Summer Fun Dress!

These pretty shirred sundresses were made by Robyn Thompson, from Sault Ste Marie, and her students. She writes, "Here are the sundresses we made. I love them! they are so much fun to make and the embroidery on the straps is really cute. I am going to make one now out of a pastel gradient fabric and think I will embroider the straps with different coloured daisies to match the colours in the fabric. Lisa's dress has embroidered straps, mine has plain and Laura's has the daisies on top of the plain strap." 

Thanks Robyn, the dresses are lovely.

Sew Fun Accessory

 The June Embroidery Club project and designs are ready to download! This month it's a pretty sewing accessory. I love the Chatelaine because it keeps my basic sewing tools handy. I can't tell you how many times I go back and forth between my sewing machine and my cutting table, just looking for my snips. With the Chatelaine, they are always with me - it's so convenient.

My proof reader, Patricia from Saulte Ste Marie,  found the strap that wraps around the neck was a little short for her. She says,  "What a nice project, so quick and easy. I can see myself making them for my sewing friends. I found the strap a little short at 30" so I split it in the centre back and added 5" which worked out to an extra 4" taking seam allowances into consideration and that works better for me." So, you may want to measure and adjust the length of the strap before you start, to ensure that it's right for you.

We've included cross stitch embroidery tips  with the sc034d_spec.pdf document, for those of you who haven't done machine embroidery cross stitch before. Let me just say that you will love it. It soooo looks like it's done by hand. And you can stitch it on the finest of linens. Friends and familly will be impressed.

From the Suggestion Box

Hope you all like the Clothespin Bag. Juanita from Juanita's Sew & Serge in Midland asked about the cotton print that I used for my Clothespin Bag. It's a lovely print from Heather Bailey's Fresh Cut Collection . The entire collection is quite lovely. In fact Heather Bailey is currently one of my favorite fabric designers. Here is a stack of  the Fresh Cut Fall Collection.

Juanita also suggested that I add a link to my Sew Creative Blog from both the Embroidery Club login page and the download page. I thought that was a fabulous idea, and so the links are up.

Did you all get the wallet finished up?? I know I had a couple of questions about the folding of the credit card pocket. It was a bit tricky. I think the phrase "accordion pleated" was the key there. Juanita had also suggested that color coding the fold lines would make it clearer. Again, great idea Juanita. I will definitely file away that instruction tip for future projects. 

If anybody has a better way to describe a sewing technique, please don't hesitate to let me know - email me please. I am always open to great ideas.

Patricia from Life's a Stitch in Saulte Ste Marie, sent me a picture of her finished wallet. How pretty! Thanks Patricia. 

Laundry Daze

The May Embroidery Club project and designs are up and ready for download. This month we are making a handy dandy Clothespin Bag. Line drying your laundry not only saves energy, you also get the added bonus of spring fresh linens and clothes. The Clothespin Bag hangs on the clothesline, keeping clothespins at hand. A word of advice, don't forget to bring it in after your laundry is done. The sun and rain can really ruin the fabric and embroidery.



I usually spend an inordinate amount of time deciding, designing and digitizing the embroidery designs for each month's project. This month was no exception. At first I thought about using an image of a clothesline with various clothing hanging on it. Makes sense right? It's the obvious desing idea. Well, I eventually dismissed this idea, because I couldn't think of any other place one would use the design. Sure, on other laundry items, but that's it. It's important to me that the embroidery design not only fits the project, but can also be used in many other ways and places. These chrysanthemum designs can be configured in may other ways and used on a wide variety of items. You can use to embellish bed linens, table linens, clothing, decorator pillows, kitchen stuff, and lots more. Want to see some design combination ideas?? Click here.