detail of end papers from "Pocketful of Posies"
I love the way end papers of a book can be purely decorative and bring a connection to the tradition of using marblized paper. There are no interfering words to accommodate and there’s freedom to work in a different way, but capture the essence of the book. For Pocketful of Posies‘ end papers, I used only flower thread and a background of wool felt, which is plain and simple compared with the other illustrations.
To make the border for this picture, I made patterns and cut out felt strips with a wavy edge. The four corners were cut out as separate pieces. The border sections were blanket stitched with my favorite variegated edging thread, Watercolours by Caron.
Since the illustration was such a simple, flat chain stitched pattern, I thought the border could use some jazzy up. I embellished the border with glass beads and silk ribbon embroidery.
I added some lavender rick rick to the inside edge of the border to help set it apart.
All of the border sections were then sewn together into one continuous strip.
Then, with pins, I positioned the border on the end paper illustration and stitched it in place on the upholstery background fabric.
Note: See more posts in the Pocketful of Borders series here.
SALLEY MAVOR 
Absolutely breathtaking…
Perfectly beautiful…
Looking at this spectacular work of yours lifts my heart.
Trying to finish my current assignment and get to what I want to do. You are an inspiration.
AND, if I don’t have my copy of “POSIES” ASAP. I may explode
from anticipation!!
LOVE it!
I could just eat your work up! How come you didn’t end up designing cups and plates again? Or children’s textiles?
Thanks, Sheila. I think a reason I didn’t do textile or product design is that I like holding materials in my hands while creating. Drawing or painting make me feel too removed from the tactile experience. I prefer to manipulate stuff and use both hands.
Oh, this is yummy and thank you for sharing!!!!!
So very pretty! That lavender really makes the colors pop! Beautiful, beautiful work!
I always open your e-mails first, stunning work, thanks again for sharing, you are inspirational and send me running to my craftroom!
Jenny
LOVE that there is so much effort put into the endpapers! And the work in progress pics are my fave….selfishly, I hope you do more of those….I really cannot wait to buy this book!
That’s one of my favorite things of yours I’ve seen, Salley. Not even sure why I like it SO MUCH! Well done, as always. Just lovely.
Susan, I think of you as the queen of borders, so thanks!
It’s like you’ve stitched a happy dream !
It’s just so pretty and makes me smile!
I’d give anything for your eye for details and color. *sigh* Gorgeous!
Charming. I love the possibilities of endpapers.
Que trabajos mas maravillosos, laboriosos, originales, etc.
¡Muchas felicidades!!!
Saludos
Just lovely! I am curious about flower thread. I’ve found several sites on line about it, but was wondering which you actually used. It seems there are a lot of threads I haven’t been introduced to yet!