Maureenie Makes Things

Notes for Marty on the embellished bag project

Hi Marty,

Here are some ideas for the embellished bag project. I thought this might be the easiest way to get the information to you.  No pesky servers complaining about file sizes, e-mails that won't let me put pictures where I want, etc.  Given my lack of self promotion, very few are likely to see this, and for those that do, may they get something out of it!

Applique:

Two main options for material:  Felted wool or cotton.  Woven wool that has been washed/felted is typically appliqued with raw edges; just cut into your desired shape, pin it in place, and stitch around the edges.  Blanket stitch is most common, but whip stitching works as do any number of embroidery stitches.  More about threads below.   This gives you a lot of freedom as far as shape goes.

Sounds like your group is into needle felting.  I haven't cut that up and appliqued it, so I don't know how it would work. Whether it would hold its edge probably depends on the thickness, amount of felting, etc.  One thing I have done is cut up needle felted pieces into specific shapes and then felted them to a background and proceeded to embroider around them.  

Cotton applique expands design possibilities greatly with all the wonderful quilting prints available today.  I don't know if you have a quilting stash; I do and am happy to share if you give me some idea about colors.  The great thing about applique is that a little bit of fabric goes a long way.  

But back to technique.  A simple way to get edges turned under is to use templates. Quilting stores sell some ready made, but I think it's more fun to create your own.  Joann sells material that can be cut up.  Be sure to get the one that will withstand ironing. (Edit:  I just checked online, and it looks like you are a long way from the closest Joann.  If you go the cotton route, I can send some along with the fabric.)  Here are the steps (let me know if you need pictures, I got the impression that you had an idea of how this is done already):

1.  Cut your template.  This will be the finished size.  Avoid long, skinny points, and definitely avoid concave shapes.  Leaf shapes with points at both ends are possible but challenging.

 

It makes life a little easier if you have an edge that will be tucked under something else.  Except for circles and ovals, which are very easy.  

2.  Cut the fabric about 1/4" bigger than the template all around.  Precision is not necessary here.

3.  Put a long running stitch along the edge of the fabric - make sure it is outside the outline of the template.  Whether stitching by hand or machine, be sure to leave long tails.

4.  Place the template in the middle of the piece - on the wrong side - and pull the tails, gathering the stitches so that the excess fabric folds in around the template.

5.  Cover the ironing board with an old towel.  Put the applique wrong side up - the template will be showing.  Spray some starch and press it for a couple seconds with a hot iron.  Let it cool and remove the template.  You'll have a nice, neat applique to pin to your purse.

6.  Stitch it in place:  Traditional applique strives to be invisble, with tiny stitches taking the smallest bite out of the side of the applique.  You said that you have an appliquer in your office, so she can probably give you a quick demo.  I've seen some modern variations: doing larger stitches that are deliberately visible, using thicker thread, doing a running stitch just inside the folded edge.  The sky's the limit!  The nice thing about appliqueing cotton onto felted wool is that it's rather forgiving, because the edge sinks down into the wool.  

I thread my needle (a plain sewing needle, not a fat tapestry needle) with plain sewing thread and put a quilter's knot at the end.  If the felted base is dense enough, you can just pull up from the back to the front and start stitching.  If not, you might want to anchor the thread on the back with a couple of back stitches before you come up at the edge of the applique.  

Embroidery Threads:

This has taken a bit of experimentation.  Threads that show up on a cotton background can get lost on wool.  Yarn is thicker but often lacks the strength to survive the abrasion that comes with moving through dense fabric for many stitches.  Even wool threads for crewel embroidery can get lost unless you fiddle with them.  The solution:  stay with thicker threads.  There's dual benefit:  it will show up better, and it will fill space faster - good for the age group you're working with, yes?  Perle cotton, at least a size 5 - 3 is even better if you can find it - is very good. If you use multi-strand embroidery floss, be sure to use at least three strands.  If by some odd chance you happen to have some sashiko thread laying around, it works well, too.  

Needles:

When embroidering with thicker thread, look for chenille needles.  They have big eyes like tapestry needles but sharp points, which  go through the felted base much more easily.  Some needle grabbers are useful to have around.  (Think miniature round rubber can openers.)  If you're going to do French knots or bullion stitches, yarn darners are nice but not essential; their shape is straighter, making it easier when you pull the needle through the wrapped threads.  These are all available at Joann.

Stitch Choices:

Given the age group you're working with, I'm assuming you won't be going for great intricacy.  Basic chain stitches, running stitches, and herringbone stitches will get them a long way.  The Zentangle idea works well here - lay down a few outlines and keep filling with doodles.   Here are a couple other age-appropriate stitch ideas:

Stab stitches are a simple yet effective way to fill space.  

