Customized Tapestry Gift

I have been having fun role-playing for a long time. It is a great escape, a creative bonanza, and a great deal of fun! I don't know about the rest of you, but I am super appreciative of my DM, and when I have that job, my players do a great job of making our games a ton of fun! What better way to show appreciation than by creating a custom gift just for them!

In our latest role-playing adventure, the characters belong to a group of do-gooders, led by our paladin. The group is called The Order of the Radiant Light (Very, very goody, goody!). So, I decided to create their logo and a tapestry at the same time!

This is not the first time I have done this. I will share some images of some of the other tapestries I have created at the end of these instructions. So this instructable is for any tapestry, with my focus on our Order of the Radiant Light!

Let's get started!

Materials:

Material... I like using felt for the design, as it doesn't unravel when cut. I also use fabric for the background, or the body of the tapestry.

Thread of varying colours depending on your project's colours.

Wooden Rod

Rope / String

Tools:

Sewing Machine

Cutting board

Scissors

Rotary Fabric Cutter (not necessary, but quite handy)

Pins

Ruler (set square is a good option)

Measuring tape

Fabric pencil

Seam ripper (I seem to need these sometimes)

Ironing board

Iron

Tea Towel

Handsaw

The important thing here is to figure out what design you want to do. You can find lots of great, free images online. You can take an image specifically from your game, or simply design it yourself.

For The Order of the Radiant Light, I decided to make it up, as we didn't really have an established symbol.

I wanted a design that would clearly be recognized by others in the world we play our game in. A simple, yet meaningful symbol that could be easily replicated by players as well.

I started with a sun. Fairly straight forward. I decided on the colours yellow and orange for the sun and sun rays. I also wanted the rays to reach down towards the bottom of the tapestry. There are three gods that the Order works for, so the three rays represent those gods.

I worked through a few different colours for the field behind the sun, but eventually settled on a very traditional sky blue.

I created the design myself, so I measured for myself and for the size of tapestry I wanted. The size of the symbol depends entirely on the desired size of the tapestry. I decided the tapestry would be 24 inches wide by 30 inches long. I wanted to make sure that I left lots of room so the fabric tapestry would frame the blue field.

I decided on 19 inches by 19 inches for the blue field, and so my symbol need to fit those dimensions.

I then decided I wanted the sun to be up in the top right corner, so I decided to cut off the sun rays in that corner so the sun was near the top and side.

So following my design ideas that I laid out in my previous step, I started to work on the sun.

As I stated, I decided on yellow and orange for the sun. As my blue field was 19 inches wide and long, I again wanted some space on the left side, once I moved the sun to the top right corner.

I decided the best thing to do was to create a symmetrical sun with rays, and then cut down the appropriate sides to fit the edge of the field.

I decided to cut it down to 14 inches, which would leave plenty of space on the one side. It would also allow the three extended rays to go all the way down towards the bottom of the blue field. I wanted those three rays to stand out, so double the length was my plan.

I measured across the design and marked the rays that I was going to cut at 14 inches. I then used the rotary fabric cutter and the cutting board along with my ruler to cut the rays straight where I wanted. I cut across the right side of the design and I cut the top of the design to allow it to fit into the corner of the field.

I then checked my design to make sure that it was 14 inches across. It was. My sun and sun rays were ready to sew onto the field.

So I already knew my dimensions for my field. 19 x 19 inches.

All I had to do was to cut it out.

I measured carefully, used the fabric pencil to mark my measurements and then used my ruler to make sure the rotary cutter was creating a straight line.

Before long I had a 19 inch x 19 inch blue field.

First, lay out your design on your field, and make sure it fits well, and you are happy with it.

Once you are satisfied, start by pinning some of the pieces of the design in place on the field, so that you can start to sew.

At this point there are a few things to do with your sewing machine so that you are able to properly sew. I hope that if you have a sewing machine you know what to do, but in case there are questions, follow these steps.

You need your bobbin (small spool that holds your thread inside the machine, under the sewing needle) to have lots of thread on it. Turn your machine on and have the sewing machine spool the thread for you once you have the bobbin started.

Next, thread the thread through the machine following the numbered areas until you have it at the needle.

Thread the needle and pull the thread through the foot and lay it out the back.

You are ready to sew.

This is the biggest step of all, as there is a lot of sewing. This does depend a lot on your design, but for me, I have lots of sewing to do.

Advice (from my own mistakes):

It is much easier and actually saves time if you are a beginner at this to go slow! It can be easy to get off track if you go too fast and then it takes lots of time using the seam ripper to pull out all the stitches so you can go back and sew it again.

Start Sewing!

At the start of your stitches, the thread needs help to stay in place. I like to go three stitches forwards and then three stitches back, and then sew over it again. This helps hold the stitches well. I know there are much better sewers out there that are cringing at this method, but it is great for this type of project. It will look a little rough at the start of the stitches, but for a tapestry that is great. I always feel like I am creating an old tapestry that would have been hanging somewhere forever, so having a little lose thread, or mess is great. It barely shows, but I feel it adds authenticity to the period of your work!

