Celtic Cross Embroidery

Last weekend, while my sis and I were trying out some embroidery designs, my sewing machine decided to lock up. Projects had to stop which was a bummer, and that also meant a repair job on this new machine! *sigh* But it all worked out well and had the machine back at home within a matter of hours. Pretty cool!

So this is the celtic cross she picked out over on a website we browsed. It’s gorgeous, isn’t it? The first photo is the first of three we were planning on doing. I am still learning the embroidery side of this baby, and picked a file that probably wasn’t the most appropriate to use with my Singer. But here it is……

Celtic Cross #1 (not using .xxx or .pes formats)

It’s okay, but the two I did today using a better format (.xxx) look a lot better!

Two Celtic Crosses (in .xxx format)

Same thread, same design download, just a different format. Aren’t they spectacular though? These will get shipped out to her this week so she can finish her trio of book covers she has planned.

I have downloaded my three free designs already this weekend, and one of them is a beautiful lady from the 1920′s in black work. I have the perfect idea for that one for someone’s birthday coming up.

Thanks for checking in and now YOU go get creative yourself and have some fun!

Apr 14 2012

How to Make A Notebook Cover – FREE Tutorial by ME!

As I couldn’t teach tomorrow at Joann‘s, due to lack of students, I decided that there was still a need for me to share something. So today is my contribution for a simple way to cover notebooks, journals or binders. So bear with me, this is my first try at writing sewing instructions.

This is what I will be teaching you how to complete. We’ll go from beginning to end for the entire project.

Finished 3-Ring Binder Cover

To complete this particular project, these are the materials that were needed:

1/2 yard cotton fabric of your choice (do NOT iron before starting project)

1/3 yard iron-on fleece or batting

1/3 yard (or even scraps) of lightweight iron-on interfacing.

thread to match fabrics

Embelishments of your choice

Purchased 3-ring 1" spine binder, cotton fabrics, thread, pins, scissors, rotary cutter and ruler

Binder opened flat on fabric

Don’t bother ironing the fabric as the fold line is the best and easiest way to find the center. Open fabric out flat with right side facing down. Place open binder flat centering the rings with the fold in the fabric (center). Hold the binder down as steady as possible and with a pen draw the binder’s outline directly on to the wrong side of your fabric. Don’t worry, no one is every going to see this but you! IMPORTANT!!!!!! At each end (not bottom or top) ADD 1/4″ to your drawn line. You now have 2 lines at each end and you now must IGNORE the inner line. Scribble it out if you need to, just to remind yourself it’s not needed any more. The reason for the extra 1/4″ is so that when the binder is closed, there is enough room for the cotton sleeve to have a relaxed hug to the binder. If this step is forgotten, the binder may not close correctly, or your fabric will stretch in funny ways we don’t even want to talk about.

Cut excess fabric off away from drawn line – leaving yourself about 1″ from the line for you to work with. DO NOT throw the extra fabric away – we’re going to put that to good use.

Important! Look at diagram in detail please.

See the three arrows in the photo? The pen line that you just made might be fairly faint, but you can always go over it again with pen. These lines were very faint on this photo, but I wanted you to see the pen marks and how even the corner was traced onto the fabric. These lines are important in the following steps, so please make sure if this is your first try, make those lines as dark as you’d like. I would highly suggest NOT using a Sharpy Pen as they may bleed into the fabric.

How to cut the iron-on fleece so it fits!

Take you pen-marked cotton fabric and fold it in half, right sides together, making sure the center fold already on fabric is still your center! Notch both ends on the fold so when you iron your piece, you will have your center markings VERY obvious. Take your iron-on fleece and fold it in half also – remember to be frugal with this stuff as it is a little pricy. Line up your folded cotton, where you have your pen markings, along with the edge of the folded fleece. With a ruler, either mark with pen or pins where you will need to cut the OTHER side of the fleece. The piece you are going to cut is going to fit directly INSIDE the boarder lines you drew in step one.

Flat right side down

Do you see where the corners were rounded with the iron-on fleece? Keep working at getting the fleece to fit within the boarder you drew – and then IRON IT ON! The cotton I had obviously wasn’t cut very well at some point, but we’ll fix that later.

Initial HUG

After ironing your cotton and getting the fleece to hold on tight, bring it back up to a surface you can see how things are fitting. NOW is the time for adjustments to be made if needed. This photo just shows that things are on the right track.

Folder out - time to construct.

This photo shows the two sides folded in and the spine area is showing the iron-on fleece. That’s okay! Don’t worry as that’s going to get covered up here in a little while. But look at that raggedly bottom edge! Let’s cut that down straight and workable.

Evening out.

