Clarity Matters Blog Tutorial: Lacy Cutwork Frame

Hello hello! Grace here.

I hope this finds you safe, well and having a fab weekend so far.

We are joined again this week by the incredibly talented Maggie Byford, our good friend and Clarity Crafts Design Team Member. I will hand you over to our teacher for today…

Lacy Cutwork Frame

Today we’ll be working on one of the mini lacework frames on the Dotted Lace Frames Plate and I’ll be showing you how to extend the frame to make it bigger and also give it a more open, lacy look by introducing some cutwork.

I’ll also show you how to attach this lovely cutwork frame to background paper with invisible thread to keep it flat and secure.

This is the finished card you are aiming for…

Ingredients

Nested Squares Picot Cut A4 Sq Plate (GRO-PA-41035-15)
Dotted Lace Frames – Sentiments & Family A4 Plate (GRO-WO-42090-16)
Floral Delights – Summer – Happy Birthday A6 Plate (GRO-FL-41938-02)
Straight Basic Bold A5 Sq Piercing Grid (GRO-GG-40202-12)
Groovi A4 Clear Parchment Paper (GRO-AC-40024-A4)
1-Needle Bold Perforating Tool (PER-TO-70028-XX)
2-Needle Bold Perforating Tool (PER-TO-70279-XX)
Pergamano Excellent – Embossing Mat (PER-AC-70075-XX)
Groovi Embossing Tool 1 and 2 (0.8mm to 1.3mm) (GRO-AC-40026-XX)
Black Dual-Purpose Groovi Mat A4 (GRO-AC-40194-A4)
A4 Black Super Foam Mat (thick mat) (GRO-AC-41957-A4)
Groovi Sticker Tabs x 16 (GRO-AC-40437-XX)
Groovi Guard (GRO-AC-40345-XX)
Ringlock Scissors (PER-TO-70041-XX)
5“ x 5” White Card Blanks & Envelopes x 10 (ACC-CA-31670-55)
Pergamano Brads – White (PER-AC-70269-XX)
Waimea Falls Companion Paper 8” x 8” (ACC-CA-31668-88)
Poly Chromos Pencil Purple Violet 136 (ACC-PE-31026-XX)
Dry Tumble Dryer Sheet

Method

Step 1. Centralise a piece of A5 parchment over the “Have a Lovely Day” mini dotted frame design and use the Groovi number 1 tool to emboss the straight lines of the inner panel. Switch to the Groovi number 2 tool to emboss all of the dots within the frame except for the 5 dots highlighted in green that run along four sides outside the inner panel.

Here is what you are aiming for…

Step 2. We are now going to start the process of extending the outer frame from one row to three rows, and these are made up of diamond shapes. Move your parchment over the plate and position it so that it looks just like the picture, making sure that the embossed dots on your parchment match up perfectly with any corresponding dots on the plate underneath.
Note: The black pencil crosses are a guide to help you easily see how and where the new dotted diamond shapes will be extended by two rows.

Step 3. With the crosses as a guide, use the Groovi number 2 tool to begin joining up the dotted diamond shapes around the crosses.

This is how it should look…

Step 4. Give your parchment a quarter turn to the right so that the black crosses appear along the top and down the right side (as shown in the picture). The blue crosses down the left side have now become the new guide.

Step 5. Use the Groovi number 2 tool to join up the dotted diamond shapes around the blue crosses.

Here is how it should be looking….

Step 6. Reposition your parchment to the right once again and use the red crosses down the left side as the new guide.

Step 7. Use the Groovi number 2 tool to join up the dotted diamond shapes around the red crosses.

Step 8. Reposition your parchment to the right for the last time. The green crosses at the top left corner are where the last few new diamond shapes will go to complete the extended frame.

Step 9. Use the Groovi number 2 tool to join up the dotted diamond shapes around the green crosses.

This is what it should finally look like…

Step 10. Now for some grid work.
Carefully align then attach your parchment face up onto the front of a Groovi Straight Basic Bold piercing grid (or an A4 metal Pergamano Bold Straight Grid). Place onto a thick perforating mat. Use a Pergamano 1-Needle Bold perforating tool to perforate inside the full diamond shapes only, then perforate all the way around the outside edges of the now extended frame.

