Category Archives: Disney projects

Beauty and the Beast Spa Wrap

Posted on March 17, 2017 | 2 comments

This cute spa wrap isn’t green, but there is a bit of the color in the trim.

What a fun little project this is!  My older granddaughter loved her monogrammed wrap and those I made for her Spatacular 8th birthday party guests. There was also one for each girl’s American Girl doll (see that tutorial here).

Laurel would love one with the Beauty and the Beast design, available from iBroidery.com for Brother Disney embroidery machines.

She is our little drama queen, but not in a bad way. Laurel has been performing in local stage productions since she was 7 and acting as narrator in Beauty was one of her favorite roles. Continue reading →

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Posted in accessories, Disney, Disney projects, machine embroidery, party accessories and ideas, Tutorials, uncategorized

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Pete’s Dragon Sleepover Set

Posted on February 23, 2017 | Leave a comment

Part 1 of the 3-part detailed tutorial for the set is now posted here at Brother’s blog, Stitching Sewcial.

What a fun project this was! Disney’s machine embroidery designs at iBroidery.com reflect the awesome and mighty protector Elliot who has greater appeal for today’s action hungry youngsters. While the ’70’s version featured the sweet but goofy purple cartoon dragon Elliot, this 2016 dragon is the real deal. See the trailer here.

The set includes an a stippled sundry bag for his toothbrush and personal grooming items, embroidered shirt and shorts pajamas set, and a pillowcase with a burrito/turn tube hem. A drawstring makes it a tote for carrying all his gear to a sleepover.

You can see that the buttonhole is empty. For the child’s safety, the drawstring must be removed when the tote becomes a pillowcase.

The fun part of this design is the glowing fire spewing from Pete’s angry mouth. After the design was embroidered, I went back over that section with glow-in-the-dark thread. The design is positioned so that as a child lays his head on the pillow, he is looking at the dragon. In the dark, this is what he sees:

Each of my 4 grandchildren are fascinated and delighted by glow-in-the-dark embroidery.  Why not try it on this pillowcase/tote? Part 1 of the tutorial is now posted here at Brother’s blog, Stitching Sewcial.

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Posted in accessories, bags, boys, Disney, Disney projects, machine embroidery

Moana Dress for Disney’s New Princess

Posted on January 11, 2017 | 8 comments

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Have you seen the delightful new Moana movie? Granddaughter Laurel, her mother and I went to see it over Christmas and it reminded me that I haven’t blogged about the Moana items I have made. A complete tutorial is posted at Brother’s blog, Stitching Sewcial.

The Simplicity Burda pattern for is dress is so versatile and easy. I like a pattern that leaves room for personal interpretation as this one certainly does. The dress would have been so much nicer if the print had been used for the hem. That’s just one more woulda coulda shoulda for me.

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The iBroidery.com designs are just exquisitely digitized. The intricate details are clear and distinct.

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Continue reading →

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Posted in accessories, Disney, Disney projects, girls, machine embroidery, Tutorials

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Fun Sewing and our 12 Days of Christmas

Posted on January 6, 2017 | 38 comments
Another CC Lucy--and another kitty cat dress for my kitty cat loving granddaughter.

Another CC Lucy–and another kitty cat outfit for my kitty cat loving granddaughter. The fabric features Disney’s Aristocats.

Happy 2017 to you all! I hope yours was the merriest Christmas and holiday season ever because the Ferguson family’s surely was.

I can’t help but rant on and on ad nauseum about our holiday activities and good times, so for those who prefer to stay on topic, which would be SEWING, I will save those details for after the sewing news. But we really had some great fun and you might glean an idea or two for your family gatherings.

At Thanksgiving, almost 4 yo granddaughter Vivian Rose asked me to please make her another “kitty cat” outfit.Then as she walked in the door for Christmas, she again pleaded with this wrapped-around-her-little-finger Nana for another kitty cat dress. Please!

After the Too Many Cats dress cat-astrophe, I thought maybe I could talk her into trading the too big, too worn out and too ugly dress for another better one. Having this fabric on hand and my go-to CC Lucy pattern at the ready, I worked on it for two evenings after she went to sleep. Voila’! A new and improved version of kitty cat dress, though I wish I had taken time to lay out the front so the Eiffel Tower was centered.

