Go Diego!

I needed another gift for a small child. This one is a Diego patch that I've sewn onto a backpack. The image is from a storybook or coloring book or something (I forget), scanned into the computer and digitized using Embird Studio. Pretty straight forward process, but I'm still working the kinks out of it. Not bad for a first article, though.

Diego is embroidered onto black felt with tear away stablizer above and below the felt (I removed the top piece prior to the final outline stitching. The design is 21 colors, I think (or 21 thread changes), and way too many jumps and cuts in the black - that must be improved. Finished product is about 2" x 3", keeping it small hides errors in digitizing.

Toy potholders

What small child doesn't need toy potholders for their play kitchen? Ok, probably most of them, but these turned out cute anyhow, and it's a good refresher to me for how to correctly apply bias binding.

Sewing for xmas gifts

Today's installment of Christmas presents includes tea towels. This is very easy with the proper software and an embroidery machine. The child's hand prints are converted to embroidery applique images and then transferred to a towel by the machine. In this sample run, I should have chosen better colors, the year sort of blends into the background too much. Include the child's name on the towel, and you'll have a great gift for grandparents. A layer of tear-away stabilizer I hope will help keep the hand print appliques looking nice after the wash.



For the new babies, or not-so-new babies on your list, a taggie blanket from loops of old ribbon (or ribbon scraps, check the remnants section, you only need a couple inches of any one) and about 1 square foot of fabric for each side, and I threw a layer of batting in between to give it some heft. Pin the ribbons to the right side of the front fabric, the back fabric (right side together with the front/ribbons), and the batting on the wrong side. Stitch everything around, tacking in extra at the ribbons where they'll be tugged, and leave an opening about 1.5 inches wide to turn the project. Turn it out, finish it off, and you have a custom gift in less than half an hour. Make it extra special with the child's name in big block letters, or a cute image. I make most of these with old flannel shirts for one side and curtain material or juvenile clothing material for the other. Sometimes I find a remnant of something especially silky or whatever, as long as it's machine washable, I'll put it on.

Finally, more purses.... same pattern. And I beaded some key rings with the keys and alphabet beads with the names on them.

Cool shades

The latest creation from the embroidery project...sunglasses

I had to edit the pattern from Molly Mine so that the lens material is sandwiched between the front and back halves of the frame. This enabled me to use a stiffer material for the lenses. Since I know my kids will want to use these as real sunglasses, I asked around the local eye doctors and found a supplier for post-mydriatic spectacles (temporary sunglasses given to patients after dialation of the pupils). The lenses are cut from that material, and are completely safe to use as actual sunglasses. Craft foam gives these glasses some shape and stiffness, and I tried to use a variety of colors and patterns for the fabric.

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Still more toys

I've finished a blue purse and a red purse, and I'm working on a bunch of money.

Pennies and Quarters....

Still working on the toys, but now I've invested in digitizing software. The first creations with the new software are pennies and quarters, simple designs with the denomination on the reverse and the appropriate bust on the obverse.

The penny needs some work - the color for Lincoln looks much better on the patterned fabric than the more golden color I chose for the 1.

Mirror, mirror, in my hand....

Mirrors! Yet more work on the xmas presents... Again, this is the Molly Mine purse pattern, with various colors of cotton fabric and foam core to give it stability. The mirror material is adhesive-backed vinyl from Specialty-graphics, who sells it by the foot ($2 per foot for 15" width), and shipped it out really fast (arrived within 3 days for standard postal shipping). This is a poor scan, since you cannot actually tell the mirrors reflect nicely. The flexible material does create some distortion, but the overall effect is pretty spectactular considering the price of materials.

More photos of toys

Some toys....

Along with the play money from Molly Mine, I also purchased a purse pattern and roadsigns. I'm going to be making presents for some children I know (so if you know one of these children, please don't give away the secret)

Some edits to the purse design were necessary - first and foremost the design files are meant for one single purse to be constructed at a time. This isn't very practical when I have a large number (8? 10?) on my 'to do' list. So I used Embird to edit the files - merging several copies onto the same hooping. In addition, some files were stitch-edited such that colors and outlines were done in an order that makes the higher volume easier (join multiple instances of the same color, run all applique stitches together, etc). I'm still working out the kinks, but it's much faster than one-off.

Some more play money - Curious George

Spent some time making more play money, this time with Curious George as our featured portrait. It's turning out rather nicely.



















For the interested parties, this is an embroidery pattern purchased from Molly Mine, and can be found here: http:\\www.mollymine.com

Making Money

So I've decided that children destroy play money far too quickly. To combat this problem, money made of fabric with an embroidered motif should withstand the rigors of childhood.

Back after a hiatus...

This blog hasn't been updated in close to 2.5 years... yeah, I know...

I just got a new toy, a janome 10001 embroidery machine (thank you Craigslist), and I'm starting a whole new set of sewing tasks - toys and stuff for young children. I'll post about it here as I get things accomplished.