The Finished Bookcover

I am a day behind getting this posted.  We had company this weekend and in a frenzy to get ready for school which starts tomorrow.  The summer has gone by so fast.  I think as the kids get older, time seems to go faster.

I want to go over the last steps that I did for my bookcover. First I couched two fibers together. The first fiber was a plain black cotton and the second was a more decorative multicolor fiber. I used a brown thread to couch them together. I was nervous about doing this process but found it to be quite easy. I had to put my feed dogs down, set the machine to a wide zig zag stitch and leave my foot in the up position. Then I had to hold the fibers from the front and the back to pull it through. Here is a pic of the two fibers together and then couched together.

This cord will be glued to the inside book pocket and then wrapped around the book to create a closure.
Next, I was so wanting to try one of the techniques that was in the book  ( Edges and Finishes in Machine Embroidery - this is the book I was using for this challenge ) for tassels.  The author explains how to take distorted embroidery designs to create interesting tassel tops.  I thought this would be a great experiment because I have both an embroidery machine and software.  I chose a damask design that was about 4 by 4 inches.  I took a pic of it on the computer so you can see it.

Next, I tried to distort it and mess with the stitch count and while I wish I would have been more brave about distorting it, I am happy with my outcome.  My machine is very tempermental about stitching through very dense designs and, I was nervous about this.  So Iwent safe this time.  I will be playing around with this a little more in the future.  Here is the finished designed stitched.  Like I said, not very much different than the original but still a little different.  It is also only about an inch and a half in size.

In making a tassel I scrounged up this tassel maker.  I am sure it would be easy to make your own.  I really only wrapped the fibers around until I was happy with the density, tied it at the top and then cut the bottom.  Then I glued my embroidered design and a piece of felt to the back to finish it off.  Oh, and I stuck the end of the couched cord into the tassel before I glued it together.  I also added a little brass piece to the tassel for decoration. 
So, here is my finished bookcover.  I am happy with the way it turned out and will definitely be incorporating some of these techniques in the future.  I have greatly enjoyed going through this book. 

Mom has finished her bookcover as well.  You can view it at her blog Glenda Bailey's blog.