Dabbling in Embroidery Design

My niece has turned 1 year old and my sister really wanted her to have a jacket embroidered with her name in a specific design. My mom has a Brother Stellaire XJ1 embroidery machine and Embrilliance software, so she told my sister she could of course make the jacket she wanted, so she sent everything to my mom. Then time passed. My mom bought the software, but she has never learned how to use any part of it, so when the birthday was just a few weeks away, I got involved. I had never used this software at all, but I can use photoshop, so how hard could this be? lol *foreshadowing*

Embrilliance is a software designed to let you import an image and then make an embroidery file of that image. Sadly, it doesn't do it automatically. You have to define the edges and whatnot, but they say once you learn this software that you can make basically any design. That's all well and fine that it's capable of doing these things, but I have to say this is the most un-user-friendly program I've used in ages. Let's just say this is not Adobe - it's like jumping back 15 years in the style of the program and the basic functionality. Add to that the time crunch and the fact that my family wanted something that the program didn't have any presets to do, and I was pretty frustrated.

My sister wanted her daughter's name to look like the 90s Barbie logo - not just the font, but also the white outline and drop shadow. 

This was the inspiration, but reverse the colors. My sister found a font file someone had already made and the example looked just like this, but when you actually open the font you find out that it does not include the drop shadow. So I had to open up the font and try to make it myself.

I did make patches of all the girls names as a test when we first got the font though :) 

The first try at designing gave me a very weirdly shaped background fill, which is not something I ever thought about before this moment, lol. You can see the strange lines in the white area n the screen shot above. After SO MUCH trial and error, this was the best I cud come up with. I was not able to add the white outline all the way around, but I was able to make the white drop shadow, so we called it good. The program is designed to add the stitch information onto your design. You can choose the texture (i.e. satin stitch vs fill stitch, etc.) but you cannot determine the beginning of the design and things like that. The program determines that for you. So, I made the file and took it over to my mom's house for her machine to work its magic. Thankfully we did the first one on a scrap of fabric because this first fil was terrible and I still have no idea why. It started stitching one letter - would stitch just abut 8 or 10 stitches on one side of the letter - then move to a completely different letter and start doing the same thing there. Over and over and over again. It was so maddening that I couldn't watch it, lol. I went back to the drawing board after that one and started the file over on Embrilliance.

The second time seemed to work out much better, so I brought that file over and we tried it again (also on a scrap) This time it worked out alright with just a few minor errors that could be blamed on the cheap thread we were using as practice. So we were ready to add the actual jacket. Notice how nice and even the lines are developing above, lol. The challenge on the official jacket was figuring out how to center this design in an after market hoop and keep things like the sleeves out of the way while still keeping the 12 month size jacket in place. After much arguing over the best method which lead to watching several completely rambling and pointless you tube videos), I centered it how I knew made sense and we let it stitch. 49 minutes later, we had this:

Hallelujah! Is it perfect? Not really. But it is a far cry better than what I was worried it would turn out like after all the attempts and this major learning curve I was slung into at such short notice. Really the only "flaw" is that we didn't check the needle before we started and it was so blunt that it actually cased runs in the fabric across the area it did before I saw and stopped it. No one notices this in real life, only if you are scrutinizing it, so I just won't tell lol.

Doesn't my niece look adorable? Everyone loved her jacket in her 1 year old pictures and she's been wearing it a lot now that it's cold out. My sister has already bought the next size up and wants her to always have a jacket with this embroidery, so it looks like I will be getting lots of practice with making this design over the years.

I'm glad to have been kind of forced to learn how to do this. Now it's just a matter of finding good tutorials on how to use this software more to my advantage and then just start embroidering everything :)

WIP Wednesday: They Can't All Be Winners

 

Well I've been sewing up a storm lately, and with that comes a fair share of disappointments as well as successes. I picked up this blue shirting fabric at a thrift store a few weeks ago and decided it would make a great base shirt for my Irish crochet yoke I made back in June. I've had all these motifs pinned to my dress form ever since and I would really love for that project to be done, so I was excited about making this shirt. I decided to use New Look 6834 because I had just made a very cute version and knew how to make it fit well (or so I thought).

