Search This Blog

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

A Tale of Two Stockings

Ready for Santa to come


     This Christmas there will be two more people at our house to celebrate.  Our younger son and his wife had a little boy in April and our older son is bringing his girlfriend.  That means two more stockings for the mantle.

Miles' stocking before
Emily's stocking before
 

     Our younger son bought a stocking for me to put a name on to hang up for our grandson.  Of course I couldn't just put a name on it.  I also embroidered a polar bear wrapped in lights that I had gotten from Embroidery Library.







          For our older son's girlfriend I bought a plain stocking at the store to embellish.  I used an appliqué design from Designs by JuJu.

Stitching on the deconstructed stocking


     The easiest way for me to do the stitching was to take the stocking mostly apart so I could hoop it flat on sticky paper.  I printed out templates of the designs, including their names.  I decided on placement and marked the stocking.  Then I attached it to the sticky paper and did the stitching.

Miles' finished stocking


    It was then easy enough to just stitch them back together and they were ready to hang with the rest of the family.

     Welcome Miles and Emily.
Emily's finished stocking

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Monogramming


Monogrammed hankies


     Last year I had a client bring me several things she wanted personalized for the holidays.  The first were new hankies for her grandsons.  She wanted a 1" block monogram.  In order to get the initials all in the same place on each, I hooped sticky back stabilizer and then stitched a 'corner'.

Hankie aligned with stitched'corner'


     I used this for placing each hankie so that all the monograms were alike in placement.


Patching the stabilizer from the back


     I reused that sticky back stabilizer by patching the hole with a small piece of the sticky back each time.  I used this same method to do an initial on a set of antique napkins.

Monogrammed linen napkins

     

    The other thing she brought to me were old pillowcases that either her mom or her grandmother had added the hand crocheted lace edging.  She wanted Mr and Mrs put on them for newly married granddaughters.

Squaring the hoop on the table with the arrows

  
     I again hooped some sticky back stabilizer and used the grid on my cutting table to square up the hoop.  I had pins marking where I wanted the embroidery and folded the pillowcase along those markings and laid it carefully in the hoop.

Checking final placement


     I used the plastic grid that come with the hoops to check for final placement.

Monogrammed pillowcases


     Stitched, removed stabilizer, pressed and I had a bunch of personalized items to give to her.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Baby Blanket for Newest Grandson

Finished blanket


    I love making these receiving blankets as gifts.  I have been told they are a great size to wrap up a newborn and also make a great blanket to place on the floor for tummy time.

     I have made many of these for charity also.  I buy two 1 1/4 yard pieces of flannel and wash them in hot water and dry in a hot dryer.  That shrinks the flannel and makes it soft while removing any chemicals.

Baby stats


     When I make them for a newborn, I include all their stats, one in each corner of the blanket and then I place their name in the middle.  I love to find the right fabrics to mix and match when making these.

Name


     I also make them for shower presents but obviously without the embroidery.  I will make them in a gender neutral color scheme unless the parents know the sex of the baby.  If you would like one of these, just contact me at celeste@sewmuchfun.biz.