Cajun Corner - Vol. 4, No. 6 Mardi Gras Edition

Cajun Corner – Vol. 4, No. 6 – February 17, 2012

Bon Jour!  Welcome to Cajun Stitchery’s weekly email and welcome to our family.

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often.   We are also on Twitter and Facebook. 

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

http://www.imprintit.biz/cgi-bin/cobrand/site.w?location=olc/catalog-home.w&top=catalog&frasmes=no&target=main&sponsor=000699

and www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery.

The Krewe of Bananimals’ jackets have been done.  They are beautiful.  Some had their names embroidered on the front, others had musical notes embroidered in metallic thread on the sleeves, there were a couple who had their Queen year embroidered on the back, and one had large music notes embroidered in metallic thread down the tail.  Most of the tux jackets are white but there was a red and a black one, as well.  We even embroidered the krewe logo onto some hand towels. This was definitely a fun project and I do hope more of these jackets come my way for embroidery.

Our parade is this Sunday.  Since we are in the parade, we won’t get to see the Bananimals.  Prior to the parade is the krewe parties at line up.  George and I will try to find the Bananimals’ float so we can see all of the embroidery.  Plus I have a few extra goodies for them.

Our float and costumes are pretty much ready for the parade.  This is going to be a wild and crazy weekend.  This afternoon is dance practice, followed by our own Cowboy Carl cooking up his famous chili for dinner.  Tomorrow we will pack up all of our Mardi Gras stuff and head out to the beach around 4:00 or 5:00.  The rest of the krewe goes to the Krewe of Wrecks’ breakfast and a street dance afterwards.  By the time we get there, the party will be well on its way and the girls should be coming home to our Krewe Den to party the night away.  Sunday morning one of our sweet little MerMaidens will cook breakfast and we should be in line-up by 10:30.  The parade begins at 2:00.  After the parade we end up at the Pavilion where trophies are awarded and our krewe dances.  We will party Sunday night and we dance again on Monday at Red Beans & Rice in Casino Beach Parking Lot.  Finally, George and I will drag ourselves home late Monday afternoon full of wonderful memories and anticipation of next year’s parade and festivities.

Last week was the Kids and Kritter Crawl.  It is a mini Mardi Gras parade for the beach children and everyone brings their pets to parade.  A friend of mine borrowed Stinky’s Mermutt costume from when Stinky was in the parade.  It fit Daisy perfectly.  In fact, we got tickled because my friend doesn’t have a dog but wanted to take one of her friend’s dog.  When all was said and done, it turned out that the dog was Daisy.  Daisy is the first dog, other than my own, who I had made a collar.  Her owner asked me, at that time, if he could say that I was Daisy’s seamstress.  I assured him that would be fine.  That made the Kritter Crawl even more precious because, again, Daisy was wearing a Cajun Stitchery original.

Once Mardi Gras is over, it is back to my WBL group.  I love and miss those girls, too.  They have become such a wonderful support group.  In fact, the Saturday after Mardi Gras we are cooking dinner for our CPA.  I think we will have boiled shrimp. 

Speaking of cooking, I saw a recipe on Pinterest for roasted chick peas.  It is a healthy snack food.  I made it yesterday.  It was okay.  It’s one of those things that you can’t eat just one.  It did make a good snack and you cannot go wrong with chick peas instead of potato chips or nachos.  The nice thing is that it’s easy to make.

The girls had a wonderful time at the Krewe of Wrecks Ball last week.  One of the girls even won first place for her costume.  The theme was red, white and blue and she dressed up like Rosie the Riveter.  The evening became a slumber party at our krewe den.  Many of the girls that were not attending the ball decided to have a slumber party.  Some of the girls who did attend the ball came by krewe den afterwards and spent the night.  I was not able to attend but I understand they had a wonderful, hilarious evening.

My favorite fabric store is closed.  I had not been there for over a year.  You will recall that I’m trying to use up all the fabric that I have.  Now that I know it is true that my fabric store has closed, I’m panicking.  I have looked and looked online but have found nothing impressive.  Right now the best deal that I can get on fabric is at Wal-Mart.  We do have a Jo-Ann’s on the other side of town but I’ve never been very impressed with Jo-Ann’s.  There are a few designer type fabric stores around, but that’s not what I want.  Then there is A&E.  It is close to me and they do carry a huge selection.  I like A&E but find them a bit pricey for my blood.  I do go to A&E when I need something right away, but otherwise I’m stuck with Wal-Mart.   I wish I could find a place where the fabric and notions are made in the USA and is easily accessible to me.

