Using The Print On Fabric As Your Embroidery Pattern

       I happened across a pic of this being done while doing some searching for ideas for throw pillows for my living room that is being updated. I loved the look. Plus its so simple. Just use a few of your favorite embroidery stitches to highlight a few areas of the pattern already printed on the fabric. Do a little or do a lot. you are designing your OWN fabric. I finished my throw pillow today. It was the first time I worked with a fringe and I can definitely use some practice. The fringe has quite a few mistakes but nothing I cant live with,lol. Anyway, here is a pic of the fabric I was working with:

Above is the final results. Just a touch of embroidery. It brightened the colors of the fabric.





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Organizing Your Lace

   Sometime back, I promised some posts on getting my sewing room moved to a now empty room. Kids moving on, don't ya  know. My youngest are almost 25. Well I didn't get started on it as planned and didnt get the larger room I wanted since my summer visiting granddaughter claimed the large room as hers,lol. And we all know how kids get spoiled at grandma's house,lol. So the room I took over is about a 9'x11'.  Surpr
isingly it has worked out fine. A huge improvement over my 7x7 space I had. Anyway, I will post more on the moving in and how I am finally getting my stuff organized on my next post.
    Today, however, I am posting about one of my recent crafting sessions in this quest to get organized. I have been using the plastic shoe boxes that is sold at Walmart for under a dollar to label and organize different supplies. These have been working out great.
    I have been working n making cards or bobbins to wrap my lace and other trims around to store in my plastic shoe box instead of the jumbled mess they are in right now. I have seen several people posting how they cover their cardboard cut-outs with decorative paper. However, I am usually not into paper crafts, but did have about 10 large sample books of wallpaper that I got from Lowes many yrs ago that were discontinued. Got em free..
    The wallpaper is unglued and a little heavier than decorative paper so I didnt have to worry about the glue buckling the paper.Everything slipped smoothly into place. I did ,however, have to do a test print of my paper template about 10 times to get a perfect fit in my shoe box. I am going to offer my template for printing below. So here comes the tutorial so you can make your own.

    Here is how one of the cards turned out. One quick note tho, after making 6, I decided I wanted them taller and a little wider for a better fit in the shoe box. I love the shabby chic/vintage look.

This is one of wallpaper sample book I am using for these. Plus a picture of my paper template and the cardboard piece I cut out.

I layed the cardboard over my selected piece of wallpaper. Cut it out leaving flaps at the bottom and the sides. The top is slightly rounded so I didnt cover that edge. You can certainly cut this straight across and cover it too if you like but I thought the little peek of cardboard showing at the edge.I snipped in at flap sides as indicated in pic, leaving paper intact.

Turn your board over and repeat covering the other side without flaps. Glue paper on cardboard bobbin and cut it out to fit perfectly. Then using ink or like me, use brown craft paint. Told you I wasnt into paper crafts,lol. Using a rag rub on some ink/paint along the edges to antique it. Then allow to dry thoroughly before using.

And here is a pic of the 6 I made. Now to go make a bunch more in the RIGHT size,lol. 

HERE is the link for the template.

PS: I was able to cover these boards completely, even on the curved top edge, simply by cutting out small elongated triangles along the curved edge. Then when you fold this edge over in lays nice and flat. However , I think I still like the look of the corrugated edge of the cardboard showing.

Another pillow for my front Porch

My new pillow. I love it. The more I work with this drop cloth, the more I want to buy.

I cut two  18" pieces of drop cloth. Did my embroidery, then sewed the piping onto one side. Then I laid the other side on right sides together, and with the side I could see the piping stitches placed up. Then when I stitched the back on I made sure to stitch just inside what I already stitched. Turned right sides out. Pushed out the corners, stuffed, and sewed it shut.

Fast and Easy Seat Cushion

      Ok, here it goes ....a fast and easy to sew seat cushion for the porch. There are lots of ways to do this. You could add piping etc, but it would be helpful to have some sewing experience for that. I think a beginner could sew this.
      First measure the size of your old cushion from seam to seam.. Does it have sides? or is it like a stuffed pillow? If it has side pieces then you will also need to add the 3.5" to Length and width. If you dont have an old one to cover then buy your stuffing and stuff it. If your going to make your own and stuff it, then measure length and width needed to fit seat. Add 3.5" to compensate for drop caused by boxing the corners and seam allowances..
      Cut two pieces. Now you could just use the exact measurements, 1" seam allowance and just sew it up without boxing corners, leaving about 8" to stuff it, turn right side out, and sew the opening closed. I like the look of the boxed corners.So here are the instructions:
1. Place right sides together and pin.
2. starting on long side of back of cushion about a foot from the corner, sewing it around. If your stuffing,  
    leave about 8" opening. If your stuffing your old cushion inside then leave about 15" opening.
3. Now to box the corners:

Flatten corners so that side seams lay on top of each other. The beige fabric is my underside, drop cloth fabric. the blue is the top. Pin.

