On Christmas Day I was looking for supplies to repair a Christmas ornament (a snowman lost his nose) when I encountered an unfinished cross stitch ornament that had been stitched and assembled by my dear departed sister.
She had adhered the cross stitch design and a backing fabric to a square of 1/4" basswood and had encircled the square with some white 1/4" satin ribbon, but she never finished the ornament. I've long suspected that she set it aside because she wasn't satisfied with the way that the ribbon showed every bump underneath and also exposed uneven gaps between the edge ribbon and the fabrics.
I peeled off the white satin ribbon and sorted through my spools of ribbon and upholstery trim, but I didn't find a better solution. It was only when I scrounged through a zip lock of short ribbon remnants that I found a scrap of velvet ribbon that was exactly the right length, width and colour.
The plush thickness of the ribbon hides the underlying contours and, because I was able to stretch the ribbon a little (and thanks to the decoupage medium), the edges of the ribbon flow over the the front and back of the ornament so that there no longer any visible gaps.
The above photos don't do the ornament justice (the square is a petite 6 cm x 6 cm and the red ribbon is more like DMC 321/304) but hopefully they at least demonstrate her lovely stitching and hint at how my remnant of plush red velvet ribbon smoothly hugs her ornament.
I'm very pleased with this gift from my sister, 10 years after we last enjoyed Christmas together.
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