But this shirt just seemed cursed. I cut it out over a week ago but then sewed something else, so Sunday night I decided to finally sew this up. I had made changes to my pattern before I cut it out to reflect the changes I made to my first version, so I thought I could just slap this out in an evening. Haha famous last words, amiright? Everything went fine that night until the neckline binding. I'm not really sure what happened, but it was tight and wavy and just looked terrible. I picked it all out on Monday night and redid it with different bias tape with no issues whatsoever. Then I moved onto the sleeves, and herein lies the problem that makes this a fail: there was something majorly wrong with the armhole. I had moved the pattern in the 3/4 inch at each side of the shoulder itself, but I cut the regular sleeves size I made before. I knew something was wrong when I was "easing" the sleeve in, but had to actually stretch the sleeve out instead because the armhole was too big. I plowed forward anyway and tried it on - holy cow lol. The shoulder area was still too wide by about 5/8 inch and the sleeve cap itself could not accommodate my shoulders. It was the weirdest fit issue and so confusing because I had already taken the shoulders in before cutting. I tried unpicking it and making the armhole slope in more, but the sleeve cap was still too small for the hole, and I had nothing but scraps left of this fabric, so I just accepted defeat at that point. I feel like it was the right call even more now looking at these pictures because it straight up looks like a hospital scrub top. 

So now this project is back to the drawing board. I did pick up this purple rayon Monday that seems like it would work - it's just not the most thrilling color combination for me. I really see this navy with a blue or a white background. Ah well. We can't win them all, right? One of these days, I'll get that shirt made up. I just can't finish crocheting until I know the exact final shape of the yoke, so these pieces will just have to hand around a bit longer.

Another fail I had lately was the previous weekend when I tried dying this natural colored heavy weight linen. I had a specific vision in my head of a skirt in chocolate brown, and I had a bunch of Procion MX dyes, which I had never used before. Interestingly there is plenty of info on how to use this dye for tie dye or ice dying or batik-look dying, but very little that I could find about immersion dying and getting even color. This was quite the process, which took hours and made a bit of a mess, only to have my linen come out absolutely purple. This was done using a whole bottle of chocolate brown dye, ya'll. I'm mystified. I thought I followed the directions very well. Was it took much soda ash? Can that shift the dye? I'm not sure, but I was pretty disappointed by this one and I just wound up making my skirt in the plain, undyed fabric.

I've also jumped into making Regency era stays and this one is mostly a success, but there are some issues as well. I'm actually super proud of the result, but this was always supposed to be a mock up. As such, I used a random decor fabric I had a bunch of thinking it would never be used, but then it was turning out so well that I decided to make the pattern all the way so I could learn what I was doing for the real version and still maybe have a fun pair of stays as well. The problem is that my toile fabric was very loosely woven, so the gussets started to unravel at my stitching line. 

I had to hand stitch them back down and cover the areas in fray check just to keep the gussets attached to the project - and this is before they have ever been worn. I embroidered some "flossing" (not actually flossing though) at the V point of the gussets to try and cover up the reinforcing I had to do at the gussets, but it doesn't exactly look great. The blue side looks fairly nice over all until you look closely, but as this was intended to be the lining I traced my cording lines with yellow waxed paper since no one was supposed to see it anyway. Now I like the blue side the best, and technically these could be reversible, but the back has faint yellow lines through all the cording. I did learn a lot for my "real" stays, but it's still a bummer that these aren't more useable since it really was so close.

Now I have to get more eyelets for the back lacing because the ones I have are so bad they are unusable. I went to 2 fabric stores on Saturday, but I knew I had eyelets at home so I didn't even think about getting any. Turns out the ones I have are useless - I had to rip out the 3 I tried and then just stopped. These eyelets are all the same size - not one that slips into the other - so they just buckle and look mangled. Now I have to try and find some decent eyelets that will actually work to get these finished.

