Gingerbread House on Perforated Plastic

I made this ornament many years ago and I'm frequently asked about it. I loaned the book to someone and it hasn't yet been returned. This is what I can remember about how I made it.

The chart is from the ASN book Plastic Canvas Gingerbread Village (#3039) by Carol Mansfield. The original building was a two gabled duplex but I only stitched one half of the duplex.

I used 4 strands of floss on 14 count perforated plastic. I used the colourless perforated plastic for the walls and white perforated plastic for the base and roof pieces. (I'm not sure that it mattered much because I don't think you could see the colour of the perforated plastic after the stitching was complete.)

I used a continental stitch for most of the gingerbread house. The exceptions were:

-I used long stitches on the barber poles, the "red and green shrubbery" and
the white roof shingles. This may be the way it was on the original chart.
-I used 2 strands of blue floss to cross stitch over the yellow to make
'shadows' in shop windows. I don't think that was on the original chart.

Here is a close up picture that shows how I used two strands of blue floss to cross stitch shadows over the yellow on the windows.



(This photo reminds me that I used a photocopier to decrease the size of the shop signs that were in the book.)
When I pulled out two of these house ornaments I discovered that I stitched the white on the roof two different ways on two different houses. One has short stitches and one has long stitches. I don't know which way it was done on the original chart.





The round beads were 4mm faceted beads.
The red beads on the gables were 10mm paddle wheel (or starflake) beads.
The gathered lace on the base was 1/2 inch wide.
The flat lace for the eaves was slightly narrower.

I mostly used JP Coats floss but at some point I did note DMC equivalents on the bobbins.

Tan 5347 (DMC 435 or 436)
Brown 5472 (DMC 801 or 898)
Yellow 2289 (DMC 727)
Blue DMC 799
Red DMC 321
Green DMC 701

Here is a side shot taken before I put the roof on. I cut toothpicks to just the right length to act as beams to keep the top part of the walls from tipping in. Or tipping out. Today I would probably use folded cardboard shapes, similar to the ones I used for my Greeting Card Birdhouses.




Pinwheel 2009 and 2010