Free-Hand Embroidered Deer

For Mothers Day this year, I wanted to make something really unique for my wonderful mom. I decided to embroider something that could be hung up in my parents room at their cabin. My maiden name is Buck, so I thought it would be nice to do something with the animal of the corresponding name. I found the picture below and had an idea of what I wanted to do, a sort of stained glass mosaic pattern on canvas.

I traced the deer onto the canvas and began embroidering triangles. I did these mostly free hand and did not feel the need to take the time to draw the lines on. I did draw lines for the legs at first until I got the hang of what I was doing. 

Close Up!

Extreme Close Up!

           I added a little outline of Minnesota to personalize it a bit. Oh Minnesota, my home sweet home.

The antlers were the most difficult, but I think they turned out well in the end.

I alternated colors and did a simple satin stitch for the insides of the triangles.

I left the Minnesota patch empty so that it would stand out and I liked the end result. 

Here is a close up of the filled in triangles. I forgot to take the final picture before giving it to my mom, but will try to get one soon! I framed it in a modern frame and it now hangs in their cabin bedroom. It was a challenging, time-consuming, but rewarding project. Plus I love the way it turned out. Making something like this for my mom made me appreciate her all the more. She definitely deserves more than a store bought gift and I think the hours I poured into this embroidery were well worth it. Love you mom!

Woodland Creature Baby Gear!

These little guys made it onto some baby gear I made for a co-worker of Ryan's. She is having a girl, but loathes the color pink. She and her husband are into the outdoors and more natural themes. So, I decided to go with woodland creatures. I forgot to take photos using my actual camera, so these aren't the greatest as I took them last minute with my phone....

On the left is a pacifier leash with a hedgehog on it. This hedgehog took me waaaay too long to sew by hand. I created the pattern first. I sewed the top layers of blue and tan together first, then embroidered on the cream quills (not sure if that is what they are called), eyes, and nose. then I stitched that piece to a slightly larger piece of brown felt. And finally, I did a blanket stitch to attach a second piece of brown felt to give it some bulk. So cute!

Attaching the hedgehog to the suspender clip was tricky and I need to perfect my methods. You can see the slight dimpling where I stitched through the blue felt which I don't love. 

The second little guy is a fox that embroidered with cream and black thread. I coated him on all edges with fray check, ironed him dry and them sewed him onto the front piece of the bib prior to sewing the layers together. I used a wood grain cotton for both projects and love how it looks with the animals!! Simple, but cute and funky all at the same time. There is nothing girly about these, but they aren't boyish either....I hope!

My tag is sewn to the back of both items as well. For the bib, I did a cream terry cloth backing with an extra layer of tan flannel in between to make it more absorbent and sturdy. It has a snap closure and I still swear by the tutorial I posted HERE.

The real lesson I learned while making these things is that sometimes I need to better manage my time, or do things a little differently in the interest of time. At some point (way in the future) I would love to make and sell things and I will never make any amount of money if it takes me several hours to complete one pacifier leash!! I'll get faster too with time, but still, I could be more efficient for sure.

Star Wars Baby...There is no try, only do.

A friend of mine brought me an adorable Onesie that features the Star Wars logo. It no longer fit her daughter and she wanted to know if I could turn it into a bib for her. As a big Star Wars fan myself, I said yes and set to work. The material itself was a super thin knit and tough to work with. I used fusible interfacing on the back of the knit to keep it from stretching while sewing and to prevent the edges from curling. I backed it with white terry cloth.  Here is the final product, it turned out well despite the sizing and fabric issues.

The neck came out a little on the small side, so I opted to use thin elastic rather than a snap closure.

After making the bib, my nerdiness couldn't be contained. I needed to sew her baby the ultimate girl accessory to go with her awesome new Star Wars bib....Here is what I ended up with.

I am not exactly sure how they will fit a baby's head yet. I wanted the buns to fit over the ears and not having a baby myself, and it being late at night when I made the headband, I couldn't think of a way to test it out at my house. I used scraps of fleece and the buns came together in no time. Two tubes of brown fleece with a strip of scrap blue fleece in the middle to make them more full looking. 

 They took me a little while to sew together by hand, but I didn't trust hot glue when I was giving them to someone. I will try glue on the next one and report back. Hopefully they work out and I will have a picture of baby Princess Leia soon. If it doesn't fit I will take it back and rework it. It was a fun experiment and I think they are hilarious!

Setting Snaps Can be a Real Pain in the A$$!

There don't seem to be many options for setting snaps out there. If you are looking for a less expensive option, you are either stuck with the Dritz hand tool or the kind you use a hammer with. I opted for the Dritz hand tool and went through multiple sets of snaps unsuccessfully before I went online to read the reviews and look for help. The reviews were horrible. This made me sad and I really didn't want to shell out the money for a KAM Snaps set (which is apparently wonderful). So I scoured the interweb looking for someone who had the magic touch with the Dritz hand tool...and I found her!

Although I can't understand what she is saying (it's not in English), the tutorial shows a new way to use the setter and it actually makes this otherwise garbage-destined piece of trash functional! I am telling you this method will save you from ripping your misaligned snaps and your hair out. It's wonderful. Good luck and happy snapping!