On a happier note, I have been teaching my youngest sister to crochet, and I've been making a minion rattle for my nephew so that I can show her the stitches. It's all done except it needs arms, but I'm waiting until we have another session to finish him up. He's turned out great though.

And I have a challenge with embroidering my niece's name a certain way on a little jean jacket for her birthday pictures, but what I need to do requires using software to custom make the design and I've never used it before, so I'm not super confident I can get it done. I made Barbie font patches for my niece and my girls while I was practicing though, and at least they look cute.

So, it's been a mixture of fun and frustration with my crafting here lately. I'm hoping I've hit my quota and will have a successful experience this week like I was having the past few months. These things do happen and I keep trying to tell myself that so I don't get too upset. Easier said that done though.

What do you have going this week? I hope you have had more success than me :)

FO Friday: Zombies and Turtles and Mysteries Revealed

This past week was filled with far too much knitting than is good for anyone, lol. I've had to promise my husband that I will cut back a bit just so the house doesn't get covered in funk. At least I got everything finished by the time I needed to :) I warn you - this post is very picture heavy. I look at it as the amount of pictures is in direct relation to the amount of time the items took to make. So without further ado ... I present the most complicated item I have ever knitted: Briggs' Birthday Zombie.

I used the Classic Zombie pattern from Knit Your Own Zombie by Fiona Goble. I just love that shot above, lol, I had a lot of fun with my little photo shoot.

The cool thing about the book is that the zombie pieces and parts are designed in a pick and choose fashion, so you can mix and match patterns at will. I stuck to the Classic Zombie pattern except that I added a brain and a brain pocket.

lol As you can tell - my photo shoot was a lot of fun especially when I realized that he would stand up on his own. The eye sinew will soon have an actual eye ball on it. I checked everywhere for an evil eye bead like the book uses, but in the end I had to order some online and they hadn't arrived by Sunday. I'll update with a new pic when it's on :)

And here are all the pieces I made. The brain is removable, as are the stomach and intestines. I made the hole in the torso a deep purple color (to keep with decaying body realism, lol). The pattern calls for velcro that matches the yarn color for the head and torso, but in a design decision to keep it gruesome I hunted down some red velcro instead. I love the effect of it! Much more gory. The arms have metal snaps to join them together so they come off as well. The arm and one leg have nasty wounds on them. These are made by actually knitting a red limb, then the green outer limb, sliding the red inside the green, then embroidering with a burgundy yarn around the edges of the wound to attach them. This guy also has toe nails and finger nails that are long black bugle beads. The rib cage is (again) embroidered. The pants were knitted like normal, then I embroidered around a spot I wanted to make a hole and then (gasp!) cut the knitting! It was a scary moment and it didn't really work out as easily as the pattern made it seem and I had to whip stitch around the edge to keep the knitting from unraveling, but the effect is awesome.

lol I love this picture with the nubby arm and the guts sticking out. So gross. The entire face is embroidered on - no easy feat, let me tell you. It took a lot of time, but I really do love how it came out. The teeth are more bugle beads. I decided to use the black instead of white like the pattern calls for because, duh, dead and decaying body!

And here are all the parts laid out. The body parts are all sewn as separate pieces and seamed - holy crap did that take forever. Then I had to embroider everything, sew on beads, sew on velcro, sew on snaps, and make clothes. I had knitted all the body pieces over the course of about a week and then used my day off to put it all together. I'm not kidding when I say that this is almost all I did all day! And I still had to make the clothes!

I had to include this shot ... because it's awesome.

My brother definitely loved his gift, which made it worth all the work :) We kept teasing him that he got a doll for his 15th birthday, lol, but it was all in fun because everyone had to agree that it was gross and awesome.

