The last two towels in the sunflower set are finished.
The whole set:
Saturday, July 23, 2016
Friday, July 22, 2016
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Machine-Embroidered Grapes
I've started embroidering a couple sets of tea towels. Since this is the first time I've done this, I did a bit of research.
These towels are 'Superior Quality 100% Cotton Flour Sack Tightly Woven Ultra Absorbent Heavy Weight', according to the package. They have a bit of a crinkled appearance.
Most people say to wash the towels first. Some adamantly say not to, as they wind up looking 'used' afterwards... but, for pity's sake, these are supposed to be 'used'! Some of those 'don't wash' people said to tell the recipients that the towels are for decoration only. ha
Okay, I get that, and I'm a 'don't wash unless absolutely necessary' person, and I like things to look crisp and new ---- but I want these to be used. Therefore, I washed them. Cold wash and rinse... then dried on low heat.
Soon they were out of the dryer -- and clearly needed to be ironed. I steamed them, not pressing very hard, and they still have that crinkled look. No creases, so there were no problems embroidering.
I have two Debbie Mumm embroidery cards for my machine -- and this is the first time I've ever used them. I got them cheap, because a) they aren't being made for this machine anymore (it's a 17-year-old machine), and b) the seller no longer had the booklet that comes with them. So I looked the designs up online in order to find color photos and know what color of thread goes where.
I hooped the tea towel with Sulky Solvy Water-Soluble Stabilizer on both top and bottom. When the design was complete, I tore the majority of the Solvy off, then laid a Viva paper towel over it, gave it a little spritz of water, and ironed the towel. The small remaining bits of Solvy came right off.
One down; eleven more to go!
These towels are 'Superior Quality 100% Cotton Flour Sack Tightly Woven Ultra Absorbent Heavy Weight', according to the package. They have a bit of a crinkled appearance.
Most people say to wash the towels first. Some adamantly say not to, as they wind up looking 'used' afterwards... but, for pity's sake, these are supposed to be 'used'! Some of those 'don't wash' people said to tell the recipients that the towels are for decoration only. ha
Okay, I get that, and I'm a 'don't wash unless absolutely necessary' person, and I like things to look crisp and new ---- but I want these to be used. Therefore, I washed them. Cold wash and rinse... then dried on low heat.
Soon they were out of the dryer -- and clearly needed to be ironed. I steamed them, not pressing very hard, and they still have that crinkled look. No creases, so there were no problems embroidering.
I have two Debbie Mumm embroidery cards for my machine -- and this is the first time I've ever used them. I got them cheap, because a) they aren't being made for this machine anymore (it's a 17-year-old machine), and b) the seller no longer had the booklet that comes with them. So I looked the designs up online in order to find color photos and know what color of thread goes where.
I hooped the tea towel with Sulky Solvy Water-Soluble Stabilizer on both top and bottom. When the design was complete, I tore the majority of the Solvy off, then laid a Viva paper towel over it, gave it a little spritz of water, and ironed the towel. The small remaining bits of Solvy came right off.
One down; eleven more to go!
Even the back looks good:
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Quilling on Canvas, from Hannah
Hannah made this 5x7 plaque for us for our 37th anniversary. It's called 'quilling', done with 1/8-inch strips of paper. They coil it and then pinch the circles or ovals into the shapes they want, and then glue it down. This is on a canvas frame.
Of course, as soon as I set the plaque down on the deck and started taking pictures, Tiger had to come see what I was doing. He'd been in the dark garage; thus the squinting in the light.
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