The objective of the program was to familiarize our members with congress cloth, color play, and laying silks. The chapter provided the congress cloth. In our first session we only stitched the center cross – being careful to match the variegated design of the twelve-ply silk around the 4 arms of the cross. When the traded threads were opened – there were many sighs, oohs, aahs, and oh no’s. The center four armed cross was the basis of choosing the remaining three companion silks to work with the cross, the metallic for the glitter, and the background color. The second part of the program worked the metallic designs, the crescents around those and the long armed cross around each. Since all of the stitches used 3 ply of the silks there was a lot of practice in using the laying tool. Also, choosing which colors were placed around the cross and which of the Waterlilies color would be the focal point was just as much fun as the stitching.
The finished piece was about 3” by 3” and could be inset into a smaller plastic coaster, made into an ornament or even framed. Sudberry House has beautiful wooden coasters – but their visible area is 3 ½” by 3 ½”. The original design was modified and enlarged by 16 threads horizontally and vertically to fit inside the larger coaster.
This design is one of the free patterns available by Caron collection. It is a great learning piece that inspired many to do more designs with silk on congress cloth.
Original Design
Coaster Design
