Tag Archives: Madeira applique hem

Catching Up

My-Oh-My!  It has been so long since I have posted but life surely can get in the way.  Sewing has been going on, but with lots of interruptions and delays.

 

Children's Corner Jenni Leigh, worn hard and outgrown by Vivian Rose

Children’s Corner Jenni Leigh, worn hard and outgrown fast by Vivian Rose

Similar to this, the first Children on Parade dress I made for granddaughter Vivian Rose, another is is nearly finished.  It just needs the aqua gingham covered  buttons, which should arrive tomorrow.

This is such a delightful fabric, just perfect, I thought, for Vivian Rose’s 3rd birthday party this weekend.

The dress pictured was one of my daughter’s absolute favorites for Vivi, and true to my directive, she let the child wear it everywhere–playground, preschool, play dates, whatever.  When Rebecca handed it back to me I thought this rag should just be thrown out.  But I took it to a dry cleaner who worked a miracle, getting out most of the stains.  Vivian is a very active little whirlwind and her clothes reflect her love of dirt.  After being cleaned, the dress isn’t pristine but I think it’s decent enough to be passed on to another little girl for general play.

When cutting out that dress, I moved heaven and earth trying to match the border print at the front and side seams.  I was unsuccessful.  So an alternative pattern was chosen, Children’s Corner Carol.  Hopefully, pictures will be posted soon with Vivi modeling the dress at her party.

The other project I have worked on is Petite Poche’s Penny, by Wendy Schoen.

Penny patt

I have loved that pattern for so long and finally just decided to “git ‘er done.”  It’s not done yet, but will be soon.

The pattern includes an especially pretty hand embroidery design but I had no time for that.  The design shown is from Custom Keepsakes Christening 2 Collection, which, like all Kathy Harrison’s designs, is spectacular.

 

Penny yoke

The pinstitch around the bodice scallops are finished.  Those scallops are small and take almost non-stop pivoting.  I was so grateful for the knee life on my Brother Dream Machine.

White Swiss pique is combined with Liberty of London and hot pink gingham piping.  All that remains is to pinstitch the skirt scallops, attach the skirt and put in 3 buttons and buttonholes.  I can’t wait to get it finished.

 

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We’ve spent most of the month at dr. appointments.  I’ve had cataract surgery—WOW!  That was a non-event, about as stressful as waiting in a short grocery line. No pain whatsoever and now I can see!  My second eye will be done next week.  My husband has had some cardiac problems so we’ve been back and forth to Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.  I’ve got a broken bone in my foot necessitating podiatrist appointments, orthodic fittings, etc.  So I’ve been way behind with blogging.

Hopefully,  blog posts will appear more regularly.  Please don’t give up on me!  I need to know someone reads this stuff….or not.

So what are you sewing? Valentine projects?  I’d love to hear about them.

Contemporary Heirloom?

pillocase br

This pillowcase and its mate will be included in a wedding gift I am putting together for my cousin’s daughter. The first and only time I saw Jordan was when she was 14 and spent a week with us learning to sew. Now she has just graduated from University of Nebraska and will be married next week by her father in the church he pastors.

Sewing for others always requires at least a cursory consideration of their personal taste. When her grandmother (my sweet Aunt Rheeta) told me the wedding colors were black and white, and then the very contemporary invitation arrived, I knew Jordan was a 2012 Thoroughly Modern Millie.

But she is a beautiful young lady, both inside and out, who will be a lovely bride and a loving wife. She is entitled to her own taste. Continue reading

Pin Stitch~~ Part II

angelwatchcorner

In the previous post, Pin Stitch…What’s it all about? basic information was given about fabric, needle, thread, foot and fabric preparation. There was more, because pin stitch is one of my favorite techniques. And my writing style can be summarized as why-say-in-a-sentence-what-could-be-said-in-a-paragraph? But I bet you already knew that.

This is part II with how-to details and applications for this classic stitch. I hope it is more useful than boring.

NITTY GRITTY HOW TO–After reading all this background and materials preparation info, you are probably wondering  HOW DO YOU DO IT???? Finally, we get down to it.

shadsmock-sleeve-2

Lace edging is pin stitched to the sleeve of a shadow smocked dress, as detailed a few posts ago.

Pin stitch is almost always connecting one thing to another, like lace to fabric on the sleeve to this shadow smocked dress or the angel blanket above. Continue reading

Linen Machine Shadow Embroidered Pillow

linenshadMadeirababypilwhole

 

 

I love projects for babies and this is one of my favorites.  From design to execution, this linen pillow has some interesting details. The open ends of the pillowcase offer the opportunity to give more balance to the overall design, with color and embroidery at both ends.

The handwork techniques used on this baby accessory look convincingly like they were stitched in the traditional manner, but they were all done entirely by machine. Thanks to the miracle advances in sewing notions and machine technology, Madeira appliqué, feather stitch, pinwheel roses and shadow embroidery are quickly, easily and quite perfectly done.

Continue reading

Madeira Monogram Pillowcases

Madeira mono green

My daughter has always appreciated fine bedding. In fact, she admits to being a “textile snob.”

When she moved into the dormitory at University of Florida, I custom made pima cotton sheets to fit her non-standard size bunk mattress. Then for each subsequent housing situation, from the sorority house to apartments, each year through graduate school, new pima cotton sheets and pillowcases were made and monogrammed, often with a matching quilt.

I loved making them and she loved sleeping on them. But then I got busy with grandchildren so it has been a long time since she has had any new pillowcases.

This pair, pima cotton of course, is for her birthday. The scalloped Madeira applique hem is pinstitched in place, crowned with her new married -lady monogram.The design is from Martha Pullen’s 2003 Internet Embroidery Club alphabet.

mono green

Continue reading

Machine Shadow Embroidery~ Baby Pillow

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.