Cruiser Bicycle Crewel Embroidery

One of the new pieces I made for the re//STATE event this past weekend was a cruiser bicycle in a vintage oval frame. I’ve made a cruiser bike in the past, and was feelin’ the itch to sew up another one.

 The frame I used for this piece matches the frame I had my most recent Michigan piece in as well.

I was really happy with this piece- the vintage style bike fit well with the vintage and rustic feel of the frame. 

I finished the piece just in time for all of the bikers to come out of hiding for the summer, now I just need to get my bike fixed so I can join them!

You can see more photos in the shop where this piece is up for sale.

xoxo.

Embroidered Clutch Collaboration Piece and Giveaway

A while back I was contacted by Beth of the wonderful DIY design blog Lula Louise. She is amazing with the sewing machine, and has tons of tutorials on her blog for anything from jewelry to dresses. I was pretty excited when she asked me to do a collaboration piece when I checked out her blog and was able to see how talented she is.

We ended up deciding on a clutch, and after sending photos of our sketches and discussing color palettes via email this is what we came up with:
I did the embroidery on the outside of the clutch, and Beth did the construction and the running stitch on the inside. It turned out pretty cute, right?

In honor of our collaboration we are giving this clutch away to one winner! You can find out how to enter over on Beth’s blog (Lula Louise). This giveaway is open today (May 1st, 2013) through May 15, 2013.

xoxo.

April Embroidery Giveaway NOW CLOSED

It is that time of month again…giveaway time!

This time around I’m giving away an embroidery that simply states “Celebrate,” with a party banner on it. It hangs in a 10″ wooden hoop, so it is a pretty large piece.

 Interested in entering? Here is what you do!…

 The giveaway is open Tuesday, April 16-Tuesday, April 23.

How to Enter:

• Leave a comment simply saying hello! (Mandatory- 1 Entry)
• Tweet about this giveaway (mention @toocrewel in the tweet) (1 Extra Entry)
• Follow Too Crewel on Twitter (1 Extra Entry)
• Follow Too Crewel on Instagram (1 Extra Entry)
• Like Too Crewel on Facebook (1 Extra Entry)
• Follow Too Crewel’s blog (1 Extra Entry)

That is a total of six ways to enter. In order for each entry to count you must leave them in a separate comment, otherwise they will be counted as one. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, April 24th.

Good luck!

xoxo.

Diamond Crewel Embroidery

It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve done any crewel embroidery, I’d like to say I had a good excuse…but really I’ve just been lazy. The pieces take a bit longer as you usually fill the entire piece in, but the result is usually much more favorable than an outline (in my opinion). If I didn’t have such a short attention span I’d probably do a lot more crewel work.

Last week I made this diamond:

I decided to do every section a different color to make it a little more interesting, and less traditional. I also wrapped the embroidery hoop in fabric to finish it.

You can see more photos on etsy, where the piece is also up for sale.

xoxo.

Blerg. Embroidery

One of my favorite ladies in comedy is Tina Fey, so naturally I’m a big fan of 30 Rock. It was just a matter of time until I made an embroidery to show this (aside from the commissioned pillow I made this past Christmas). I decided on Liz Lemon’s (Tina Fey) catch phrase ‘blerg.’

 
This is done in a 4 inch embroidery hoop that I painted black. The fabric is more of the hand dyed fabric I had leftover, and used gold embroidery floss. I used crewel stitches to fill in the lettering.

You can see more of this piece in the shop, where it is now for sale.

xoxo.

Orange Cat Embroidery

Last month I finished one of my favorite pieces I’ve done so far. I’m not really a cat person, or even an animal person (I know I’m weird), but this piece was really fun to do.

It is of an orange Maine Coon, and it hangs in an 8 inch wooden hoop painted purple. Filling in the entire piece seemed intimidating at first–it takes a looong time to do– but the end result is so much better than just outlining it with a single stitch.

 It says the cat’s name, Isabel, underneath it also in purple.

I think my favorite part to do was the “M” on the forehead (that all Maine Coon cats have), and the green eyes.

xoxo.

Embroidered 30 Rock Pillow

Over the holiday season I was commissioned to make a throw pillow based off of the show 30 Rock (such a funny show!). In one of the episodes Jack (played by Alec Baldwin) states “Ambition is the willingness to kill the things you love in order to stay alive…haven’t you ever read my throw pillow?” Carolyn drew out a super cute layout for it, and this is the pillow I got to create!

The lettering is done in navy blue using a split stitch, and the corners are embroidered with red floss using a variation of seed stitch.   The back side- tan with a blue heart.

This was one of my favorite pieces I have worked on to date…and now I’m going to be on a 30 Rock kick.

xoxo.

ps. I should also mention that Caroyln is also the awesome lady who made my “Embroidered Goodness” banner for me that you see in this post!

California Pillow: Completed

Remember that California pillow I was commissioned to make? I shared a few sneak peaks a couple of weeks ago, but now I have some final photos to share!

    I really loved the way this one turned out!…and now I want to take a trip to California!

With the holiday’s coming up these custom pieces made however you’d like make a great gift! If you are interested check out the custom pieces tab up top, and shoot me an email at toocrewel@gmail.com!

xoxo.

Warm Up Embroidery

I’ve been so busy lately working on commissions, working at my day job, and with school, that I haven’t been able to find much time to embroider anything for myself lately. This week I decided to do a little “warm up” piece so I could use some of my favorite fall colors, and embroider just because.

  Pretty simple piece, but it was relaxing to do. I used back stitch, chain stitch, french knot, and a stem stitch in it. It was good practice to use some of the stitches that I rarely use these days.

xoxo.

Christmas Gift Ideas- Custom Embroidery Pieces

It’s never too early to start thinking about Christmas gift ideas. If you’re anything like me you start your planning months ahead of time, and handmade gifts are your favorite. I’m starting to take orders for the holiday’s for custom embroidered pieces.
There are three options for this:
1. Custom Piece that comes in an 8″ hoop, this could be anything from a quote, a personalized message, or a design of your choosing.
2. Custom embroidered pillow, you choose the shape, color fabric, and what gets embroidered onto the pillow.
3. Custom portrait embroidery, which could be you and your sweetheart, your family, or you and your pets.

Follow the above links for specific costs, or you can check out all of the prices here.

*prices and time frames subject to change depending on the detail of your individual piece.

Mention this post and get free shipping! 

xoxo.