Sadia’s Blog

Visiting Home Sweet Home!

Last week I made a fleeting visit back home to Missouri. The trip was short but sweet and I loved every moment of the humid and hot weather in Missouri. Okay, don’t laugh….or laugh. People, this is JUNE and I have yet to see summer here in Maryland! I had started to double check to see if somehow I was not residing in some tropical location as it rains and rains and rains every day.

I sat in the front yard for several hours just enjoying the heat and the sun and then took the picture for rememberance, until my next trip home.

While home, I did visit several friends. One of our friends, Richard, whom I have mentioned several times told me that he had finished several more rooms in his house. Richard is one of the most amazing interior decorator and Antique assessor that I know. What absolutely blew my mind, as it has in the past…was the marbeling effect that Richard did on the trim going up his stair case. That is all hand painted folks!

It was a bit difficult to leave home but I have good memories and hopefully there might be another trip sometime before summer is out.

Sadia’s Heirloom Group:

I’d like to take advantage of the post and thank all the friends who took part in the first quarter Heirloom Challenge in my Heirloom Yahoo Group. The result of the challenge was quite interesting as it was tied! Of course, every item was fantastic. The two winners were Angela and Hero.

Angela made a lovely dress and slip. The design on the dress is a free sample from “Basant” collection. This was Angela’s first time creating something of this magnitude and I think she did a fantastic job! Angela made the dress for her DGD and despite her fears that it may not be appreciated as much as the love she put into it….I think it is a definite heirloom and the love and care she has in its making will be appreciated.

Hero created quite an interesting blouse and I must say I was taken aback and quite thrilled at seeing something so very unusual. Hero used a design from the cutwork collection Arabi 2 and stitched it out at various places. She also used the free sample lace from Grace I, Bonnets and Booties on the lapel and added some pintucks for accent. What a lovely job!

Needless to say, both ladies were winners as well as all participants. The idea of the group is to promote creativity among embroiderers and to inspire and motivate them to go beyond the ordinary. I’m very proud of all contestants and anxiously await to see the enteries for the next contest.

Stretching the imagination is my favorite thing to do, especially when it comes to machine embroidery. For several months now, I have been working on an idea which actually took place last fall. How time flies…sigh. Working full time during the day just does not leave me enough hours in the evenings and I am sooooo far behind. Nevertheless, I think I’m almost at the end of yet another journey and that is to create something totally different for machine embroidery.

Butterflies are everyone’s favorites and when it was suggested by several friends, I really didn’t want to do them. Don’t take me wrong, I love butterflies but everyone has them. My ambition has always been to create something different and unusual. So, my friends told me….create different butterflies.  And that is what I did! But, I didn’t just stop there, I went a bit further to create quilt blocks which would work with or without the butterflies to create all kinds of interesting quilts.

The butterflies are applique using fabrics from a very interesting online fabric store called someartfabric which has some of the most unusual and beautiful fabrics that I have seen. What interested me were the charm packs that Colleen carries. The charm packs are 5″ square and are perfect for the butterflies. Can you tell that I had a ball. Using some of the most unusual fabrics from the charm packs, I created five butterflies which are just large enough to also decorate not just home decor items but also wearables. 

The hardest part were the quilt blocks. I didn’t have the heart to stop and it is still difficult to stop. As the collection will have two parts, I wanted each part to be able to stand on its own and be usable by friends. So, the blocks section grew from five designs to…..I haven’t counted yet. But, they are all interesting blocks. My favorite is the faux cathedral window block which has so many uses and creates so many different looks depending upon the type you select. Yup, there are variations of the cathedral block. Then, just when I thought I had it all together, a tester and dear friend suggested border blocks or simple embroidery borders. That was a task in itself as I didn’t want to distract from what the butterflies or the quilt blocks. And then when I thought I had the borders completed, I kept envisioning more ideas and well….needless to say the collection grew.

My first test was with my friends and testers and I have to say it was interesting to see their perspective of my imagination. Just a few days ago, guess what I receive in my mail box….a gorgeous wall quilt from Evanlee! I did a double take on her use of colors and imagination…absolutely love it Evanlee. I love how she used different colors for her cathedral blocks from the border blocks. My wall quilt shown above was supposed to be something like what Evanlee has done, except it kept on growing and finally I decided to create setting blocks from the embroidery borders. Each setting block has five hoopings, four of the 4×4 hoop and the center motif in the 5×7 block. Each of the butterfly block also has five hoopings, center butterfly block is 5×7 and the border uses the 4×4 hoop. The applique borders were and still are my biggest accomplishment. It was not easy to figure out a border block which would match up to the butterfly block, considering that each of the butterfly block is a different size….but I think I have it figured out. The collection has about four different looks that I have created so far and I’m sure dozens more, depending upon how the blocks are used.

The collection is completed but my work for the PDF is not. I will however work hard on it as soon as possible along with a million other items that I must tend to. Anyone know the secret to cloning?

Are there any secrets for stitching out beautiful embroideries? I’m referring to those embroideries which do not have any puckers, where the top thread and the bobbin thread remain within their own parameters and where we are not testing the stitchouts time and again to achieve that sought after perfection. The answer is YES, definitely YES. A design is nothing more than stitches. Our embroidery machine is the means to achieving that embroidery and that is where we need to be prepared before we even take the design to the machine.

Before I even attempt to explain anything about machines, I want to draw attention to some other items that are essential to creating beautiful embroideries. The two most important ingredientsto stitching out embroideries, apart from the embroidery machine, are thread and stabilizer. It is important that we understand their role and how they work.

Thread comes in a variety of weights. The most commonly used weight for machine embroidery is 40 wt. My understanding from many years was that the home embroidery machines came pre-set with 40 wt tension from the factories. That understanding, now, however, has changed due to the majority of home embroidery machines being manufactured in Japan where majority of the embroidery thread weight is 50. The higher the count, the finer the thread and the lower the count, the thread is thicker. Thus, when we digitize our designs to use with 40 wt threads (yes digitizers, you can create your designs based upon thread weight), we often find that the bobbin thread comes to the top. This begins a whole new set of adjustments and loss of time etc in creating our projects.

The most easiest method before any embroidery project is to test your embroidery machine’s tension using the thread and bobbin that you will use. Bobbins come in a variety of weights as well and just like the embroidery threads can be of polyester or cotton. But before I digress again, let’s keep it simple and go on with the process of making it easier rather than trying to understand it all.

Everyone’s machine has built in alphabets. My advice is to select the capital I and using the stabilizer and threads, stitch it out on a scrap piece of fabric. If the tension of the threads is perfect, you should see a 60/40 look on the underside of the embroidery, with 60% being the bobbin thread (in the middle) and 40% should be the top thread (on either side). If this tension test works, you are set to start stitching out your design.

But, what happens if you encounter some other configuration? I have myself encountered tension problems on Brother, Babylock, Pfaff and Janome machines. Talking to the users and working on them myself I found the best way to avoid any problems is to do a tension test sew out as described above. If the tension is tight (and I am referring to the top tension, not the bobbin tension), then simply loosen the top tension until the tension test sew out is satisfactory. I personally would strong advice against changing the tension on the bobbin case. That is to be done only as the last resort. If the embroidery machine is serviced once a year, there is no need for anyone to ever mess with the bobbin tension. If the top tension is loose, where the I is completely covered with the top thread, then tighten the top tension. This little test saves so much time in the long run.

Once the tension is set, let’s talk a bit about stabilizers. Stabilizers are a definite necessity to beautiful stitchouts. I am not going to burst anyone’s bubble on home made stabilizers, but will only warn that coffee filters, dryer sheets, typing paper, etc are not good stabilizers in my opinion. Your needles will not last long using paper or any of the above mentioned products. Moreover, paper has a fine white residue which can create problems in the bobbin area of the embroidery machine. As all stabilizers are manufactured at a handful of companies worldwide, it pays to shop around for the best types. Surprisingly, you will find the same kind of stabilizers as sold by your dealer at any shop where Pellon products are sold (ofcourse your dealer will have them branded by someone else). For cottons, medium weight tearaways are best. For knits use polymesh and for items where the backside will be showing, use water soluble stabilizer (vilene). The stabilizer should always be hooped in such a manner that it creates a thump sound when hooped….that’s how tight it should be. If it is wobbly and moving around in the hoop, chances are that your embroidery will not be perfect.

I normally always hoop the stabilizer and then pin the fabric to the stabilizer. As I found out lately that many friends cannot use pins, I went on a hunt to find an alternative. Well….how does fabric glue stick sound! It dries fast and will hold the fabric taut and washes out easily. The trick is to always have the stabilizer tight in the hoop. I have heard where friends will float a piece of stabilizer underneath the hoop. That stabilizer is actually doing nothing for the embroidery. All it will help with is shortening the life of the needle and also make it harder on the machine.

The hardest fabric to embroider upon is muslin and general tendencies are to use two sheets of tearaway stabilizer. A note to friends….the more the stabilizer, the more harder on the machine and you will have puckers galore. The butterfly blocks showcased in this blog were stitched upon muslin using one sheet of medium weight tearaway stabilizer. After embroidery and removal of stabilizer, there were hardly any puckers. Puckers happen when fabric is stretched in the hoop for embroidery. Once the tension of the hooping is released, the fabric puckers around the embroidery. That is one of the major reasons why I do not prefer to hoop.

To read up more on threads, I recommend reading Choosing Machine Embroidery Threads. It is a wonderful site to visit and explore. In the end, I would only say that no two people digitize alike and when dealing with a multitude of variables, it is best to narrow them down and find a suitable method. I test my tension every few weeks and definitely before starting a huge project. It has saved me umpteen hours of re-stitching and fussing, hope it will help others as well. 

At the rate my days are going, I am not sure that I will accomplish much. It’s not exactly the Swine Flu but it is flu of some kind, enough to make me miserable for the past few days. After sweating it out under several layers of bedding last night, I’ve finally decided that I will live. My bed side table is a plethora of cough syrups, Ibuprofen and a gazillion other meds. Oh well…such is life.

If that wasn’t enough, both my computers were beseiged by a million emails coming from a Mailer Demon…ha ha…joke. So, after running all types of scans I believe I am free of any and all virus. Honestly, I don’t get it, why would anyone want to waste time on sending out virus, spam and the likes is beyond me. There are many many other things in our world to take care of. Oh well, forgive my rantings.

I had to share some extraordinary pictures with everyone. Carolyn has indeed been extremely busy and sent me some pictures of her blue jeans and shirt that she embellished with Grace III Ribbon designs. Okay, I have to give it to her. That is an awesome idea and something that I would not have thought about. I do love the back of the shirt and I may borrow the idea. If it hadn’t been for this awful cold and flu, I might have been enjoying sewing and embroidering as well. As it was, I did nothing but see the back of my eyelids.

However, I hate to feel completely and utterly pitiful so I did enjoy stitching out a bit of something new this evening. It’s about time that I paid attention to my Studio group. Honestly, I think the ladies are probably the most patient in the world. So, I did sit down and finish off some designs if not a lesson. The lesson is part of the design which I will finish this week. After I finished the design I realised that it was too pretty to just stitch out as a sample so guess what….yup! I made a cushion cover. Am I addicted to cushions or what? Actually, some while back, I had found a fabric called faux Dupioni silk. Interesting, isn’t it. Well, I decided it was time to use it and see how it would work. Also, some while back I had purchased a new embroidery thread. I’m not too keen on the embroidery thread but the fabric worked fine. See what you think?  

The picture came out quite dark than I had anticipated but you can see the design quite well. The thread is polyester but it has absolutely no sheen. I had hoped that it would give the directional sheen in the central flower using the satin stitches, which seems to be all the rage in embroidery these days…but unfortunately, it didn’t do anything. However, when I stitched out the same floral motif using my regular poly thread…Sylko, the difference was amazing. So, question of the day is….is it worth purchasing a large cone of embroidery thread for $2.50 or should I stick to the thread that gives me the results I like? Honest answer please.

Janome Multi-Hooping/Cutwork Edge classes:

Life has indeed been a swirl. I am not sure if time is passing by faster or I’ve got too much on my plate that time just flies by. Whatever is the case, I have to admit that I’m extremely behind in just about everything. The last Janome class for multi-hooping and cutwork edge ended week before last and again I was proud of the ladies who attended. It always brings a smile to my face to see friends learn a new technique and completely understand it. Again, each one had a different color scheme.

The cutwork and multi-hoop classes ended and already I’m busy trying to get several other items taken care of, like lessons for my Studio group, trunk show for the Martha Pullen Sewing market and ofcourse more hands on classes locally. Oh…did I forget, I’m also working on a completely different and innovative design collection….make that collections. I hope to release some sneak peaks of it shortly.

After seeing the class picture, I also realised that it had been a while since I had a hair cut, so yes, I did visit the hair salon and thankfully, I now have short hair again.

The youngest of my family posed for me this morning basking in the sunshine. Yay! The sun finally came out after weeks and weeks of rain and I decided to have a bit of family time. Isn’t she just adorable? I think I may have to finally digitize her.

Friends, for the past two days I have received numerous emails asking me about my affiliation/sponsorship to Kids in Distress and fulfillment of my promise. At first, I only responded to emails but with each new email I started to wonder what was going on. In the end, I’m going to take this public stand to let the answer be known.

I promised to assist Kids in Distress four years ago by donating my design collections to those who submitted finished quilts. Since then, I have given 900 collections to friends all over. A year ago,  I learned from a close friend of a sponsor, that the said sponsor was using the charity to promote personal family member position within Kids in Distress. I do not at any time condone such an action and immediately withdrew my assistance.

I am not in any way affiliated nor do I owe any promises to anyone in regards to Kids in Distress. It is a genuine organization and one that I hoped to have kept on helping. But due to the reason stated above, I cannot and will not allow that sort of action to bear my name, therefore I withdrew my support last year.  I would like this to be a public notification for all times.

Several friends wrote to me asking about projects that they can create with the Grace 3 free sample. The design itself is a freestanding lace cross which can be used in many other ways than just a suggested bookmark.

The picture on my right shows both the tiny freestanding lace cross designs used in a different manner. One has been used to create a runner and the other used as an insertion lace design. I have to give credit to Carolyn for the runner idea in joining four of the freestanding lace cross designs together to create a medallion type design which can be attached over and over to create an overall lace pattern. It also turns into a snowflake design which can be used as an ornament. Lots of ideas there.

But the blog is about a project and that is what I want to show friends today. The freestanding lace sample of the cross can be used as a bookmark, ornament or insertion lace to embellish any heirloom item. I used it as a cover for a small cushion which could be used as a wedding ring pillow, a baby’s birth announcement pillow or just a pillow to decorate a bedroom, child’s room etc.

A dear friend Evanlee had created samples for the Grace III collection using all the Cross designs. What really interested me was that she used the edgings to create two handkerchiefs, place a small pillow form inside and joined both the handkerchiefs using ribbon into a cushion. It is actually a no sew technique which I really love.

So, to create my little cushion, I decided to use the same technique and created my handkerchiefs with the Grace III corner edgings stitched out four times and joined together. To create the center of the cushion, I stitched out four of the freestanding lace sample designs and joined them together on points. Washing out the water soluble stabilizer, I placed the motif on top of one of my handkerchiefs. Make sure the motif is completely dry though. Pinning it into place, I used a narrow zigzag, about 1.5mm to attach it to the fabric.

Once the motif was attached to the fabric, I simply cut away the fabric from behind the cross. This allowed the lace to show through and when a different color pillow insert is placed behind the laces, it looks extremely pretty. Be very careful not to cut inot the lace when trimming away the fabric from behind that you don’t cut into the lace.

If you don’t have the edgings designs, I suggest using a lace edged handkerchief to add the four cluster design. Remember to wash out all the water soluble stabilizer as that is what makes the Grace Lace or for that matter any freestanding lace designs soft. If you do have the edging designs, then simply join the two handkerchiefs by weaving ribbon through the entredeux and slipping in a small polyfilled form to create an heirloom cushion.

The cushion can be personalized by embroidering name of the recipient on the back side of the cushion. If it’s for a wedding, then adding the date would also make it special. And, if its for a birth, adding the date of birth would definitely make it an heirloom to be treasured.

