Wing needle fil tire’ hearts and floral swag are from Fil Tire’ and Fancywork Combinations machine embroidery collection.
I make a lot of Swiss flannel baby blankets. They are easy, they always fit and they make me so happy when I see our grandbabies wrapped up all snug and pretty. Many were made for baby gifts and young mothers are always very pleased. Another reason that I’ve made so many is that I’ve taught many classes making Swiss flannel blankets and each class project must be a little different from the others.  Here is another of those sweet, cozy wraps.
Wing needle fil tire’ hearts and floral swag are from Fil Tire’ and Fancywork Combinations.
I think it’s important to edge a baby blanket with a trim sturdy enough to hold up to the heavy laundering that these items require. My three favorites are the English lace shown here and another English lace show in the second photo. It is almost like a very delicate faux crochet. Not only can both of these laces endure countless, rigorous cycles in the washer and dryer, but also they are not too delicate for the wing needle used for pinstitching.
The machine embroidery design is a pair of fil tire’ hearts joined with a floral swag. The Swiss flannel is wonderful for wing needle work and the hearts stitch out beautifully with 80 wt. Maderia Cotona thread. The design is from Fil Tire’ and Fancywork Combinations by Suzanne Sawko and me.
The swag is a perfect setting for a name or monogram, which all mothers seem to like. Depending on the timing of the baby shower, I have sometimes given blankets like the first photo and then embroidered the name when it is chosen.
In the previous post, as well as a few others, I have mentioned Brother’s My Custom Stitch (MCS) program. As you might guess from its name, it allows you to design or copy a stitch. It goes into the machine memory and can be called up at any time and even altered for length.
note zig zag feather stitch
The zig zag feather stitch that I designed has been so useful to me. It looks especially nice done in 30 wt. cotton thread. It is shown on the Blossom Basket Blouse and T-Bonnet post. If any readers have a Brother machine with this option and would like to have this stitch, I would be happy to e-mail it to you. Just post your request as a comment. The baby shawl does have some color, but it is basically white, suitable, I hope, for my White Wednesday post at Faded Charm. Check out all the lovely white eye candy there.
