Square Mug Rugs

My fun project was mug mats. Instead of round, I made these square and put a lady bug into the square.

Rather than move on, I decided to do a small tutorial on this. As I am using free designs and a tweaked pattern, all is well.
The ladybug is a free design found at Sew Forum You need to register and log in to see and get the design (I bookmarked the page prior to registering so it was easy to find it again). When you have downloaded the design, bring it up in your software and center it the 100x100 hoop. Do any colour changes (which I did). Rather than have grey, I used black twice. Then I added the square part, which can be found at Sew Forum. Remember you need to be logged in to get the design. Center it on top of the ladybug and save the design.
You will need the following supplies
9” square of plain fabric (cotton or linen/cotton blend)
9” square of fusible interfacing
2 – 9” squares of organza (I used white but have used pink when the fabric was pink)
5” square of backing
5” square of batting
embroidery thread and bobbins. When I use light coloured fabric, I use a light coloured thread on the bobbin until the last stitch out and then I will use the same colour as the top thread.
Steps:

1. Fuse the interfacing onto the fabric. Lay fabric on top of the 2 pieces of organza and pin together so they don’t slip.
   
   
2. Bring up the design on your sewing machine.
   
   
3. Hoop the fabric into the 100 x 100 hoop and put into the machine. Begin to stitch out the design.
   
   
4. When the ladybug is fully stitched, stitch the next colour (colour 4), which is the first round of the square. Cut your thread and remove hoop from the machine. Do not unhoop the fabric.
   
   
5. The back of the fabric.
   
   
6. Spray baste the backing fabric to the batting and then spray baste the batting to the back of the hoop covering the stitching.
   
   
7. Stitch out the next colour (2nd colour of square) and cut the threads. Remove the hoop from the machine but do not un hoop the fabric. Turn over so you see the backing fabric.
   
   
8. Using small scissors, cut the backing close to the stitching line.
   
   
9. Cut the top fabric and interfacing a good one-quarter inch from the stitching line. Do not cut the organza.
   
   
10. Then cut close to the stitching line being careful not to cut the organza.
    
    
11. Change the bobbin colour to match the colour of the top thread. Put the hoop back onto the sewing machine and stitch the last colour. Remove the hoop from the machine.
    
    
12. Remove the fabric from the hoop. There will be a piece of fabric that will be loose and you discard that.
    
    
13. You are left with a coaster that has only the organza left attached to the design.
    
    
14. Cut around the mug mat close to the stitching. Discard the left over organza.
    
    
15. The finished mug mat front.
    
    
16. The back.
    
    

Make 3 more for a set of 4. Enjoy making these for yourself or for gifts.

The Dress

The weather in our area has been up and down. Wednesday was sunny and warm (low 70F’s) and Thursday started out cloudy and cooler though our overnight temperature was quite warm. I did plant pansies at the pond in the morning. Some are small and others are huge. Today I need to do some more transplanting.

I finished another shirt. I had to wait for an order of crystals to arrive as I was short around 60 crystals and had to buy 288 to complete the project.

The back of the shirt has a small design on it with crystals. I used two dark purple with one light purple.  I outlined the yoke to give it some definition. The piping is custom made and has both crystal colours in it.

The front and sleeves of the shirt has more detail. I did add the small flowers to the large rose on both the front and back. With this retro yoke I am always afraid that I will place my designs too close to the edge of the yoke and loose part of the design when I turn it under with a facing I make. The sleeves have lots of design embroidered on them giving them the focal point on this shirt.

I  worked hard on the dress yesterday morning. I got the front done to a point where I need to figure out about the sleeves. I had to do some adjusting but I think I have it looking fairly nice now.

It looks a little big in the back but I will adjust that when I put on the skirt. Easy fix. There are no facings just a lining. Once I know how to adjust the top, I will take it in.

After lunch, I did the lining and started on the skirt. After a lot of work I got it ready to sew the side seams by pinning the dress together inside out.

It doesn’t look pretty but it is an easy way to do a fitting. Especially as this person has a pear body shape, something I haven’t sewn for before.

And the muslin ready for sleeves.

