Monthly Archives: May 2011

Red and Gold Paperback Cover

Red and Gold Paperback Cover
Red and Gold Paperback Cover

Finished at last! My sore throat doesn’t want to let me sleep, so I might as well sit up and stitch!





What I learned during this project:
1.) Dupioni takes a beating and pills under alot of hand work.
2.) I need something (like the Tiger Tape I bought) to keep my stitches even (though the perfectly spaced stitches I’ve been admiring online actually don’t look “done by hand.”)
3.) My beadwork is too tight, so the beads shift and become uneven. I also need to remember to stitch through them twice to reinforce them.
4.) Metallic printed quilting cotton looks good, but doesn’t have a lot of body, so it wrinkles easily. I don’t dare take a regular iron to it, maybe my Clover mini iron.
5.) This silkie was a good choice. The colors are fairly deep. I increased the saturation and chose “best” for the printing. (The girl is also holding a bird, and as crazy as it sounds, birds have come to me for help on several occasions, no joke.)
6.) Velvet was a good choice for the part covering the binding. It feels good in my hand while I’m reading.
7.) Take out basting stitches before stitching up the bottom opening.
8.) The pattern I drafted fit!

Another Most Wonderful Discovery!

Another Most Wonderful Discovery!
Another Most Wonderful Discovery!

Alot of my favorite craft shows are available online! http://www.howtotvonline.com/ will redirect you to KS Productions on You Tube. You’ll be asked to subscribe but that’s no biggie. KS produces Beads, Baubles and Jewels, Scrapbook Memories, and Bake Decorate, Celebrate, among others.

Oh, and more big excitement: Matt and Shari are back on TV!

Tutorial: Saving an Applique

Tutorial: Saving an Applique
Tutorial: Saving an Applique

I’ve been, “shopping my closet,” as they say, and I really like this t-shirt. It’s very soft and I have lots of red and navy to wear with it. It’s also very thin and see-through. I have to wear a camisole under it, and that defeats the purpose of light and soft. I decided to see if I could cut out the applique and attach it to another shirt.

I decided to add some iron-on stabilizer to the back before cutting it out.

I chose Sulky Tender Touch, not because I wanted it soft, but because I wanted it flexible.

Tender Touch is very hard to tell which side is the fusible one, so I used my new see-through, Teflon sheet as a pressing cloth, just in case I goofed.

I used a polyester setting with no steam on my iron and gave it a press. (about 20 seconds)

It worked!


I cut it out and turned it over!


Voila!

I also saved the neckband for the piping. I may use that to “frame” the applique when I attach it to another tee:


And the t-shirt leftovers made me a nice new pile of polishing cloths for my soap!

Book Number 2

Book Number 2
Book Number 2

I initially thought, “Oh darn, these books are just alike! They cover the same techniques.” Well, yes and no. This one is a little more artsy; the first one, more crafty. The application of the techniques and the samples differ, and all are inspirational. I’m glad I got both books.