A special hand sewn reminder of a wedding in Vendee

Hi everyone,

Welcome & thank you for stopping by.

Some of you know the story of the two weddings daughter had - she wanted a quiet, personal wedding, away from social media, & fuss; a quiet legal wedding in the family town in Dorset, then 20 of us adjourned to a Castle 'La Bergelière' chateau in the Vendee region in France where they had a celebrant led blessing they planned themselves.

During lockdown when I had a lot of time, I decided that it is time to do the Vendee entwined hearts as a reminder of that happy event for daughter & her hubby.  Sometimes the planning takes up more time than doing it - it took ages to get the plan sorted in my head of how I wanted to do it.

I used a printed pattern from a Vendee desk flag I had ordered from France. It gave me the outline I needed & I then made a cardboard template from that. Once inspired I decided to do two complimentary but different versions because it was so interesting interpreting my ideas - one in pink, one in blue.

I used French toile fabrics & drew a family crest outline which was done in a soft cream fabric, & the other in a faded vintage floral fabric.

For the pink version I couched the heart outline in various gold threads - couching is a new technique & this project was the perfect choice for it.  The cross shape at the top was beaded with gold beads ....

 Couching gold threads in the shape of the double, entwined hearts

 I decided to stamp my initials on the reverse of the canvas. The stamps needed the Ikea Fabric pen to make it darker ...

The blue one was made by strengthening blue & gold toile then cutting out the heart shapes. I hand stitched gold seed / rice stitching to fill in the heart shape. I also filled in around the crest with  two blueish beads in the random seed stitching way. It is a stitch I really have come to love because to look random, it actually needs some thought. I like the way the fill in gold stitches & the beads sit well together as they are the same stitch used in a different way ...

I added two dogs as their two precious Vizsla’s accompanied us to France & they are very much part of their lives.

I added these initial charms because that is their combined initials now with their little one & it is daughters name too ....

Sewing details of the processes to make the pink / raspberry one

The pink one had hand beading all around the lace edge .... 

Details of the process on the blue & gold crest, again there is a lot of hand stitching with the outline having a bold blue blanket stitch outline  . The beading had not yet been done around the shape ... 

Two different weddings, two very different outfits - their Dorset wedding 

A personal celebrant celebration in France - spot the dog who I added to the pink crests ...

A fairytale dress for a fairy tale chateau

 The Vendee crest that hung above the fireplace in the kitchen & it was evident all over the little town too - I thought the entwined hearts were perfect so that was my inspiration ...

The completed crests on the bought cream canvas flags / pendants 

Thank you for stopping by & gifting me some of your time. I hope you have enjoyed the process of creating a unique gift. Do you have a preference from the above?

Dee ~💕~