Sewing Booty!
Dec. 4th, 2008 10:43 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
elfie-elfie.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
craftgrrlI got a new toy this summer. I've been too busy to keep up here, and too busy to sew creatively (as opposed to commercially) but I've also been finding time here and there to play with my new toy. And now that I've taken the "Intro to Machine Embroidery" class to get me REALLY familiar with what the machine can (and can't) do, I've been spending much of my surf-time looking at embroidery design websites. And getting sick. There's not much out there for people who don't like "precious".
It helps me make THE BEST EVER birthday gifts.
That's what my daughter tells me.
You be the judge, of course. ;-) This is your standard box made of fabric - cotton bamboo print in this case. I have discovered a new homepage, too: urbanthreads.com
!
Because when you get an embroidery machine, you need to feed it embroidery designs. And this is kind of an expensive addiction. Therefore, I MUST make cool stuff I can sell, to support this habit. I just got it in July. There's no telling what's going to happen.
Back to the treasure chest (which is destined for a crafty 10yo girl, so don't ask me if it's for sale, you'll have to steal it from her):
This particular design was one of the freebies from Urban Threads. I am sorting out which designs I will actually purchase... Oh, the options! Ahem.
It was PERFECT for the other girl in my daughter's class who has her own sewing machine. :-) It's just a big box for sewing stuff.
It was also tricky to embroider the skull-and-cross-needles on the fabric already fused to the 3/16" thick interfacing. I saved that task until I could consult my sewing club leader, who also teaches embroidery. Because I couldn't get it to stay IN the hoop. You may notice a slight indentation where the interfacing is permanently distorted from trying to hoop it. After weeks of hearing "Do NOT touch the hoop! NEVER interfere with the hoop! Keep your hands OFF THE HOOP!", my sewing teacher told me to keep at least two fingers on the fabric to press it down near the needle. No, I was NOT to interfere with the hoop's movement, but I had to somehow keep that fabric from BOUNCING all over the place, because it was merely "floating" on top of the heaviest stabilizer they had in the store.
It took 15 minutes of non-stop stitching to do that design. My arms ached into the next morning! So let this be a lesson to everyone who has an embroidery machine: stitch your design to your fabric, THEN fuse it to the interfacing! And do your best not to scorch the shiny-pretty threads.
Closure = button and ornamental key. The lid sits on top of the button's shank, and the key wraps around it once or twice.
Each piece was prepared separately: outer fabric fused to 3/16" stiff interfacing, lining fused to wrong side of interfacing, then satin-stitched with sewing machine around all edges, then all edges were butted and zig-zagged together, while the pieces could remain flat. (Up to this point, including the embroidery, this thing had eaten up 400m of thread off a new 800m spool!) When it was time to do up the corners of the box, I had to hand-stitch the edges together with a weaving herringbone. Because this means every join is "hinged", you can reverse the box if you really want to. I put the button and the embroidery on the outside, though. I don't think Birthday Girl is going to want to.
The box base is 8"x10"x8", and the lid adds an extra 4" of height.
And just because I'm proud of it, I'll say here that I did NOT break a single needle in the making of this box! I did,have to clean out my bobbin area three times because the interfacing and the flannelette lining (I know, I KNOW) were extremely linty, however.
Next pic, you can see why the box lining is flannelette - this print was not available in woven cotton, or anything else, for that matter! My daughter picked it out of my stash. Since she's the one who has to give it to the birthday girl, her word goes. I'm thinking of all the glitter and thread and stuff it's going to collect.
Still: FLAMING PINK SKULLS!
To think my daughter didn't want a pair of PJ pants made out of this stuff. Tsk.
Gratuitous booty shot:
Yes, I made the "frustration pillow", too. :-) I've made a few. I've needed them, too. Gr. Argh.
Crossposted to my journal,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
sew_hip , craftgrrl , handmade_gifts . (Like a seagull, baby!)
It helps me make THE BEST EVER birthday gifts.
That's what my daughter tells me.
You be the judge, of course. ;-) This is your standard box made of fabric - cotton bamboo print in this case. I have discovered a new homepage, too: urbanthreads.com!Because when you get an embroidery machine, you need to feed it embroidery designs. And this is kind of an expensive addiction. Therefore, I MUST make cool stuff I can sell, to support this habit. I just got it in July. There's no telling what's going to happen.
Back to the treasure chest (which is destined for a crafty 10yo girl, so don't ask me if it's for sale, you'll have to steal it from her):
This particular design was one of the freebies from Urban Threads. I am sorting out which designs I will actually purchase... Oh, the options! Ahem.
It was PERFECT for the other girl in my daughter's class who has her own sewing machine. :-) It's just a big box for sewing stuff.
It was also tricky to embroider the skull-and-cross-needles on the fabric already fused to the 3/16" thick interfacing. I saved that task until I could consult my sewing club leader, who also teaches embroidery. Because I couldn't get it to stay IN the hoop. You may notice a slight indentation where the interfacing is permanently distorted from trying to hoop it. After weeks of hearing "Do NOT touch the hoop! NEVER interfere with the hoop! Keep your hands OFF THE HOOP!", my sewing teacher told me to keep at least two fingers on the fabric to press it down near the needle. No, I was NOT to interfere with the hoop's movement, but I had to somehow keep that fabric from BOUNCING all over the place, because it was merely "floating" on top of the heaviest stabilizer they had in the store.
It took 15 minutes of non-stop stitching to do that design. My arms ached into the next morning! So let this be a lesson to everyone who has an embroidery machine: stitch your design to your fabric, THEN fuse it to the interfacing! And do your best not to scorch the shiny-pretty threads.
Closure = button and ornamental key. The lid sits on top of the button's shank, and the key wraps around it once or twice.
Each piece was prepared separately: outer fabric fused to 3/16" stiff interfacing, lining fused to wrong side of interfacing, then satin-stitched with sewing machine around all edges, then all edges were butted and zig-zagged together, while the pieces could remain flat. (Up to this point, including the embroidery, this thing had eaten up 400m of thread off a new 800m spool!) When it was time to do up the corners of the box, I had to hand-stitch the edges together with a weaving herringbone. Because this means every join is "hinged", you can reverse the box if you really want to. I put the button and the embroidery on the outside, though. I don't think Birthday Girl is going to want to.The box base is 8"x10"x8", and the lid adds an extra 4" of height.
And just because I'm proud of it, I'll say here that I did NOT break a single needle in the making of this box! I did,have to clean out my bobbin area three times because the interfacing and the flannelette lining (I know, I KNOW) were extremely linty, however.
Next pic, you can see why the box lining is flannelette - this print was not available in woven cotton, or anything else, for that matter! My daughter picked it out of my stash. Since she's the one who has to give it to the birthday girl, her word goes. I'm thinking of all the glitter and thread and stuff it's going to collect.
Still: FLAMING PINK SKULLS!
To think my daughter didn't want a pair of PJ pants made out of this stuff. Tsk.
Gratuitous booty shot:
Yes, I made the "frustration pillow", too. :-) I've made a few. I've needed them, too. Gr. Argh.
Crossposted to my journal,
sew_hip , craftgrrl , handmade_gifts . (Like a seagull, baby!)
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