This is what it should look like…

Step 11. Use parchment scissors or snips to cut between all the 1-Needle perforations inside the full diamond shapes.

Then cut between the perforations around the outside edges of the frame.

This is what the finished cut work should look like…

Step 12. Now for the separate greetings panel.
Using a spare piece of parchment and the Nested Squares Picot Cut plate, emboss the 2^nd smallest double outline. Switch to the Floral Delights plate and inside the panel emboss the “Happy Birthday To You” greeting. Finish off by perforating on the front around the outside edges with a 2-Needle Bold, then cut between the perforations with parchment scissors or snips.

Step 13. Referring to the picture, on the front of your cut work frame use Purple Violet 136 to draw in some inverted V shapes to add a simple decoration. On the back of the greetings panel, use the same pencil to add some colour inside the double outlines.

Step 14. Choose a background colour from the Waimea Falls Companion Paper Pad and cut two pieces from it – one measuring 4½“ x 4½“ square, and a smaller piece measuring 4.7 x 4.7cm square.

Step 15. Now for some invisible sewing.
When you’ve created such a lovely cutwork frame you need to find a way of attaching it to the background paper (or card) to keep it flat and secure with it being quite fragile. This is where invisible sewing comes in but before that we need to do some prep.
On the back of the inner panel of the cut work frame, attach two pieces of rolled up low tack tape, sticky side on the outside. With the frame face up, mount it onto the larger piece of background paper and attach it by pressing down firmly on the rolled up tapes. Doing this will help stop your parchment from moving around while you are sewing, and it doesn’t matter that the sticky tapes are showing inside the panel as it is going to be covered by the smaller piece of background paper. For the sewing you will need a length of invisible thread, a fine needle, a 1-Needle Bold tool and a thick perforating mat.

Step 16. Place your mounted piece face up onto a thick mat. Working at the top right corner of your cut work frame and referring to the diagram on the picture (which in this case is an example piece only), use a 1-Needle Bold tool to perforate a hole at each point indicated by the 4 arrows – A (big arrow pointing down), B (little arrow pointing left), C (big arrow pointing left), and D (little arrow pointing up) – keeping the needle tool upright and perforating deeply.

Step 17. Thread your needle with the invisible thread and, lifting up your work, insert the needle from the back and push it up through A, fastening the tail end down on the back of your work with a piece of low tack tape. Push the needle down through B, up through C and then down through D. Cut the thread and fasten down on the back as before. This is what the invisible sewing looks like from the front.

This is the back view…

Repeat this sewing process on the remaining three corners. I find just these few stitches at each corner is sufficient for me, but you can continue to fasten it down in more areas if you prefer.

Step 18. Position your separate greetings panel over the smaller piece of background paper and centralise them inside the inner panel of the cut work frame. Attach all four layers together using a brad in each corner of the greetings panel, then mount onto the front of folded white card. Here is the finished card. Your project is complete!

Absolutely beautiful!! Thank you, Maggie, for generously putting together this very helpful blog tutorial for us. What a lovely finished card.

For those of you crafting at home, please don’t forget to share your versions with us on Groovi Worldwide. We so love to see your versions of these tutorials! And sometimes they even make the Saturday Share blog too! 🙂

Everything that Maggie has used in this particular project is available in a shopping list, HERE.

Right, let’s look at the week ahead…

Monday 18th November:
10am – In the SHAC with Barbara – Live on Facebook & YouTube
2pm – Clarity Social TV – Brand New Launch with Barbara & Paul – Live on Facebook & YouTube
Tuesday 19th November:
10am – Groovi Tuesday with Paul – Live on Facebook & YouTube
2pm – Clarity Social TV – Brand New Launch with Barbara & Paul – Live on Facebook & YouTube
Thursday 21st November:
7pm – In the SHAC with Barbara – Live on Facebook & YouTube
Friday 22nd November:
10am – Clarity Social TV – Brand New Launch with Barbara & Paul – Live on Facebook & YouTube
2pm – Clarity Social TV – Brand New Launch with Barbara & Paul – Live on Facebook & YouTube

A busy week ahead! We so appreciate you joining us on Clarity Social TV.

See you there!

Travel gently, friends.
Lotsa love, Grace &

Clarity – The Home of Art, Craft, and Well-Being.