Category Archives: machine embroidery

Samantha and John Deere

Posted on July 22, 2010 | Leave a comment

Amy is a busy young mother, teaching school full time and working on her doctorate.  But still she sews–it is her creative outlet, her soother. Though her mother, Judy Day, has sewn all her life and made smocked and heirloom sewn dresses for Amy, her sister, and now the grandchildren, Amy just began sewing a few years ago.

When she was bitten by the machine embroidery bug, she really blossomed. Aside from being very creative, Amy is meticulous in all her sewing.  She sews for her own child as well as the children of her friends.

This  darling set shows her sense of practicality–one pair of pants, two shirts, one with short  sleeves, the other with long sleeves for cooler days.

The hair bows she always makes to coordinate with the outfits are always the perfect finishing touch.

I don’t know this for a fact, but I suspect someone in Samantha’s family has a  tractor.   This shirt is sure to please a John Deere fan.  The other, with  her name and the cute monogram is just cute as a button for school or play.   And the two shirts/one pair of pants set is a great idea for back-to-school, especially here in the South where a November day can be 35 or 85 degrees.

Great job, Amy!

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Posted in clothing, embroidery blanks, girls, machine embroidery

Teaching in Puerto Rico

Posted on July 20, 2010 | 6 comments
This is the view from one of the classrooms. The other had the same view along one entire wall.

This is the view from one of the classrooms. The other had the same view along one entire wall.

In all my years of teaching, I have traveled to some beautiful places, met beautiful people and seen beautiful projects. San Juan, Puerto Rico, was one of my favorite venues, a place at which I taught several times for Luis and Rosa Medina, owners of the San Juan Brother dealership. They were absolutely the most gracious host and hostess that you could imagine.

Their 12 year old daughter helped out but spent most of her time in the classroom, sewing on the Quattro 6000D.

Rosa Medina and 12 year old Deborah, a sewing student! We all talk about learning to sew on our mother's old straight stitch machine or some even tell tales of learning on a treadle. But Deborah is learning more than basic sewing on this technological wonder. June Mellinger, in ivory shirt, discussing project with two entrants.

Rosa Medina and 12 year old Deborah, a sewing student! We all talk about learning to sew on our mother’s old straight stitch machine or some even tell tales of learning on a treadle. But Deborah is learning more than basic sewing on this technological wonder.

On one of these trips, June Mellinger and I taught the classes and were asked to judge a sewing competition. June, by the way, is Brother’s Director of Education in the US, president of the American Sewing Guild and just a terrific, fun lady. We were absolutely astounded at the variety and quality of the entries.

The following photos show just a few of the beautiful items the ladies brought from all over the island.
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Posted in boys, clothing, girls, heirloom sewing, home dec, infant clothing, machine embroidery, uncategorized

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Another Busy Mom Tote

Posted on July 18, 2010 | Leave a comment

This past week, Rebecca and 16 month old Alastair spent a few fun filled days with us.  Among her gear was a tan tote bag of faux fabric imprinted with Alastair’s pediatrician’s office info.  Heavily loaded, as always, the bag’s side seam had begun to come apart, so I offered to mend it.

That’s when she mentioned that she would surely like a monogrammed tote as large as the one I embroidered for her sister-in-law.  As a matter of fact, she could really use two!  Continue reading →

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Posted in bags, embroidery blanks, machine embroidery

Gingham Dog Quilt Part III

Posted on July 16, 2010 | 2 comments

Note two sizes of yo-yo’s.

YO-YO’S:  This was really fun.    Suzanne Sawko has always been charmed by yo-yo’s and made a vest of Liberty yo-yo’s for an article in Creative Needle magazine.  But she did it the fast and easy way.  She created a machine embroidery design that does the most tedious part of yo-yo construction, turning under the raw edge, most of it bias.  I’ve always kept that technique in mind…..

