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Entries in Embroidery (25)

Thursday
14Jan2010

Page's Felt Flower Winter Wreath

I am a big fan of winter decorations that are festive, but that don't hit you over the head with a specific holiday or theme.  Decorations that cheer you up and add charm to a room, but don't feel like they need to be removed the moment the occasion has passed. 

I have been wanting to make a wreath in all white and ecru felt for some time now, but when we got in our fun, new neon threads I knew I had to bring the two worlds together to create a wintery white wreath with playful bursts of color that would bring a smile to my face all winter long. 

The pairing of the soft, snowy neutrals with the intense, colorful neons make this piece glow in a way that words can't describe.  That glow coupled with the texture created by all the different shaped flowers brings this wreath to life on the wall.  Our 100% wool ecru felt has subtle color variation from one piece to the next which gives the wreath even more dimension.

I had a great time creating abstract felt versions of some of my favorite flowers and then embellishing them with the neon threads.  I used a few easy cutting techniques to create the dimensional felt centers as well as a few simple embroidery techniques to create the colorful stitched centers. 

Pretty much anything neon makes me happy so you can imagine my excitement when we found Mettler's pack of eight threads in these incredible neon colors!  The possibilties of what to make with them are endless since you can use them for hand stitching and machine sewing. 

It's amazing to me how the simple neon touches brought this wreath to life.  I know it's going to make me smile everytime I pass it this winter.  If you want to make one of your own, check out my Felt Flower Winter Wreath Project Journal.  Happy Winter! --Page

Posted on DateJanuary 14, 2010 | Authorpurl bee | Print ArticlePrint | | | in , , , , | Comment32 Comments
Sunday
10Jan2010

Molly's Sketchbook: Inspiring Embroidery Books from Sublime Stitching

Jenny Hart, embroiderer extraordinaire and the creative mind behind Sublime Stitching, is such an inspiration to anyone who loves to embroider (like me!). Her two recent titles, the comprehensive Embroidered Effects, and the useful little Sublime Stitching Craft Pad are informative and most of all so fun!

If you've never tried embroidery it's really a joy. It's relaxing in the same way that knitting is, but at the same time it's much quicker and more free, like doodling. Above all it's a simple and entertaining way to add beauty to anything from a tee-shirt to a pillowcase to a jacket!

These two books are a wonderful resource. Anytime you have a housewarming or baby shower and need a quick gift you can reach for them and make something quick, personal and lovely.

Embroidered Effects is a thorough exploration of embroidery. It has great how-tos and whole chapters on tools, methods, and pattern making. It also includes a ton of transfers that you can cut from the book and iron right onto your fabric. There is even a little pocket at the front of the book to store the transfers once you've cut them out so you can re-use them.

This book is set apart by its great project ideas, complete with iron on transfers and lists of resources. I think this bright flirty skirt would make a perfect springtime project!

And this sweet pillow could be customised to say just about anything. What a charming gift it could be for a toddler graduating to a big kid bed!

Jenny Hart's other new title is the Sublime Stitching Craft pad. It's simply a pad of paper with 75(!) iron on transfers. It contains everything from the delightful little humming bird pictured at the top of this entry to instruments, an alphabet, robots, and unicorns and even jelly fish. If you already know how to embroider this is such a valuable source. There is something for every occasion!

We also carry a wide selection of embroidery hoops and beautiful cotton embroidery thread if you'd like to start 2010 out with some fun, creative stitching.

Happy embroidering! --Molly

Posted on DateJanuary 10, 2010 | Authorpurl bee | Print ArticlePrint | | | in , , | Comment9 Comments
Wednesday
25Nov2009

Molly's Sketchbook: Embroidered Dreidel Game Pouches

Hanukkah starts this year on December 11th so I wanted to get a jump on the festivities by sending something fun and personal to my niece Miriam and nephew Daniel for their celebrations. I decided to make these monogramed pouches and fill them with everything they will need to play the dreidel game: a dreidel, some chocolate coins (aka gelt), and even a little printout with a copy of the rules:

Sewing these little pouches was so much fun! I used the earthy, Looseweave Linen from Globalweave as the background.  I love it's old fashioned quality plus it's a perfect base for creative embroidery since it has a firm hand and a loose weave.

