A Little Digitizing

So I was on Pinterest one day and came across the cutest little bag. (When I find the link, I will have to remember to post it.) I started my gears a-turning, and I ended up with an embroidered version of a little girl's face turned into a pouch.

I lined and backed them with vintage sheets. I used lipstick colored zippers. The multicolored one was just a test dummy to see if my stitches were right.

I think I'm getting the hang of digitizing embroidery designs, especially the in-the-hoop embroidery. In-the-hoop embroidery designs are my favorite embroidery designs to digitize and stitch out.

These are so fun and cute to tote around. Even my daughter loves them!! They are perfect for carrying around a couple of extra dollars, a handful of coins, and lip balm and other small necessities. I've been toying around with other hair, skin, and eye colors.

Vera Bradley-inspired Keychain Wallets

Let me apologize now for the quality (or there lack of) of these photos now.

With that being said, I didn't realize how long it had been since I digitized or even embroidered anything until today. I almost forgot how to digitize. How terrifying!

Anyway, I needed a new keychain wallet because my poor owl wallet had been taken through the ringer and I noticed that I had added a coin purse to my keys, and that was just entirely too much to tote around. I had envisioned this cutesy little quilted deal that would hold cards, coins, and cash and that could clip onto my keys. So I set out to work. After half an hour or so and a couple of attempts I came up with the perfect thing.

I've been whipping these things out left and right today. I've got a few more that aren't pictured.
I decided to go with some fun fabrics with bright patterns to mirror the Vera Bradley look. I added swivel clips to some and small D-rings to others. I just ordered some larger swivel clips, so I think I will be attaching these instead of D-rings in the future.


I made a few of these with this print. I love the fabric so much that I couldn't stop cutting into it. I made one for myself from this fabric.





I have a few more fabrics cut out to make some tomorrow. I think I'm going to head to Hobby Lobby and pick up a couple more prints and really set to work after I do some custom digitizing.

Again sorry for the horrible photos, but I was so excited that I just had to post these. I will take better pics once I locate my camera and whip out a few more.

Embroidery Machine Cheats: Tabs

I don't know about you guys, but I can be a pretty lazy sewist sometimes and forgetful too.
I don't usually like pulling out the iron and ironing board just to press a 2 inch tab to put into a clutch or keychain. To me it's just not worth all that effort.
Well I have a trick that you can use to make quick and easy tabs with your embroidery machine so that you don't have to lug out the ironing equipment and wait for it to heat up.

You will need:
+stabilizer (I used a sticky back)
+scrap of fabric
+coordinating thread

Just a note: I'm using a Brother SE-400. I won't be uploading any designs, simply using one of the pre-loaded frame designs.


Start by loading your hoop with stabilizer. Again I used sticky-back stabilizer so that my fabric wouldn't shift when I attached it to the hoop.


Select an oblong rectangle.


Select a regular stitch. Or for a fun twist you can try out a decorative stitch.


Make the necessary adjustments for your preferred tab: make it smaller or bigger, rotate it, whatever you deem necessary for your project.



Turn your scrap fabric so that the wrong side is facing up. Fold one side towards the middle, then fold the opposite side so that it overlaps the first side.


Place your tab down onto your stabilizer with the overlapping sides faced down. Make sure you trace out your design to make sure the stitches will fit onto the tab. If not, refold your fabric and/or adjust the size of your design.


When everything agrees, stitch out your shape.


Front


Back


To Attach:

Fold the tab in half wrong sides together.


Stitch out the design until near completion. Place the tab fold side inwards along the egde, making sure that the lines of the tab are out farther than the stitching lines of bag. Tape it down.


Place the back over your project and stitch down. Once done, remove from hoop; clip corners; trim edges; and turn right side out.


Et voilà! You have a nice coordinated tab that will match everytime. Gives it a more cohesive look than using ribbon or other tapes.

{Tutorial}: Heart-shaped Pony Holder

I'm not one to get all into holidays, especially not Valentine's Day. But I figured I would have a little fun with it for my daughter this year.

I made this tutorial mostly for embroidery machines, but you can still do this if you don't have an embroidery machine. You will just have to stitch out the heart on your sewing machine.
Let's commence!

You will need:
-a couple of felt scraps about 2-3 inches square
-piece of elastic 2-3 inches long
-coordinating eyelet
-eyelet punch/eyelet attaching tool

I am using a Brother SE-400, so you may have to hunt around a bit to locate similar designs on your machine.


Hoop a piece of tear-away stabilizer into your hoop.


Select the "frames" options on your screen.


Locate the heart frame and select it.


Select a decorative stitch. I chose a dotted scallop stitch.


Scale your heart down to the smallest size and position it in the corner of your hoop. Place a piece of felt on top and underneath the stabilizer, making sure they match up. Trace your design to make sure it will fit on your felt.




Stitch out your design. This shouldn't take long.


Punch the heart out of the stabilizer. Trim close to the stitches and punch a hole in the center with the eyelet punch.




Overlap the ends of your elastic slightly and punch a hole right through both ends.


Place the eyelet through the hole in the felt heart and flip over.


Place the pierced ends of the elastic over the rear end of the eyelet. It will be a tight fit.


Place back onto your eyelet tool and clamp the eyelet shut, making sure the elastic hasn't slipped off and the eyelet has clamped down all the components.


Place on ponytail. You can even make tiny little bracelets from them.

If you're not using an embroidery machine, just sew up a heart on double layers of felt and attach your eyelet and elastic in the same way as above.

I thought it would be fun to use preloaded designs to make in-the-hoop designs with. Not everyone is a digitizer or wants to take the time looking for a design they downloaded who-knows-when.

I hope this was a helpful tutorial.

Pretty Little Stockings

I have been on a digitizing and embroidering kick lately. I have slowly been trying to encourage myself to sew more, but all it seems I can do is whip out embroidery machine designs and stitch them out by the half dozens. Well at least I'm doing something creative. I mean it kinda is sewing....

Today I digitized a cutesy little Christmas stocking. Let me correct that a cutesy teeny Christmas stocking. It measures about 3.75 inches by 3.75 inches at its widest points. The opening of the boot is 2.5 inches wide, leaving just enough space to fit a gift card down into.


I've cranked out 7 of these so far. Two of them I forgot to add hangers to... Oops!




These will make cute gifts for classes of little kids, gift card holders, ornaments, or as actually stockings to stuff little trinkets in. They are quilted and made all in the embroidery machine without any extra sewing. I'm actually getting pretty good at this digitizing stuff. And they don't take long to stitch out, just a couple of minutes.











I made them with vintage sheet scraps and a little bit of batting. I think I may piece together some vintage sheet scraps to make them patchwork.






I'll be adding a few to the shop soon.

What have you created for Christmas lately?