Now measure down from corner 2.5" on each side and mark.

Now do the same thing to other side.

Now lay your ruler across from mark to mark and draw a line.

Sew across this line. Trim off excess corner leaving 1/2" seam allowance.

Turn right side out and poke out corners.Once you get your old cushion in or get it stuffed, sew the opening shut.

This is a great beginner project. especially if you used all drop cloth since it is so cheap.

New Found Love of Drop Cloth

     Recently I decided i was going to give my front much a much needed make-over. It has always been kinda drab. No new furniture, no pillows to add pops of color except a couple of old cushions I had bought years ago. Even those have seen better days. Our porch faces South West and gets bright, HOT sun all day from noon on. Even tho it has a roof, it almost always is too hot to sit out there and enjoy it.
     So I decided to buckle down and get to work. I started researching ways I could block the sun from cooking us when we were on the porch. I seen picture after picture of curtains hung on a porch, and fell in love.Look HERE and HERE. They looked so lovely and romantic billowing in the wind. I also read many people were already enjoying the virtues of  Drop Cloth. Most of the pics I seen of outdoor curtains were done with drop cloths. I always thought drop cloth was probably just a cheap sheeting of some kind to use while painting a throw away. I have never seen them in person. After enjoying these lovely photo's, I went to Home Depot to buy my own. I bought the Everbilt brand that had two cloths 6x9 feet for around $10. I had every intention of making drapes to hand near my columns  on my porch. I washed and dried one package  and hung them up for inspection and trial run over a clothes line. Now I knew it wouldnt look that great draped over a string near my porch ceiling, but i was just testing it. My husband came out and looked at it, and immediately let out a "Hell No!" he absolutely did not want drapes on the front porch for all to see,lol. Well I decided to try to come up with a compromise since I still wanted to be able to use the porch . so back to the computer I went. After researching, I decided to make Roman shades for the porch. If mounted high up next the the ceiling on the inside, the foot high support beam would easily cover most of it while pulled up and then could easily be let down when needed. Plus the added benefit of being protected more from the sun and weather. Although I did read that someone said their curtains were going on 5 yrs old and still looked good. They just gave them a washing at the start of the season. Others also mentioned they sprayed theirs with a water protectant. Someone else even made a beautiful white slipcover for their couch from drop cloth by bleaching them. Look HERE. Drop cloth has a beautiful beige linen look, before bleaching. A nice weight similar to outdoor fabric.
    Well I have my four packages of drop cloth with 2 to a pack, I still have to buy some small metal rings and some 1" flat metal bars to weight the bottom of the blinds, and I am ready to go.
     Outdoor pillows right now at Joanns are $12 something for about a 16" pillow at 50% off. Outdoor fabric runs about $10 a yard with their current 50% off sale. with one yard of fabric at $10, I can make SIX 18" throw pillows if I back them with the drop cloth and make them reversible. Check out this sneak peek of my first pillows:

Check back often and follow my Front Porch Make-Over as I add tutorials for making  Roman shades, seat cushions and pillows for my porch. All using drop cloth and combos of beautifully printed outdoor fabric for pops of color. However, you can also paint your drop cloth to add stripes, stencils (which I plan on doing too) , or even dye it. I love this sturdy versatile and CHEAP fabric.
 

 
 

My First Needle Book Completed

   Remember is THIS post I showed you the pages I created or my needle book. This is a special project for me for a few reasons. One, this is my very first needle book. Now i have a place to keep all my needles together and they are labeled. Two, This is the first time I used my nicer supplies for myself instead of gifts. Three, the idea for this project was brought up to me by an online friend. She has generously given me some pieces of very pretty fabrics, ribbons, etc. The crushed velvet cover was one of her gifts, plus the beautiful button and hand dyed ribbons.
     I lightly padded the cover and used a piece of acid free board to slip into the covers to stiffen them some. The pages were then opened up and stitched into the binding one at a time. One stacked on top of the other. There is also a narrow pocket running up the edge of the inside covers to hold needle threaders etc. Some of the roses were embroidered. The two large dusty plum colored ones were done using a folded technique. The large leaves were wire edged silk ribbon. The cream colored hand crocheted lace trim running along the edge of the front was made by me a few months ago when I was practicing a new stitch. This was an after thought and not initially made for this project but i loved the look. My roses still need a lot of work. I have been practicing my hand embroidery off and on for a few months now, but have done very little ribbon embroidery.

