At 3″ round and coming in many colors, the Lee Needle Arts luggage tags look so tempting (and they are). For folks like me with lots of ornaments on their Christmas trees, the smaller size is ideal.
Tempting as they are, you may not want to have a blank address tag showing if the ornament turns around.
In this quick tutorial, I’ll show you how to turn these easy self-finishing items into great ornaments.
First, be sure of the size of your stitched design. As you can see from the picture above, sometimes they are just a stitch or two too big. Once you are happy with your choice of needlepoint, finish the project.
- Test fit your needlepoint to be sure it fits.
- Use the extra cardboard luggage tag as a pattern to trim the needlepoint to fit the tag.
- Remove the paper covering the adhesive and center your needlepoint on it.
- The adhesive doesn’t set imm ediately, so you can reposition your needlepoint if needed.
- Once positioned, tuck the raw edges under the edges of the open area.
- Press down hard to make the adhesive permanent.
- Peel off the protective covers of one of the clear disks and place it over the needlepoint, tucking it under the edges (optional)
- Press down the edges of the leather if needed.
- The front of your ornament is complete!
The next step is to make it look more like an ornament. Your luggage tag came with two fasteners, the leather strap already on the tag and a gold ball chain in the bag of additional supplies. Replace the leather strap with the ball chain. This is less obtrusive and will allow you to use an ornament hook. You could also use an ornament hook without the chain, but you may have to bend it differently because of the thickness of the tag.
I prefer the flexibility of the ball chain.
You now need to finish the back. This side does not have adhesive. You could use another piece of needlepoint, but using a pretty paper is faster. Here’s how to finish the back.
- Find a piece of decorative paper, for example wrapping or scrapbook paper, and trace the outline of the insert on the front using the extra address insert.
- If you want to personalize the tag, do it now before you cut it out.
- Cut out the round.
- Place the round on the back of the tag, centering if needed.
- Tuck the edges of the paper under the edges of the tag.
- Peel off the protective covers of one of the clear disks and place it over the needlepoint, tucking it under the edges (optional)
- Weigh the whole thing under a heavy book overnight if you’d like the edges to be flatter.
This will not work for every design. Depending on the prices your finisher charges and the cost of this item at your needlework store, this may not save your money. In my own case I save about 1/3 over traditional finishing with these tags.
The look of the leather edges is prominent. While there are many designs made to fit a 3″ round and more that can be adapted, you may prefer the subtler look of traditional finishing.
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
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