![\"Josie\"](\"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/Josie1.jpg\")
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I’m not sure this guy knows what he is talking about.\u00c2\u00a0 These four ready-made aprons were embroidered for another doting grandmother who spends significant blocks of time with her two granddaughters and she seems to be aging not at all!<\/p>\n
This ageless Granny\u00c2\u00a0and her daughter will be making Christmas cookies with the girls. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure there will be some great photo opportunities for the multi-generational baking crew.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And I doubt either Granny or Mommy will look any older when the kitchen is finally cleaned up.<\/p>\n
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When I embroidered aprons for my grandchildren, I had a hard time finding any appropriate designs. There is a plethora of chef collections, including those by Loralie, Amazing Designs, Adorable Ideas and Hatched in Africa. But none of these are for children.<\/p>\n Then I found Roberta\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Creations Cookie Cutters<\/em>. www.robertasreations.com<\/a><\/p>\n While there are probably other suitable design collections, when I found this one, I looked no further. Each of the bear chefs comes in 4×4 and 5×7 frames, though the 5 x 7 frame designs do not fill up the hoop.\u00c2\u00a0 And each comes as a “boy” version with a chef’s hat and a “girl” version, with a hair bow. The chef’s hat bears look pretty androgenous to me, so I mixed them up on the aprons, even though they all were made for female cooks.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I did have some trouble\u00c2\u00a0stitching the \u00c2\u00a0“I\u00c2\u00a0 love (heart) Cookies” on the sign board.\u00c2\u00a0 The text seemed to just sink into the rather lofty thread background.\u00c2\u00a0 After stitching it a second time, it was impossible to rip out so it will stand as is.\u00c2\u00a0 But the message is clear.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The text that is part of the collection makes a nice addition to the aprons. Of course, I had to unstitch the pocket dividers to embroider “Stirring up Sunshine,” and others. Then I topped the stitching with stacked white and red buttons.<\/p>\n The candy cane font is a real treasure.\u00c2\u00a0 My ever resourceful and knowledgeable\u00c2\u00a0friend Judy Day put me on to this free true type font.\u00c2\u00a0 If you do a Google or Yahoo search for true type fonts, you will find it and can download it into most software programs.\u00c2\u00a0 I know for certain that it can be done in PE-Design and Palette.\u00c2\u00a0 I have no\u00c2\u00a0hands on experience with\u00c2\u00a0any others.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n But you must install the program.\u00c2\u00a0 That was a roadblock for me until Judy explained it.\u00c2\u00a0 I thought once it appeared in my font folder it would work.\u00c2\u00a0 It does not.<\/p>\n The beauty of this particular font is that it is sizable to whatever degree your lettering program allows.\u00c2\u00a0 So it will fit anywhere.<\/p>\n Previously, I had purchased 3 seperate candy cane fonts, but all are relatively large.\u00c2\u00a0 With this true type font, I can create text in almost any size.<\/p>\n It is important to note that this is a one color font.\u00c2\u00a0 The red in the candy cane text is just the red of the apron fabric.\u00c2\u00a0 If I were stitching it on white, my thread color would be red.\u00c2\u00a0 The background fabric becomes the second color.<\/p>\n I was especially pleased with thread selection for these designs.\u00c2\u00a0 Usually, I labor about as long over fiber type, thread weight and color as it takes me to stitch out the design.\u00c2\u00a0 Of ten, after all is said and done, I wish I had chosen otherwise.\u00c2\u00a0But this time, I have no regrets.<\/p>\n The bears are\u00c2\u00a0stitched with Coats and Clarks Twist Rayon, 35 wt. 200 yds. per spool.\u00c2\u00a0 Regular variegated thread has too much distance between the color changes to give a variegated effect.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, it would render stripes on this bear.\u00c2\u00a0 The Twist Rayon is two strands of thread twisted together, so it suggests texture where there is none.\u00c2\u00a0 It is just wonderful for fur.\u00c2\u00a0 The thread comes in a variety of colors but I haven’t seen it in sewing stores for the past year or two.\u00c2\u00a0 Fortunately, I had stocked up on the brown, which I\u00c2\u00a0 think is perfect for bears.\u00c2\u00a0Whether it is discontinued by the store or by JPCoats I don’t know.<\/p>\n The other thread which continues to\u00c2\u00a0delight me is the Robison Anton 50 wt. cotton quilting thread.\u00c2\u00a0 For satin stitch lettering, this gives excellent coverage and raises the letters as it if they were padded by hand.<\/p>\n I guess it’s time to get the grandchildren’s aprons\u00c2\u00a0out for our gingerbread house decorating this week.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0It will surely take longer than an hour.\u00c2\u00a0 I hope I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t start aging when the first 60 minutes are up. It’s happening fast enough even when the grandchildren are not around.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m not sure this guy knows what he is talking about.\u00c2\u00a0 These four ready-made aprons were embroidered for another doting grandmother who spends significant blocks of time with her two granddaughters and she seems to be aging not … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n