The weather this winter has been odd.  We have had a few really cold days but not many.  The garden thinks it is spring and then goes into shock when it does get cold.  It seems that each week we have a day or two of very nice weather, then we get rain, and then it gets cold.

Because of our big Bananimals order, we finally broke down and bought a clothes rack.  The clothes rack takes up a lot of room in the little studio but it is something we’ve needed for awhile and I’m glad we got it.  It is on rollers, has 2 racks to hang clothes, and a bottom shelf for other things.  It is also adjustable but not totally collapsible.  It will come in very handy for craft fairs but also when customers come to the house, our stock shirts and jackets can now be displayed.  In fact, we still have some stock items that we need to clear out.

Rhinestones have been the hit this season.  Our Costume Committee is so addicted to rhinestoning that they are blinging just about everything in sight.  One of the girls and I already had our rhinestone heating wands.  The committee purchased two more.  Once the girls begin applying the rhinestones, they just cannot seem to stop.  Even some of the girls who stay away from the costuming have found themselves addicted.  We’d look for a 12 step program, but we really don’t want to stop.

This year I made a couple of pennants for our float.  I was so excited because I got to use my new grommet machine.  I still want to get the snap machine but cannot seem to find one.  It happened that one of the Krewe of Bananimals owns a local tool company and I was asking him about it.  He said to call the company on the side of the grommet machine and see if they have the snap machine and if not, call one of our local canvas and sail makers and see if they can tell me where they get their snap machines.  Great ideas.  I’ll do that next week. 

Have a wonderful Mardi Gras week and don’t forget to SMILE:>)

HAPPY MARDI GRAS

If you are not a subscriber and would like to receive Cajun Corner weekly, please email cajunstitchery@yahoo.com and let me know to put you on our email list. 

Found at:  http://www.ehow.com/way_5206164_ideas-recycled-crafts.html

Recycle, reduce and reuse. Using things destined for the recycle bin in craft projects is not limited to children's egg carton and paper tube crafts. There are plenty of adult ways to turn trash into treasure. Recycled crafts serve a dual purpose; they keep items from entering the landfill by giving them a second life and they are economical because new supplies don't need to be purchased.

Found at:  http://www.ehow.com/slideshow_12217564_easy-start-indoor-herb-garden.html

Starting an indoor herb garden is a great introduction to growing your own edibles. It may take some light research, a little elbow grease and some patience, but you'll be rewarded with tasty herbs, plants that add ambiance and style, and a hobby that will last a lifetime.

=================================================================

C’est tout, mes amis

Peggy Henshall

Cajun Stitchery

(850) 261-2462

cajunstitchery@yahoo.com

P.S.  You are always welcome to stop by and look at all of the catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.

Is It Mylar or Is It Cellophane?

There is a new embroidery technique that intrigues me.  It's called Mylar embroidery.  I've been searching on the web for any and all articles, videos, etc.  Apparently, Mylar embroidery is so new that even the "experts" are contradicting each other.  If you've been a reader of this blog for awhile, you probably remember, at some point in time, mention of the dastardly metallic thread.  Metallic thread is beautiful and adds shine and bling to your embroidery.  It comes in a variety of colors, not just gold and silver.  However, you will find that most embroiderers either charge more for metallic embroidery or shun it entirely.  Why?  Because it is a pain to work with metallic thread.  There are all kinds of articles out there in the internet world with tips on working with metallic thread.  The bottom line is that it is metal and if it doesn't saw itself in half going through all of those metal holes, i.e., needles, then it simply curls up and breaks.  Metallic thread causes friction because of the metal and you must embroider at a very slow speed to get the work accomplished.  All of the precautions make metallic thread embroidery a much longer process than with regular thread.  So, how do you get bling from embroidery if you don't use metallic thread?  The usual poly type of embroidery thread has a beautiful sheen and does give a shine to the embroidery -- but not like that metallic thread.  Enter Mylar embroidery.  Mylar, yes, as in the balloons.  Well, more or less.  Some experts says it's the Mylar in the balloon, others disagree.  Enter the contradictions.

