I spent some time at the library the other day flipping through the craft books on display and guess what I found: embroidered daisies! These wouldn’t hide a t-shirt hole very well, but they’re really cute. I like that they’re not your average stitched daisy.
resource: The book is The Gentle Art of Stitching: 40 Projects Inspired by Everyday Beauty (amazon link). It has some interesting projects — too bad there isn’t a “look inside” option on amazon.
I usually don’t spend time mending holes in my daughter’s shirts. She’s growing so fast that it doesn’t seem to make sense. However, sometimes holes happen to a favorite shirt — one we bought a little big so she could wear it a long time.
Usually, holes show up in sleeves and seams — easy places to hide a few stitches. This one was right in front. I was extra careful, but there was no hiding anything. So I decided to turn it into a decorative element.
I don’t do a lot of embroidery. I’m not the best at it, but I sewed a little daisy in matching thread. The result is actually kind of cute. I’ve seen people mend holes with a star stitch, but I think this is a little nicer. Of course, it would help if all of the petals turned out the same size!
What is it about hanging threads that we just can’t leave alone? It never ends up good, especially with decorative stitches. One quick pull and half a letter is gone in an instant.
I’m not a big fan of satin stitch. It requires a precision that I just don’t have in me these days. I actually considered fixing this with thread. The thought was so mentally painful that I put it off for months. Then one day I thought to try embroidery floss. Brilliant! Once finished, I can hardly tell the difference. Not the neatest job, but it looks great from across the room.
I once saw a woman doing satin stitch embroidery on a windy day at the park. That’s dedication. Her work was beautiful.
Anyone else out there have a talent for tiny perfect stitches?
I had a hard time figuring out what to do with the Easter egg yarn. Once I saw the colors, I immediately wished I had dyed more. I wanted to use every last bit of it, so I decided to make something that I could start from the bottom and go until I ran out.
I love, love, love how these turned out! They were a lot of work, and I don’t think I’ll make them regularly. The pink one with flowers is my favorite.
These are too pretty to just sit around in my “finished” pile of projects so they’re available for sale in my etsy shop.
I also spent the weekend working on a crochet pattern for tiny flowers. Stay tuned!
In my creative space today, I’m embroidering these sweet flowers onto another twirly skirt. My daughter was so excited when I brought home a second denim skirt, but was bummed that it didn’t have any decoration. I let her choose whatever she wanted out of this adorable Japanese embroidery book: Simple Stitch Life.
What’s in your creative space today? Play along over at Kirsty’s place.
details: The embroidery thread came from a garage sale, already wound on bobbins in a filled case. I found the book on eBay. ISBN: 4579111036 / 9784579111039
My daughter loved her St. Patrick’s Day outfit. She wore it yesterday and today. When I dropped her off at school this morning, I started thinking about the Irish dancing costume my mother made for me when I was younger.
Seems I wasn’t the only one thinking about it. I received this comment on my blog this morning…
“Does this take you back to your Irish dancing days? Wonder if you still have that dress?”
…and within in minutes, I received this photo from my mom via text:
Isn’t it amazing? She sewed the dress and cape and then embroidered all of those motifs. (Larger photo here.) I wore this to dance at festivals and in competitions. I even wore it in the Baltimore St. Patrick’s Day parade!
I know there’s no comparison between this gorgeous costume and the little outfit I whipped up for my daughter. I just happened to think about it this morning and wanted to share her beautiful work with you. She totally deserves her own Creative Space, don’t you think?
Visit other creative spaces over at Kirsty’s blog.
I’m working on a tutorial for Friday, so I’m posting a link to last year’s handmade Mother’s Day gifts. Tomorrow’s post is Mother’s Day themed, too!
There is something in Nebraska’s water. The past few months and the next few months seem to be filled with babies, babies, babies! So, expect to see lots of cute things for my friends’ wee ones here on the blog.
This is a really basic blanket, but the eyelet fabric makes it extra special. Bonus: the eyelet fabric was already quilted, so no need for batting!
I added an embroidered monogram to make it a little bit more fancy. I love the contrast of the dark pink on light pink!
stash: Eyelet fabric was from someone who was selling her grandmother’s fabric stash. Pink check fabric was the very first fabric I purchased when I got my sewing machine. Monogram letters from Sublime Stitching.
A few months ago, my daughter was drawing at her easel while I was making dinner. She said, “Look, Mom! A sun!” Not only was it a sun, but it was her very first face, complete with two eyes, a nose and a smile. Since then, she’s drawn lots of suns with faces: fat ones, small ones, some even with freckles. This one is special, though. This one was the first.
I decided to share her sun with her grandparents for Christmas. I took a photo of her original artwork, printed it and traced over it with a marker. Then I taped it to a window, taped the fabric over the paper, and traced it with disappearing ink. After embroidering it, I sewed it up into a pillow cover.
I hope to make one for myself this year. Maybe a smaller version for her room? She loves her sun and has the printout taped to her wall. I’ve got the original tucked away for safe keeping.
stash: Everything except the pillow forms came from my stash. The upholstery fabric colors were perfect for this project and I used quite a bit of yellow embroidery thread.
Yesterday we went to John Deere-themed birthday party for a four-year-old boy. My husband asked, “could we just buy a gift? Does everything have to be handmade? Can’t we get something from the store?” I agreed, as long as we didn’t buy him an actual tractor toy. I figured every four-year-old boy must have at least some kind of tractor, right? How would we know what to get? What if someone gets him the same tractor? Let’s get him some books about tractors instead. And maybe some tractor stickers, too. As my husband bought into my reasoning, I was secretly planning a handmade, tractor-themed, re-usable gift bag.
I admit I was planning to buy some John Deer fabric to make this. Just before I left the house, I decided to dig through my stash and I found two fat quarters of tractor-green fabric! I think it’s a polyester blend and it feels way more durable than quilting cotton. I figured I could make my own tractor-themed artwork with my new hobby.
In the end, my husband and I were both happy with our gift. I hope my daughter’s friend will be, too.
recycle: I bought a big stack of colored cloth napkins at a garage sale awhile ago. I think they were napkins. They kind of feel like the fabric used to make restaurant napkins, except they were every color of the rainbow and only a few matched. Whatever they used to be, they are nice and sturdy. I think they’ll be great for storing all kinds of tractors and trucks.
