Nursery Decor: Embroidered Monogram

When I first started thinking of what I'd like to do in our nursery space, I knew that I wanted to have a large initial hung on the wall.  I'd planned on a large wooden letter, but I wasn't able to find anything in the scale or style that I'd wanted.  In the back of my mind was the thought that if I were to spend money on preparing for the baby, it should be on diapers and not decor.  So using what I had on hand, I came up with this simple embroidered initial for the space.

I used some gray duck cloth for the background, and then used several strands of green and navy embroidery thread to stitch the initial.  I used a simple chain stitch, and it actually came together quite quickly.  I would have liked to fill in the entire shape, but I didn't have enough thread on hand.

The decorations in this room are quite simple, but it is a temporary space at the end of our bedroom, and I didn't want to spend a fortune decorating.  I also didn't want to make any permanent changes to the room.

Mock Screen Print Tops

Blue Angels inspired Top

I am really excited to share a few of my newest discoveries.  I recently whipped up another pair of pajamas for Mr. C. The discoveries that I made were used in the image making aspect of the shirt.  By looking at the tops you might think-Freezer Paper Stencil, but no.  This is a Mock Silk Screen stencil that I used following a tutorial from Wowzzy.  I found a video tutorial a month or so ago and finally got around to trying it out.    It is basically a hybrid between silkscreening and stenciling.  The thing about the technique is that you can reuse the stencil.  How great is that?  The day after I worked out my stencil I noticed that Char from Crap I've Made posted about the same technique.  There are a few different resources available if you are wanting to try this technique out for yourself.  Basically how it works is this.

1-Select an image that you want to transfer to your fabric.
2-Stretch a piece of sheer drapery fabric in an embroidery hoop (I picked up a half yard at Wal-Mart for around a dollar).
3-Transfer your image to your screen.
4-Use Mod Podge to block out the negative space (space surrounding your image)
5-Lay your shirt or fabric out flat, with a board or paper beneath it.
6-Use fabric paint to fill in the image.
7-Wash out screen (so that it can be reused).
8-Heat set paint according to instructions on paint.

Those are the basics of the process, for details you will want to visit the original tutorials (since this isn't MY technique I'm not going to try to claim it or make it mine by creating my own tutorial.

Aside from the technique itself, my second favorite new find is Ottobre.  It is a Finish website that has a number of different resources including some free patterns and images for appliques or embroidery.  I loved their airplane and the pedal car.  You can print off the images and use them for your personal use.  Aren't they great?  They also have a pattern for a Hobby Fox that I am planning on making for my son's birthday.

Read More

Embroidery Hoop Frames for Fabric: How To

I hope that I don't kill this one.  I know that I featured fabric in embroidery hoops yesterday in my 5 pretty ways post, and I've mentioned it before, but I thought that a little HOW TO post might be helpful to any of you that are wanting to try this out.  I had personally never used an embroidery hoop for it's intended purpose and I was a little unsure of how I should approach displaying my fabric in the hoop-given that I was not intending on removing it promptly.  This is the way that I worked my embroidery hoop magic.

Step 1-Place the inner cirle your embroidery hoop on your fabric to determine the how much fabric to cut.  I left at least 1" fabric outside the hoop. Cut your fabric (I just cut mine into a square).

Step 2-Flip both the fabric and the hoop over so that the inner hoop is on the bottom and your fabric is right side up on top of the hoop.  Now slide the outer hoop over your fabric.  Try to keep the fabric pulled taut.  You will need to adjust the hoop by loosening the knob to slide the outer hoop over your fabric, and then tightening it to keep the fabric secure.

Step 3- Flip your stretched fabric over.  It is now time to trim.  I simply clipped as close to the hoop as possible.  Some of you may have a better way, but I chose to trim the fabric while it was stretched in the hoop.  It was much easier to ensure that I had sufficient fabric to have it pulled tight.  I was also able to remove any excess.

Step 4-This one is optional.  If you have a fabric that tends to fray you can apply fray block to the raw edges. I don't worry too much about the fabric fraying, the hoops do a good job of securing the fabric.

*Hint-Much like hanging artwork, you will want to find a place on your wall that is not in direct sunlight  so that your fabrics won't be faded by the sun.

Five Pretty Ways to....Decorate with Fabric

I recently blogged about my mission to organize my craft room.  Well Saturday I headed off to some thrift stores and found some great little goodies that will hopefully help me to make better use of my small space, I will post pictures later.  While out, I found some great treasures which in conjunction with some great Amy Butler fabric  have inspired this post.  


These are not all my ideas, but I am totally inspired by them.  Hopefully they inspire you also.  I will try to give credit where credit is due.

1-Embroidery Hoops I was so inspired by this idea when doing some research for my organization post.  I think that it is such an easy and inexpensive way to display your favorite fabric.  You can easily remove the fabric if you were to decide to use it for a different project, and you can add and subtract the number of hoops that you have on display.  There are a number of different sizes of hoops out there, and we all know that repetition of shape with variation of size is a great way to make things cohesive and yet interesting.  I purchased 4 hoops at 50 cents a piece at the thrift store...I think that I need at least 3 more.  I kind of like odd numbers.

2-Put it under Glass  I am not fancy enough to have a special cutting table like the one pictured above, but I absolutely love the pattern under the glass.  I still am not sure if it is even fabric, but doesn't it look great?  I think that if you were to use this idea in a work station it would be wise to use a fairly monochromatic fabric that is rather light in value-just so that it doesn't interfere with the work you are doing.  I took this idea and applied it to my new filing cabinet.  I cut a piece of my new fabric and pinked the edges (so I wouldn't have to bust out a machine).  Unfortunately I don't have any glass in the right dimensions-I'll work on getting that later.  I did manage to scrounge up a scrap piece of vinyl from my recent projects that will serve as glass until I can update it.

3-Paste it up I have yet to try this idea, but oh how I wish I'd known about it during my apartment days.  It is a simple starch paste that you can mix up to make a removable adhesive for your fabric.  Thanks Jessica Jones for the great idea-check her out at How About Orange.

4-Don't forget to Stretch  There are so many great images out there for stretched fabric.  I love the fact that fabric can be displayed as art-I mean it is someone's artwork right?  Jessica Jones at How about Orange gives a great step by step tutorial on how to use stretcher bars to display your favorite fabric (check out her amazing fabrics while you are visiting).  Design Dazzle also provides examples for inspiration.

5-Write on it This is a brilliant idea.  I need to buy more fabric so that I can make one of these for my craft room-I tried it with a piece of paper, but it is too high contrast.  Once again I think that having a lighter value scale is important to this project.  Check out the tutorial for this genius idea at paper n stitch-you should stay awhile because it is pretty inspiring.


Well those are my top 5, no sew, inexpensive, quickies to decorate with fabric.