Michigan Embroidery on Acid Wash Fabric

Today I have another piece to share that I did on fabric that I acid washed. This time around it is a Michigan embroidery on brown fabric, placed in a thrifted oval frame.

 The thrifted frame works well with this piece, as it gives it an antique feel.

 I did a double layer of the back stitch because one line was just too thin and it just sort of got lost in the frame.

I’m really happy with the way this one turned out. I have a second frame that is exactly the same, and I’m working on a cruiser bike (similar to the one I made in the past) to go into it. I’ll have that to share next week!

xoxo.

Home Sweet Home Embroidery Wall Hanging

Recently I played around with acid washing fabrics, and I was pretty happy with all of the results. This piece of fabric turned out to be one of my favorites.

One of my girlfriends pointed out that it turned out looking like clouds with the acid wash, and I have to agree. I embroidered the message “home sweet home” next to a simple outlined house.

I hung the embroidery from a stick that I painted, and backed the fabric with a piece of tan denim to make it a little heavier. My thoughts were that this could be a piece hung by your front door or entry way as a welcome message.

This piece was a fun one to do because it was so different from anything else that I have made. I have another stick to paint so I’m thinking I’m going to make another piece similar to this one.

xoxo.

DIY: Embroidery Hoop Pin Cushion

A couple of weeks ago I was trying to brainstorm how I could make a pin cushion that I could attach to the wall by my sewing machine. In the past I made one that I could wear on my wrist, but I felt it got in the way. The ones I had made for the table (out of a mason jar) always got knocked off, so I was on a mission to find an alternative. I decided to keep it simple and go with a pin cushion out of an embroidery hoop.

Here is what you need to make your own:

Once you gather your supplies you just need to follow a few simple steps…

Step One:

 First get your embroidery hoop and cut two pieces of fabric with about an inch extra all the way around. One piece is for the front, and one piece is for the back.

Step Two:

 Next you make a sandwich out of your pieces so far. On the bottom is your back piece of the embroidery hoop, then your back piece of fabric, about a handful and a half of stuffing, your front fabric, and lastly the front piece of the embroidery hoop.

Step Three:

 Once your ‘sandwhich’ is put together take your needle and thread and sew in a single stitch all the way around (twice) to tighten the fabric). Knot and cut.

Step Four:

 Take your piece of felt, cut to size of the embroidery hoop, and hot glue to the back to hide the mess.

That’s it! Next just hang and sew!

 

Happy Sewing!

xoxo.

Stormtrooper Crewel Embroidered Onesie

A couple of weeks ago I shared some embroidered onesies I made for my sister  for their very soon to be twins along with the promise I would have a new one to share very soon. My brother-in-law is a huge Star Wars fan, so his request was a Stormtrooper.

I decided to use crewel embroidery on it, with just the outline it looked pretty boring and incomplete.

It worked in my benefit that the onesies were white that I bought, because then I did not have to worry about embroidering the white parts of the Stormtrooper.

  Isn’t my soon to be nephew, Willem, going to look so freaking cute in this? I can’t wait to see him wearing this, and Hannah wearing some of the other ones I made.

ps. Today is the last day to enter THIS giveaway!

xoxo.

Skeleton Bikers Embroidery

A couple of years ago now Bryan illustrated a few skeleton biker guys for a class project, and recently I found a copy of them again. I’ve always wanted to try and do a collaboration piece with him, so this was a good place to start. His line work and style lend themselves well to embroidery as a medium.

 It was also a nice way for me to practice doing something that guys may also like, as embroidery is usually most appealing to the ladies.

 I decided to keep these guys as outlines in black to keep it similar to the original. After I was finished with the embroidery I sprayed it with bleach to give it a little bit of acid wash. I wanted to make it a little more interesting to look at, I think it turned out pretty well (all of the skulls heads ended up turning white!).

  

The best part of the whole piece is that it is something my man and I both put something into.

ps. After this I went on a bleach frenzy with my fabrics…get ready for a bunch of acid wash pieces in the next couple of weeks!

pps. Don’t forget to enter this month’s giveaway! It closes tomorrow night at midnight!

xoxo.

