Friday, January 13, 2012

EEC - week 1

Embroider, Embellish and Create started this week! I've had fabrics out but after reading everything and watching the videos, I was prompted to look for more samples. I even ended up buying some new fabrics. Somewhere I have a storage tub of linens I set aside to upcycle. I need to find that now. Last night I laundered all the fabrics that hadn't been washed before. There were a couple of linens that wrinkled badly. They are for a future project but I'm so disappointed in how wrinkly they turned out. Hope that presses out!

So here are the tubes for my rouleau loops. I found a tip in Pattern Review via another link that I can't remember. You use a narrow ribbon as the way to turn the tube right side out. It was helpful but I'm not sure it will be my chosen method yet. The tubes are cut on the bias but the one I cut that way did not press out well so I tried cutting on the grain and it was much easier to work with. Since the loops are just folded over, not placed on a curve, it doesn't matter. Except I wanted tiny loops that were spaced out like buttonhole loops. I'll have to use cord or something else for that.

Today I'll make some prairie points although I'm not sure I'll use them in my first piece or not. I had some other things in mind.

Like this. These are vintage trims I had in my white fabric stash. The pleated one might be a bit too fussy for now. I should keep it simple. I didn't realize the embroidery was done with the backing attached. That seems like too many layers for me so I've been pondering what I want to do with that. I really would prefer the backing to cover the back of the stitching.

I'm learning new variations of the blanket stitch in TAST and have been thinking about incorporating those too. So many decisions! I've reminded myself the first piece is basically a practice piece and I don't have to do everything with it. In fact, I may hold off on the special bits and save them for when I feel more knowledgeable in what I'm doing!

I have a busy weekend planned so I'm not sure how much more I'm going to get done on this. I hope to make the prairie points and get the fabric pieced together. We'll see!

2 comments:

Karen said...

Gina, your 'stash' looks lovely...the muslin backing is purely for support...the cloth will be backed when it is finished so the reverse will be covered.

deanna7trees said...

glad to see how you're progressing in karen's class. linen does crease when washed. i just spray it with water as i'm ironing it and it turns out fine. i know you're going to enjoy the rest of this class. i sure did.