What everyone agrees on is that Mylar embroidery is shiny, blingy and beautiful.  There are also some advantages to Mylar embroidery.  You get the shiny bling without metallic thread and that's a real plus.  In order for the shine to be seen, the embroidery design must be more open that your usual designs.  A more open design means less stitches.  Less stitches, in the case of embroiderers who charge per 1,000 stitches as Cajun Stitchery does, means lower price due to lower stitch count.  The way it works is the design is created to show shine in certain areas.  It could be the entire design or a part of the design.  Wherever the shine is desired, the digitizer puts codes into the design to stop and allow a sheet of Mylar to be inserted, then the open Mylar stitching stitches right on the Mylar.  More codes stop the machine after the stitching to removed the Mylar outside of the stitching area.  Then the machine starts again to finish the project.  The excess Mylar tears off easily since the edges have been perforated with stitches. 

At this point, there is more controversy.  How durable is Mylar?  Some compare Mylar with cellophane and use them interchangeably.  Others do not.  Still others says that it's not Mylar at all but a poly type material that isn't the official Mylar.  Some say they use, or rather re-use, Mylar balloons.  Others say never use Mylar balloons.  Some say you can use Mylar and cellophane to the same result.  Others say the Mylar is much more durable and the cellophane will bleed and not last as long.  They all say that it is washable, dryable but not dry cleanable.  They all seem to agree that it is the same thing as shrink wrap.  All of this leads to the question of whether someone is trying to make money off of a special type of material when plain, old cellophane will do fine.  A roll of cellophane can be purchased at the dollar store for a dollar.  The official material that these embroiders are selling costs about $5 a sheet.  That's a big price difference.  One article said that you can use cellophane to the same end as the Mylar but the cellophane doesn't launder well and would be more suitable to items that do not get washed much, such as hats and purses.  But if you are going to put it on a shirt or something that does get washed frequently, cellophane will not last as long as the Mylar.  The controversies go on and on.

You know we had to experiment.  We bought a roll of cellophane from the dollar store and used it as the base of a low density design.  Yes, I could see some sparkle but I really wouldn't say that it is as shiny as metallic thread.  We washed and dried it twice.  The sparkle is still there.  We will have to bite the bullet and buy the "official" material to determine the difference.  Be expecting more about this Mylar embroidery and our determinations from experimenting. 

All of that said, we are already getting orders for Mylar embroidery.  Search on the internet for "Mylar embroidery designs" and you will see some beautiful and sparkley designs.

Frequently we are asked to handmake items.  This is done through our Etsy Shop, only.  Cajun Stitchery does embroidery on ready-made items.  It is confusing and we do apologize for the confusion.  The blog does talk about our handmade items and recently the posts have been consumed with these handmade items for the Arts & Wine Festival.  It is one thing to make items in our spare time, between orders, and make things that are our creations and not to spec for an order.  It is a totally different thing to take orders for handmade items.  It takes a lot of time to make something from scratch.  For instance, in one of the posts, I gave directions for making plain 20" napkins.  That would be as simple a project as there is.  But even those plain napkins take probably 30 minutes each to get the fabric, square the fabric, cut the fabric, serge the edges, and sew up the serger tails.  We do take orders via Etsy for handmade items.  Depending on what you want, it can get pricey.  There are usually some blank items in our Etsy store, i.e., blank napkins, blank handkerchiefs.  The blank items may be purchased as is, or, if requested, we can apply embroidery for an additional charge.  This is confusing and I do apologize but it keeps my books straight.  Please feel free to order handmade items via our Etsy shop.

All of that said, the Etsy shop now has a set of 4 blank napkins made from the festive orange and yellow fabric.  The little witch that was embroidered on my orange napkins is 13,000 stitches.  The cost for embroidering the witch on a napkin would be $16.95 each.  We do, however, have smaller Halloween designs with considerably less stitches.

Time to get back to work.

C'est tout, mes amis!

The Outcome of A Shopping Adventure

Okay.  Before we even start this post, I apologize for the quality of some of these pictures.  I am not a photographer.

If you read this past Cajun Corner, then you know that I have been trying to come up with an alternative to metallic thread.  Bottom line is that metallic thread embroidery will cost you more whether from Cajun Stitchery or anyplace else.  There are various reasons for this but simply put, metallic thread is really made from metal and the up and down motion of the embroidery machine causes friction, which causes the thread to break.  So, as an embroiderer, you have to slow the machine down to a crawl.  Time is money and if it takes more time to work with metallic thread, then the cost will be more.

