Making it Personal

When I bought my first embroidery machine, a Brother SE-270D, I don't think I was really aware of the impact it would have on my newbie sewing life!!  At the time I was 6 months pregnant with my second girl, and all I wanted was to make matching pillowcase dresses so I could get a cutesy birth announcement picture.  I had my "Walmart special" Brother LS-2125, and was doing OK with my dresses...but thought I could make it so much better if only it was monogrammed.  So I did a little internet research and shopping and found the embroidery/sewing machine combo on Overstock.com for $250...it was refurbished.  I pleaded with my awesome man telling him I absolutely needed this machine, and how much money I would save on family birthday gifts, and oooh look! it has Disney Designs built in, and could I please, please, please buy it??!!  Well, of course he said yes (I don't call him my AWESOME man for nothing :P), and the rest is history!!

Some birthday hooded towels for friends...

Once I talked him into letting me have the machine....of course it didn't stop there!!  Having an embroidery machine is great....but in order to do some really impressive things, you really need to be able to combine designs....like I did in the above hooded towels.

I use Embird Embroidery Software. I believe it was recommended for use with  the Reader/Writer box (Vikant Ultimate Box) I had to get in order to get designs from my computer to the embroidery machine!!  Little did my husband nor I knew that one little idea would lead to such an investment! HA!!  Besides the actual Embroidery machine there are a few other items you need. Like thread...

Just like thread used for sewing, there are different types of embroidery thread.  The thread I used in this chalkboard pillow is a spool made of four colors, so as it embroiders it gives the design cool effect!  

Oh....here's a quick tip on how I "pinned" the chalkboard fabric :)

Where was I...?  Oh, right....thread!  Well of course you will also need a special bobbin thread for your embroidery machine.  And I must tell you that the bobbin thread/ tension GREATLY affects the quality of your design....and your SANITY!!!  Many a hairs have been pulled over bobbin thread/ tension....and NEEDLES!!  Because you have to have the right embroidery needle in order to get the perfect stitched out design!  And then you need lots of different stabilizers to keep your many different fabrics nice and straight while your machine does its magic...

sorry... I know the photos are crappy! 

And lastly you will need embroidery designs....lots and lots of designs!  Appliques, fonts, monogram frames, filled designs, redwork, bluework, etc...

I have TONS and TONS of embroidery designs.  Some I've purchased and some I have found free on the internet from very generous givers!!  Because digitizing a common clip art or computer font into a machine embroidery design is ALOT of work...believe me, I've tried it!! 

The colors of these blankets are awful I know...it is the lighting in my "new" sewing room...I'm not used to it yet, so all of my photos are terrible!!  Anyway, back to Embroidery designs!!  These were custom made for an order. The font was purchased from 8 Claws and a Paw Embroidery Designs.

Which I then used my Embird software to arrange the letters to form names and words.  The swirled Mickey ears were found at one of the many embroidery design sights on the internet...can't remember which one exactly, but mostly every one offers a couple of free designs.  LOVE how these turned out!

And lastly what you need when machine embroidering is a.LOT.of.P.A.T.I.E.N.C.E!!!  There are so many things that can go wrong while a design is stitching out, so it is important to be as prepared as possible!  Having the right machine, software, card-reader, design, threads, needle, and stabilizer is good....but having the KNOWLEDGE to put it all together is key to any successful design.  Before I even attempted to monogram these swimsuits....I went online and did a lot of research, blog lurking, and forum reading!!

Thanks to all of the knowledgeable people at Sew forum and the AWESOME blogger Nicole @ Cole's Corner and Creations, I was able to do a pretty decent job on my first attempt! :)  So I guess after 6 years I can look back and say that all of buying, and research, and design collecting, and LEARNING, and trial and error, and HAIR PULLING, and more learning and buying (I've upgrade to a Brother PE-700 embroidery machine)....has been totally and COMPLETELY worth it!!!  I fully enjoy taking something a simple as a towel, a bag, a t-shirt, a bathing suit, a pillow, I could go on and on with this LIST...and making it personal by putting a simple machine embroidery design on it!! :)  Until later...

Bags! Bags! Bags!

Happy Monday everyone!  I thought that since I have been so HORRIBLE about posting, that I would try to catch up by doing alot of posts this week!  We will have to see if I can keep it up!  I have been creating lots of stuff, but every time I think about putting it up on the ol' blog....well I just can't seem to follow through! :(  One of the problems....and it is the BIGGEST one...is that the "f" key on my laptop has bit the dust!!!  Do you know how many words use the letter "f"??  Heck, it is even in my email address.... aggravating!!!  So I have to copy/paste every time I want to type "of, for, from, if, fabulous"!!! You get the point!  The other problem...is getting the photos from my camera, edited, and saved in a timely manner!  Thankfully, I did a marathon editing session and have mostly everything I've done in the past three months blog-ready :)So here we go with today's post...It is all about the BAGS!  I did this shoulder bag for my Momma to give to her on Mother's Day.  I think it is kinda AWESOME....she thinks, Meh!?  There are no zippers and not enough pockets I think....she won't be too specific because she doesn't want to hurt my feelings. 

There is a pocket on the outside for her cell phone, and one on the inside for miscellaneous...

the inside pocket has no closure, but I did a magnetic snap for the bag closure....guess it wasn't enough. Oh well, I told her if she was completely unhappy with it I would make something else or at least another shoulder bag that has everything she wants...but what makes this bag so AWESOME is that I used discarded pant legs from a pair of Ms. Priss' school pants after making them into shorts!!!!

See??  The bottom hem of the pants is actually the top hem of the bag!!  I thought that was pretty genius of me!!  I took this picture because I thought about doing a quick "how I did it" demo...but of course I then failed to take anymore pictures until I was done...sorry :(  Maybe I will get around to doing a tutorial someday, who knows?!  :)  Anyway, I told my Momma that I would totally rip the stitched "G" from this bag and use it myself!!  And my younger sister has requested a similar one for her birthday at the end of this month....gotta go round up the other pant leg!! HA!
The end of the school year came so fast this year!  One minute I was lounging around, taking a rest after all of the Christmas crafting...then WHAM!!!  Time for Teacher Appreciation Week, then end of school "gifts"!!  Thankfully I had very patient teacher's who didn't seem to mind getting things late! :)I stitched up these towel book bags in about an hour to put in the pile of "door prizes" we give at our Teacher Appreciation Brunch...

And this was an End of Year "gift" for Ms. Priss' fourth grade teacher...

 This bag is HUGE!!

With a wide opening that would be perfect for stuffing papers to be graded and Planner books, no?  I got the pattern from Carry Me: 20 Boutique Bags to Sew by Yuka Koshizen....AWESOME BOOK!!  Of course the bag in the book looks WAY better than mine!
And lastly, I got an order through Pinterest!!!!



How cool is that??  The drawstring bags I did for our last Disney trip has been re-pinned A LOT!!  So this gal from Texas went to my blog and got my email...

 
and made a custom order for three drawstring bags and crayon rolls for an upcoming trip to Disney World!!

Isn't that the BEST kind of flattery??!!  And then to have PATIENCE with me to actually get it done and out to her....which I did in time, WHEW!!  Well, it just kinda makes me feel all warm inside :)So that's it for the BAGS! post...I'll be back this week with more things I've done!  Until later...