More Peacocks

These ones are in cotton rather than silk. I really like making the peacocks. I enjoy the free motion feathers. The satin stitching is a bit wonky and hurts me to do. I spent yesterday stitching one and still haven't recovered yet.

Elephant Tea Cosies

Before my series of surgeries last year I had injured my back. I am cancer free (so far, fingers crossed) but the back issue remains. It has made sewing a challenge. I have some bulging discs that are affected by sitting, especially sitting and leaning forward.
I am trying to teach myself to sew while standing, but my control is not great yet. In order to practise I have been doing a lot of free motion while standing. Mistakes are less apparent in a sketchy style. However, I am accustomed to the heavy satin stitching of the dance costumes I have made for so many years.
These tea cosies have been great practise for re-learning to sew. These ones feature some of the satin stitching while the peacocks have far more free motion.

Peacock Tea Cosy

This cosy is duppioni silk and cotton velvet with free motion stitching.

I love how the sun brings out the details.

More Embroidery

Layers of silk, organza and thread have gone from a swirly sky,

to this,and eventually to this.

I am going to add some beads as stamens in the centre poppy and stop. It has to be done at some point. Now I need to figure out how to finish it. This one is for my Mum, who just got out of some major surgery about an hour ago. All is well so far.

Hat Head part 2

These photos have been taken on the hat forms that are shown in the last post.
I am mainly a garment sewer so I thought I would combine the two things. I free handed the vine and flower design then added a bead in teh centre of each flower. I thought it would be for me and I wanted subtle, but I don't wear a lot of beige or cream in the summer. Oops. Maybe I will try and black and white one. It might be easier if I do it before the hat is halfway constructed like these ones were.
This one has leaves that I made by cutting then singing the edges. I stitched them on a half completed hat and added a flower pin I had made. Voila! a perfect summer sunhat that can match any outfit. Maisie loves it!
These are for you Irene! I combined the stitching with a garment. A hat is a garment, isn't it?
Soon I will try to show myself in something I have made. Thanks Ruthie, Irene, Ann and Karen for your support.

Hat Head

I did a bit more on trees and stuck it in a frame (loosely) for this pic. I might paint the sky a pale gray blue instead of white but am holding off to ruminate a while.

These are some hatforms I drew in free motion. I did about 7 of them but only a few are shown here. I have been painting them, then embroidering and embellishing them some more. Here are two in progress. The flesh was painted first, then the hat, then background. On the red hat the blue leaked onto the flesh. I had to run with it. I added a bit more flesh tone on her nose, but left the blue everywhere else.
Some more stitching and painting. I stitched in one leave on the side and tried to stamp two more but did not like the effect.

So I appliqued some silk leaves over top and added copper foil to them. I then added some gold and copper foils to the swirls on the left. I might add more. Taking a break on it for now.

This one reminds me of Nefertiti. You can see above I am adding some diagonal designs to try to mimic the hat in the sculpture. Not sure about it. Never sure though.

Free Motion

I have always wanted to learn free motion embroidery. What I do is so tight and controlled and I wanted to loosen up. I have been taking a course in Textile Art at a local college and so have been doing a lot of free motion work lately.
I love it!
The trees are about 9x9" and aren't quite done yet. I roughly stitched in the scene, then loosely painted in the bushes, leaves and ground. The bushes and leaves were done with a technique using tiny snippets of silk held down with tulle. The foreground was stitched back and forth with shades of green. It wasn't until I added some deep green into the front that the depth was really created.
This one has more applique. I drew the design on the top and stithched it. I planned to use the reverse side as the right side but decided I wanted to elephant to face right, so I had to add the silk, stitch from the back and cut away the rest once it was all stitched. I am still playing with it. It probably should have been done with black bobbin thread as the white really shows. I want to paint the background and add more stitching and maybe some gold leaf.
I gave up trying to use my Husqvarna Mega Quilter,(which I LOVE for other things) and am using my Pfaff 1550. I had to buy a foot, but I have less tension problems than before.

Back

Thanks Irene. I need a bit more time to decide, but am leaning that way too.

The jacket back. This went a LOT quicker than the other pieces. It gets a lot speedier with some practice.

I tried to photograph the sketch but it wouldn't come out right.

Machine embroidery

I finally have the machine back and it seems to be running well now. It has cost a fortune, but will be worth it is this really is a good repair.

This is the first project I have worked on with it.

It is a silk valance with a hand beaded edge using a glass pearl and sparkly small bead. I like the edging.

The fabric is a silk duoppioni that the client supplied. It marks like the Dickens. I had to use a cloth on the wheel of the machine, wear gloves and still got oily smudges on the first embroidery. I tried to get them out with a stain removing dauber but it left other marks as it dried so I washed the whole thing with Sunlight dish liquid. Here it is wet on the left and the replacement on the right. You can see the wax line of where the fold backs will be on the wet one. The silk was fused twice; once with a soft weft insertion interfacing, then with fusible fleece.

I am not sure about the beading on the design though. I tried stitching the design in beads, couching it and tambour stitching them it. Finally I satin stitched the design and added beads over the stitching. It isn't completed yet. I will bead it all if I decide to use it this way but I am not sure what to think. Any opinions? Should I keep beading or leave it plain?

(Sorry, Blogger keeps rotating the one picture.)

Another Irish Dance dress

This one has a skirt in poly shantung rather than plain satin. I used a 4 thread rolled hem on my serger to create the turquoise line. The previous dress shown was serged over a ribbon. This one is more balanced from front to back of the ruffles. This aspect is important as both sides show.

Catching up post

Thanks everyone for your comments on my recent projects. I did not get to finish my tree skirt. It seemed pointless since we decided not to have a tree this year. My husband had to work over the holiday on ten hour shifts so the kids and I had a week with my Mum and brother and his family over Christmas. Maisie and I shared a room, occasionally with the Boy as well. Since then, she has been plastered to my side. This is the first break from her I have had and as much as I love her, I really need it!

I tried on the teal jacket yesterday and the fit is not too bad on the altered side. I will mark it, change the pattern, then sew it as is. Having some distance from it makes for a much more objective opinion.

Maisie received some Dora the Explorer slippers for Christmas. Here she is the first night after receiving them.

I made another hat for Maisie for Christmas, utilizing the time being driven to Niagara to embroider.

It uses the same basic pattern I made for the owl hats, but I didn't add the straps.

Maisie here is dressed up in her new fairy costume and turtle neck with some funky tights and her new hat (pre-tassels). There is alot going on here even before you add in the silly faces!

Trying to show comparison

I took these before I finished the last few. All are embroidered and now I need to decide if I will be adding any more at top or bottom. I might just add a trim to the bottom edge and get it done.
Hmmm, there is that attitude coming through again!

Christmas Tree Skirt

I designed this tree skirt last summer and put it aside since I had so many other things to work on. Then, of course, I was in a rush and just wanted to get it done when I finally had time to work on it. However, I have learned my lesson in this area before. I did my basic satin stitching around the applique design of holly and ribbon, then let it ferment for a while while I thought about it.
Here is the basic stitching. The "ribbon" is in a deep red velvet, although it looks much darker in the photos
Two sections out of six showing how they will line up.

This is what I added after waiting a while. On the right there is a lime-ish green added to the top edges of the holly and the brown stem joining the brances. I am not sure if the pictures capture it, but it makes a big difference in real life.
This is the basic layout with all six sections. You can see that I haven't completed all the secondary stitching on all sections yet.
I will be adding rhinestones in red to form the berries. I just hope it gets done in time for Christmas.