Flannel burp cloths

Made a stack of flannel burp cloths for my breeder friend and embellished with owl appliques and stitched initials.
Here baby, puke and spit up on my hand wrought work.

Linen handtowel

To tell the truf', it's a linen place mat but it's folded to become a fingertip-type towel. (Marshall's $3!)
Wonder Under iron-on stuff, vintage fabric and appliqued with satin stitch. WooHoo!

Light saber t-shirts

Rikki Tikki Tavi gave me a few new T-shirts to embellish for the brat nephews. Knowing they are way into Star Wars these days,

• I found a super easy tutorial for drawing light sabers HERE at DragoArt.
  
• Traced the light beam onto a smaller paper backed piece of WonderUnder
  
• Ironed the WonderUnder to reverse side of green cotton and yellow silk fabric scraps.
• Traced light saber hilt separately onto that cool reflective fabric sample from Ernest.
  
• Ironed fusible to fabrics.
• Carefully trimmed fabric, using the previously traced lines.
• Peeled off paper backing from fused fabric.
• Ironed the 2 part light saber to shirts.
• Machine stitched the light saber beam in matching thread.
• Also on sewing machine, outlined the saber hilt with black thread for a subtle detail.

Heck, at this point,
I'm just hoping
the light sabers aren't
mistaken for dildoes.

Birthday T-shirt

Embellished a couple T-shirts for Baby Cutie's first birthday. Eileen and Ernest are hosting a crawfish boil/birthday party for him so motif shirts were in order. Please to enjoy.

Crawfish/lobster motif drawn onto back of WonderUnder paperbacked fusible web. Image trimmed. Ironed to shirt. Appliqued with fast and sloppy stitching. After laundering, the orange knit fabric will curl up and look even more distressed (in a good way).

Numeral drawn onto shirt with water erasable pen. Outline stitched and filled in with little seed stitches. Super fast and super easy. Just like your ma.

There's a squirrel on your towel

Squirrel outline in stem stitch

Still playing with the squirrel motif so made a teatowel for the Rikki Tikki Tavi.

I used the same method as the black Labrador dog towel: stitched squirrel onto an upholstery sample and appliqued with zigzag stitches and a fringed border.
Cotton weave towels from Pier One.

There's a dog on your towel

Black backstitch on dog outline.

Split stitch on collar. Clear bead stitched on for collar loop.

French knot for eye.

Pencil color used for shading.

My sister Rikki Tikki Tavi commissioned me to stitch a black Labrador onto a tea towel for a dog owner gift.

New to embroidery, I stitched directly onto the towel but now experimenting with stitching on accent fabric and sewing it as an applique. Messy straight stitches used with fringed border instead of turning under the raw edges. Hopefully, the fabric won't unravel. Using the applique application allows you to stitch on tea towels that would otherwise not be appropriate for embroidery.

These tan and ecru check cotton weave towels found at Pier One.

Covering my hole(s)!

Eons ago, my good buddy Ernest gave me some fabulous high-end fabric used for men's custom suits and jackets and last year, I finally cut it for a winter skirt during Chrysanthemum's and my skirt sewing marathon. After sewing the side seams, I realized there were a few holes in the fabric. The holes didn't look like moth holes but rather clips from careless scissor handling. Foo-ey! I loved the fabric, what to do?

Well, I said it before, I'll say it again, necessity is mother fucker of invention so I snipped some leaf shaped tweed scraps, ironed them on with that WonderUnder fusible web, did fast and sloppy applique stitch around the leaf and embroidered a meandering vine.
I used the same tweed fabric and iron-on petal idea on this little girl skirt.

For the price of FREE, what's not to like about this skirt?

Baby model

Eileen and Ernest had a baby boy!

Here he is in his reverse applique onesie!

The "C" stands for Cutie!

Reverse applique tutorial

on a baby onesie.

This is my first attempt!

Draw or trace desired image with water soluble pen.

Cut a piece of fabric larger than your image and

pin it to the underside of your drawn image.

Sew along your drawn lines.

I used a modified zig-zag stitch.

Trim fabric from back of image.

Trim fabric from top. Use small scissor,

cut carefully and SLOWLY!

Spritz the pen markings to remove blue lines.

It will look even better after laundering

because the knit edges will roll back.
T-shirt knit fabric would give more stretch

than the appliqued gingham.

Cute wool skirt for a cute girl

After that 16 skirt marathon with Chrysanthemum,

I had a few scraps remaining

and because I am my mom's daughter,

I felt compelled to make a little girl skirt with them.

Appliqued flower petals made from contrasting tweed fabric

and sewed 2 vintage stacked buttons in the center.

Cute, huh?

Hot Pot coming through!

"Don't scrape my bottom!"

Stitched an apron with this Aunt Martha transfer of a what I call a "Hot Pot" for my friend Maura. I think the pot's eyes are big because its behind has been scalded.
Iron-on applique with hand embroidered details. Pattern is from the "animated kitchenware" series.

Ant on your shirt

Nephews enjoyed watching DVD of the old school cartoons "The Ant and The Aardvark" (remember, from the Pink Panther series?) so I surprised them with their very own Ant T-shirts.



* Outline of ant traced from coloring book illustration.
* The red body is appliqued with iron-on Wonder Under fusible stuff.
* Using a water soluble pen, the facial details, hair and antennae were drawn onto red body and embroidered with black floss.

Electro-Cat

Purchased a box of fabric at a recent estate sale. It was chock full of high end upholstery remnants, ribbon, trim, doll clothing, you name it. Found this piece of cat print fabric with faux cross stitch and lace. Well, that kind of artifice just galls my inner crafter and I was wondering WHO the HELL I was gonna pass it on to. I mean, it was ugly but I am not one to THROW AWAY perfectly good fabric and by now you should know that I don't really do "cutesy". Then it hit me. It could be MY version of cutesy.

Electro-Cat was born. Though Electro-Cat has mutant pink claws, it has the ability to stun objects with its X-ray sequin and bead eyes. Even appliqued cars with metal snap wheels. Who knows where Electro-Cat will reside, a tote, a jean jacket?

Keep your eyes peeled for Electro-Cat but don't hold Electro-Cat's gaze too long. You might just get Hyp-No-Tized!