When Krupa Paranjape’s mother taught her to embroider as a child in India, she would make Paranjape rip out the stitches if they were not precisely lined up in the front and the threads were not neatly formed and tied off in the back.
Fortunately, Paranjape’s directions for how to make beautiful but simple holiday cards, embroidered with snowflakes, are far more forgiving.
The front of each card features a single snowflake created using a basic stitch and white embroidery floss. The Mountain View textile designer’s directions then have you affix a piece of card stock to the back of the embroidery to hide any flaws. She only cautions people to be gentle with the paper; you can’t pull or tug on it as you would fabric.
The snowflake figure is in keeping with Paranjape’s interest in creating designs that are straightforward but striking. She specializes in embroidered or hand-painted pillows and textiles that feature singular images inspired by nature, especially the birds, flowers and butterflies she sees enjoying the garden of her Mountain View home.
“My favorite thing to do is to spend time in my garden,” she says, “and a lot of birds come and visit our patio.”
Embroidered snowflake holiday cards
Materials
Carbon paper to transfer the pattern
A blank greeting card
Card stock or plain paper to cover the back of the embroidery
Piercing needle
Piercing mat (cork or foam can be used)
Embroidery needle
Scissors
Embroidery floss (white or ecru DMC)
Double-sided tape and regular tape
Directions
Trace a snowflake figure on the back of a sheet of carbon paper to create a pattern. Use a red pen to mark the points on the pattern where the needle will go in, i.e., at the ends of each line in the design.
Set the card on the piercing mat. Center the pattern over the card and use a piercing needle to prick holes into the card at the red dots, holding the needle as perpendicular as possible to make sure it enters the paper straight.
Remove the pattern. Thread the embroidery needle with the floss. (Make sure the threaded needle fits through the pierced holes so the paper doesn’t tear.)
Don’t knot the thread, just secure the end to the back of the card — but outside the stitching area — with a small piece of tape. Begin embroidering, following the dots and applying the principles of a basic back stitch, i.e., stitching from point 2 back to point 1 and then from point 3 back to point 2 to create a line of visible stitches.
When done, snip the thread and secure it on the back with more tape. Cut a piece of card stock the same size as the card’s front. Using double-sided tape, secure the card stock to the card to hide the stitches.
—Krupa Paranjape