Fold it all up, like it’s actually already on your notebook. Get that top edge all even (the one you cut and left about 1″ for working area in an earlier step) and line up the folded spine edge to you cutting board. Make one fell swoop with your rotary cutter for the entire bottom edge to be straight.

Hemming

The two raw edges, or what may still be your selvage edges of fabric, need to be turned under and stitched down. Get creative! Here’s a good chance for you to try out some stitches on your sewing machine you’ve never had a chance to try. You are really the only one who will see this part of your project – so have some fun! Yeah, I know. I just made two straight lines on each edge. Boring.

IMPORTANT!!! STOP HERE!!!

Before you go even ONE more step, now is the time to embellish to your heart’s content. Open your piece out flat, and if you need to mark which is front cover/back cover/front inner/back inner – DO IT! You won’t regret it.

Here is what I did to decorate my own notebook to use for teaching.

Getting set up for my TygerLIly embroidery.

Of course, I wanted to put my TygerLily logo on the front of the cover. So I started out with 4 layers: cotton fabric, iron on interfacing, batting, and scraps from another project. Yeah, I don’t ever throw anything away. That polka dot won’t be seen anyway.

Layers basted together ready to machine embroider.

I couldn’t believe the beige leaves cotton print I found lurking in one of my drawers – it had to be used. So this is all 4 layers basted together and ready to have my logo embroidered on. Just watch…

Embroidering our team name for the front of the notebook cover.

While that was sewing on it’s own, a few more things needed to be prepared…

Fabric cut for logo embellishment

I cut a 2″ strip of black fabric that I was planning on folding in half and making into a make-shift ruffle. Yeah, I’m not really a ruffle girl, but I couldn’t find any piping or cord on hand that would work. So we’re trying a different look. I took this 2″ strip, folded it in half and sewed a basting stitch (long stitch) down the whole long side of it….

Thread color didn’t matter as it would all be hidden anyway in the finished design.

Prepping an oval cut-out...

After embroidering my name, I looked around for a good shape. Trimmed the excess off the edges and drew an oval design on tear-away paper (sold in fabric stores). Pinned the tear-away onto my logo, centering as good as I could.

I used a scrapbooking template I hadn’t gotten rid of yet to draw my oval. Once drawn, I sewed along that line through all layers of the padded logo and tore the paper off.

Black strip, drawn up and ruffled. Sewn around perimeter of oval.

So now I had a base shape drawn, and next was attaching a little lightly ruffled black piece all around the edge. I trimmed all the excess fabric all the way around so when I tuck it all underneath, there won’t be a lot of bulk. I hate bulk.

Centering Front Cover Embellishment

To get that oval placed in the best spot, I measured the REAL notebook to see exactly how wide the front was: 10-1/4″. So I folded everything up like it was already a ‘notebook’ and measured in 10-1/4″ from the right front side. Tried to center the logo at 5-1/8″, but really, that’s splitting hairs. So I proceeded to pin the embellishment to the front and got ready to attach it.

Attached!

As I sewed around the oval, I tucked all that excess bulk (ick) underneath towards the center of the oval. I then put black upper thread in and did the old “stitch in the ditch” method of sewing: sewing as close to the edge as possible. You can’t even see where it was sewed on and the ruffle poofs out just enough.

HOLD ON! I’m not done embellishing yet!

Gotta have special places for special things.

I cut a piece of vinyl 4″ X 2-1/8″ and zig-zagged it on three sides to the inner front cover. Best place to show off a business card and have easy access to hand out!

Tagging

Now is the time to put a tag on the back inside flap if you want. Gifting the item? Throw your tag, label, whatever back there so they know who made it for them.

SCRAPS and PENS!

Who doesn’t need a place for pens!?!? Measured a piece that was cut off about an hour ago to fit the pen. I cut the fabric right where the wrong side starts showing. I sewed three sides, turned it inside out, ironed it, and sewed it on right above the vinyl business card holder.

What the heck is this?

OK, now that all the embellishments you want to add are completed, this is what your piece should look like all sprawed out with the right side facing down. See the oval shape? That’s where the TygerLily embroidered piece went.

Don't throw anything away!

Remember the piece that was cut off after you drew those lines? After we used some of it for the pen pocket, we have a great strip of it left. The cover itself is laying there, each side folded inward towards the center, right side together. The best thing I’ve learned is to use LONG pins. That way their little heads stick out WAY beyond the fabric so whichever way you decide to sew your seam, those pin heads will always show and warn you. Now go iron that scrap and on each long side, iron about 1/4″ in for a hem to be stitched.

