Free ME Fil Tire’ Heart Design

To receive the free machine embroidered heart design, state your request as a comment at the end of this post. The .pes design will be e-mailed to you.

fil tire’ hearts on Swiss flannel baby shawl

The previous post which showed Judy Day’s Valentine outfits for her granddaughters reminds me that this celebration of affection is just around the corner.

For Laurel, my 7 year-old granddaughter, I am smocking a pink bishop nightgown with a matching one for her AG doll.  But I have left a small section at the center front with no pleats.  Machine embroidered in this area is the fil tire’ heart.

 

I’ve used this design several times for Laurel, most recently on last year’s Easter dress.

My overly ambitious plan was to have these nighties finished by now, feature them in this post and offer the design free to readers.  I thought this might give you enough time to use it on some Valentine project.

This is just a very small token of my gratitude for those of you who read this blog, those who have made purchases to help me in my de-stashing efforts, and those who have offered your friendship.  I do so appreciate each one of you.

Well, neither gown is done but ….tick*tock*tick*tock…time passes by.  So I am re-running this  Pink Diamond Baby Pillow post and a photo above from the Heart Swag Baby Shawl post to show you what the heart looks like.  It also includes detailed instructions for stitching it out.

fil tire’ heart in winter colors, 1.56″ x 1.92″

So, Dear Readers, happy Valentine sewing to you.  Just leave a comment requesting the design and I will e-mail it to you in .pes format.

Note that the free design is for the heart only, as shown in the winter color sew-out above.  The floral swag on the pillow is made up from bits and pieces that I put together from the Fil Tire’ and Fancywork Elements  collection. On the Swiss flannel blanket, the floral swag  is a large design from Combinations.

And please, please, before stitching this design, read the instructions below.  You need to  know when to use your wing needle, when to use 50-60 wt. thread (for the tendrils—or skip this portion of the design) and a few other particulars.

 

lace edging is E-2, $1.50 py –click on “heirloom lace edgings” in the category menu, under “A STORE”

For several years now, I’ve been collecting old Herrschners, Aunt Ellen, S.S. Kresge, F.W. Woolworth and other vintage needlework catalogs.  If ever you lack inspiration,  these old marketing publications offer unlimited creative vision for everything from bedding, table and kitchen linens, infant and children’s clothing, quilts or any other sort of handiwork.


 

A 1927 Herrschner catalog featured ready made, hemstitched pillowcases with contrasting “patches of rose or blue” for $1.. For outlining, lazy daisies and one stitching.”  I wish I could still order them! Even though a self addressed envelope was included with the catalog, it seems unlikely that an order would go through.

 

But it did get me thinking about how I could replicate the design with the inserted “patches.”    The white batiste baby pillow with hemstitched pink diamonds shown above was the result.

Sequencing seemed to be the secret to getting this right. First, a template showing the hem edge of the pillowcase was made.  The heavy black line was for placement of the raw edge of white batiste.

TEMPLATE

This was traced onto the batiste with washaway marker, extending the line on either side of the diamonds across the entire pillow hemline. The fil tire’ heart and floral spray were machine embroidered above the center scallop, between the two diamonds.

Next, lace edging was slightly gathered and straight stitched on the line with scallops. Excess batiste was cut to 1/2″ below the lace stitching line and then curves clipped and pressed up, away from the lace. Two squares of pink batiste were cut, starched, pressed and then trimmed on two sides with pin stitched lace edging.

A four-layer sandwich was made of:

  • 1. template
  • 2. 8″ wide Stitch N Ditch stabilizer
  • 3. pink diamonds stuck to stabilizer with glue stick
  • 4. embroidered white batiste.

Everything was pinned together except the template, which was removed after pinning. A pin stitch was worked along the lace edging, right through the pink diamonds and on to the far side of the pillow hem edge. Excess pink fabric from the diamonds was cut away.

Finally, a feather stitch echoed the hemstitching. At the peak of each scallop, a web rose was worked. The fil tire’ heart design and the web rose are from the embroidery collection, Fil Tire’ and Fancywork Combinations, by Suzanne Sawko and me.

I would love to see this pillow made up with blue or yellow diamonds. The more I study the old needlework catalogs, the more inspiration I get from yesteryear’s handwork.

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