Once you have the stitches started and held in place, work around the object you are sewing. When you get to the end, be sure to go over your end stitches a few times to secure them in place.

Once you have one piece on, be sure to trim the thread that is extra at the start and end of your stitches. Just leave a little extra on the back. I usually leave about half and inch. This helps to keep the stitch from unravelling.

Go to the next pice of your design, sew it on, and then keep going.

FOR MY DESIGN, I started with the yellow sun and rays and am glad I did. I decided that I wasn't too fond of the orange. It was just a little too bright. I had pulled it all off to sew the yellow rays, and that is when I saw it without the orange.

I made the executive decision to scrap the orange, and replace the long orange sun ray with another yellow one. It made the design a little less cluttered and allowed me to just use the orange thread to give a hint of another colour. Much more subtle and I like that! You can see in my pictures exactly when I changed the design colours and clutter.

I also did some straight forward stitches inside the sun, but varied the lengths to try to give it a little bit of the ray appearance to mimic the outer rays somewhat. I was very happy with this design choice.

I finished the sun and rays and was ready to move on to the tapestry itself.

Now that my symbol and field were both complete, I needed to cut and sew my actual tapestry background.

I chose a silver/grey fabric for my background. I fell this would add some elegance, but also allow the bright blue field and yellow to really stand out.

First, I needed to make sure I cut my tapestry background to the correct size.

If you will recall, I wanted my tapestry to end up 24 inches by 30 inches. But I am now using fabric that can unravel if I don't create a hem on the edges. So I add two inches to each measurement to give me an inch on either side to fold under and sew.

Again, measure carefully, and cut carefully. I used my ruler again after marking my fabric. This allowed the rotary cutter to make nice clean and straight cuts.

Now I need to create the hems around the tapestry. Measure for the fold and then fold over the fabric (I chose an inch fold) and use your pins to pin it in place. I did the top and bottom first, and sewed them. Then I did the top and bottom. This allowed me to avoid pins all over the fabric, decreasing the likelihood of pricking myself.

My sewing machine is a great little machine. It works beautifully, and also had lots of great preprogrammed decorative stitches. I just did straight stitches for the dun and rays, mostly because the rays are thin, and don't have a lot of space to mess around, but the hem of the tapestry has lots of room, so I can choose to be creative with the stitches if I so desire... I so desire!

I chose a great starburst pattern (fits well, don't you think?) for my hems. I worked the top and bottom, and then pinned and sewed the sides.

Believe it or not, this is a really important step. The last thing you want is to put it all together and have a huge crease in the fabric or felt. You will forever see that (yes I know from experience!).

The fabric tapestry is straight forward for ironing. Just be careful with the iron. It is hot and will burn!

For the felt, you should be a little more careful. I flipped mine over so I could iron from the back, and I also put a tea towel over it. The felt should be okay, but just in case, I chose to do this.

Now you have nice crisp, flat pieces to connect.

I laid out the field and symbol on the tapestry and folded under the top edge. I need to create a sleeve for the rod to go through to hold it up.

I decided to just tack the corners (where the top corner met the body underneath), and then sew a long line where it would be covered by the field.

I used the starburst stitch again, which worked great for the tacking. Then I move is a couple inches and sewed the line to 2 inches from the other end.

The last picture shows the rod through the sleeve in the tapestry.

There are a few things to consider when attaching the field to the tapestry.

1) Pin it carefully. Felt can stretch, so if you don't pin it carefully, you could end up with the bulge at the end of a stitch row.

2) You need to sew the middle of the field and maybe more to support the weight of the felt.

3) Be creative here.

So I used the starburst to tack the top two corners of the field. I then used a simpler stitch to run the length of the edges of the field. It came out very well.

I then needed to secure the middle, so I decided to do small orange rays of just thread out from the sun, which would secure it very well to the tapestry.

The last picture shows the final tapestry complete with attached field and symbol.

Last step!

You need a rod of some type to hang your tapestry with, and a rope or string of some kind to hang from the wall.

I have a bunch of driftwood I collected for a variety of projects. I found a great piece that I quickly shortened to the right length with a handsaw. Be sure it sticks out a few inches on each side.

Once it was cut, I fed it through and tied my decorative rope on.

Last step, hang it up and marvel at the amazing tapestry you have created. If you are giving this as a gift, they will love it! If you like it too much to give away, you can enjoy it for a long time!

Here are a few other tapestries I have made. Most are in other peoples houses, but these I still have here. The lion and the stylized tree are my favourites.

Have fun creating a wonderful gift, or treasure for your own wall! Thanks for reading and looking at my work. I hope it will inspire you to give it a try!