Placement

Now that you’ve ironed that long piece, stitched a little 1/4″ hem on each long side, place it along the center spine area (see the notch at the bottom there) and pin pin pin everything down.

Fleece side showing.

Now that everything has been pinned, flip it over so the fleece side is facing up. See the pin heads sticking out so you can see them? Uh-huh. I knew you did. Now get ready to SEW the final seams that will make this into something very YOU and very UNIQUE!

HUGELY IMPORTANT!

Not a great photo, but listen to the instructions here. When you sew this seam, remember the pen marks you made way at the beginning showing the outline of your binder? Those marks should also be the ENDING point of your iron-on fleece. DO NOT SEW ON THE PEN LINES!!! Set up your seam to be about 1/8″ BEYOND the fleece and pen marks. This is so hugely important if you want your creation to turn and stay flat. Remember how I don’t like bulk? If you don’t do this, you will not only have bulk, but you may have a binder cover that won’t easily slip on or off the binder for easy cleaning. So please heed the warning. After sewing the top and bottom seam, trim these seams down to 1/4″ to 1/2″, whatever you are comfortable with. Just get rid of the extra BULK!

To every thing, turn, turn, turn....

Once you have done all your seams (and yes, there are only two seams to be sewn in the last step: the top and the bottom of the binder cover) it’s the time for the REVEAL! Take you hand and get underneath that middle section you did in the last step, and grab either front or back fabrics and pull it through. Do the same for the other side. Take a chop stick, YES, a chop stick and get the corners turned the best way possible (this one shows rounded corners, but they don’t have to be if you’re a beginner – make STRAIGHT lines if it’s easier).

Once it has been turned right side out, get your steam iron in gear and press along all edges.

Complete and ironed.

See what can happen if you are not afraid of your iron? Steam your cover into place – make it crisp and sharp. I know you can do it. This just shows the inside front and back of the embellishments I decided to include.

Now get your binder – fold front and back backwards on itself and slip the ‘sleeves’ of your cover right into place. Work with it a little and hopefully it will be JUST enough of a loose fit that there are NO struggles getting it placed onto the binder.

Before it gets slipped on the binder.........

After it gets slipped on to the binder.

Now it's just showing off.

Front and Center

Bottom to top view.

Thank you for coming along this ride with me! I’m now all ready for class, and if this has inspired you to do something creative for yourself, or someone you love, I would love to see what you’ve created!

Please leave questions, ideas or comments – I would love to hear them all!

Happy creating to all my blog-land friends.

Apr 8 2012

Easter Sunday Using The Gift God Gave Me

What a better way to spend an Easter Sunday (when there were no family plans) than using the gift God gave me. So I sewed, and sewed. I completed a special order for two portfolios this afternoon, which could lead to another order of three from this one client. How blessed could anyone be!?! So here is what she picked for her own two professional ‘padfolio’ fabrics – and they really are pretty classy.

Brown/Black Lace Look and Red/Black Lace Look Padfolios

Brown/Black Lace - opened. Hard to see all the pockets on the left hand side, but they are there.

Red/Black lace look padfolio opened out flat.

After those were complete, it was time to list the items that had already been completed. It’s one of my least favorite jobs because I am NO photographer of ‘stuff’. Give me a person or some nature and I can possibly pull it off. But this ‘object’ stuff is rough rough rough for me. But here are the listings for the iPad Clutches on Etsy! Give ‘em a look.

Butterfly Floral iPad Clutch

Olive and Aqua Designer Floral iPad Clutch

Purple and Green with BLING iPad Clutch

Thought I'd throw one in there with it opened and the iPad silicone skin taken off the magnets. These fold up SO nice into a clutch and have a lot more in line to make. (Yep, just got more magnets in so I can continue on)

I think it’s time to maybe cut out another knitting or craft tote. Everything takes time and there’s a little of that left until “The Ten Commandments” is on TV. It’s a must see for us.

Of course, I’ll be working on another special order while watching – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle crocheted hats. Yep, two of them. They MUST be completed tonight before the buyer gives up on my creative ability.

Happy Easter to you all – and hope it was a blessed day for each one of you.

Mar 11 2012

I Knit, I Sew, I iPad….

The idea today was to get another unique knitting tote sewn before I ship out the original to my sister. So a pic got taken of the fabrics and colors, but I noticed my stack of knitted swatches off on the side of my sewing cabinet. They were just waiting to be paid attention to, so I picked one up and decided to fly with it. Here’s the story of the “I Knit, I Sew, I iPad” unique cover.

Great cotton fabric getting ready to apply those awesome mini magnets we got from China. The black thing is the silicone skin the iPad will fit into.

Those darned magnets are KILLER on my hands to attach, but they're on there for GOOD.

