Embroidery WIP

Just wanted to share my first embroidery project in its “in progress” stage. I’m excited to finish up and create the pillow. Unfortunately, no crafting this weekend went on. We were busy with school open houses, playdates, grocery shopping, laundry, and other such things. We did have several bird sightings at our new bird feeder, which everyone was excited about. Spring is coming…..eventually. We had a whole flock of robins in our driveway when we came home from school on Thursday. That was exciting too!

Black-capped chickadees and American goldfinches at our bird feeder on our back deck.

Transferring an embroidery design

So, Kim asked how Doodle Stitching recommended transferring a design onto your material. They suggested several ways, usually involving various types of pens, light sources, etc. So, I’ll tell you how I did it for my first project, which is all I can do since I’m highly in-expert! It worked really well though, so I was happy.

I bought an iron-on transfer pencil. It was maybe $2 at Jo-Ann Fabrics. I copied the pattern from the book, enlarging it to the correct percentage stated in the book using my flatbed Canon home copier. The pattern was color, so I darkened in some of the lighter lines with a regular pen. Then I turned the piece of paper (just normal copy paper) over and traced every line on the back side of the paper using the transfer pencil. (I held it up to a glass window with light shining through to transfer easily – would work better with a light box of course, but I don’t have one.) I then laid the transfer pencil side of the design onto my fabric and ironed it, per the pencil’s directions. I set the iron down for 10 seconds, moved the iron, 10 more seconds, etc. until it was all transferred. It worked great! At first, I was worried about ironing directly on paper, so I used a press cloth, but that wasn’t working to transfer the design. So, I ironed directly on the paper, and it was fine.

I’m still working on my project, but it is coming along nicely. I’d say I’m half done. I’m excited to see what it is going to look like all sewn up! Here’s how it looked before I started the embroidery.

My next project

So, here is my next project! The Sweet Dreams Baby Pillow from Doodle Stitching. I can’t wait to start! Hopefully this weekend, but I have a few other things that I’m working on that I should try to finish up first. But, the idea of starting the new project is so tempting!!

Doodle Stitching

Look what just came! My new book, Doodle Stitching. I’m so excited to see what this embroidery thing is all about (well, to move beyond blanket stitch at least!). My poor UPS man though. He normally comes around 5pm, and I knew my book was out for delivery and was surprised it had never arrived. Well, here he comes and knocks on the door at 8:30pm! At least he knocked instead of ringing the bell. He must have had a bad day to be three hours late. Poor guy. But, I now have my book to read tonight!!

The author, Aimee Ray, also has an Etsy site and she sells her book there, as well as her creations and patterns. The book is currently out of stock on her personal site, but they had it at Amazon.

Ginger Blossom

Who else loves the new Ginger Blossom line by Sandi Henderson for Michael Miller Fabrics? In general, I usually enjoy Michael Miller fabrics, but I’m loving this new Ginger Blossom! Now to see if they are carrying it in my local fabric store. Or, I guess I’ll have to order some from Sew Mama Sew. I really like the Ginger Tile in Avocado and the Vintage Dots-Breeze. Oh! And Tortoise Plaid Breeze too!

ETA: You can check out Sandi’s blog here at Portabello Pixie.