Couching is a nice technique - lay a strand of something (yarn works well here) in the shape you want on top of the base, and then hold it in place with small stitches.  You can combine different colors and different threads for interesting effects.  You can create freestanding shapes - vines, stems - or nice outlines around applique.   It's another one that goes fairly quickly and can pack a lot of punch - the power of line.

 

For pure eye candy,  Sue Spargo is a real master of embellishment.  I have several pictures of her beautiful work in another post.

Handles, Pockets, Closures:

My experience with felted handles/straps hasn't been great.  You do seem them in patterns, so some people must be happy with them.  I prefer to use cotton fabric lined with batting (sew right sides together, batting against the wrong side, and then turn right side out and topstitch).  You can sew those directly to the bag or use a ring or some other connector between the strap and the bag.  

A simple strap:

Sewn onto the bag:

I've also used ready made handles of leather and (sheepishly) fake stuff.

Pockets are super functional, every bag I make has them.  A nice size for keys and phone is 7 1/2"W x 6 1/2" H.  Here's how:

1.  Cut two pieces 8 1/2"W x 7 1/2" H (assuming a half-inch seam allowance).

2.  With right sides together, sew up on side, across the top, and down the other side.  Leave the bottom open.

3.  Clip the corners, turn right side out and press.

4.  Determine where the finished bottom of the pocket should be on the purse and mark it with pins.

5.  Put the pocket upside down and put the raw edge 1/2" above that marked line.  Sew from marker to marker:

(I just realized that I sewed this pocket in a different way - the seam is in the middle.  Sorry for the confusion.  Both will work, let me know if you need more pictures.)

6.  Fold the pocket up toward the top: 

 

and pin it in place.  Sew down the two sides.  You may want to take a few extra stitches at the top to anchor it.  If you want to get fancy, sew a line in about an inch from the side for a pen holder:

 

Order of Operations:

Here are some general ideas, subject of course to the specific design.

Create your felted base - a flat piece.  Don't sew it together yet!!

Lay out and attach applique.  Remember where your seams will be.

Embroider and embellish with beads, buttons, found objects.

Sew on pockets and handles.  Depending on the bag's design, you might want to sew the pockets on before the previous step.  Handles will probably be best left until after embellishment.

Attach closures if possible (depending on the design, you might have to do this after assembling the bag).

Assemble the bag/sew seams.  Once you sew the seams, everything gets much more difficult to access and handle, so delay this as long as possible.   

Fringe and tassels might need to wait until the bottom seam is closed.

 

Project Pictures:

This is a very simple bag that my friend knitted and felted.   We'll put the handles, pocket, and closures on before closing up the sides.  This would be a great canvas for embellishment.  The plan is to have a velcro enclosure, with the horn button sewn on for decoration.

We made it adjustable using D-rings, hence the strap dangling at the side:

On the back will be a pocket made with this cute chicken fabric.  Nice surprise.

Here are some additional process pictures from the bag you saw in my gallery.

Before felting.  You can see the tabs on the bag and the strap, both designed to attach to a ring.  I knit the purse in the round and left top and bottom open until the very end for ease of access.

Post felting:

Experimenting with basic layout:

Later on, after lots of playing:

 I hope this is helpful.  I could go on and on, so let me know if you need more info or have questions.  Have fun and please send pictures of your projects!

Cheers,

Maureen

 

She believed she could so she did.

In search of the perfect embroidery book

In my studio are no less than half a dozen different sewing machines.  Each one does something really well.  One is fast, one has more space for quilts, one does computerized embroidery, one is portable, one I refer to as my Very Expensive Buttonhole Maker, and so the list goes.  There isn't any one machine that does everything well.  

 

The same is true when it comes to embroidery reference books. You can't get by with just one.  Now keep in mind that Mom and Grandma showed me the basics as a kid, and I know enough off the top of my head to see me through most of my embellishment urges.  Still, my nerdy side seldom passes up the opportunity to score a good reference.  Here's my take on several of the popular titles of the day:

Erica Wilson's Embroidery Book.  She breaks down the stitches into several main families (see page 30):  stem, satin, chain, cross, back  weaving, and filling.  I like concept based books, so she gets snaps for organization.  What this book does well:  explains complicated stitches.  She starts with the basic version and builds from there.  The gradual derivation creates stepping stones; suddenly you're in the deep end without realizing it.  There are also some lovely inspirational photos.  The downside:  it's out of print (it was published in 1973) and has become rather expensive since being mentioned in a popular something or other.  $238 at Amazon as I write this.  (Don't hate me, but I found mine for $4.99 just as the price was going up.  Life beyond Amazon, who knew?)  

