This month’s Designer Crafts Connection theme is Favorite Designer Products. As it so happens, my Home Décor Ampersand die from Sizzix has just been released and is currently my favorite designer product. I’ve already shown a project I made using the large Ampersand here so I wanted to show the versatility of this die set by creating something totally different using pieces from the same set.

Embroidery can be such a relaxing art. I am not an expert by any means but I do love the peacefulness of stitching colorful floss into pleasing patterns. To showcase my new die, I decided to die cut felt flowers and embroider them with random patterns.

This Ampersand die set contains a nice selection of flower shapes that can be layered. I like to design my dies to have a lot of versatility because, as a crafter myself, I would want to be able to use it in many different ways.

Since these are thin dies, I ran the felt through my BigShot several times using a Precision Base Plate just to make sure they cut cleanly. As you can see, they did cut the details very well.

I mixed and matched the various colors so that no two flowers are alike. Next, I gathered similar shades of embroidery floss and some small vintage buttons and beads to start stitching. All buttons, beads, embroidery needle and needle threader are thrifted. I’ve had the embroidery floss for so long that they could be considered vintage. The felt is by Kunin that I selected for their bright Summery colors.

I got comfortable near a sunny window and started stitching. I used contrasting shades of floss so that the stitches would show clearly agains the felt. There was no particular embroidery pattern that I followed. I randomly used French Knots, Blanket Stitches, Straight Stitches, Running Stitches and Chain Stitches throughout the various flowers.

After I had finished all of the flowers, I laid them on a pre-made pillow cover {available from Hobby Lobby} and added a few more stitches to hold them in place.

Here’s a better look at the details.

I added a few extra vintage buttons after the flowers were sewn on to complete my Summer Flower pillow. There are actually more flower shaped dies, leaves, a swirl and a banner in the set that I didn’t use here but will use in a future project. I plan on sharing a lot more different ways of using this Ampersand die set.

The die is called Ampersand by Sizzix and is designed to fit the Big Shot Plus or Big Shot Pro machines.

I hope you enjoy this project and please be sure to visit all of the creative ideas at the Designer Crafts Connection Bloghop.

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Sizzix 661210 Ampersand Big Shot Plus set
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