The simple lines of a silhouette design lends itself beautifully to a shadowbox display. Shadow box frames can be purchased at most craft stores.
Adding a variety of "odds and ends," creates depth and dimension for a customized gift or personal piece of home decor.
Raid your craft store or your backyard for fun details like textured yarn, miniature dried flowers, sticks, or polished decorative stones.
Supplies & Materials:
Supplies needed:
- Shadow box frames (frames used in these instructions are 6 x 8 inches)
- Fabric for background
- Cut-away stabilizer
- Temporary adhesive
- All-purpose permanent spray adhesive
- Hot glue
- Small decorative stones
- "Fun Fur" yarn
- Large-eye, tapestry needle
- Dried or silk flowers
- Air-erase pen
Designs Used:
- Rooster Silhouette
- Hen Silhouette
Gather Materials:
Remove the back piece from the shadowbox. Use it as a guide to cut a piece of fabric that is about 1 inch larger on all sides.Â
We are using a light-weight woven fabric for our backdrop.
Trace the shape of the frame's back piece onto the front of the fabric.
Print a paper template of the design at full size using embroidery software. Cut around the paper design for easier placement.
Poke a hole in the center of the template and position the design on the fabric. Mark the center onto the fabric, and also mark the horizontal and vertical axis points.
Remove the template, and draw lines connecting the horizontal and vertical axis points. These lines will be used for hooping.
Start Embroidering:
Spray a piece of cut-away stabilizer with temporary adhesive. Hoop it with the fabric by aligning the marks on the hoop with the lines on the fabric.
Attach the hoop to the machine, load the design, align the needle directly over the center point and embroider the design.
When the design has finished sewing, carefully trim away the excess stabilizer.
We hand-sewed "fun fur" yarn onto the fabric to create a grass effect.
Thread the needle with the yarn and sew in and out of the fabric about every inch or so. We sewed three rows just under the embroidered design.
Use a bit of hot glue to secure the ends of the yarn.
To add the embroidered fabric to the back of the shadowbox, spray the front side of the back piece with permanent adhesive and
...position the back of the fabric onto the back piece and smooth in place.
Note: Be sure the top of the fabric and design are pointing the same upward direction as the hanger hooks on the back, so that when the back is added to the shadowbox, the design will not be upside down.
Flip the back piece over. Lay a line of hot glue along each of the two long sides; wrap the sides of the fabric around and press them to the back. Pull the fabric taut while pressing the fabric in place.
Lay lines of hot glue on each of the two short ends and press the fabric in place. Then trim the excess fabric on the corners.
After you have wrapped the back piece with the embroidered backdrop, you can further embellish the little scene.
We added delicate dried flowers by hot gluing them onto the fabric next to the embroidered design.
To further enhance a three-dimensional look, decorate the inside of the shadowbox frame.
Lay lines of hot glue on the inside bottom of the box frame, and press small rocks in place.
We added more "fun fur" yarn behind the rocks for extra dimension and texture. To do this, lay lines of hot glue and carefully press the yarn in place.
Now we are ready to add the back piece to the shadowbox.
Before placing the back into the shadowbox, be sure to clean the glass on the inside.Â
And there you have it! An elegant and natural gift.