At the opposite end of the organizational spectrum is The Embroiderer's Handbook by Margie Bauer. Lots of stitches and pretty good instruction, often multiple illustrations per stitch. The stitches are presented in alphabetical order and there's an index in the back.  This can be good or not, depending on what kind of search you're doing... which brings us to contestant number three:

Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches.  What I love about this work is that she organizes the stitches by their function:  outline, border, isolated, filling, etc.  In midproject, wondering what will work along a particular edge, I can go to the "border" section and find the options grouped together.  The thing that keeps this from being The Only Embroidery Book I'll Ever Need is that the instructions and illustrations at times are less helpful than they are in some of the other books.  

And then there's Embroidery Stitches by Mary Webb.  A cute little chubby primer. Like Mary Thomas, the stitches are arranged by function.   The photos and instructions are good.  The downside is that this book is out of print and has gotten pricey, $165 last time I checked Amazon. (And I got lucky on this one too, found it at regular MSRP at - wait for it - a brick and mortar store.)  A minor quibble, but a quibble nonetheless, is that the table of contents reads as follows:  "Fabric Stitches, page 46; Canvas Stitches, page 237."   That nearly 200-page span would be a lot more manageable if the subsections were set forth right there in the table of contents.  Still, one does eventually come to a page that spells it out.  A little time invested early on with some yellow stickies renders the book user friendly.

For those shopping around, don't forget to look at a couple of other titles that are popular right now:  The Embroidery Stitch Bible by Betty Barnden, and Yvette Stanton's Embroiderer's Companions - one for righties and one for lefties.

So what's an embroiderer to do?  Choose a stitch with help from Mary Thomas or Mary Webb and then get the rest of the story from Margie Bauer (it's easy to look it up by name) and refer to Erica Wilson when the stitch is a complicated one.   Need more justification?  Keep in mind that each book has a slightly different collection of stitches.  And hey, books cost a lot less than sewing machines.

Maureen

every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.

P.S.  Here are a couple of others just for fun.  Janet Haigh's Color on Color doesn't pretend to be a reference book, but within the projects are some nice tips on color selection and placement.  Very nice eye candy.  

Another interesting volume is Mountmellick Embroidery by Yvette Stanton and Prue Scott.  While it focuses on a specific style of embroidery, it contains a wealth of stitch information along with visual inspiration for combining different stitches.  

 

 

 

Embroidery How To: Rosette Stitch (part 2)

When last we left our heroine (which would be me, fearlessly embroidering on knitted goods), we had just finished wrapping the yarn and anchoring the last wrap,

 and we were in the process of pulling the needle through (as promised, a different color this time):

The view without the anchor/thumb makes it clear why the anchor is necessary; if you pull too hard, that nice corner at the top of the stitch will get sucked into the middle of the stitch.  (Since I have the stitch turned sideways in the picture, the top of the stitch is on the right of the photo.)

Now we proceed to secure the wraps in all four directions: top, bottom, side, side / north, south, east, west, as you wish.  According to one of my embroidery references, the "official" version only gets secured in two directions.  (Which is not to suggest that other embroidery references show it being secured in more than two directions; my other embroidery references in fact don't list the stitch.) Since I'm putting this on something that will be worn, I want more security.  So all four directions it is.

Let the yarn cross over the wraps and insert the needle at the bottom of the stitch (the bottom of the stitch is on the left side of the photo).  The needle reemerges at the very top of the stitch, just catching the yarn where your thumb had previously anchored it.  

 Pull the needle through and you will notice that the boy-with-his-finger-in-the-dyke feeling is gone.  The "big turn" is now secure.  

Now to the sides.  (Sides of the stitch, that is, top and bottom of photo.)  Insert the needle at the very top of the stitch and come out just off center.  Aim to come up just at the inside edge of the wraps.

Pull the needle through and let the yarn cross over the wraps as it moves toward the outside of the stitch. The idea is to leave a small space in the center, so if you came up at the inner edge of the "west" wraps, you want to cross the yarn over the west wraps. 

 Insert the yarn at the outer edge of the stitch.

The next move is toward the center.  Once again, aim for the inside edge of the wraps, leaving a small space in the center.

Pull the needle through, let the yarn cross the wraps on the same side and insert the needle at the outside edge of the stitch.

Pull the needle to the back and enjoy your work:

Given where I was using the stitch, I wasn't crazy about the opening in the center, so I put a French knot there.  Next time.

Maureen

She believed she could, so she did.

Thai Temple Scarf - A Start

The embroidery is growing on me, can't decide whether I'm happy with the "roof tiles" section.  

Maureen

don't wait for people to be kind; show them how.

I love a good before and after. And an embroidery how to just for kicks.

Some say that you shouldn't reveal your process.  Me, I think it makes for some of the most interesting reading.  Nothing heavy or terribly insightful here today, but I got a kick out of seeing what a big role the flowers centers had in the overall appearance of the hat.  They do, after all, take up less than 1% of the surface area of the hat.

