Friday, November 26, 2010

learning to applique

The tooth fairy pillows I'm making require monograms.
I thought I might be able to embroider monograms on my 1950's Singer, 
because the booklet shows lots of monograms (unaccompanied by any 
instruction whatsoever). However, how they ever managed to produce them 
on this particular machine is a complete mystery to me. My attempts were dismal. 
So I moved on to applique, and I'm pretty happy with the results!

For these little guys, which will become patch pockets, I found a scripty
font on my computer and printed it out at the size I wanted. I backed the 
fabric scraps with Pellon Wonder-Under and traced the letter outlines onto 
the fabric using a light board (although a well-lit window would suffice). 
I peeled the back of the Wonder-Under and ironed the letters onto white
muslin which was already backed with iron-on, woven interfacing for 
sturdiness. Then I got to satin stitching the whole thing together. It all
looked a bit choppy, so I took the time to do a small straight stitch 
around all the outside edges to even it up. I'm glad for all the adhesive
interfacings, which kept things sturdy and firmly attached along the way!

Saturday, November 20, 2010

piecing together pillows

A friend recently asked me if I'd sew up some 
patchwork tooth fairy pillows for her children.
Along the way, I learned a thing or two about
cutting the correct angles for these little guys to
hold together right (yikes!). I'll post the finished
product once they've become pillows, complete
with pockets, ribbons for hanging, and monograms!

I'm planning to make a line of children's items to
sell at a local consignment shop, and I might 
include this type of tooth fairy pillow in the mix.
Maybe they'll find their way into my theoretical
Etsy shop some day as well!