The felted knit swatch that's been cut down and rounded for the front flap of the cover. Since it's felted, it can be cut and sewn just like regular fabric.

Time to put the magnets on to the silicone skin. As no glue on this earth sticks to these skins, hence the idea for mini mags. They are finally attached in this photo.

...but magnets can scratch the electronics case, so sticky felt squares were put on them. Ahhh, that's much better.

The folder is all spread out in this picture. Skin is held now by the magnets directly IN the folder.

And you all know me well enough that a little bling or shine must be put on - somewhere. I had picked up this gold flower somewhere in a jewelry making section of a craft store. And German glue is KEY!

Just a different angle.

Really wish that the stitching wasn’t necessary around that flap. Not sure how to get around that one – it may just have to be this way.

Thanks for stopping by and now it’s time to get working on the green and pink knitting tote.

Jan 29 2012

Lots of Half Finished Work But Getting Organized

So January isn’t over yet, which means there was still time to get regrouped for 2012. Did a bit of knitting, not much sewing. The sewing area was a disaster area – who was it that threw that bomb in there? So yesterday was moving “the room” day and getting some things organized and either thrown away, ready for eBay, or set aside to finish. You’d be amazed at how much I threw out. Many of you saw on Facebook how my new end of the family room looks so I can watch the TV that has more than basic cable on it.

This photo has four (4) projects that are knitted and ready for finishing into product. I’m really LOVING the really large “swatches” of cabling. But the deep purple piece on the left is going to hopefully be a stable in the store. It will end up being an iPad envelope sleeve when it’s complete.

purple, blue/yellow, turquoise, green fleck

The turquoise and green fleck has fabrics matched up to them already to get sewing on. When you ask? Not sure – but keep watching. Still not sure where to put all the interfacing types – it just seems the bed has always made a great spot for them! LOL

Interfacings........ ugh

One of the nightstands is still piled high with coordinating fabrics – each with a purpose. But where to put them? I sure don’t have a clue!

Plethera of Fabrics

One of our cedar chests has come to rest in the spare bedroom jammed full of the beautiful yarns I’ve collected. Someday, someday….

Cedar Chest FULL of Special Yarns

During all the organization of the ‘new’ area, I came across a lot of patterns for baby, toddler and kids clothing that I had every good intention of using. So those have been divided up and once done here, I’m off to eBay to get them all listed and outta here! The spare bedroom closet is jammed packed with crafting things, half of which need to fly out the door also. But another day for all that.

And then there’s always the ironing pile……… Ha! Happy Sunday everyone – and happy crafting. Keep those ideas rolling.

Jan 9 2012

Improvised iPad Cover

Recycle and reuse – I’ve done this in the past, but this may be a good year to dig in a little deeper with the idea. Saturday I completed the iPad cover that came from the sleeves of a beautiful ladies jacket. The tote bag to go along with this, will be done at some time from the body of the jacket – it’s just waiting to be completed.

So I just wanted to share what the end result looks like with the silicone skin attached to the interior……

iPad cover closed

iPad cover open showing pocket and closure

The corduroy used for the inside lining really picked up all the little red pieces of ‘lint’ from when cutting the tapestry fabric, but hopefully the picture shows it cleaned up a bit.

Happy crafting! It’s Monday, so off to work I go…….

Jan 2 2012

Just For Fun And I Didn’t Break the Bank!

With a new year comes new challenges and projects – is there any other way? Didn’t think so. Of course there’s always going to be the hand knitted handbags happening around here, but the sewing room needed something a little different going on. I have had an idea or three rolling around my head for a long time and yesterday, out of the blue, came an opportunity to stock up on items that can be upcycled in to new, useful and fun things to offer.

Those of you who follow me on Facebook probably saw all my excitement over thrift store finds yesterday. Yes, I purchased 7, yes SEVEN men’s suit coats. Bill was honestly intrigued by the idea mulling around in my head, but had to try on each suit coat, just to make sure HE couldn’t use them! Bill and I are both short people, and finding a coat that doesn’t have arms down to our knees is always a challenge. Hence, none of them fit him, all were too long. But for TygerLily and Journal Junction, it was a relief! Suiting fabrics are beautiful and professional. It is just a perfect fit for the organizational side of our creations.

We challenged ourselves to come up with a professional type combo item, such as a matched set of something. I found a perfect women’s tapestry jacket to upcycle for this project. So Bill could wrap his own mind around how it would work with only a small women’s jacket, I showed him how to get more bang for our buck and started cutting it apart – just to show how much fabric is really IN a jacket! You’d be surprised!!!

