The dog ate my clothes! - Embroidery repair

Lets just gloss over the fact I have a cheeky pup that likes to chew clothes and focus on the fact that said chewed item of clothing is a favourite summer jackety type thing of my 10 year old. Immediate repair was required!

The fantastic part about all of this is that my daughter loves (and coveted) this jacket because of the gorgeous embroidered design on the front. This was VERY handy because I really had no other idea about piecing the chewed parts together and disguising the damage other than using embroidery!

I thought I'd share a little step by step below incase you too should find yourself in a similar 'dog chewed' scenario! :)

I cut a bit of cotton fabric big enough to cover the damage and used a glue stick to rearrange the chewed fabric bits into position.This was to hold everything together and gives me something 'solid' to embroider onto. I avoided adding glue to the fastener and planned to trim the cotton fabric as I embroidered. 

Rummaging through my threads lo and behold I managed to find some pretty spot on matching colours! Yes!

I drew on a flower design which vaguely mimicked the already existing design. The main point here was to make sure that the parts where the fabric had been ripped apart would be stitched over completely using Satin stitch. I added the extra leafy stem to the left  of the flowers to balance out the design and make it a bit more believable that embroidery is 'meant' to be there!

Stitching and trimming begins......

The rescue repair job is complete!!....

When I showed Skye the finished jacket she gave a thumbs up followed by a double take and a delayed 'oh wowww'  after it dawned on her the added embroidery had not actually always been there!

 My work here is done :)

All we need now is a pic of my daughter in her jacket and the dog ....however that sounds far to much like tempting fate!!

Summer stitching - fushia, marigold, dahlia oh my!

We are exactly half way through the school summer hols here and there as been a flurry of activity as well as plenty of stitching (surprisingly!). Holidays usually mean a slowing down on the creative front, but it's been amazing how productive I have been alongside the holiday fun. 

I think the key has been 'focus', so any moment spare has been put to good use......this includes a couple of REALLY fun and super cool projects I've been involved with which will be revealed soon! Can't wait.

The 'focus' maybe came when there was a complete LACK of it at the beginning of my hols....I managed to leave behind my bag in the holiday home we stayed in a few weeks ago. It had all the embroidery supplies I'd been working on, my sketchbook full of designs and some vintage reference books I'd been using...... oh man I was sooo annoyed...mainly because I'd made sure everyone else's stuff had been packed and put in the boot...just not my own. *sigh*

Anyway it will be returned to me in a couple of months, a sweet chain of people and meet ups will eventually bring it back (postage costs just seemed too outrageous and the reality was it was nothing I couldn't LIVE without!)

Silver lining was I found a new embroidery 'holder', an old pouch I made years ago which had been gathering dust in a drawer...and I started a new project (the flower pieces you see here). I have (yet another!) plan in mind for these samplers...but given that I have so many other little projects in the works it may take a little time...but I'm having fun playing meanwhile :)  

It made me smile as I realised that my nails were matching my embroidery...well I suppose if I was a 'real lady' then I guess it always would haha!

Verbascum

Dahlia

I hope Summer is treating you well so far...... let these summer inspired flowers infuse you with sunshine if not :)xx

Magical Garden Embroidery. Recent Embroidery Projects

Just poppping in for a quick visit and to share what I've been stitching lately. If I wait until I have something 'official' to share then before I know it the weeks will have flown by, followed by months....!

Do you remember when I made a unicorn? It got commandeered by my eldest and named Legolas. (of course!)

Naturally my youngest took the hump with this,and requested I also make her a unicorn...which I did...or atleast almost did. A year later it is still awaiting some eyes, hair and a horn! Aherm.

Occasionally the 'not quite finished' unicorn has got a mention, followed by a swift excuse. Recently, however, I came up with an idea that would fill the unicorn gaping hole AND satisfy my embroidery urges (alas I'm all out of unicorn making urges at the mo)

Step in cute Bunny No.1.......

Followed by cute Bunny No. 2

Add in some extra flowers, shrubbery and fluttering insects and you get....

A magical garden inspired S for SKYE! Yipee!

It's safe to say the unicorn has been forgotten. (*cue audible sigh*)

I've been playing about with other letters and entertaining the idea of creating an alphabet so that you can embroider the initial of your choice.... what do you think? Would you like to embroider a magical garden inspired initial? It would be quite a large undertaking to embroider another 25 letters....and you know how lame I am even when it comes to making 2 unicorns?!

Talking of large undertakings, I've recently turned Maurice the Bear into a PDF pattern. As there is nothing dainty about this handsome bear (he commands some admiration and attention!), the pdf is to create a BIG striking wall piece or cushion cover. It's a substantial project to accompany the coming winter months.Yes!

Oh and I've just snazzed up my acorn embroidery kits by packaging them in a lovely white gift box... it's autumn fruits harvesting time!

Hope you are all flowing with the seasonal changes easily....I tend to drag my heels a bit and resist....at least autumn projects help :)x

Embroider a beautiful greeting card - how to embroider on card or paper

This tutorial has been re-located to my website. You can find it here.

Painting, embroidering, new ideas and best loves....

How is your weekend going? Full of oh l'amour...or.... oh please?!
I was lucky enough to find a gorgeous wee handmade valentines card sneaked in my cereal box this morn!
Always nice to know I am someone's "best love" :D

Since recovering from the lurgy I've been enjoying a flurry of designing and creating, which involves a lot of sketching,colour playing and computer work... and so not much to show just yet. 
However there are a few other things I thought you might like to see, which have been off shoots from the designing and sketching....

This stag sketch began with an embroidery kit in mind but after playing with it in photoshop I got a printer and some fabric involved! 

I was really delighted with the how the stag details came out, and immediately felt called to add some texture and colour....cue entrance of embroidery threads.  I'm still working away on it in the evenings, and curious as to what it calls for next! 

Other ideas began to spark from this piece also....the greatest part of creating!

 With Mother's Day in mind (probably the first time in my life I've ever considered the occasion prior to the actual day.sorry mum!), I got my paints out again....

And ended up with this sweet floral design printed onto cotton. The idea being the label makes for the perfect little frame to add heartfelt words/message with hand embroidery. 

I'm offering this custom hand embroidered hoop art over in my etsy shop if you think it would make a lovely pressie for your mum....or any other special person in your life that likes a jar full of garden flowers and a bit of sentiment. You chose the words and I stitch :)

I'm heading off  to Craft & Hobby Stitch International Show  tomorrow in Birmingham and getting excited at all the of stitchery crafty goodness that awaits. I'm going as a buyer this time (as well as seeing if it may be a future fit for me and my kits). The words sweeties in a sweet shop come to mind :) Photos shall follow unless I get too carried away! 
Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend x