Colette Patterns Embroidery Project

I woke up yesterday completely INSPIRED.  Yes, in all caps.  It had been a rough week at work followed by a rougher Friday night at home and I had gone to bed completely exhausted and over it.  I woke up before 8:00 on Saturday morning with sewing on my mind--I had to get going.  It was one of those forceful, you must do this now feelings, and I had to give in.

I've really been exploring hand embroidery lately (by "exploring," I mean, doing what I want and not always doing it correctly, because I'm too lazy to learn) and, despite the two dresses I have cut out and ready to sew, I've been focused on hand embroidery.  I can do it while watching TV and I'm not all bent over my sewing machine until 1 AM because of it.  It's relaxing.  Even though I love love love to sew, sometimes you need a change of pace!

Anyway, so I woke up yesterday knowing what my next project would be: embroidered versions of all the Colette patterns I own.  I think I own eight, plus the book, and most have line drawings on the front cover (except Chantilly, which is still the old watercolor version).  Line drawings are perfect for embroidery.  Why hadn't I considered this before?

Weekend Crafting

There are some weekends I feel super productive, and some weekends I don't.  Sometimes I can make a dress or two, sew and upload a few things for my Etsy shop, and bake a really good cake.  And then sometimes I'm all over the damn place and I wake up on Monday morning with just a couple small projects and nothing really to show for my weekend.

This was an unproductive weekend.

I'm at the point with sewing and embroidering where I want to make and do everything.  My walls would be embroidered over a French seam if it were possible.  But this point is really overwhelming because I can't pick just one thing to make.  I have a lot of different projects cut out--a Cambie dress, a dress for the shop, lots of little bags--but why work on those when I can do something new?  I have to really force myself to sit down, take a second and finish up a WIP before they take over my sewing space.

I did do a few good things this weekend, such as:

More Elizabeth Hartman Perfect Zip Bags!  I started embroidering these while I was in Beaufort, and I bought all the fabric at Tabby. The scissor bag uses two Momo Half Moon Modern prints (the inside is orange polka dots) and a stitched design from Sublime Stitching's Craftopia pattern.  That's my new embroidery bag, which works out really well; for example, I wasn't quite finished with a project last night, so I put it (in the hoop), the floss and the needle all in the bag and zipped it up!  No little Eleanor paws will find that project!

The other bag uses two Stof prints and a Craftopia pattern as well.  This isn't a great picture, but you can kinda see the yarn ball in the bottom corner, which I thought was too cute with the sheep.  This is a knitting bag for my mom, which means that, officially, the holiday season has begun--this is the first Christmas gift of 2012.  Holy moly.  I want to make her an embroidery bag as well, but I think I'm going to wait for the new Aneela Hoey line Sew Stitchy, which you can see here.

  

I also got some embroidery done!  Are these macarons cute or what?  Even if Nick kept calling them hamburgers.  What a jerk.  Anyway, this is the Sweet Treats pattern package from Wild Olive, which can be found here.  This was incredibly easy to stitch; I used a backstitch for the macarons and the faces are cheater knots--I kind of just little little stitches to make them look like circles and knots.

These definitely aren't perfect, but I don't even care.  They're so cheery!

Hey guy!

What'd you make this weekend?

Fabric Shopping Down South

Before we left for Beaufort, I researched the fabric scene in the lowcountry.  I honestly didn't find much, but I knew I wanted to revisit Fabrika in Savannah and I wanted to check out Tabby Fabric and Studio in downtown Beaufort.  I hadn't been to Fabrika since I lived in Savannah, but I'd heard they moved to a larger space on Liberty near my old apartment and I had to go.

My mom and I went to Tabby early Tuesday and we were not disappointed.  In fact, I think I may have made friends--this is amazing!  The owner, Rhonda, and the sales associate, Lauren, were so friendly and wonderful.  All they wanted to do was talk fabric, and that's all I ever want to do, so it was a match made in heaven.  Tabby is a new store; I think Rhonda said they've been open nine weeks.  However, Cloud 9, Denyse Schmidt, Oliver + S, Heather Bailey, Anna Maria Horner--all were already stocked on the shelves.  Impressive!  They also carry Sublime Stitching patterns and tools and embroidery supplies, and have several Janomes just waiting for a project.  There's so much potential and the store is very open and welcoming--lots of natural light, mannequins in the window, extremely friendly staff.

I went back Thursday afternoon and met Nancy, who has an Etsy store and was also crazily friendly.  (I say crazily because I'm from the land of silence and mean looks--I've lived in DC for sixteen months and haven't made a friend; I visit Beaufort for a week and come home with three new friends.)  I picked up some hand embroidery supplies and more fabric.  I can't get enough!  Friday nights at Tabby are Sewcial nights, meaning you can bring your portable projects and unwind with some other ladies.  I brought my embroidery--I'm working on a new project bag--and sat with Rhonda for over an hour.  I also talked to her while we were walking around Beaufort Saturday.  This is what I'm talking about--fabric stores should be this welcoming and happy!  

I came home with lots of fabric!  (Duh.)

Stof is a Danish line and Rhonda is one of the first stores in America to carry it.  Adorable!  I bought these to make a knitting bag for my mom for Christmas (shhh).

I bought a couple Half-Moon Modern prints for my hand embroidery bag.  I'm embroidering an embroidery hoop and needle on the front scissor print.  Meta!

More Stof fabric.  This reminds me of the iced animal cookies I used to eat as a kid.

Denyse Schmidt Hope Valley--I'm thinking this will be a shirtdress?

I plan on sending some treats to the ladies.  I have a ton of Washi left over, so I might make some clutches and send them down.  I'll have to think of something!

We also went to Fabrika.  Like I said, I've loved this little store for years, but I was so disappointed.  The owners weren't in and it was obvious: they're always extremely friendly and their passion really shines through, as it should.  However, Mom and I walked in without a greeting, and there were maybe two or three other customers in there besides us.  There was one associate, but she didn't say hi, didn't ask if we needed help, and really was only interested in staring at her feet.  It was such an unwelcoming environment.  No one was talking and even the music wasn't customer-friendly and high-energy.  I loved the set-up of the store and found a lot that I'd like to buy (embroidery patterns mostly), but figured I'd rather buy online than support this.  I doubt the owners are reading this, but I hope they coach their associates a bit better.  We left without buying anything because we felt so unwelcome.

So the embroidery bug has bitten me again and I have a lot of ideas for patterns!  I also came home with tons of patterns from my mom.  I have a lot to do.

If you go to Beaufort, visit Tabby and say hi to Rhonda for me!  I miss her and the whole gang already.