For the embroidery I used Sashiko thread, a thick cotton thread made for the Japanese Sashiko embroidery technique. Since it's thicker than regular embroidery floss it shows up really well on the neutral linen background. I used our handy Reverse Alphabet as a template for the embroidery of each of the initials and then embroidered horizontal stripes of different stitches and colors on the background. Embroidering the background was my favorite part. It was so freeing to experiment with the stitches and change colors so often.

I liked making these pouches so much that I went ahead and made some for my nieces Rhiannon and Brigid as well, and they don't even celebrate Hanukkah (they do however celebrate candy!).

If you'd like to make a set of your own please visit my Embroidered Dreidel Game Pouches Project Journal. It has links to everything you'll need from the rules to the dreidels!

Happy Hanukkah!-- Molly

Posted on DateNovember 25, 2009 | Authorpurl bee | Print ArticlePrint | | | in , , , , , | Comment8 Comments
Sunday
22Nov2009

Molly's Sketchbook: Simple Embroidered Stockings

These stockings are a relatively quick project. You can make one for each member of your family and still have to to be together and enjoy the holiday! They are made with Robert Kaufman's gloriously colored solids Essex and Kona Cotton as the base, and the beautiful and natural Essex as the lining and the cuff.

There is something so sweet about seeing everyone's stocking hung on the mantle in anticipation of the goodies that will soon fill them and these particular stockings are such an easy way to add a little holiday cheer to your home.

To make the embroidery as neat and legible as possible we designed a special alphabet, complete with upper and lower case letters to use as an embroidery pattern.  Below is a sample of the alphabet, you can download and print the entire alphabet at this link (or find a link on the project journal page).The letters are all reversed, which allows you to make your own embroidery transfer pattern from them:

To transfer the letters simply print out the alphabet pattern, trace the letters you need onto tracing paper using an iron-on-transfer-pencil and then iron the tracing paper onto your stocking... viola, the name has been neatly transered to the stocking. Embroider over the marked letters using a simple back stitch and satin stitch.

I knew these particular stockings were going to live in the Christmas window at Purl Patchwork so I embroidered them with the names of everyone who works there. It was so fun picking out who got what color stocking! If you'd like to make your own set please visit my Simple Embroidered Stockings project journal for the complete pattern and instructions. Happy Holidays! -- Molly

Posted on DateNovember 22, 2009 | Authorpurl bee | Print ArticlePrint | | | in , , , , , , , | Comment14 Comments
Sunday
27Sep2009

Colorful Crafting with Jen: Rickie's Sashiko Pillow

I had Rickie's pillow at my house for a good two months before this photo was taken.  I gave her many reasons for the delay, my camera battery was dead, I didn't get home in time to catch the good light, I needed to change my bedding, it was raining...the list goes on and on. The truth is, every time I looked at the pillow it made me smile, I didn't want to give it back!   

To create this charming pillow Rickie started with our Olympus Sashiko Sampler, White Hana-Zashi, but when it came to choosing thread she decided to forgo tradition (which would call for navy blue) and instead used 6 cheerful and vibrant colors.  She framed the finished stitching in a pillowcase of Tencel Linen from Robert Kauffman and closed it up with a 12-inch, Turquoise non-separating nylon zipper.

Materials

Before she got started, Rickie checked out Mari's Sashiko Tutorial. She followed Mari's tutorial starting at the bottom right corner of the sampler and followed the curvey lines with one color to the next corner. She stitched the next curvy line with another color, and then another, and another, and another...you get the idea.  Once Rickie finished her stitching, she cut 1 1/2-inch strips from the Tencel Linen and made a frame around all 4 sides of the sampler using a 1/4-inch seam allowance. Then she cut a 14 1/2-inch square of Tencel Linen for the back of the pillow.  Following directions from Mari's Bias Tape Purse with Zipper, she sewed in her zipper and then and sewed the pillow case closed with a 1/4-inch seam allowance. 

Rickie's pillow was a welcome addition to my house for the time it was here - I'll be making my own soon! --Jen

Posted on DateSeptember 27, 2009 | Authorpurl bee | Print ArticlePrint | | | in , , , , , , | Comment24 Comments
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