This puffy pocket is a free pattern at Chidren's Corner website.

This puffy pocket is a free pattern at Children’s Corner website. It’s a sweet little addition to any number of patterns.

The pocket is not piped. I’ve taken to substituting spaghetti bias for piping. It is simply butted up to the attached pocket and secured with a tiny zig zag and monofilament thread. Cover the raw edges with a button. Easy peasy.

The good news? Vivian Rose loved it, though she did say that the pockets were too small. She knew she couldn’t fit in her little hand and a big fat chocolate donut. Granddad ALWAYS has a box of Dunkin Donuts on the counter for easy access. And he replaces it daily when he goes for his early morning hot latte. He figures they can eat healthy at home.

The bad news? No way would she give up Too Many Cats, now demoted to Second Favorite Dress. Oh, well. It has been laundered 2-3 times a week since Sept. 1 so how much longer can it last? Maybe a while…. the fabric is such good quality.

The boys wanted to sew (read “embroider”) as soon as they arrived.  Alastair, 7, yo, is quite competent at threading and running my Brother Quattro machine.  Continue reading →

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Posted in Disney, Disney projects, girls, kitchen, machine embroidery

Wash Me!

Posted on November 30, 2016 | 1 comment

Wash Me – Personalized Laundry Bag

Yeah!  My personalized Disney Alphabet laundry bag tutorial has just been posted on Brother’s blog, Stitching Sewcial.  It was a fun and enjoyable project.  Those alphabet characters are cute as can be.  I felt like a real in-the-know and up-to-date Nana when I recognized most of characters.  I’m studying up on the others.

Check out the post for detailed construction and embroidery instructions.  If you  find it interesting or useful, I’d really appreciate a comment left on the blog.

Like dishtowels, my favorite hostess or whatever gift, a laundry bag can be used even if it’s not in the recipient’s favorite colors.  It’s good for children, campers, college students and even adults.  I meant to make one for my elderly Aunt Aileen when she moved into a nursing home.  Sadly, she left us before I got it made but I know she would have loved it.

“Laundry bag” sounds so utilitarian and boring.  But they can be a fun and gentle reminder for children (and others) to bag up those dirty clothes.  For each of my grandchildren I have made a bag and they are used regularly.  When she was here for the weekend, 3 yo Vivian Rose asked where her laundry bag was as she put on her pajamas. With no reminder, she put that day’s outfit in the bag and went to brush her teeth.

 

dsc06911 Continue reading →

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Posted in accessories, antique textiles, bags, Disney, Disney projects

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I’m Baaaack

Posted on October 16, 2016 | 17 comments

It has been a wild ride in the time I’ve been out of the loop. After 5 days of Hurricane Matthew preparation, hunkering down with no internet, tv, cell or landline service and then clean up, we headed to Mayo Clinic.  My husband underwent a minor cardiac procedure, as if ANY cardiac procedure can be minor.  He’s just fine, we’re back home and now I’m back to blogging and sewing.

 

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First, I want to share this cute, quick and easy Halloween faux-pieced wallhanging that I really enjoyed making just before Matthew made his unwelcome visit.  A complete photo tutorial is posted here at Brother’s new blog, Stitching Sewcial.  The designs are from the new Disney Halloween Collection at ibroidery.com

There is still time to whip up this kid-pleaser for the increasingly popular Halloween season. Unlike corn stalks or hay bales, this decoration can be packed away for next year and more years to come.

Children love this, especially when they see Goofy’s skeleton glow in the dark.

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Goofy by day

 

Goofy by night

Goofy by night

 

I especially like the yo-yo pumpkins that dangle from each side. Continue reading →

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Posted in Disney, Disney projects, Holiday Projects, machine embroidery, quilts, techniques, Tutorials

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Finding Dory~Another Fun Disney Dress

Posted on August 19, 2016 | 9 comments
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My step-by-step tutorial for this dress is posted at Brother’s Stitching Sewcial blog. Please take a look and leave a comment . I’d really appreciate your feedback.