All of this said, we started wondering if gold, shiny thread could give the illusion of metallic.  Since we purchase our thread from a mill in North Carolina and the mill offers five shades of whatever color you want, we ordered five shades of non-metallic gold thread.  Holding the spools of thread next to each other, they were dead on with the color.  But, alas, as you can see, stitched out there is a difference.  It is the same shade of gold, only one is metallic and the other not.  That's not to say the non-metallic gold isn't beautiful.  It is. 

The little bag that I used for our metallic vs. non-metallic gold experiment is adorable.  This little bag has pockets on the outside, around the front with an elastic cord above the pockets.  The purported use of the little bag is for gardening.  Put your scissors or spade or whatever in the outside pockets.  The elastic cord holds the handles so they don't fall out.  Then you have additional space on the inside of the bag.  The handles are a light webbing fabric.  I saw those little bags and just had to have one. 

The first idea that came to mind was to use this bag as a substitute for plastic Easter baskets.  The bags are constructed with the recycled fabric like the Wal-Mart bags.  Who wouldn't want to wake up Easter morning with this little basket filled with gardening utensils, seeds, and other garden paraphenalia?  Taken on another vein, think of Easter grass in the center (let's try to use strips of paper rather than that plastic grass) with the usual goodies, chocolate Easter bunnies, Peeps, jelly beans, and maybe a beautifully colored boiled egg in each pocket.  The person's name could even be embroidered on the back side or around the rim.  The pockets would be so cute to place little stuffed bunnies.  Consider this bag as a make-up bag.  Another idea would be to put your napkins, salt and pepper shakers, perhaps your plastic (preferably the real thing, rather than plastic) knives and forks, and anything else that would fit for a picnic.  If you hang your clothes outside to dry, this would make a great clothes pin carrier. 

When I purchased the bag I was really hoping to be able to embroider on the pockets, but they are too small to hoop.  As you can see there is no problem embroidering around the top edge or even on the back side.  I just think these bags are adorable.  If you are interested, place an order for your bag in time for Easter.  There is a caveat, however:  if you want the bags, let me know now so that I can find them again.  They are only available as long as I can locate the local supply.  We will be glad to sell them with an embroidered name on the back for $7.00, plus tax and/or shipping.  If enough people think they are as darling as I do, I may consider making them myself.

I forgot to take pictures of the latest pillowcases.  They were beautiful.  Hopefully, I will visit the recipient of the pillowcases this week and, as long as I remember to bring my camera, I'll take photos.  In the meantime, I did take photographs of the sample design that we embroidered.  This design was on the 3" hem of the pillowcases on each side with the name in the middle.  They are very "heirloom."  This not only makes a wonderful gift for most occasions, but consider getting a set for yourself to pass onto your children, or to include in a Hope Chest.

While shopping I found this cute fanny pack.  I've never had a fanny pack in my life.  I've always avoided them because they would draw attention to my large fanny.  On the other hand, there are numerous times when I would prefer not to carry a purse but still have someplace to put my cell phone, money, keys, driver's license, etc.  I bit the bullet and purchased this cute fanny pack.  Of course, fanny packs are small intentionally but we still could put some cute small designs and even my name on this one.  It has two zippered pockets.  One is a small zippered pocket that could hold your  money or credit card.  The other is larger and can hold cell phones, keys, and other items.

Same caveat for the fanny pack as for the cute garden tote, above.  Cajun Stitchery will sell the fanny pack with embroidered name or initials for $7.00 plus tax and/or shipping as long as we can find them, again.

The last item that I want to share today is a 6-pack tote.  This tote is extremely light weight and insulated.  There have been articles written on embroidery on insulated or water proof items.  Embroidery perforates with stitches and at those points can allow moisture in on water proof things or release the heat or cold on insulated items.  To overcome these shortcomings, the back of the embroidery needs to be covered with glue.

This is the type of cooler that I used to use for my lunch at work.  They are the size of a 6-pack with room to put a little ice, if you like.  What I really liked about the one I had was that when they are empty, they fold up and can be stored anywhere.  I would fold it up and put it in my purse after lunch.

