Busy Summer Stitching

Our family business kicks it up several notches in the summer so my poor blog and fun crafting suffers greatly during this time of year.  I did get a few projects done, mostly for fun and one for necessity.  I wanted to share what I have squeezed into the summer work schedule.

I repaired my 25-year-old bath robe...yes, I am just that silly...but I love that robe.  After years of laundering (and I used to be a bleach-user in my twenties) the wear on the robe included thread-bare areas and totally worn out and missing areas.  I am pretty frugal but mostly, I really wanted a very absorbent robe.  For the past few Christmases, I requested a terry robe and received polar fleece, minky, and flannel robes.  (Clearly, I need to educate the family on fabric types).  I gave up on them and started looking on line and in stores but I have noticed one thing:  vendors like to call things 'terry' that aren't.  Plush robes are NOT absorbent; they are warm and fuzzy but that is not what I wanted. I looked at fabric, thinking I might just make one, since I have made lots of robes and they are really easy.  Even with 50% off fabric coupons, however, a robe was looking to cost more than $50 to make it myself and that just seemed silly since I had a robe I loved.  The perfect ones I found were over $200.  So, instead I bought a hand towel and used it to replace the parts of the robe that were worn out.

I drafted patterns from the robe itself just by tracing and sewed it all in place.  It took almost no time.  I finished it by adding a monogram.  This is the bamboo monogram from Apex.

For a little stress relief, I worked on dressing up some pillow cases.  

The frame is from the Monogram Frames and Borders CD that was in the Anita's Attic sale.  I really love the texture and attention to detail in the digitizing.  This is an example of why I have gone hog wild on Anita Goodesign since I discovered them this year:  really special designs unlike the other stuff in my obsessed-with-embroidery-files collection.

The monogram is Carson from Itch2Stitch.

I did these using a repositional 5x12 hoop with Embrilliance software.  

The pillow cases were one of the unopened packages at the back of my grandmother's linen closet. She has been gone for a while now but embellishing something from her house just makes me happy. I have no idea how long she had these or why she never used them, but the price tag says 97¢ and the store on the tag closed in our city in the late 70s (or early 80s?)  It is going to take a few washings to get the creases out because my steam press couldn't do it.  Vintage pillow cases are one of those things I like to collect so this is sort of in line with that even though the embroidery is new.   

 My current wish on my project board is a purse set with matching accessories.  This is the first accessory:  an eyeglass case.  After trying a pattern that was a total pain, I decided to make my own pattern.  This includes a zipper top and an extra pocket to hold my readers.  The monogram is Elegant Scroll from Itch2Stitch.

I enjoyed doing this so much that I decided to try another and work out some things I wished were a little different on the first one.

The monogram on this one was Apex Curlz Fun Circle font.  I quilted the floral with my sewing machine, but I let my embroidery machine and a block from the Anita Goodesign Quilting 123 collection quilt the strawberry fabric.  I enjoyed these little cases so much!  I have a tutorial coming soon.

Links from this post:

• Apex Bamboo embroidery font:  click here.
• Anita Goodesign Monogram Frames and Borders:  click here.
• Itch2Stitch Carson font:  click here. 
• Itch2Stitch Elegant Scroll:  click here.
• Apex Fun Circle embroidery font:  click here.
• Anita Goodesign Quilting 123:  click here.

The sewing was done on a Bernina 1230.  Feet used were the #0,  #37 (quarter inch foot), walking foot, and a generic cording foot.  Embroidery was done on a Brother 770PE and Embrilliance embroidery software.  

Thanks for checking my blog post today.  To see many of my other embroidery projects and resource info, check out my Embroidery page (click here).  My paper crafts can be found in my Paper Gallery (click here).  I am looking forward to getting back to more regular sewing and crafting in a couple of months when work slows down.  I hope you are loving your summer!