Paperweight Featuring a Collage of Antique Sewing Needles

This paperweight features a collage of antique sewing needles and a beautiful, Victorian button set on a background created with the remains of an old needle book from England.

Working with paperweights is a little like working with shadowboxes... only in miniature.  You just need to use lightweight items that will fit within the dimensions of the paperweight's interior space (especially the depth).

For this project I'm using the remains of an old needle book for the background.  The flap of the needle book is made of textured paper with gold embossing that lends a rich look.  I'm also adding a paper package of needles, a metal needle box, and a faceted button with beautiful sparkle.

In order to create a base to build the design off of, I applied a scrap of green paper to the paperweight's mounting board and trimmed the overlapping material.

 
The old needle book was glued directly to the paper-covered mounting board with Aleene's Tacky Glue.  The fabric and paper that went beyond the edge of the mounting board was trimmed and the extra fabric was used to cover the exposed areas of green paper along the left and right edges.

Prior to adhering the button and needle holders to the background, I experimented with a few layouts before selecting the one above.  Each piece was put in place with Aleene's Tacky Glue.  I also used a glue dot to secure the flap of the paper package of needles.

After the glue dried completely, the design was placed face-down onto the recessed bottom of the paperweight (PhotoWeights: Heirloom Rectangle).  The paperweight was finished by applying the velvet bottom pad.

This design is more complex than the previous paperweight project that was created with a card of sewing fasteners.  All you need are a few more elements and a little patience to come up with a layout you love.

I hope you enjoyed today's sewing paperweights.  Which one do you like the most?