So before I go off and start getting some stuff done (like laundry), I wanted to share the photo of all the goodies purchased at two of our local thrift stores yesterday. For the price of a movie for two and a large popcorn, this is what we ended up with…..

Future Handbags, Totes, iPad covers and Journal covers.......

There are hundreds of key chain rings in that little bag and under that is a box of FIVE vintage broaches that I found, which got polished up last night. The stores obviously wanted to clear their racks, and I was more than happy to help them out. I did sneak one summer sweater out of the group and put it aside for myself to actually wear. tee hee

It’s time to write up an application to a crafting throwdown and enjoy one more cup of joe. May you all have a wickedly fantastic day, and please keep checking in now that we’re back up and in the swing.

Blessings, my friends.

Dec 29 2011

The Ultimate Challenge (and a free knitting pattern)

While surfing around the web on Christmas, we came across the greatest and funnest Ultimate Challenge ever! Somewhere along the line, I have been blessed by being called “McGyver” and people ask me first when they are ready to throw something out if I could use it or make something out of it! So here’s the deal………
Now Seeking America’s Most Talented Crafters!!!

Are you ready to show America your unique, creative skills?

Do your friends refer to you as the “MacGyver” of arts & crafts?

Can you create, design, build and implement visually stunning
and out-of-the-box creations on the fly?

A MAJOR CABLE NETWORK & the Executive Producers of “CUPCAKE
WARS” and “HALLOWEEN WARS” are seeking Arts & Crafts Designers
for a new competition show.

Each episode will feature Arts & Crafts competitors who battle
against each other for a $10,000 prize and an opportunity to
publicly showcase their craft masterpiece!

Casting Males & Females, (18 and over) with fun and upbeat
personalities that can think on their feet!!!

If this is you, we want to hear from you ASAP!
Email craftcasting@gmail.com the following information:

-Send us your full name & contact numbers
-Tell us what city you live in
-Tell us in a short paragraph about you and your specialty
-Pictures of you and samples of your work

Here is someone’s YouTube audition. Don’t think I could actually do that. But I could sure use some help writing up an audition email!!! Any takers on that one?

Can’t leave without throwing in a free pattern. Found this lovely thing this morning and will put it into my own library – it would be perfect on the front of a handmade purse. Don’t ya think?

Click the photo and you’ll go directly to Berroco for the free pattern download. ENJOY!

Nov 27 2011

CRS Palm Holder

I was enjoying a little conversation with my sister the other day over on Facebook, and she requested a special little mini portfolio that would accommodate her Palm Tungsten and a pad of paper. Yes, we are sisters obviously. Neither of us can give up the feel of paper and pen. So this is what I came up for her with some of the left over fabric from the large size iPad portfolio I had completed earlier. Excuse the photos, I was in a hurry as there is a lot to do today.

Pink Poppy CRS Portfolio

CRS Mini Port Magnet Closure

CRS Mini Port Open - Showing Velcro ready for her to attach to her Palm

You may ask what the CRS in the name means. As my sister couldn’t remember either while I was teasing her, it only made the name more appropriate. “Can’t Remember Sh**” Palm holder, because we need to write down with pen what we need to put in our electronic organizers! It’s perfect and I totally understand what she means. I’m the same way. So hopefully this will be something a little fun and bright for her to use.

Accomplished some projects yesterday, two of which I forgot to photograph before bagging up. Those two were winter ear warmers for my son-in-law’s aunt to give as gifts. So that was two down. Then there was a request for a baby pixie hat in my FB inbox from a co-worker who had moved on and had a baby. This is what got made from the photo she sent me of what she wanted….

Yellow Baby Pixie Hat

I couldn’t find anything round to display this on without having to scrub an old hamster exercise ball. tee hee So the chair just has to do it. This was a really fun project and trying to figure out how to get a pixie point on top was fun! Even got out the old knitting encyclopedia to make sure I was doing the right thing. Success!! So that’s ready to ship out to her tomorrow.

Today we celebrate Thanksgiving with our oldest daughter and her family. Hopefully her kids will give us many ideas for Christmas gifts. Since it’s a ‘handmade’ Christmas this year, it could be tough, but we’re going to sure try.

Nov 24 2011

iPads and Pink Poppies

Success! Old School iPad Portfolio is complete and ready for a new owner. This fabric was perfect for the project and hope the design is accepted over on Etsy. Take a peek:

Portfolio - Closed

Open with black skin upside down - showing HUGE velcro

Another shot of that HUGE velcro!!

Think the olive color with that bright pink pop of color is fantastic. Can’t remember the designer of this fabric off the top of my head, but can we say WOW!!!

Yes, today is Thanksgiving and I am truly grateful for so many MANY blessings.