Milanese Pinwheel Ornament

February 19, 2019, 9:34 am
Filed under: Christmas Ornaments, Melita's Designs

There was some thread left over from the Floche Star Ornament and I had this small photo ornament (opening of 1 & 3/4″ diameter) just waiting for something.

I drew a circle on the canvas as large as the paper with the fake photo that came in the face of the ornament.

Sandra Arthur’s Shapes of Needlepoint, Series I, includes stitches for circles and the Milanese Pinwheel stitch is the largest at 22 x 22 canvas threads.

For the red background, I intentionally rotated the canvas to stitch acute triangles of basketweave using DMC Perle Cotton #5 (321) in different directions to add some interest. I learned that is called directional rotation from teacher/designer Diane Hermann.

Using a frame ornament like this, you can’t have thick thread near the edges or fold back the edges to secure them because it won’t close completely. So, I used 4 strands of Kreinik Silk Mori (1114) a Diagonal Weave stitch (see Painted Canvas Embellishment: An Idea Book by Carole Lake and Michael Boren.

I cut close up to where I had stitched without cutting the stitching. The ornament is not going to get opened up often to worry about finishing the edges any better. That made finishing really easy and inexpensive (it’s a $3 frame ornament from Big Lots).