Ready for the sleeves and some trial and error embroidery. And then onto the next dress. Unfortunately my back aches when I sit in a chair and sew most of the day.

Frustration X Four

Yesterday the Spousal Unit’s hard work paid off. He was able to push the old crab apple tree down with his hands. He had spent two days digging and chopping in preparation of winching this tree down. But the tree had shallow roots and no main tap root hence the easy topple. He has it piled up to remove to the dump. We will replace it with a nectarine tree later on this month.

This poor old crabapple tree was doomed from the day we bought the place. We have pondered over it wondering if it was a crabapple or a wild apple. Last fall, we were still pondering but we knew its fate – gone from our yard. We didn’t pick one apple from it after we did the taste test.

With the warmer weather, our greenhouse is really producing. The first seedlings up now have their second leaves and the new seedlings are doing well. Elliott goes out there every day to snoop around and has chased a couple of flies on the windows. Yesterday he scored big – he got a moth. After being brushed he rolled in the soft dirt and went back into the house dirty. He was like a two year old playing in mud.

Yesterday was a day of frustration for me. I worked on the jacket and I finally hung it up. Daughter will finish it as she did not like what I had done. I thought we had agreed on the design but apparently we hadn’t. In checking our messages, nothing had been said about the design. So she will do it. Here is what I got done:

It is not finished as I was doing the jacket in stages. I only have 72 blue stones and have to place them on this jacket carefully. I had decided to do it in stages and was working on the edges of the yokes. The last stage was the lapels.

Next I traced a pattern for a mermaid dress. I am not sure what the top is to look like on this dress so I used my basic dress top with the scoop neck. I had to find out if this dress would fit onto the dark green satin I have in the stash. I can’t get the two skirt pieces out of the fabric, let alone the rest of the dress. That means purchasing 6 meters of fabric for that dress. But the pattern is traced; one positive. I can change the neckline/upper bodice if necessary.

After that, I decided to finish up a shirt I had been working on. I applied crystals on the fronts using two different colours of purple. “It looks great”, as Ambrose Price would say.

I got one sleeve done

and when I went to do the 2nd sleeve, I was short 10 of the lighter purple and 15 of the darker purple stones. And I need stones for the collar. The stones were immediately ordered (two weeks until they are here) and the shirt  put away.

On to the next shirt and I thought I would try the design using AB clear crystals. I am not digging my design – maybe it is the colour of the crystals or maybe it is the design.

As I look at it, it might be both. So I am thinking about it.

The only thing I got successfully done was washing and drying a piece of pink fabric for a shirt. If nothing else, I can cut out the pink shirt and start embroidering it.

End One Frustrating Day!

Pillow Zipper

I love to make pillows and over the years I have decided I like the zipper in the back rather than in the top. It allows me to put binding on the pillow edge if I want to. The zippers I put in are exposed, which are okay, but I would rather like them to be hidden. I found a great tutorial on how to put them in that way. I will be trying this technique soon as I have a pillow to fix.

Put a zipper in your pillow tutorial by House on Hill Road from Erin Harris on Vimeo.

Placing Embroidery

I have learned the hard way how to place embroidery on our shirts. It is very different than when I do projects from embroidery club. But when you want to place embroidery on yokes and sleeves it requires some thought.

When I was down at the Snip and Stitch in Naniamo I looked at some items by Jenny Haskins. One item was paper that you print your design onto, cut it out to fit your hoop and then remove the backing and stick it where you wanted it. Well, the paper stuck like glue and it was horrid on satin fabrics. After much thought, I came up with this idea.

From my software (4D Professional) I print out what I have chosen or designed. The design I am working with is something I designed. I print two copies, the regular one and the mirrored version of it. Then I am off to my sewing room to get to work

This is my fabric,  thread choice and my design for the yoke.

1. Using a ruler, extend the center lines horizontally and vertically so they go from edge to edge on the paper.

2. Lay the hoop onto the design lining up the hoop marks so it is in the proper position.

3. Trace around the inside of the hoop and remove hoop from the paper. Do not be too concerned if the hoop is longer than the paper at the top. The curves at the corners let you know that you must fit your paper at the bottom of the hoop first.

