Plan B.

Plan B. Eeeek! I didn't have a plan B.
Right at the beginning of this project I thought I had the front cover sussed.
The floor polish came out again to stiffen up this piece of calico I'd saved for the front cover.
Then I cut out my picture from the 'Oasis' bag and attempted to fuse it on to the fabric with Bondaweb. Well it worked back then but I'd only sampled with small cut-outs of flowers and butterflies.

A wrinkled up disaster, not quite what I wanted, although it has it's merits.
Maybe the iron was too hot, 'tho I had it on the wool setting.
I still had plenty of the 'Oasis' bag left. I could cut out and apply the flowers and butterflies individually. No luck - I spent a bit of time working at it but felt like this wasn't going to work.

So I had to come up with a plan B.  I still wanted a flowery scene with a butterfly.
Once again, I had a look at Frances P's book for inspiration. There's a snowdrop there that gave me a starter. I had a flower left over from the 'blue tit' page I thought I could use.

I back stitched on the flower and added some chain stitch in different threads.

I found this Cartier-Bresson thread in amongst my stuff. I  knew I'd heard my husband talking about Cartier Bresson, a famous french photographer. I found out from Google that his father was a wealthy textile manufacturer. I don't know where I got my thread from but I think it must be quite old.

So not the cover I'd envisaged for my book but it's ok.

Now for the butterfly - at the front of my pic is a failed machine embroidered fish.

I used it for one set of wings and a piece of stitched organza for the other. I stitched in a fine wire.

Ready to stitch the cover now and I added a plain lining with a couple of envelopes.

I  used a variegated thread and topstitched the cover by machine. It held the lining in and decorated the outer edges.

Now I just have to find a way to hold in the pages. Bring on the Five Hole Pamphlet Stitch!