Upgraded Stitchscape Pebbles

 

Stitchscape Pebbles take an awfully long time to make considering how little they are. But the end result is so cute and sweet it makes it all worth it - they get posted out all round the world, either by me or by my customers to their friends and family as a token of their love and affection. I've also heard of them being using as lucky charms, kept in pockets to give good luck or school bags on exam days to remind the little one that they are being thought of throughout the day. Each one is sent out in a turquoise organza bag which would help to protect them if this is something that you would like to do.

For me they are a good way to practice new stitches, new colour combinations, or to use up the smallest scraps of fabrics that I'm left with after workshops and kit making. (I'm a terrible fabric hoarder and it usually seems such a waste to throw these oddments away, but what to do with them?) 

Recently I was tidied up and lost all of my original card templates for the first pebble shapes so I had to freestyle some more. It was a good opportunity to try and make them more 'pebble' shaped than egg shaped too, and the new ones have a sort of list to them which I like. For future pebbles I may try more shapes, although this slightly eggy look works really well when drawing the fabric up around the cardboard inner and gives an element of focus to the stitches with a top and bottom section. 

They are bigger than the original sizes. The above photo shows the larger size which was originally 5cm wide by 6cm tall and the new size is 6cm wide by 7.5cm tall. I've figured out a new technique for stuffing the pebbles too (which I can't believe I didn't think of before) whereby the card inner which is what gives it its solid shape, has a hole cut out of the centre so that I can add more stuffing to the front after drawing the fabric edges around the card. Previously I was trying to push in as much stuffing as possible and then drawing up around the card and hoping for the best but this way has much more control to it and these pebbles are coming out plumper than ever!

The smaller size is also slightly larger now. Originally they were 3.5cm wide by 4cm tall and now they are a chonky 4cm wide by 5.5cm tall. 

I had such fun this morning in the sunshine photographing them all in a little stack. I definitely think more sizes are the way to go so you can build up a random collection! Next time I'm pebble making I may make some more templates and see how they compare. 

All of the below pebbles are now available in my Etsy shop if you are interested in bagging your own little lucky charm!