Hooray! You’ve finished your tapestry, so now it’s time to have it made into a cushion. Before packing it up to post to the Jolly Red sewing team, here are a few reminders and suggestions:
Check for missed stitches It’s easy to miss stitches, particularly single ‘dot’ stitches, or those that you planned to go back to at some point and never did.
Tip: Hold your tapestry up to the light when you think you’ve finished to check for gaps. It’s easy to fill them in while you have your bag of wool close by. We are often able to spot and fill in missed stitches but at our busiest times of year we don’t have time to look as closely.
Resist the urge to ‘tidy the edges’ Do not trim excess fabric from around the stitched area of your design, as we need the extra canvas border when we stretch your tapestry. If canvases are trimmed close to the tapestry, there’s nothing there for us to pull on when we dampen your tapestry to start stretching it.
Colours/fabric We can’t start work on your tapestry until we know the colours and fabric that you would like us to use.
First, consider which range of fabric you would like your tapestry to be made up in. We have three ranges of fabric that we use: a sturdy wool blend range, a crisp cotton range, and finally velvet.
The colours differ throughout each range of fabric, so if you want a particular colour for your tapestry and would like to check that we have it give us a call on 01460 281111 to discuss the design you’ll be sending in and we’ll be able to offer advice. You can request fabris swatches by using our online contact form.
We have hundreds of pictures of completed tapestries on Jolly Red’s Facebook page and on Instagram, as well as on our website and on other blog posts so please do take a look for inspiration and ideas.
Personal Deadline – wedding, birthday etc. If you need your tapestry back by a certain date, please call us to make sure the date is achievable. The making up process is not instant. All tapestries are dampened and stretched before they are made up, and the drying time is longer during the autumn and winter months. If we think we will be able to meet your particular deadline, please send it in by first class post, marking your parcel ‘Urgent‘ on the outside when you post it.
‘Signed For’ Service Please use a Signed For service when posting your tapestry, and keep the details so that you will be able to check that your parcel has arrived safely with us in Somerset. After many hours – possibly weeks or months! – of stitching, you want to get your tapestry to us safely.
We will also email you to let you know that your tapestry has arrived safely.
Please remember to write your name on the back of your parcel when you send it to us. Send it in a tube or jiffy bag, or re-use a box.
Payment Take a look here for current the prices for making up tapestry cushions, Christmas stockings, teacosies, specs cases and bags.
Methods of payment There are three ways of paying to have your tapestry made up:
- Bank Transfer Call or email us for details if you would like to make a BACS payment. We won’t ask you to pay in advance, but will put a note on our system to indicate that you’d like to pay by bank transfer and send you the necessary payment details when we let you know that your tapestry is ready to go home.
- Leave card details Call us before you send your tapestry to arrange payment by debit or credit card which we’ll process once we’ve made up your needlepoint.
- Paypal We need your PayPal email address to be able to do this.We won’t ask you to pay in advance, but will put a note on our system to indicate that you’d like to pay by Pay and send you the necessary payment details when we let you know that your tapestry is ready to go home.
Returning your parcel to a third party If you would like us to send your completed tapestry to a friend or relative on your behalf, please do include the recipient’s name and address and a contact mobile/email address for them or a member of their family with your tapestry. We will liaise with you (ideally by email) to work out the best day for posting back.
If you include a card we’ll ensure that it is enclosed with your tapestry when we send it. No payment receipts or prices of any sort are ever included with such parcels.
Happy stitching and we look forward to adding the final touches to your latest tapestry!
Kelly and the Jolly Red sewing ladies
PS We are once again able to add the finishing touches to non-Jolly Red designs, having caught up with ourselves since the Covid years. The people who used to make up Ehrman’s tapestry kits have now retired so do get in touch whether your tapestry is a Jolly Red canvas or by another brand. If we can help, we will!
