right? We aren’t playing football with these, just changing it out once a month, right? When switching to a new month, carefully slip several fingers under the stitching and ease off the Velcro hold so you don’t bend the flat finish!

Enjoy the Stitch!

Cathy
handsondesign@ymail.com

 

Finishing Tutorial©2015 Hands On Design & Cathy Habermann. Permission is granted for Shops & Stitchers to print & distribute for classes and personal use. Reposting is permitted with proper reference to http://www.handsondesign.biz These instructions are complimentary & not for resale. Images are the property of Hands On Design & Cathy Habermann.

Filed Under: Tutorials

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Comments

  1. SanDee Wake says

    December 1, 2017 at 1:12 pm

    I there a place where I can buy the wooden back for the Year In Chalk designs??

    Reply
    • Cathy Habermann says

      December 6, 2017 at 4:29 pm

      The boards were limited the year we came out with them – we made 1300 of them! I will ask around what shops may still have them in stock & let you know!

      Reply
    • Becca says

      January 23, 2018 at 8:43 pm

      I just bought one at The Fabric Peddler in Wadsworth, Ohio

      Reply
  2. Shirley Gompf says

    May 10, 2020 at 5:11 pm

    My friend doing the year in chalk and I like to leadership get the painless to do them just love the job she doing she live in tx please me know thank you

    Reply

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