Have your name embroidered on it so everyone will know that it belongs to you.  All sides, including top and bottom can be embroidered on this cooler.  Just remember to cover the inside of the embroidery with glue, let dry, and you are ready to go.  The carrying strap is made of nylon webbing.  This would also make a darling Easter basket.  Fill with Easter grass and put chocolate bunnies, eggs and whatever you like in it.  Wrap it in cellophane with a beautiful bow and this would make a lovely Easter basket.  We have tons of stock designs, including Easter designs, which would look lovely on this bag.  Today must be $7.00 day.  This item, with your name or initials embroidered is $7.00 plus tax and/or shipping.

Have a wonderful day, cher!

July 28, 2009

We now have one Shark Alert Team badge made. George likes the badge. I think it's okay. If anyone has any ideas on how to spiffy the badge up, let me know. It really is what I imagined, but it needs something. Not sure what. Anyway, until we get a better idea, this is the badge we will be using.

I realized that I have a whole bunch of things to make and time is ticking. I was pulling out fabric from all over the house today and cutting out tote bags and placemats. It's amazing how much fabric I can collect. Mama used to tell me that I was addicted to fabric. I think she was right. I'm not a pack rat. I don't think I save too much, but when it comes to fabric and sewing I save everything. You just never know when you will need that little one inch piece of lace or that piece of elastic. Mama used to tell me about a cousin who was a seamstress and that she would save everything, just like me. In fact, Mama taught me to save all the scraps in sewing. They really are useful. But the seamstress cousin would save the thread pieces. Mama asked what she was going to do with that and she replied that when you need to match a color with thread, like a hem or something, those little strings come in handy. George used to wonder why I saved all of those little things for sewing, but now he's starting to understand. When we did the big display table cloth, I had to do a lot of basting and used the thread in my thread bag. We use left over pieces of stabilizer for smaller projects. Part of sewing is saving that stuff. I have a bag for fabric scraps, a bag for thread scraps and a bag for stabilizer scraps. In fact, I have bags for larger fabric scraps and another for smaller fabric scraps. When the fabric scrap bag gets full, I sew the end closed and voila! I have a throw pillow.

This afternoon we went to my favorite fabric store -- Fabric Outlet in Cantonment. It is a drive, but not too bad. The ladies there are so nice and helpful. My only complaint about that store is that it is so old that the lighting is bad. It could not be that I'm getting old? haha George and I wanted some more background colors for the patches and I needed to see if there was anything that I would want to use for totes and placemats. Yep, I walked out with a lot of fabric. While I was there, one of the ladies was in the back doing a hook rug. Talk about beautiful. All made out of little jersey strips about 3-4 inches long. You pull each strip so that the edges curl, and then you hook each one onto the base. The one she was working on was probably 3/4 done and was magnificent. I don't think I would have that kind of patience anymore. I used to, though. We came home with our bag of fabric goodies. Shopping is not my forte, but put me in a fabric store and you will have to pull me out. George is so patient and understanding about this weakness.

When we got home, a shipment from one of my vendors had arrived. Oh, goody, more things with which to play.

We have an order for a 30"x60" towel with the initials CRW on the corner, at a 45 degree angle, embroidered in gold metallic thread, 6" wide and 2" high. Metallic thread can be a bear. I learned to work with metallic thread on my home embroidery machine -- Doris. (She's a Singer Quantum Futura. My favorite singer as a child was Doris Day. So, her name is appropriately "Doris" because she's my favorite Singer.) You can purchase good metallic thread and bad metallic thread. It all has to do with how the thread is made and how the metal (yes, it really is a type of metal) adheres to the core of the thread. The type of core is important, too. All of that said, you actually have to handle metallic thread differently. First, it must be very loose. If it's tight the metal can shred and curl up the core. In other words, the thread frays. You want a needle with a large eye but not too big to leave large punctures in the fabric. Second, you want to avoid the thread twisting as it comes off of the spool. I haven't done a lot with metallic thread on the commercial machine. Threading the commercial machine is not hard, there are just a lot more hooks and tensions to go through than a home machine. Third, you need to sew slow because of the friction of the needle going up and down into the fabric. Metal, friction, get the picture? Obviously, I finished the monogram. Looks pretty good, don't you think? She hasn't even seen it yet and has ordered another for her husband. Luckily, I did order extra towels.

Off to bed with me for tomorrow is another big sewing day.