I am super proud of how this project turned out, I can't lie. It was a crazy amount of work and the pattern certainly doesn't help in that. I'm used to American patterns that include a certain amount of (sometimes unnecessary) hand holding. This British pattern did nothing of the kind, and I've now discovered that this is common with British patterns. For example it would just say, "Seam pieces together. Embroider rib cage.," and the like. No walking you through how to do it, just referring you to a one picture diagram at the beginning of the book. In spite of that and in spite of how sick I was of making this thing when it was done, I would not be opposed to making another. The response from everyone who sees it is really great :) And even though it's gross, it's just so cool that it 's interactive. Even my 1.5 year old nephew loved to take the brain out (in fact we had to force him to give it back, lol). So, I would say there will be other zombies in my knitting future :)

But my making didn't stop there! I was also participating in the Fuzzy Mitten Mystery Knit-Along and the final clue was released last Friday. Now that the mystery is over, I am left with a super cute ... kangaroo!

This was my first ever Fuzzy Mitten project and it did not disappoint. How cute are they?! When I finished them, my husband said that she should be named Charlene (only to be read with a heavy Aussie accent), so this is Charlene and Jake :)

This project was made over the course of a month for me (it was actually 6 weeks with 1 clue each week, but I came in late). I used Vanna's Choice yarn in Toffee and Beige for the body - both were in my stash and they seriously turned out to be the perfect colors.

The cardigan comes off and all the limbs are jointed, so I can make her sit or stand or put her hands up - so cool! I will say, she didn't really like to stand up without her tail on, but that's a non-issue now since she has a tail. The joey was part of the final clue and you want to know what is the coolest thing about him? ...

He's a finger puppet! This is pretty vital to the design because it makes it possible to shove this little guy into the mom's pocket. And the body is made all in one piece! No sewing on teeny little arms and legs - so cool! I'm now obsessed with the idea of making lots of finger puppets, lol. The joey has 6 mm safety eyes and the mom has 10 mm ones.

The obligatory back view :) I love that it's really a little play set. I imagine that I kid would love to play with these. And most of the Fuzzy Mitten animals have similar sized bodies, so you can mix and match their clothes. I would have been all about that when I was little.

The cardigan is made from Red Heart Pompadour in blue and Aunt Lydia's Iced Bamboo in Icicle for the white stripe (it has just a tiny bit of sparkle in it). The cardigan was the first item to make, but it sat unfinished because I was waiting on buttons. I had to order these from Joann's and they are 7mm size. At least now I have a bunch more for the next project. I love that the cardigan only has those two buttons at the top so it can be worn and still see the joey :)

I had loads of fun making this set! I really love the fun of a mystery knit or crochet along, and the Ravelry groups always make it 10 times more fun. I'm so glad I was able to participate, and I have already almost finished my next Fuzzy Mitten friend. I know that I will be making plenty more of Barbara Prime's designs!

And there's one more item! This wasn't really anything I had to make, but it was just too cute and I have a feeling it will be useful and fun at the same time. I've had Ana Paula Rimoli's book Amigurumi On The Go since my birthday last year and hadn't made anything from it yet! I had to remedy that :) So my nephew now gets a super cute turtle tote!

Isn't he fun?! This is made just like any other crocheted amigurumi - you just add a long bag part to the top :) The whole bag is just hdc and then you add the stripes. Originally I didn't know if I wanted to add the stripes since it looked cute without them, but I am so glad I did!

I think the stripes really take this bag to the next step and make it less homemade looking (not that 'homemade' is a bad thing!) I made my stripes in dark red, yellow, orange and gray - all yarns out of my stash. The green and blue are both Red Heart Super Saver. 

The top cinches in with the pull cord. The bag is much bigger than I thought it would be! He is 9.5" tall and  5.5" wide, but it fits a surprising amount of stuff. I hope that my nephew enjoys putting things in, and then taking them out, and then putting them back in again :) He likes to do this with other bags, so now he will have one of his very own that no one will mind when he unloads it, lol.

Phew! That's all my projects from the past week. Crazy! If you have endured this entire post, thank you! I know it was really long but hopefully the pictures were cute enough to stay interesting :) If you're still interested (lol), head over to Tami's Amis' Blog and see what others managed to finish this week!