Category: Embroidery

Today, I got around to doing some weaving; however, I didn’t weave too long since I was simply not feeling the process.

I’m sure we’ve all been there right? We want to engage in a craft, but when we actually get that time, we no longer want to do that. Sometimes, I can push through that and other times (like this evening) I know I better stop since I’m not in that mindset. It was a bit disheartening, especially when you thought you were ready to roll.  Since I did want to do “something,” I pulled out that ruffled shirt that I’d been sewing and decided to add some embroidered butterflies to the side. You know, just like the machine embroidered butterflies, that I had added to the pants, but these would be done in a different color.

 

In the above picture, you see what is going on while the machine is embroidering.

 

And here’s an example of the completed project. It’s still shows the markings of my chalk pencil. As I mentioned before, it’s important that the placement of your design is accurate.

 

This shirt isn’t finished. I think I’ll add bead work to some of the butterflies and I do believe, that I’ll remove the sleeves and redo them. Before I sew them together, I might embroider some butterflies to the sleeves. I’ll see how it looks (via paper placement of the design) before I make my decision.

 

Last evening, I embroidered these pants for my daughter.

“These pants” are technically mine; however, one day they found their way into her drawer. . . Yes, my 11 year old daughter can now wear my clothes! My how they grow, right?

 

I will say, that this was a great stitch out. The above embroidered design was over 22,000 stitches. Before I could even think about stitching, I had to measure where I wanted the design placed. I then pulled out one of my rulers and started marking the fabric with my chalk pencil.

This “could” have been hooped, but it wouldn’t have been a fun time for me because of the narrow width of the pant leg. To avoid this, I pulled out my newest seam ripper and started ripping out a side seam.

The bottom stabilizer was floated on the 5×7 hoop and on the wrong side of the pant leg. Two pieces of water soluble stabilizers were placed on the top aka right side of the pant leg. I doubled up on the top, because I noticed puckering when I initially started embroidering. So, why did I experience some puckering? The pants material is made out of a very lightweight knit. Additional support was needed to protect the fabric from all the stitching. In some places, there are numerous stitches. I most likely could have avoided doubling if I had medium or definitely heavyweight water soluble stabilizer on hand. 

I did make one major mistake.

 

Can you spot what I did incorrectly? I should have swapped colors since the blue is darker than the green butterflies.

 

You know what? My daughter isn’t complaining and she received a lot of compliments about her pants today at school. I would say that these embroidered pants were a success!

She attends a private school and they normally have to wear a uniform, but since they had a walk-a-thon they were allowed to wear casual clothes.

A few days ago, I finished this bag. The only thing left to do was add some type of tie. Originally, I’d planned on purchasing ribbon and then it dawned upon me… I have yarn! I could simply crochet a string or knit and icord.

I chose this color and crocheted a cord. My daughter thought it should have been magenta or electric blue. Neither one of those colors are in my yarn stash now.

I also made this bag. My daughter loves it even more than the first and asked could she swap. Did I mention she already is using the first bag and it now has a permanent home in her bookbag.

To complete this project, I used two machines; machine embroidery and sewing machine. Additionally, I hand basted some stitches and I crocheted a cord for the first bag.

Sometimes, you have to postpone your plans.

Take for example yesterdays plan to draft a pattern. My daughter wasn’t feeling well so I decided to hold off the pattern drafting until a later date.

I did make another “medicine bag”. It wasn’t a project that would be time-consuming and I could still be the mother hen and hover about my daughter. The result? My daughter loves the second bag even more than the first. In fact, she asked me could she swap! Sighs… kids!

And so my daughter has a new bag. Can you spot the difference? It’s nothing major.

Check out my earlier post. You’ll see that the lining is different from the first bag that I wrote about here. See? Also, with this bag, I used twill tape on the raw edges. I hand basted that into place, but I still need to go back and secure it with  the sewing machine.

If you look closely, you might see the chalk markings on the above bag. Anyone that machine embroiders knows it’s a smart idea to always mark the design placement for your embroidered design. In a pinch, I’ve used a pencil and that normally washes out without an issue, but this time, I decided to see how I liked chalk. After all, I use chalk to mark the various items that I sew. While I do have chalk on hand, I decided I wanted to try it in a different form.

Here’s what I purchased…

Clover Chaco Liner

It’s a chalk pen! Neat right? Regardless of how “awesome” the concept might be, the proof is in how the item performs. Right?  Also, I was curious to see how easily the chalk marks was removed from the fabric.

How does it work?

The chalk powder is dispensed via a serrated wheel. As you roll the pen along, the chalk comes out in a very fine line. I love it! Even better, this is refillable. The chalk color for this pen is silver, but I’ll be purchasing a few additional colors.

Verdict:

This chalk marker worked just like a pen and, once washed, the chalk came out of the cloth. Yes!!!

I really like making small projects like these. It’s a way to keep me doing something I enjoy. This “small project” was created using my embroidery machine, sewing machine, hand sewing and a crocheted draw string. A lot of detail went into this “small project,” right?

The next bag I make, I’ll use some of the fabric I wove on my loom.

 

Resources:

Clover Chaco Liner

This machine embroidered bag was a fun project to create.

Last evening, I could not come up with the proper name for it, but earlier today, while I was hand stitching the opening, I realized that I could call it a medicine bag. No… not the mainstream medicine, but natural medicine. This tiny bag, makes the perfect compartment for storing small amount of dried herbs from our garden to keep or that could be gifted to a loved one. Additionally, the bag would also  be a great place to tuck in some heirloom seeds. However, this bag is being used as a place to store my daughters iPad charger and ear plugs. Yes, she claimed it! No worries, I’ll be making another just for me.

Inspired by the fallen leaves of autumn, I added the colors I see around the house to some of the leaves on the embroidered design. There is still some work to be completed on the above bag. For example, the white twill tape is temporary. I used it because it was the only thing I had on hand. It’ll be darker. In the next few days, I’ll be purchasing dark brown, green or orange ribbon. Additionally, I’ll put a metal clamp at the front of the closure also.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this bag was lined with the same fabric. The cotton is very tightly woven. In fact, one of my serger needles broke when I was going through about eight layers of thickness.

 

The opening was hand stitched with some of my machine embroidery thread. I double-knotted the thread and closed the raw edges using the buttonhole stitch.

I’ve already posted this tutorial on how to make the buttonhole stitch, but it’s so good, it deserves a repost.

Resource

Urban Threads – Tree Goddess