Monday, March 9, 2009

Whore Faces, Kids, and Embroidery

My kids keep growing or losing pajamas. The pajamas they currently have are very tight or non-existent. I made a set for each girl and a set for the boy. All of them are embroidered, of course. This machine is so much fun. I used KS 3234, my go-to kid t-shirt and pajama pattern. I have made t-shirts no less than 10 times from this pattern. My son received 4 sets of "cozy clothes" this Christmas. I made them out of microfleece for cold cabin winters. These pajamas are made from Siltex knit I bought from the FabricandNotions Yahoo group. It's wonderful knit. Soft, thick. and cozy. These pajamas are extra big so hopefully we'll get a lot of wear out of them.


Here's a close-up of the bird applique I embroidered. It's from Urban Threads. I love her stuff. It took me a few practice runs to get the applique thing down but I think this one looks pretty good. The dark purple is melton wool from my coat and jacket. The wing is made from an old, old fabric that was passed down to me from my husband's grandmother when she died. I have about 300 little 4" squares that were probably going to be a quilt. I will use them here and there are infuse everything with Gina-Love. My kids never got to know her but she was a super caring, loving woman. Maybe through her materials the kids can learn something about her?



Here is the top from the set I made my son. The octopus was his idea. I went to Urban Threads and when he saw this one, he said, "That's it mom. Stop! Mom! That was it!!! Mr. Oc-to-pod. He should be on my shirt!" I still need a little help with that whole "centering" thing.


Here is Mr. Oc-to-pod. I love his googly eyes and hat. My son picked out the orange fabric ("It's my FAVORITE COLOR mom!") and the eyes.



Because I have chosen mostly applique-type embroideries, I had to figure out a system fast for storing all the little pieces. This is what I came up with. In each envelope holds a pattern for the little pieces that get cut out. On the outside of the envelope is the name where I got the design, the parts, and a very crude drawing. Anybody got a better idea? Eventually, these will have to go in a binder or something.



This was me practicing. I'll be sending this to my girlfriend in California. Yes, it really says, "whore face". It makes me laugh every time I look at it. She'll find it amusing too. I really like the juxtaposition of the two way different themes. Embroidery, up until a year or so ago, seemed like an old lady hobby (no offense!!!!!) and pairing that with the words "whore face" cracks me up. I see more things like this in my future. And really, no offense about the old lady embroidery thing but you hear about older ladies embroidering, I know better now!!!! The colors are all washed out. It looks nice in real life, not so . . . pink.



Another practice run. I love this applique thing. You can see on the wing where the thread broke. I realized a little too late I was using black buttonhole thread. Stupid Dawn, very stupid. After I switched to regular black poly thread it went fine.


Tomorrow I'll be tracing off a March pattern from BWOF. I haven't figured out which one but I think it might be that blouse with the gathered neck.

13 comments:

Unknown said...

You're off to a great start! Love the applique patterns you did. When I was at the sewing expo in the fall, I attended an embroidery session. The mean age in the room was about 20 years more than mine, and the lady sitting next to me leaned over, patted my knee and said, "It's so nice to see young people sewing!" Ha!

gwensews said...

That's the way to learn the embroidery machine--just dive in and go!

I've been embroidering for a few years (alas, an older 60 year old)! I've seen a lot of well-done embroidery, but also a lot of crafty-not so good pieces. I think when home embroidery machines hit the market, people saw it as a way to be creative, without having sewing skills. So, they started slapping it on any and everything. I could start a rant here about that.

Continue working with your machine. I'm going to post some machine embroidery on my blog in the next ocuple of days. Come on Kristine-show us your stuff! You're the professional here.

Lori said...

You are off to a great start, Dawn. Very cute pjs and a fun way for the kids to personalize their clothes.

Maryissewfast said...

Great start Dawn! I love Urban Threads! ViAnn interned at Embroidery Library and she brings a breath of fresh air to machine embroidery. I never cut my applique pieces to fit the design. I cut a square that is big enough for the applique piece...run the first outline to tack it down(some designs run it twice so you don't have to repeat), trim the applique fabric close to the stitching line without removing from the hoop (duck bill applique scissors are a Godsend for this), run the rest of the design. Can't wait to see what else you do!

elbereth said...

Super cute! Nice to read about the Siltex too.

Anonymous said...

Awww - super cute! Love Urban Threads. Totally addicted. Also, love that you're using your husband's grandmother's fabric in your children's clothes...very sweet.

Anonymous said...

I continue to be amazed at the wonderful creations you make DAILY! You are truly talented! Your tutorials are so informative. I also enjoy your wit and humor-each post is always a chuckle.Thanks!

Ann Made Studio said...

Dawn, this is very addictive ;)
There are many great sites for designs. Check this one out:

http://www.annthegran.com/FreeDesigns.aspx

Shannon said...

Whore Face! HA! I read this at work and I cracked up laughing. My office mates thought I had completely lost my mind!

okie2thfairy said...

The whole "whore face..." comment is actually pretty funny. I envisioned a made-up "whore face". Definitely something we girls would do on a girls night out trying to be silly. That's my rendition of the phrase. You're doing a nice job on the embroidery. Is is addictive?

Marsha said...

I think it's great to get your kids involved (picking out designs or designing their own shirt, etc). Machine embroidery is addictive, isn't it?!

Anonymous said...

omg those appliqués are TOO cute! I love UrbanThreads - I just recently discovered them for hand embroidery designs, now that I've got my handy transfer pencil...

Ann Made Studio said...

This is another favorite site, if you have little ones there are just so many cute designs.
"Embroidery Library"

http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/Sale.aspx