After completing the floss weaving through the entredeux and pinstitch on this quilt, it needed something.  There was a bit of congestion at the entredeux intersections and it just lacked……dimension.  That was my objection to the design.  It lacked dimension.  So I decided to make yo-yo’s with Suzanne’s machine embroidery file.  The technique is so simple, so obvious, so neat. And it could be done without an embroidery machine.

Liberty and regular, original weight Solvy (or other water soluble stabilizer) was hooped together, with the Liberty right side facing up, covered with Solvy.  Then 6 circles were straight stitched, at least 1/2″ apart, the smaller size in the 5 x 7 hoop (130mm x 180mm) and the larger size in the  160mm x 260mm hoop.   After the stitching was complete, the Liberty and Solvy were removed from the hoop and cut out, 1/4″ away from the stitching line.  A slit was made in the Solvy and the circle turned, like a pillow top.  Using a point turner, the outline was smoothed and  then the circle was pressed. The result is a perfectly turned circle.  Continue reading →

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Posted in baby accessories, heirloom sewing, home dec, machine embroidery, quilts, techniques

Gingham Dog Quilt Part II

Posted on July 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

At this point, there is a large square of Swiss flannel in the center, framed with four blue gingham triangles, creating a medallion. Four smaller triangles create the “snowball.”  The perimeter of the flannel snowball  is pinstitched, with the holes from the wing needle in the flannel and the “reach” stitch in the gingham.  The perimeter of the square gingham frame is also pinstitched.

DOG/CAT EMBROIDERY:  All the text files were stitched, including the poem itself as well as the “bow-wow” and “meow” text.  The gingham dog and calico cat was a design from Dakota Collectibles.  Suzanne arranged the text in an arc or wave over the dueling pets.

In an effort to  reduce the stiffness of the  design, the white portion of the gingham dog design was omitted, allowing the white flannel to do the job.  The design was often mirrored for variety.  The shades of blue and yellow 50 wt. DMC machine embroidery thread were varied for the same reason, to create  interest and variety.   Continue reading →

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Posted in heirloom sewing, home dec, machine embroidery, Nana's nursery, quilts

Gingham Dog Quilt Part I

Posted on July 12, 2010 | 4 comments

This is one of my all-time favorite projects.  My dear friend, Suzanne Sawko, and I collaborated on the design, she digitized the straight line text and I sewed it.

It was a major project and telling you about it will take more than one post.  I doubt many of you would have the patience or endurance to plow through all the details at one sitting.  However, those of you who seek new techniques might find some tidbit of interest in the non-conventional creation of this quilt.  So this is part one.

The quilt celebrates the amazing capabilities of today’s computerized home embroidery machines. Uncommon sewing and quilting techniques make the project interesting and relatively easy. With the whimsy of a classic children’s poem, the beauty of fine heirloom fabrics and the charm of embroidered gingham dogs and calico cats, this quilt has delighted each of my grandchildren.  It hangs now in our upstairs nursery, next to the crib.

crib with quilt rack

What makes this quilt interesting?  Well, the basic construction, for one.  I will never forget my original disdain for quilting, especially after hearing a non-quilter comment that to her it made little sense to cut perfectly good fabric up into little pieces and then sew it back together again.  At that time, I naively concurred.

But there is none of that cutting up and resewing here.  This quilt is very non-traditional in every respect but the design.

QUILT TOP CONSTRUCTION:  The foundation is a 50″ square of Swiss flannel,  a luscious but shifty fabric which creates its own challenges.  Pulled threads created a centered grid of 7″ squares.  After the threads were pulled, the entire piece was starched and pressed.

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Posted in baby accessories, heirloom sewing, home dec, machine embroidery, Nana's nursery, techniques

Roger’s Gator Shirt

Posted on July 10, 2010 | Leave a comment

You’ve heard it before—our family loves the Florida Gators. Bbut that doesn’t make us unique in this state, or any state for that matter.  The Gator Nation is huge.  Every time the subject of college sports comes up, more Gators make themselves known.