Twenty Minute Tote...or the Two Hour Tote....

Because I wanted to make sure that my baby shower gift was substantial, I pondered ways to beef it up a bit. After several google searches I stumbled upon The Twenty Minute Tote on the Purl Bee website. It seemed simple enough and I thought it would make a cute addition to the gift and I could just add tissue and opt of out wrapping the thing! The bag in the tutorial isn't lined and they use cotton webbing for the straps. I wanted it to be a little more finished looking on the inside and didn't have cotton webbing. So, I made my own corduroy bias tape straps (which took me way longer than it should have) and also lined the bag with the same corduroy.  

This is a very simple bag to make which made it perfect for a fledgling sewer such as myself and I think it truly could be made in 20 minutes if you have the right materials and don't try to fancy it up. The circle flower was super easy and I just freehand cut circles and sewed them on top of each other. If it's not perfect, it's rustic right?

Lovebirds Pillowcase

I love vintage embroidery. The variety is huge and themes range from a gal walking with a tomato (hilarious) to intricate floral patterns. I discovered the Vintage Transfer Finds blog a couple months ago and it is so fun! They are free patterns, which makes it even better. There is a big trend right now in the way of birds and owls, and I am totally on board. Put a bird on it! It will only make it better! So, I chose a sweet lovebird pattern, picked some random floss and got to it. Here are my results.  

I had some puckering issues and should maybe have used some stabilizer on the back.  I tend to become overzealous with the pulling fearing that my threads will be too loose, ergo...puckering! I am trying to calm down with the pulling. I decided to use neutral colors and it ended up looking like something from the 70's, which I like. I don't have plans to make a mate for this case, but maybe someday. I think this would make a cute gift for a wedding or bridal shower. Those birds are just too cute. Put a bird on it! 

Baby Headband

The hunt continues for cute little gift items and I came across some adorable little baby headband patterns. I slightly modified the pattern found here to make it even more simple. The pattern is sized for babies, children, and adults which makes it so versatile. I originally made 2 flower print yo-yos to put on it as well, but it just didn't seem right. So, I left them off and they will make their way onto another project.

Can you tell that I am obsessed with this mustardy yellow color! I bought this fabric in a remnant bin and love it. 

I used red micro corduroy to create this fabric rose. You can use craft glue or hot glue to hold it together, but I used thread and made sure not to let it show on the top. These roses are super simple to make, a great tutorial can be found here. Now all I need is a little baby to model it for me....any volunteers?

Baby Bibs

 As someone who is just starting out in the world of sewing I knew I wanted to create gifts for others. These bibs were fairly simple in their overall design. I have to admit that while the design was simple, these took a looooong time for me to finish. A few choice words may have slipped out as I taught myself how to put on snaps and applique and just sew! Ryan and Rhubarb were likely scared for their lives more than once, but I eventually triumphed and feel like I have the process down...for the most part!

Completed Bib

The front is a red and white polka-dot pattern

The owl applique I designed took some time. I embroidered the eyes and beak and then used fusible adhesive to attach the owl to the bib. Then I straight stitched around the owl and did the wings in a sort of free hand manner, going over the same line multiple times.  

I used Terrycloth on the back and attached my Midwestern*Molly tag prior to stitching the front and back together. I used a tutorial I found online to print on fabric using my inkjet printer. I will look for the link and post it. 

 This is the second in the series, a set I made for an upcoming baby shower gift.

Both bibs close using snaps and I like the finished look it gives the final product. Confession: I went through SEVERAL sets of snaps before these came out looking normal. I need to do more research on snap setting. There must be some sort of trick that the directions failed to mention.Despite the frustration, I will definitely be making more bibs in the future!

Monster Softie

A monster softie made for my nephew. It was orginally slated to be an owl, but due to my limited sewing skills, I messed up and didn't attached the wings like I was supposed to. So, the owl became a monster and the owl wings became monster ears. My nephew really enjoyed this cuddly little guy and it helped me to see how I could draw out my own pattern freehand and make something fun (even if it turns out to be a monster and not an owl). I liked the way the big ears came out!

Softie Bear

I managed to be very productive this weekend. I finally had time to figure out how to thread my sewing machine, and fill the bobbin so that I could actually change the thread color! I finished up the family portrait pillow with a blind stitch. I also stitched up this little brown bear softie. The ears are done by needle turn applique and I was happy with the end look. The face is hand embroidered. I like his little crooked smile!

Embroidered Pillowcase

A pillowcase with embroidered modern trees, flowers, and a blue bird. I used: chain stitch, back stitch, satin stitch, split stitch, and french knot. I did this free hand and can see that one of my trees is a bit lopsided.

Lightning Fast Sneakers

Ryan doesnt like to be left out. Here is his first attempt at embroidery. Not too shabby! Look at that satin stitch :-)

Family Portrait Pillow

Everyone should have a pillow with embroidered versions of themselves on it :-) My first attempt at embroidering people.

I also finally finished the side of the pillow with a blind stitch and added some little buttons for character.

New Home 532

My latest thrift store find! A retro New Home sewing machine. Works great so far and another blogger was kind enough to send the manual. Can't wait to get sewing!