Faith Hope & Love Mat Kit

Description

Our Faith, Hope, and Love Mat Kit is 11¼” x 24″.   It is based on the Pennsylvania German Fraktur designs from about 1770–1870.

In this design, the heart with red and blue represents faith plus strength and charity.  The flowers blooming from the heart represents your faith blooming in your heart.  The tulips arranged as pairs represent the husband and wife married couple and multiple pairs represent family and friends supporting your home with love.  The birds in this motif represent the abounding joy that comes from faith, hope, and love.

The mat has a two layer base of red wool felt plus a top layer of cream wool felt providing for a substantial thickness great for any table or wall hanging.

Everything you need to start is right in the package including precision cut wool felt, floss, a sewing needle and instructions.

Rating: Apprentice – 12 Hours

This product is Made in the USA in our Shop in Colfax, California.

Instructions:

All stitching for this project uses the Blanket Stitch

• Build each Applique joining the parts with a blanket stitch on the overlapped edges only leaving the outer edges with no stitching.
  1. For the large heart  in the center:
     • Join the brown heart to the blue heart
     • Then join this to the red heart
     • Then join this to the yellow heart.
  2. For the small hearts:
     • Join the red heart to the blue heart
     • Then join this to the yellow heart
  3. For the birds:
     • Join the wing to the bird body.  Do not stitch the outer edges.
  4. For the Tulips:
     • Join the center petal to the outer body of the tulip.  Do not stitch the outer edges.
  5. For the vines – these do not have to be assembled.  The leaves can be added after they are attached to the cream layer.
• After each Applique has been assembled:
  1. Pin the vines in place first
  2. Pin the assembled hearts and birds in place next
  3. Pin the assembled tulips in place next
  4. Then pin the leaves in place
  5. Now, stitch all of these to the cream mat.
• Attach the cream mat assembly to a red mat base.
• Attach this assembly to the 2nd red mat base (it hides the back side stitching).  Do this using a blanket stitch on the edges.

Our wool felt is Made in the USA from wool grown in the USA.  It is a blend of 35% wool and 65% rayon.

Why A Blend? 

• Our goal was to have a blend that is close to the wool/cotton blend which has been in use for hundreds of years through out the world.
• The wool/cotton blend was favored over 100% wool or 100% cotton as the combination provided much better service
  • The wool provided strength and warmth while the cotton added breathability and softness to touch.
  • It was an ideal combination for all kinds of weather and purposes.
• Rayon and cotton are almost identical with cotton being a little bit softer and rayon being more silky or shinny on the surface.

How are Rayon and Cotton Different?

• Rayon is made from cellulose, a carbohydrate plant substance, derived from wood and wood pulp which is then made into fibers.
• Cotton is made of cellulose fibers from the cotton plant.