Before:

And After:  

(I know, it's a repeat from the other day.  It's more informative - and convenient for you - to have these pics side by side.) 

The centers are called a rosette stitch.  (Not to be confused with the rosette chain stitch, which sounds the same but looks very different.) Here's the step-by-step:

Come up just below the center:

Next, insert from front to back just above the center.  Come back out to the front in the same spot where you began.  Pretend you're doing a backstitch:

The idea here is to center the rosette right around the knitted stitch in the very center of the flower.  Do this by grabbing the "bars" above and below the stitch.  Don't pull the needle through yet.  A close up of this step:

Now the fun begins.  Working from the end of the yarn that just came through the fabric, i.e., NOT from the end in the eye of the needle, start wrapping it around the base that you've created with the needle.  The thread is coming out of the knitted fabric at the pointy end of the needle, so pull it under the eye end of the needle for your first wrap.  We'll call this half of a wrap actually, since the yarn has only done half a lap around the circle:

and then keep going, wrapping it next under the pointy end of the needle.  We'll count this as one full wrap, having come back to the starting point:

Now snug it in before the next wrap.

Keep wrapping in the same direction, bringing it next under the eye end of the needle, and then under the pointy end, and so on, until you've gone around 3 1/2 times.  Whaaa?  3 1/2??  After you've wrapped under the pointy end for the third time, bring it back up to the top/eye end.

So now, admittedly, it gets a little tricky the first time you do the next step.  You're going to anchor the wrapped yarn with your finger.  Hold it down right where it passes under the top / eye end of the needle.  Keep it right there while you pull the needle out to the front.  The yarn will make a right angle as it heads down toward the center of the circle.

To be continued (probably with a lighter color yarn!)

Maureen

to live a creative life, we must find the courage to be wrong.

Synchronicity (or, how did I get so lucky?)

I've been playing around with embroidering and appliqueing on my knitted goods lately.  
The more I do it, the more ideas I get.  My journal is bursting with ideas and I can't make them fast enough.  And right in the midst of it, under the heading of I-am-just-one-of-the-luckiest-people-I-know, Sue Spargo shows up for a workshop at our quilt guild.  

Okay, a teacher of her status doesn't just show up.  She is highly sought after and teaches around the world, keeping a pace that makes my head spin just thinking of it.  Her work has been on not one but two major magazine covers just this spring.  She is one of quilting's "it" girls.  As our local quilt guild's workshop chair, I had to make reservations years in advance to get her here.  I chose her because I love her folk art style.  It's primitive but not in a country nightmare kind of way; cute without being cutesy; warm, rich, and genuine.  What I didn't know at the time, though, was just how much embroidery she'd be doing by the time she got here.  (Or how warm and gracious she would be.  The general consensus was that two days was just not enough!)

Her work has been evolving to create more and more texture.  It is exquisite.  The colors!  The materials!  The stitching!  Pictures fall short of revealing the richness, but here goes anyway:

Talk about a booster pack for my momentum!  

Maureen

You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. Maya Angelou

Tis the Season

Project #1:  Neckie and fingerless mitts.  I grabbed a couple skeins of luscious, chunky baby alpaca, color appropriate for a gorgeous friend, and knitted these up in a flash.  Watching them come to life, I realized that I couldn't just give them to her... all ... just ... plain blue.  One color?! It would look like I didn't really care.  (I have the ability to take just about any project and make it bigger.  It's a skill.)  They needed a little something.  Some embroidery perhaps.  I had some left over alpaca from another project and surely that would be just the thing.  I sketched a little and then jumped in and started stitching.  Nope.  Ripped it out and stitched again.  Nope.

This went on all evening (so much for my just-make-one-project-per-day-and-everything-will-be-fine idea).  I woke up the next morning and it struck me:  felting!  Feeling confident (it can't be ripped out like embroidery), I plunged in.   The result:  not bad, and they're growing on me.  In any event, the countdown is on. I remind myself of the line from Wag the Dog:  "A good job today is better than a great job tomorrow."  And one of Mom's favorites:  "It's the thought that counts."  Surely my friend will feel thought of now.  Soooo much more so than if she had received a box full of plain blue... handknit alpaca stuff.   

(I promise, the color of the liner gloves from Target really looks fine in real life.)  

Here's a close up of the embellishment:

Now that I'm committed, wouldn't you know that I bumped into a Norwegian knitting blog (how great is it that I can sit in Florida and bump into a Norwegian knitting blog?! My gratitude for living in the internet age knows no bounds) with a really interesting technique for embellishing knitwear. First you crochet a circle, and then you attach it with embroidery.  So clever.  It looks like satin stitch done in a circle.  She picked it up from a magazine article published in the 70's:

Yeah, it's in Norwegian. But the pictures tell the story.  Here's what she did with it. I love these!

Next time.

 

Maureen

Let the wonder never cease.