 

It seems like forever since there has been a new post here, but My! Oh! My! have I been busy!  Highlights include time in NC with family, a week at home with 2 younger grands, including hurricane Vivian Rose (good news,  we have finally recovered. Whew!), several days of sewing with the two older grands and so much more.   It’s been a wonderful summer.

But I’m back in the saddle now and have a really fun little project to share with you.  I do believe this sweet child’s dress would qualify for the “Modern Projects for Old Fashioned Nanas” category.  Don’t you?

It started with this cute pattern

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and the Finding Dory machine embroidery designs at iBroidery.com.  The fabrics are a solid soft aqua Swiss cotton pique’ and a blue Disney Finding Dory quilting cotton. Continue reading →

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Posted in Disney, Disney projects, girls, machine embroidery, Nana fun, techniques

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Alice Tea Linens Tutorial

Posted on August 5, 2016 | 9 comments
image 1 panned set all shadowed

This child sized tea linen set features Alice in Wonderland characters. With the heavenly scented Confederate Jasmine in full bloom on my front porch, a sweet tea party could be held, if only I had a few grandchildren in house.

Making this linen tea set was such a pleasure. The project and accompanying tutorial were just posted on Brother’s Stitching Sewcial  blog.  This is especially timely with the recent release of Disney’s new movie, Alice through the Looking Glass. A whole new generation of children will meet the characters through this movie.

The tutorial includes .pdf downloads for the corner templates (a smaller one for the napkins and a larger one for the tablecloth). It also includes a link to download the zig zag feather stitch which I created in My Custom Stitch, available on many Brother machines. I find this stitch useful for many projects–baby bonnets,   baby shawls,  blankets and more.

If your machine has this feature, you might want to download the zig zag feather even if you are not planning to whip up an Alice tea linen set. Instructions for getting this stitch from the download to a memory stick to your machine are included in the tutorial.

When I began this project, my biggest challenge was to select the designs from the 13 designs available at iBroidery.com. Somehow, they would be have to be color coordinated with sweet Alice’s dress because the Madeira tablecloth corners just had to be blue.

Alice napkin close

Finally, I decided that the napkin corners would have to coordinate with its many colored embroidered characters. Continue reading →

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Posted in accessories, Disney, Disney projects, heirloom sewing, machine embroidery, Nana fun, Tutorials

Tsum Tsum Toddler Outfit

Posted on June 30, 2016 | 22 comments
Simplicity 1475 with Brother iBroidery.com Tsum Tsum embroidery

Simplicity 1475 pattern with Brother’s iBroidery.com Tsum Tsum Disney embroidery

Tsum Tsum? “What’s that?” I said when Brother asked me to create a project using the new collection of Disney Tsum Tsum embroidery designs.  So I did some research and this is what I learned.

According to Wikipedia:  Disney Tsum Tsum is the name of a range of collectible stuffed toys based upon popular Disney characters….. The name is derived from the Japanese verb tsumu meaning “to stack”, because the toys are designed to stack on top of each other, forming a pyramid shape………[1]

For a toddler’s grandmother, this is important information!  Since my first grandchild came of age recognizing commercially promoted characters, it’s been a steep learning curve for this Nana.  I’ve struggled to become conversant  about Wiggles, Backyardigans, Pokemon Ninjas and more.  Now it’s Tsum Tsum which covers Disney characters  from Frozen to Mickey’s Gang and still more!  Whew! Continue reading →

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Posted in Disney, Disney projects, machine embroidery

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Inside Out Tanks

Posted on August 4, 2015 | 6 comments
Bingbon, a favorite character

Bingbong, a favorite Pixar Inside Out character

 

Have you seen the new Pixar movie, Inside Out?    It offers some insight if you are trying to figure out just what children are feeling.

 

Joy is a happy gal.

Joy is the happy gal on the flip side of Bingbong.

 

The shirt embroideries are Brother’s  Inside Out designs.  It was June Mellinger’s creative idea to embroider two off-the-rack tanks and stitch them together .  This makes one embroidered tank top,  making it reversible— or wearable “inside out.”   With this inspiration I embroidered 6 tanks and ended up with 3 reversible tops. Continue reading →

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Posted in Disney, Disney projects, embroidery blanks, machine embroidery, techniques

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