DIY: Fabric Wrapped Frame

Today I have a very simple tutorial to share, a fabric wrapped frame. I’m kind of a photoaholic of sorts, and am always in search of different and interesting ways to showcase them. This weekend I made this:

It was seriously inexpensive, and adds a little personality to an otherwise boring (and outdated) frame. The frame is from Salvation Army, I used scraps of fabric, hemp, and a clothes pin so all together this project was done on under $5.00 (probably more like $3.00).

Here is what you need:

Step One:
Cut your fabric into thin strips (about 1″ wide). I used five strips for this, each about a yard in length.

Step Two:
Thread your string/hemp/yarn (whatever you chose to use) through the clothes pin.

Step Three:
Tie each side of your string to each side of the top of your frame.

Step Four:
Hot glue your fabric to your starting point. I hot glued onto the backside of the frame to hide it.

Step Five:
Wrap your fabric around the frame. When you run out hot glue the fabric to the frame, and repeat with a new piece of fabric until the frame is covered.

All that is left is to put your photo in the clothes pin and hang, or display on your shelf.

Happy making, everyone!

xoxo.

Shel Silverstein Onesies Embroidery

One of my sisters is pregnant right now, and due in just a couple of months now. Everyone in the family is very excited because her and her husband have been trying for awhile now, and they are having twins! A boy and a girl! How much more perfect could it possibly be?

I recently started working on embroidering a few onesies for the two of them. Like myself, my sister loves Shel Silverstein, and my brother-in-law is a big Star Wars nerd (this is not like myself, I’ve honestly never even seen a full Star Wars movie).

I have two Shel Silverstein onesies done to share with you today, and you might recognize these two illustrations from when I did Shel Silverstein week last summer.

The first one is from the poem “Hug O’ War:”

The second one I did is from the poem “The Worst:”

I’m working on a Stormtrooper for the Star Wars one right now, and I’m still undecided on what to do for the other one. Any suggestions?

xoxo.

Best Friend Lockets

A couple of years ago my best friend (since the second grade!) Melissa moved to Texas, and last week she came back for her first visit since moving. It was so nice to see her and it gave me a little boost of energy, sometimes a girl just has to see her best friend.

I knew I wanted to give her something when she came so I went the cheesy route and bought us a pair of best friend lockets from the Etsy shop fancypop .

Melissa and I have an inside joke that is a twist off of the internet sideways heart (<3). Neither one of us remember where it came from, or even why- but we still do it to this day. So for the inside of our necklaces I did a mini embroidery of it for the inside. It says ‘<321.’

I did the embroidery in teal on a piece of felt. I hot glued it in- it was a really easy way to add a personal touch to it. Giving gifts are nice, but they always mean more when there is extra thought put into it.  A photo of Melissa and I where she is rockin’ the necklace.

xoxo.

Cat on a Bike Embroidery

 Why hello, blog, it has been quite some time! Too long, really. I’ve missed updating, chatting with all of you, and sharing new work over the past month or so. I’ve been very busy, though! Since November I have been basically making embroidered portraits non stop (thank you guys for all of the word of mouth, really!), I’ll share some of them with you soon so you can see what’s been keeping me busy.

In the meantime though, I did manage to get this cat riding on a bike done.
I made this piece for an art trade I did in exchange for a couple of ceramic teeth beads. She ask for a cat riding a bike, and this is what I came up with. The fabric is white, and I hand dyed it using red tea (the same as I did for the skeleton, hand, and teeth pieces), I did the embroidery all in a solid black.  This is actually a pretty small piece- only 4 inches. I think the big front wheel gives the illusion that it is bigger than what it actually is. 

 xoxo.

Needle Felted Birds

Before Christmas I made a couple needled felted birds to use as ornaments on our tree. I completely forgot about them, because I hung them in some random spot in our kitchen, so needless to say they never actually made it on the tree. It had been a long time since I needle felted anything, so I just stuck to the basics and drew inspiration from things that I’ve made in the past.

 First I made this goofy little owl.   I was working with scraps for this one, but I think he still turned out pretty cute. He’s different than owls I’ve made in the past- he’s long and lean vs. short and fat.

 This bird is pretty much the exact replica of the first one I ever made, just in different colors. It was good for practice, though.

I have no idea what to do with these little guys now- it seems pointless to pack them away with the rest of my Christmas stuff because I’ll just forget about them again. I was kind of playing with the idea of making a mobil…we’ll see.

xoxo.
ps. My shop is currently in “Vacation Mode” while I finish up a few custom pieces, but it will be up and running again February 20th.