“When Marrilyn sent me photos of this splendid Jacobean embroidered purse I was intrigued as to how she made it and knew you all would be too, so here is her guest blog.”
Continue readingA Romantic Crazy Quilt project
I am often asked for ideas on how to use my embroidery designs especially my Crazy quilt blocks. My latest is available for the 260mm square hoop and I decided to create a cushion with my finished block.
Continue readingGuest blog: Why I love the Graced in Petals collection
I invited Pamela Cox to tell us all why she loves the Graced in Petals collection so much.
Although I’ve been known to email Hazel every time she releases a new collection to tell her that “This is my favorite!” (I mean, they really are all amazing), there is one Graceful Embroidery Collection that has been my favorite “favorite” for several years and it happens to be featured this month, May 2020:
The Graced in Petals collection
I thought I would share with you why I feel this collection is so special.
What could be more perfect as a classic, summer dress than a white pique bodice and a dainty cotton-print skirt? Well, enhancing the garment with heirloom quality embroidery does make it more perfect!
Embroidering fabric prior to cutting the pattern piece makes it extremely easy to have the design exactly where it needs to be. Using Graceful Embroidery’s exclusive OAS files, Set 1-designs #8s and #32s were effortlessly combined to produce the center focus of the dress front.
Keep in mind though, one of the larger designs in Sets 2 or 3 would work equally as well.
A wise woman, who use to make bridal gowns, once told me that the back of a garment needs to be just as interesting as the front…..Thank you, Hazel. So, design #15 from the same set was first stitched on two pieces of the white pique, flipping the design horizontally for the second stitching to produce mirror images of the design. The embroidered fabric pieces were placed right sides together, matching design points and then the pattern pieces cut out. Once again, an easy way to get perfect placement.
Details were added to this little sun dress by embroidering design 25s on strips of pique. Since my strap length could be embroidered in one hooping, I was able to skip over (or edit out) the first three color stops, stitching only the flowers that I wanted to accent the strap.
I did borrow design #2 from Set 1 of Heartsease, adding Graced in Petals #30 from Set 1to make the side-seam hem design. Always remember to save combined designs under new file names to preserve the original design for future applications.
Always remember to flip designs to produce mirror images.
As you can see, someone was pretty excited to have such a pretty summer dress.
Graced in Petals delicate flowers have been digitized specifically for use with fine fabrics enabling us to stitch beautiful patterns on sheer organza.
I thought it might be fun to layer designs creating a shadow effect. Creating an overall pattern does require planning in an editing software program. The pattern piece was scanned into the software allowing Design #15 to be rotated to fit into the pattern shape as well as possible.
An overall pattern was planned for the underlay of satin fabric and then an overall pattern was planned for the top, sheer fabric filling in the satin’s open spaces.
Fabric pieces were embroidered separately.
Satin
Sheer Organza
The satin pattern piece was cut. Before cutting the top sheer fabric, it was placed on top of the satin bodice for any positioning adjustments.
The two layers of embroidered fabric were then treated as a single layer.
Shadow-work is another layering technique contrasting thread or fabric colors.
The Shadow-work by the shoulder is created by layering a colored batiste under the light-weight white lawn accented with design #2, Set 1. The center panel, features design #14 as a blue shadow heart. To create this heart shadow, first a 3” piece of the blue fabric was centered in the hoop and color #1, the heart outline was stitched. The blue fabric was trimmed outside the stitching line. Then the lawn fabric piece was centered in the hoop and color #1 was re-stitched going on to colors #2, #3 and #4. Colors #5, #9 and #11 were skipped leaving the center of the heart embroidery free allowing more of a “shadow work” effect.
This is basically applique. It works because of the expert digitizing in the beautiful border of the heart.
The bodice was created as strips of accented fabrics sewn together prior to cutting the pattern piece.
Although these precious designs are perfect for garments, Graced in Petals need not be limited to only that application.
Whether embroidered on heavier linen, as seen in this table topper,
tea towel,
Combining Graced in Petal elements with other elements in the collection or with other Graceful Embroidery Collections will offer endless inspiration.
Sometimes just a small embroidered accent makes a gift extra special!
And now you can see why Graced in Petals is my favorite “favorite”!
Thank you so much Pamela. It is good to have your perspective on this collection. In closing here is a lovely dressed bear that Pamela made for me I while back when she visited.
This is the bodice of the dress the bear is wearing.
Notice how Pamela has used the little flowers on the straps.
Here is a close up of the embroidery on each side of the skirt.
Lastly the bear has some matching knickers with this delightful lace edged pocket!! Pamela’s attention to detail is always stunning. Thank you again. Remember that all the designs (there are well over a 100) in this collection are available for just $35 until the end of May, 2020.
Happy embroidering from Pamela and Hazel
Making Marianne lace – a reblog
The Marianne collection features heirloom designs which celebrate candle wicking. Within the collection you will find several scalloped edging designs for creating your own lace to match any projects you make with the Marianne designs, including some corners. These designs can be joined to make the lengths you require. The scalloped edges have a narrow outer line of satin stitches. Here is how to use them.