This was the case when I went to out-patient therapy for my first knee replacement  two years ago.  My wonderful therapist, Roger, not only loves the Gators but was himself a lineman on the team during his years in Gainesville.  He attends every home game, as good a fan as he is therapist.

He’s a big, tall guy, size 3XL, a size unavailable in much of the Gator Gear line.  So I was pleased to be able to embroider a shirt for him, in his size.  Continue reading →

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Posted in clothing, embroidery blanks, machine embroidery, men, sporting gear

Robert’s Yellow Towel

Posted on July 8, 2010 | 3 comments

Well, I finally finished Robert’s long since requested yellow towel and I must say I am pleased with the result.  I have only a scan of the hood and will post a better picture tomorrow.  But I’ve got some bug–or the bug has me–and I didn’t get an outdoor shot of the project today as planned.

First, I have to thank Elisabeth for her recommendation of fabric.com.  I found what they called yellow “French terry,”  but there are no loops which indicate terry to me.  But it is nice, thick, and stretchy–good for wrapping around a little guy.

a new day, a new picture

I cut the 60″ fabric into a 45″ square and then cut a 20″ square for the hood.  Fusible knit stabilizer was ironed on to the back of the piece in the embriodery area.  The square was folded in half diagonally and the embroidery centered.  After the embroidery, the square was cut down to measure 20″ on the diagonal. Then the folded edge was bound. Continue reading →

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Posted in baby accessories, machine embroidery

Busy Mom Tote Bag

Posted on July 6, 2010 | 1 comment

This bag is more a product of perseverance than creativity.  As I sat down at my embroidery machine for the first time in almost 3 weeks, I forgot to rotate the  first design to be directionally correct on the upside down tote.  It took more than 3 hours to pick that out!

If I had been able to drive, I would have pitched the bag in the trash and bought a new one.  But I wasn’t yet up to driving and Bob was out of  town on business,  so I just sat with the tweezers and picked and picked.  That canvas does not like to give up stitches!

A late birthday gift for my dearly loved daughter-in-law, in response to her quiet request,  it is but a small token of my affection and respect for her, even with all the aggravation.

Made of heavy canvas, it was necessary to open one side seam and turn the bag inside out in order to stitch a panel to hooped heavy cutaway stabilizer.  The canvas is so heavy that the stabilizer was not needed for design stabilization, but rather to serve as a sturdy base to support the bag as it was jostled around during the embroidery process.

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Posted in bags, machine embroidery

Under the Sea

Posted on July 2, 2010 | 1 comment

undertheseaKennedyBrite

 

This dress is just breathtaking.  Judy Day has been working on it for more than six months–well, on and off for six months, as she dealt with other must-do’s that popped up.  This is her granddaughter’s 6th birthday dress and Kennedy is just as lovely as the dress!

I’ll let Judy tell you about it.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I made this dress for Kennedy’s birthday.  She has been crazy about fish from day one.  When I saw a picture of a similar dress on Martha Pullen’s weekly e-letter last year, after her event in Arlington, I just knew Kennedy would love it.

The planning took more time than the actual embroidery.  I tried several different fabrics for the dress overlay.  Of course, Swiss batiste would have been perfect if it did not require a lot of starch and pressing.  So I decided on a sheer poly fabric for the easy care.  I ordered several different ones from www.fabric.com

I knew the underdress would be Imperial broadcloth.  I searched my stash and did not find a blue that would work.  When an overlay is put over a color fabric, the color must be a bright, clear color or it looks muddy.  I ordered 4 yds.of 4 different bue fabrics from Baltazor Fabric Boutique www.baltazor.com ….one can never have too many blues in their stash!

 

under the sea overlay

 

Baltazor’s has wonderful customer service.  They only had 3 of the blues, so they picked another and then included a 5th at no charge!  It was one of the fabrics they chose that was perfect.  The color was clear and bright even with the overlay.  The overlay gives the dress depth so that some of  the fish look as if they are swimming in the distance. Continue reading →

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Posted in clothing, girls, heirloom sewing, Judy Day's creations, machine embroidery, techniques

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