4.Cut out on the line you drew.

 

5. Lay your design onto the fabric. In this case, it is the sleeve of the shirt. I used a snip on the shirt as my center line measurement. I also measured how far up I wanted this design to be – 2” from cutting line to the bottom of the stem.

6. Carefully pin the pattern in place using your ruler to make sure it continues to be in the right place. I will put in the first pin and then measure up the sleeve on the center line making sure it is still 2” up from the edge.

7. I lay out the mirrored image above it making sure the center lines are lined up and the pattern is placed so the space between the two is approximately an inch. That is so I can put a few crystals between the two designs to link them together.

8. Pin the sides of the top design above the horizontal center line. Then take the bottom of the page and pin it to the top to get it out of the way.

9. Put you stabilizer into the hoop. I am using a soft cut away stabilizer. Spray it with a temporary adhesive.

10. Position the fabric onto the hoop so the paper pattern fits is perfectly. If the paper pattern is short, start at the bottom of the hoop and set it in so it fits as far up as it goes.

11. Carefully lift back the sides of the paper and pin the fabric to the stabilizer close to the hoop edge.

12. Attach the hoop to the embroidery unit and set up the design on your sewing machine. I had already turned on my machine and calibrated it prior to starting my project. I had the design up and ready to push the “Go” button.

13. Get your machine ready so you can align the needle to the cross hairs. You are getting your design centered. My machine allows me to move the needle in small increments so I can get it perfect. In this picture, the needle is not quite centered and I centered it after I snapped the picture.

14. Remove the paper design. As my fabric is not hooped but held on with a temporary adhesive, I like to fix it into place (Fix on my machine). I will stop my machine and remove the two side pins if my needle gets close to them. Then it is time to stitch out the design.

15. The first part of the total design is done.

16. Trim the stabilizer close to the stitching on the back.

17. Repeat the process by laying  the piece of paper flat on the fabric and pinning it in place. Repeat the above process. Trim the stabilizer when done and admire the front.

I will show you tomorrow how to mirror the image on the other sleeve. The set up is easy once I figured it out. Then it will be on to the yokes.

The Piper

Gwensews wrote That's a great technique. I'm interested in how you will get the piping around the point and the bottom of the shirt attached without any rippling when referring to how I do my curvy yokes. Here is the process of how I do the piping. It is my way and it might not be the right way or the way other folks do it.

I have custom made this piping. I cut the strips 2" wide on the bias, pressed it in half lengthwise, stuffed the cording in and stitched it closed with a piping foot. As I am stuffing in the cording, I press it close to the folded edge with a fingernail. I cut my piping back to 1/4" seam using a piping ruler.

I lay the piping around the curved edges pinning as I go. At sharp corners, I play with the piping, folding it into a V so the point of the yoke fits into the piping. I pin it carefully into place and baste it down.


Here is the wrong side where I formed the point for the center back. If necessary, I will do small basting stitches at the point to hold the piping securely in place.


The back is basted.


Here is the wrong side of the front yoke.


And the yokes are done and laid out. I will sew the shoulder seams on the yokes next and press them open.


I then work on the shirt by sewing the shoulder seams together wrong sides together. Yes, the seams are on the right side of the shirt as you can see in the next two photos.




I put the yoke onto the shirt matching in the following order:
*Shoulder seams at neck and sleeve.
*At shirt front
*Around the yokes
*Around the neck
I do a lot of hand smoothing and pinning and it looks like this when I am done.


The wrong side after I have pinned


All pinned and ready to sew.


I sew around the neckline with a 1/2" seam. This holds the top together and I don't loose the pins I put in. I learned that after having most of the pins fall out as I was sewing on the yokes.

Next I put on my piping foot (but I have used my zipper foot) and set the length to 3.0 and move the needle out 2 steps on my machine. I slide the piping into the piping foot with the line on it at the edge of the yoke. With the zipper foot, I put the edge of the zipper foot at the edge of the yokes. I sew slowly to keep the foot in position.


When I get to a point, I stop with the needle down.....


pivot and continue sewing.


Stitching on the inside.....


and the outside


And hung up ready for the button bands to be added.