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Those annoying jump stitches – love them or hate them?
I try to keep an eye on what is going on in the Machine Embroidery world so I know what problems need to be addressed. Nothing seems to be spark more comments than jump stitches! Many of you hate them and I have read that some prefer not to purchase embroidery designs where jump stitches exist. I would like to show you that they are not to be avoided at all costs and how necessary they are to some styles of embroidery, particularly mine at Graceful Embroidery.
I am currently working on the designs which will make up the Jacobean Sampler collection. These are very brightly coloured designs which lots of thread changes. I do not apologise for this because the Jacobean look can only be created with lots of colour, threads changes and “jump stitches”! Take the design shown above, which stitches out in a 5″ x 7″ ( 130mm x 180mm) hoop. It holds quite a few of the elements of the collection, has 16,809 stitches, 30 different colours and 41 thread changes.
With careful planning I have created it to sit alongside itself for borders and panels. The collection is being developed so that a Sampler with borders and panels can be embroidered out. Here is the design production information on this design taken from my Wilcom EmbroiderySuite e4.5 software.
As you can see it has 71 trims and that may put you off embroidering it out.
Before you dismiss this design and others like it, consider with me why there are so many thread changes and jump stitches. There are many styles of embroidery, some dense and some more open. The design shown below is a rose from the Floribunda’s Serenade collection. Although it has several shades of red and pink to give the petals depth there are no gaps within the embroidery. So does this embroidery design have no jump stitches?
I am afraid to say that it does have a few but not as many as our first design. Often times when digitizing flowers it is vital to have jump stitches and quite a few colour changes so that the flower appears natural and not flat. I often give my flowers outlines to emphasize their edges and these may be added in sections at the end, requiring a few jump stitches.
A more open design like those in the Jacobean Sampler must have gaps between the elements. I prefer this type of embroidery. With machine embroidery we often try to emulate traditional styles of embroidery. Remember these were done by hand, taking many many hours of patience. Fastening off and starting in another place on the fabric was not an issue like jump stitches are now. Many of us have machine that will cut the jump stitches but it still seems to be an issue. I know that some do not use the jump stitch function on their machines as they do not like the way it makes the tie on the back of the embroidery. I don’t mind this and have not found it increases puckering. Let us not forget that our machines have the capacity to stitch out “breathtakingly beautiful” embroidery but this cannot be an instant process and takes effort and time.
The most breathtakingly beautiful embroidery takes time and effort and that may include jump stitches!
When creating my designs I do look to see when running stitches can be used to link elements of the design, avoiding jump stitches, BUT I am always aware that these can show through especially when dark or vibrant colours are used, or the stitches that cover them are only just delicate running stitches. I would rather create a jump stitch than ruin the design with show through. My other option would be to widen or make the covering stitches denser, but that can spoil a design altogether. So try not to regard these necessary functions in your embroidery as the enemy but as necessary to the overall look of your embroidery. They can be eliminated completely when digitizing badges and emblems but not for my style of embroidery. In summarizing I believe that they are not the enemy! I hope you can see them in the same way.
The Jacobean Sampler collection is still in development and will be released later this year.
Stay safe and well. Happy embroidering from Hazel
Another Celtic embroidery stitch out
In deciding on another design to enhance, it just had to be Celtic Dreams, which was my very first Celtic collection. Now this is the biggest design in the collection and it was created for a bridal bodice. Now I wanted to update it and make it extra special so what better than adding in elements of the Rachel Kathryn Bridal collection which I am currently working on.
Continue readingSome unusual Celtic stitch outs
I have a great fondness and fascination for Celtic embroidery because it was where I began my digitising journey! I could not find the right designs for Celtic work and so I decided to create my own. After lots of pencil scribblings, studying Celtic knot work design in depth and discovering how the weave under and over is made, my first collection of Celtic embroidery emerged.
Continue readinga Celtic Claddagh with applique ivy leaves
Adding some dimension to embroidery can be a challenge but I have tried to make it as easy as possible with the designs which have this option. A little practice may be advisable to perfect the technique, but when you master adding pre embroidered appliques to your projects, it opens up lots more choices and you will be so proud of your achievements. Let me show you how I took one of the Celtic Ivy designs and made it into something special and unique! Continue reading
The Husqvarna Designer EPIC™ 2
It was an enormous privilege to receive my Husqvarna Designer EPIC™ 2 back in late November 2019. Unboxing it I was like a child on Christmas morning! In all honesty weeks later I still get a huge thrill when I turn it on, see the red laser guideline appear under the needle, hear that little jingle, see the screen light up and delight in it wonderful colour scheme. I have to confess that I was never at the point of fully knowing my first Epic so I wonder if I will ever know about all this machine’s capabilities. Safe to say it is an incredible machine with so many “Epic” features. What is there not to love?
Continue readingA machine embroidered heart card
I looked everywhere to purchase cards for my twin daughters fortieth birthdays but nothing was suitable so I set about creating machine embroidered ones. When I last made an embroidered card I used a blank card without an opening with success so I decided to do this again, but it went wrong so I had to think around the error….
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