After several months of debating and worrying, and redoing, and then undoing, and doing, and I forget what all else we did….but finally Carolyn and I have the Grace III Collection, Traditions finalized and ready to be released. Actually, Carolyn did pre-release it at the American Embroidery Conference earlier this month.

Grace III is a bit different from the previous Grace collections, although it does compliment the previous collections. Instead of one large collection, we decided to break it up into four distinct yet equally breath taking collections. It was a rather difficult decision to make but one that I am sure friends will appreciate. The choice will be there to purchase the sections individually as well as the complete collection at an affordable price.

Did I hear a sigh? LOL…yes. That is indeed what both Carolyn and I thought when the elaborate Grace III-Ribbons Collection was  used to create the enormous christening gown. The gown itself was prepared in parts…the embroidery in Missouri by me and the actual conception and sewing by Carolyn in Georgia. It is so amazingly large that both of us at times wondered if we wanted to convert it into a wedding dress.  Instead of using ivory or off white silk, we decided to use beige Dupioni silk for the dress as well as the under skirt. The dress itself has the Designs from the Ribbons collection and the Edgings collection on it.

My favorite is the tiny faux jacket top that Carolyn designed for the christening gown. It is not a separate piece, rather part of the bodice except it looks like a jacket. Very different yet perfect to showcase the ribbons and the edging laces. That is one of the beauties of Grace III, that a sub-collection can be used all by itself or used with one more to create the most beautiful creations. The bonnet shown in the picture on the right is from Grace I, Bonnets and Booties.

The Ribbons are insertion laces except for one design which has been specially designed to become an edge. I have long wanted to be able to insert lace ribbon embroideries onto so many different garments and home decor items. Ofcourse, now I can’t wait to get some days….free days….when I can do something special for myself.

My favorite part of the ribbon collection are the tails of the ribbons. There are two ribbon variations and two tail variations. That is how the scalloped look was achieved on the hem of the dress as shown above. In the ribbons collection, the tails are created as insertion laces. However, both the tails are also included in the Edgings collection as freestanding lace edges.

The beauty about the tails is that they can be manipulated to create so many different looks and I’m working hard at finishing a nightie for my dd along with a robe. I started the ensemble three weeks ago and everyday I have full intentions of completing it but …..it will be done one of these days.

The Christening gown is one example of how to use some of the Grace Traditions designs. However, as always, I have to use the designs in other ways than something which is considered specialty.

Okay, so my take was not exactly ordinary but I tried. I think when I explained it to dd, she asked me how many times did I ever had a tea party. I may not have tea parties but I do love the look of Tea cozies. I think my several words of elegance and “lady like” mannerisms and traditions sort of fell short on dd. I had to admit that in 90 degrees fahrenheit, I really couldn’t justify having a tea party on my balcony…more like iced tea in those temperatures would be the preferred drink.

Can you blame me that I wasn’t too ingenious in coming out with something “modern” with the designs. However, Carolyn on the other hand, had a great idea and one that I wish I had thought of instead of making this elegant lingerie set for dd. A real show stopper. I can just see this blouse with a set of matching lacy bottoms, can’t you. The diamonds on the edge of the top are from the Traditions-Diamonds collection. The designs come as freestanding lace with a center insertion of fabric and can also be used as edge designs. My preference, however, lies in the neckline of the blouse which is a bit daring yet absolutely adorable.

As to the release of the collection, both Carolyn and I hold full time jobs during the day which makes it rather difficult to do too much in the evening. However, we are looking at releasing it within a few days and hopefully will have special discounted prices during the introductory period.

Meanwhile, iced tea it is, with a table topper using the Grace Traditions designs for my patio furniture, while I try to stay cool during the heat wave on the East coast.

Note: Many friends have emailed me that my blog page gives them an error at the top of the main page or sometimes at the top of other pages. I have spent the last two weeks trying to fix my databases only to find out that Word press had a new release which apparently has a bug that causes that error. The best that I can suggest is to refresh the page and it would go away…hopefully. I am sorry for the problem and hopefully it will be resolved soon.