Flower and Spirals

I can't believe that it took as long as it did to add the finishing touches, but I'm very pleased with the results!

This wallhanging is for a friend who just got her first steady job after a long period of being a stay-at-home mom. Her favorite colors are pink and orange, and her favorite things are daisies and butterflies. I hope I captured that with this one! 

The pink fabric has daisies on it, then I stitched an embroidered daisy in the spiral section. The green "fabric" is actually two fabrics that form 1/2" strips each. One is mottled green, the other is green with butterflies. 

To add dimension to the piece, the center square of pink and orange that makes the swirl has a layer of fusible batting. The daisy flower also has its own layer, as does its stem. (Yep, at the center of the flower, there are three layers of batting!)

I added a frame of bugle beads in pastel colors to help reinforce the break between the bold colors and the subdued greens. I hand-sewed these beads in place, taking between 3-4 beads per stitch. To reinforce, I ran another thread through the entirety of the bead frame to secure the beads to each other and help them line up.

The binding is a triple binding. The lightest pink forms a visual catch-all to help the viewer with the transition. It is simply a "pleat" in the binding. The pink daisy fabric actually has a cord running through it. Although it is a baby-fine cord, it adds just a touch of dimension. The two pink binding accents were added all the way around, starting with the bottom, then the sides, then the top. This gives it the layered effect you see at the corners. The orange binding was sewn with mitered corners to the front, then hand-stitched to the back. I wanted just the one row of stitching for the orange to show up. 

To hang this wall hanging, I bought her a pack of Command hooks, and she or I will go get an inexpensive dowel and cut to length. I put three of these hanging tabs on the back as I was sewing down the binding. They are stitched down their sides 3/4 of the way, and stitched across the bottom so they will raise outward, but not just pull upward on the binding. 

I used part of an upholstery sample for the backing. It actually gives the whole piece a rigidity and stabilization I would have had to add otherwise. I think for other wall hanging pieces in the future, I may have to do the same. It really works well for it.