I noticed that flower that shows up as a bright true blue really isnt. It has a color range from dark blue thru some deep purple.The flowers that look brown, are more a deep copper color, and the crochet lace is more a cream.
Here is the inside:

The inside pocket is a horizontal one running up the left side and inside right side of cover.
This might be a little more accurate representation of the color:

UPDATE

The wonderful teacher helping me develop my embroidery skills advised me to add some greenery to my cover. So here is the updated pic.

Needle Book Update

         I sent my friend the picture of my needle book page. She gave me several good ideas to make it look better. Here is how it is now:

I have to admit my bullion's are getting better. I think I might have preferred to have made the inch worm head to be the same green as the body. I may still change that.

Needle Book......What The Heck Is That?

        That's exactly what i said to an internet friend a couple of months ago. I have been a sewer most of my life. Many years ago I bought an embroidery machine, so I havent done much hand embroidery, but I enjoy learning new skills. Last year by chance,  a wonderfully talented lady contacted me about a crochet project, and we have been friends ever since. She is very knowledgeable and skilled when it comes to sewing, embroidery, and other skills. I have been learning a lot from her. She is an excellent teacher. A few months ago she mentioned about needle books. I have never heard of them or even seen one before. She explained how it was used to store all your needles in one safe place. I usually tended to just stick them in my projects, stick them in pin cushions to be lost among my straight pins etc. We are at opposite ends of the spectrum. I tend to just rush into things headlong, and figure it out as i go. I am also very disorganized. She is extremely organized and plans about making plans for a project.  She is slowly rubbing off on me. Maybe one of these days when I go looking for a certain tool or pattern, I will know exactly where its at,lol.
       She suggested I should make a needle book. At first I wasnt real enthused about the idea. I wasnt sure I would even use one. so I started researching these online. Looking through pinterest and Google at all the beautiful books created by others. It wasnt long before I was hooked. I had to have one. Another thing she has taught me is that when I plan a project for myself  dont be afraid to use your nice materials. I have always saved the good things for when I was working on something for someone else. Sadly to say my pin cushion is one I threw together using a plastic  container and padded the lid. I used old scraps that werent very attractive. So now its time to take car of ME.
       I saw cute needle books online that were pieced from cute prints, and had easy felt pages. Some had hand embroidery on the covers, and ribbon embroidery. Some were shaped like apples. My  teacher/friend sent me some beautiful ,purple  crushed velvet. I decided I was going to use this for my book cover. I also plan on some ribbon embroidery on the cover. She discussed using wool felt or flannel for the pages. I liked the simplicity and ease of using the felt, but when she showed me a pic of how she stitches around the edges of her flannel pages, I was in love. I tried linen, but just didnt get the look I wanted. So I used some white felt. I cut my pages 4.5" x 6". These will then be folded in half to a 4.5" x 3".I found some cute little trim in my storage and decided to use it rather than hand embroidery the flowers, but it could certainly be done either way. I used dark purple embroidery floss to make a french knot in the center of each flower to hold the trim in place.

Then I found some purple rick rack. I thought this would look pretty and add some color in the center of the page. I will stick the needles in under this. I used some cream color floss to couch it to my flannel page. i also took some matching thread to stitch the ends down and prevent raveling.  I wanted some labels on the pages to try and keep me a little more organized. I tried free-handing them on ribbon. Like I said "no plans", just "jump in" and go for it.....Didnt work. The letters were all different sizes. I didnt want to fool with the embroidery machine. I also didnt want to print them out on my printer. So I remembered I had some cross stitch fabric. So I first embroidered the letters on then cut it out. I took some more matching thread and whipped stitched the edges down to my flannel. I liked this look. I think i am done with these, and now on to the cover. Check back here for more pics and instructions on putting this whole thing together.
   

