First Crewel Project: Sheep and Blueberries

Here is the woolen needle book I finished earlier this month for a gift.

The cover is a strip of a heavy brushed merino twill measuring 5 7/8” x 2 5/8”.  The “pages” are two pieces of wool flannel with pinked edges cut to about 5 1/4” x 2 3/8”.  The book measures 2 7/8” x 2 5/8” closed.  For the clasp I made a loop and Chinese button knot from a couple of four-strand kumihimo braids.

Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts: Woolly Embroidery published in English by Chronicle Books is what inspired me to try making a needle book.  The sheep, a repeated motif in the book, is stitched from angora yarn in a detached buttonhole stitch.

This is my first finished crewel project, if you don’t count the sampler I made when I was 12.  It’s a smaller than I would have liked for utility.  My next needle book (if there is one) will be at least 3.5″ x 3″.  Here I was limited by the narrow width of my twill scraps: they were the strips I’d removed from the ends of an old piece of yardage to square it up on the grain so I could make it into a cat blanket. My grandmother bought the material ages ago to make a structured wrap, but the moths got to it in a couple of places so she gave it to me.