Tag Archives: machine shadow embroidery

Hinshaw Shadow Work Collection for Sale!

Posted on December 6, 2015 | 4 comments
shadow embroidery by machine from Suzanne Hinshaw's Charming Embellishments collection

shadow embroidery by machine from Suzanne Hinshaw’s Charming Embellishments design collection

 

Heads up, Ladies!  Jan just shared a link to an Ebay auction of Suzanne Hinshaw’s Charming Embellishments    shadow work by machine embroidery collection.  The opening bid is $100.

The description reads:  Wow – hard to find Suzanne Hinshaw’s Shadow work by machine. Charming embellishments. New in package, I opened it to photo for listing. It states that it is for Husqvarna Viking machines. Not sure if the format works on other machines. Stated on floppy disk Hus/.Shv format Designer One.

This great package includes the floppy disk, book, and placement guides. It has 25 shadow work by machine designs. Cherries, poppies, Happy Birthday and Holiday Christmas and Hanukkah. Copyright 2000.

Free Priority shipping for winning bidder.

But around 2003 at Martha Pullen’s School of Art Fashion in Huntsville, I helped Suzanne in her booth at the teacher selling night.    The price of each collection was $125.

Designs from this set were used on a Christmas collar for my granddaughter.  Several of the other designs were used for more projects.

If you’ve been looking for any Hinshaw designs, this is one opportunity.  But be cautious.  I won the Ebay auction for the only collection I do not have, her Ladies and Babies collection.   It was a plagerized copy that soneone had color sorted so it wouldn’t work.  A full refund was given.

The fact that this set comes with the book and templates makes it seem legitimate.

So there you have it. I know nothing more about this auction than the description I have copied and pasted so you won’t find Janice Ferguson’s Good Sewing Stamp of Approval.   I hope one of you ends up with this great Hinshaw collection.

Thanks, Jan, for letting us know about this.

 

 

 

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Posted in heirloom sewing, shadow work by machine

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Shadow Embroidery by Embroidery Machine

Posted on July 20, 2013 | 26 comments

Catching up with my must-do’s so that I can write a new post has been nearly impossible. I won’t bore you with ALLL the details, but one obstacle is time spent supervising 7 year old grandson Robert as he works on the book he has written, Football Frenzy (which soon I HOPE and expect to be for sale @ $7, at least until Amazon or BooksAMillion pick it up ;-)). After I printed up two copies for his perusal, he decided that it is too short. So he is back to composing, adding a chapter on recipes for football watching snacks and more.

Roberts book cover

Additionally, I have been substitute teaching Sunday School for 1st-5th graders, a satisfying but time consuming task.

So until I finish the little popover pinafore (Pini-4) which is almost done, I resort yet again to putting up a post from the past.

Shadow embroidery by machine continues to be of great interest. Though you probably have a greater chance of winning the lottery than of laying hands on any one of Suzanne Hinshaw’s to-die-for collections, you just might get lucky. There are other designers mentioned below with sets or individual designs.

So here is the old post, with a few photos of projects done since putting this one up. A real, new, fresh post should be up very soon.

grandson's Easter outfit with shadow embroidery from Southern Stitches’ Shadow Work Baby Collection

grandson’s Easter outfit with shadow embroidery from Southern Stitches™ Shadow Work Baby Collection

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Posted in heirloom sewing, home dec, machine embroidery, techniques

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Shadow Work Christmas Collar

Posted on November 28, 2011 | 13 comments

Christmas 11 collar whole

 

Good grief!!!!  Less than a month until Christmas and I am just now getting the grandchildren’s holiday outfits together!  I’m sewing in the fast lane now.

 

center

 

The collar for 7-year old Laurel’s burgundy velveteen dress is finished.  Swiss cotton organdy has been tinted with coffee.  The collar pattern is from Sarah Howard Stone’s Basic Yoke Dress.

The collar is lined so that the embroidery stitches will not show and also so that  the effect of the strong burgundy color shadowing through the ivory organdy is diminished.  The lining covers only the spokes, not the insertion.  The contrast of the lace spokes against the dark velveteen is very pleasing.

 

Christmas 11 collar side2

 

The machine embroidered shadow work designs are from Suzanne Hinshaw’s Charming Embellishments collection.  Though the set was marketed for placemats and linens,  the designs are appropriate for many other purposes.

I really choked using metallic thread to outline the holly leaves.  But I thought Laurel would love it and I’m trying to mix a little contemporary in with my old fashioned Nana style.

 

xmas lace scan0001

 

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13 Comments

Posted in girls, heirloom sewing, Holiday Projects, machine embroidery, shadow work by machine, techniques

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Machine Shadow Embroidery-Design and Tutorial Sources

Posted on November 19, 2011 | 8 comments
Work in progress...machine shadow embroidered spoke collar, definitely not-yet-ready-for-prime-time. The fabric is coffee dyed Swiss organdy. The dress will be made of burgundy velveteen.