Handmade Country Apple Kitchen Towel

       Right after Christmas, I got in the mood to do some hand stitching. I didnt want to use my embroidery machine. I kind of wanted a country, or vintage look to my new towel. I bought a piece of fabric from a store in Berlin, Ohio. I believe this is the largest Amish area in the nation. This fabric had a nice stiff weight, so I hope it wont bunch up in the wash as my Joann fabric does.
      I cut out 3 apples from some country looking fabric, and turned the edge under and placed them in the center of the towel. Then I slipped the stem pieces under the apples, and the leaves in place. Then I hand stitched the pieces in place. For the apples and leaves I decided to do a blanket stitch with 3 strands of embroidery floss. I then sewed on the border fabric. I cut it  5 inches wide by the length of the towel. I stitched the back side of this border on the towel, then folded it to the front, turned the other edge under and top stitched in down from the front side.
     For the embroidered trim between these two pieces, I used the tutorial found HERE. For the crochet border I used the tutorial HERE. Here is the results:

What I Have Been Working On

    For the past month I have been putting together 4 diaper bag sets for my grand daughters. They include a diaper bag, plastic case with baby wipes, bib, diapers in 2 sizes, and a burping towel. Plus a magic sippy and bottle. I cant wait for them t open them. My girls just love their babies.

I made up the diaper bag pattern myself. The diaper and bib pattern came from here: http://beeinmybonnetco.blogspot.com/2012/01/new-outfit-for-dolly.html

I believe I played with the percent of full size settings in my printer to get just the right size to fit my granddaughters dolls.

For the wipes I simply cut a 6" square piece of flannel, and turned the edges over once and did a decorative stitch. However, later I seen to use the plastic travel soap dishes as a wipes case. These would be best done about and inch smaller to fit the boxes easier. I also cut a peanut shape out of 2 pieces of flannel and with right sides facing stitched the edges together. Be sure and leave a small opening on a striaght of way for turning. Clip the curves, turn, and press. Then top stitch clear around.

I think a small doll size sling would also be adorable. Here is a great tutorial I will be using if I get time to make them: http://www.pinterest.com/offsite/?token=486-205&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oursevendwarfs.com%2F2011%2F07%2Fbaby-sling-tutorial.html&pin=131519251591473810

Western Style Handmade Homespun Kitchen Towel Tutorial

        I just finished this towel this morning, and I think it turned out pretty well. There are a few changes in measurements I have decided to make after seeing it. It went together really easy and quick. Use your own embroidery designs, or just stitch on a band of contrasting fabric instead. These would make great Christmas gifts as well. To purchase the machine embroidery design I used for this towel, then go to:
http://stitchthisdesigns.blogspot.com/2013/10/lost-horse-western-design.html

Go here to download towel topper pattern for free. Be sure your printed dimensions are approx 7 and 1/4" tall  x 5 and /8" wide at the widest point at the bottom.
DOWNLOAD TOPPER

Here is the tutorial for the towel.
1. cut desired fabric for the body of the towel 13" long, and 21" wide
2.Cut out 2 pieces for the towel topper. be sure and add in seam allowances to patern piece all the way around. Iron on stabilizer to one piece. This piece will be your TOP piece.. Cut a piece of velcro about 1" long and stitch onto top of topper, and on bottom about 1" up from folded edge of topper. Stitch these onto the TOP piece of topper only. be sure to center them.

3. Place topper pieces with right sides together. Stitch around, leaving bottom open. Clip curves, and turn right sides out. Press well.
4 Turn up edges on bottom towards inside and press well.

5. Cut decorative band 3" wide by 21" long. Stitch embroidery design in center, and fold over long edges approx 1/4" and press.
6. Place band on towel 3" up from bottom on towel, and stitch long edges down. press well again. Trim edges of band that meat sides of towel to same width of towel if needed.

7. With a narrow 1/4" hem, hem sides of towel (13" sides), and lower edge of towel. Leave top edge un-hemmed.
8. find center of towel and mark it at the top edge. Then measure over 3/4" from center, and then 3/4" over from that mark. Then do the same on the other side of center.

9. With back of towel facing you, Pinch up fabric at second mark and fold over to meet center. Fold should line up on 1st mark from center. Do the same with the opposite side. Pin well. ( pen in pic indicates center mark)

(these folds are shown from the TOP or RIGHT side of towel)

10. Now fold sides of towel over to back to meet in center. Form a pleat in each side as needed to make towel width same width as your topper. Pin in place.
11. Now slip upper edge of towel into bottom of topper. Pin and stitch all the way around edges  of topper.

(the above pic shows pleat from the back side)

Notice velcro side of topper is on the right side of towel, same side as decorative band.

Enjoy!