Work in progress…machine shadow embroidered spoke collar, definitely not-yet-ready-for-prime-time. The fabric is coffee dyed Swiss organdy. The dress will be made of burgundy velveteen.

 

I’m busily working on Christmas outfits for my grandchildren and have started with a shadow work collar for Laurel.  Pictured above, it is fresh out of the embroidery hoop, in need of a good soak to get rid of the blue Dixon lines and the UltraSolvy water soluble stabilizer.  But you get the idea.

 

collar with hand stitched shadow work

collar with hand stitched shadow work

 

Shadow embroidery is one of my favorite needlework techniques.  Several earlier posts feature this technique both by hand and by hooped machine embroidery.

machine shadow embroidered baby pillow

 

As I sat in front of my big Brother Duetta (as opposed to Laurel’s little Brother 300SE), watching it do all the work, I recalled that readers  have commented that they cannot find machine shadow work designs for sale. So I did a little sleuthing before writing this post and located  some sources.

 

LinenGuestantallBrite

 

Suzanne Hinshaw, who developed and patented this technique, no longer sells  them.  However, a few of her collections are still available at AllBrands, including  gorgeous Shadowed Bouquets and Charming Embellishments, which is the source of the designs on the collar. FYI, it is my understanding that when these few sets are gone, there will be no more.

A set of two of Suzanne’s designs for holiday towels (linen) are available at Heirlooms Forever at half price.

Brer Rabbit Designs now has a variety of lovely shadow work designs for sale. This site belongs to Laurie Anderson of Southern Stitches, who regularly contributes to Sew Beautiful magazine.  Everything she makes is beautiful so it’s probably a safe bet to say that her shadow work designs are too.

So for those of you who might like to  try shadow work by embroidery machine, you can purchase designs at these sites.  There is an excellent tutorial at Nancy Zeiman’s site, along with information about her new book with a gorgeous shadow work floral heart design included.

 

Xmas-collar-laceBRITE1

 

I look forward to telling you more about my grandchildren’s Christmas outfits.  There is an interesting story about the spectacular lace for Laurel’s collar and a recipe for dying the organdy to a soft ivory. And I would love to hear about your projects.

What are you making for Christmas?

 

 

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Posted in hand embroidery, machine embroidery, shadow work by machine, techniques

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Machine Shadow Embroidery~ Baby Pillow

Posted on September 4, 2009 | 4 comments

shadmadpilo

 

This sweet little baby pillow was a joy to stitch and makes such a pretty and practical baby gift.  With its shadow embroidery,  featherstitching and Madeira applique hem,  it looks delicate and delightful.

Made of good quality domestic cotton batiste, it needs no lace or trim to complete its tender look.

In my humble opinion, shadow embroidery is one of the prettiest embellishments that can be added to a project.  For babies, children, ladies or linens, its delicacy is stunning.  Much as I have always enjoyed doing it by hand, I was absolutely enthralled when my friend Suzanne Hinshaw developed her techniques for achieving the identical look with machine embroidery.

 

machineshadmadhem

The technique is so simple that it’s hard to go wrong.  You simply hoop up a very sturdy water soluble stabilizer with no fabric and then stitch the portion of the design that, when done by hand, would have been on the back of the fabric.  Think of it as the fill pattern.

Then, after placing strips of double sided tape around the embroidered design, you press sheer to semi-sheer fabric to the stabilizer such as batiste or even light weight linen.  Of course, you would have marked where you want the design to be so you can position the design perfectly.   And Suzanne’s instructions make it clear just when the fabric is placed on the stabilizer.  In fact, all of her directions are very clear.

The next step is to stitch on the fabric.  The design is sized such that the underlay portion of the design which is stitched only on the stabilizer is just ever so slightly larger than the outlining stitches that are worked on the fabric itself.  The top stitches catch the underlay stitches which create the shadow effect.

Finally, you remove the piece from the hoop and gently peel the stabilizer away from the linen where the double sided tape has held it in place.  Cut away as much of the remaining water soluble stabilizer away as possible.  Then immerse the piece in water and let the stabilizer dissolve away.  When all signs of stabilizer are gone, let it dry and then press.

When it is finished, you will have shadow embroidery so credible that no one would even think to examine the back side.  And if they did, they would be hard pressed to recognize the slight difference in the look.

In subsequent posts, I will have more shadow embroidery, some by hand and more by machine using Suzanne’s gorgeous designs.  I might even persuade her to make her designs available again.

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Posted in baby accessories, heirloom sewing, machine embroidery, Madeira applique, techniques, Tutorials

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