Young People of Today

To say I am addicted to Pinterest would be an understatement.  Sitting in front of the computer for hours at a time scrolling from one picture to the next is my usual activity in the evenings.  Of course, my favorite is looking at embroidery and sewing.  Frequently, I will "visit" the various web sites.  It just amazes me the amount of information available.  And I'm not talking about junk.  There is some really good information.

I learned to sew by watching my mother.  Most of my childhood she would make my clothes.  When I began high school she would ask my sister and me if we wanted her to make our new school clothes or go shopping.  My sister always went shopping for her clothes.  I always asked Mama to make my clothes.  We would go to the various sewing and fabric stores and sit for hours going through pattern books.  Once we found the patterns we wanted, we would shop for the fabric.  At home Mama would start cutting out the pattern pieces and we would pin and cut the fabric.  Then away she went stitching everything together.  Nothing looked home made.

Eventually, I left home and got married and began my own life in another state.  One Christmas my husband bought me a new sewing machine.  That was in 1975 and I am still using that sewing machine today.  However, I stopped sewing for many years because I couldn't figure out how to get the tension right.  Once the internet became available, one of the first things I looked up was how to set the tension on a sewing machine.  A website popped up and voila, the article answered my question.  Wow!

Now there are people who never knew a time without the internet.  That is so amazing to me.  They have had answers to all of their questions for their entire life.

It is refreshing to see on Pinterest so many young people interested in self-sufficiency.  Reminds me of the 1960's and 1970's.  Young people interested in sewing, whether it is on a machine, by hand, crocheting, knitting, embroidery or tatting is just wonderful.  So many people today don't know even how to hem their pants.  It fills my heart to see so many young people today using their creativity to make things they need.  They are using their inquisitiveness (not sure that's a word) to find out how things were done in days gone by and using that knowledge to apply the practices to today.  I love all of the items they can make out of pallets and even empty toilet paper cardboard.  I applaud each and every one of those young people.

Let me make a little contribution here, for whatever it is worth.  One of the first things my mother taught me to make on a sewing machine was pot holders.  Pot holders are a great first project.

1.  Take 2 pieces of cloth.  Cut them together (one on top of the other) in the shape you want your pot holder.  Square is the best choice.  Trust me on this.

2.  Find some scrap material and place the scrap fabric, flat and smooth, between the 2 pieces of cut fabric, as though you are making a sandwich.  However thick you want your pot holder is the deciding factor in how much scrap material to place between your fabric.

3.  With your fabric sandwich together, pin the entire thing together using straight pins.

4.  Cut off any of the scrap fabric sticking outside the top and bottom square (or whatever the shape is) so everything has a nice edge.

5.  Now you are going to sew on the machine.  Choose your thread and fill your bobbin.  Sew diagonal lines evenly spaced across the fabric sandwich.  If you have too much fabric filling, you may have a tough time sewing through all of the layers.

6.  Turn the pot holder-to-be to the opposite angle and sew diagonal lines evenly spaced throughout the fabric sandwich.  This should create a cross hatched look.

7.  Now sew around the edges, not too close to the edge, probably 1/2 inch or 5/8 inch.  Just a straight line around the edge.

8.  If there is fabric sticking out, trim it off.  If your pot holder got a bit out of shape, square it up, again.

9.  At this point you need to finish the edges of the pot holder.  You can hem around but that might get too thick.  Ideally, you should apply bias tape which you can get anyplace that sells sewing notions.  Open the bias tape, which is folded over 4 times.  Match the edge of the bias tape to the edge of the pot holder with the folded portion toward the inside of the fabric.  Pin in place all the way around leaving extra at the beginning and end.  Fold a length, any length, of the bias tape onto itself so the end edge has a hemmed look, then sew all the way around on the first crease of the bias tape.  You will sew through the bias tape and through the edge of the pot holder.  At the end, leave a length, long enough for a loop.  Just let the end hang out there for now.

10.  Fold the bias tape over onto the back of the pot holder.  The middle crease on the bias tape will be your pot holder edge.  If the middle crease isn't reaching the edge, then trim the pot hold closer to the seam until the middle crease of the bias tape can fold and create the edge.  Turn the bias tape onto the back of the pot holder.  Leave the last section of the folded bias tape folded to give a pretty hem like edge to the bias tape.  Pin around the pot holder.  Sew the bias tape just on the inside of the last edge of the bias tape.  As you finish sewing the bias tape around the pot holder, continue onto the last length of tape that is hanging out there, sewing it closed.  Leave enough to turn the end onto itself for a hem look and tack the end onto the pot holder.

Clear as mud, right?  Okay, not the best tutorial in the world but it is what I can do.  Maybe someday I'll add photographs.  The whole point is this is a first sewing lesson kind of thing.  Don't even expect to get it right the first time.  As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect.  Keep doing it over and over until you get something you would call a pot holder.

Until next time,
Peggy

In-The-Hoop Pot Holders

It dawned on me recently that our annual Arts & Wine Festival on the beach is just a few months away.  It is usually the first weekend in October.  I found some tutorials on making potholders in-the-hoop but they just don't seem big enough.  I'm on a quest for the perfect embroidered potholder done completely in-the-hoop.

Potholders were probably the very first item that Mama taught me to sew when I was a little girl.  She would lay a piece of fabric down and then we would use our scrap material, neatly layered over the fabric until we felt it was thick enough.  Finally, we would lay another piece of fabric on top of the layers and start machine quilting.  Anything is fine.  The point is to sew around to hold all of those little scrap pieces in place.  We would sew straight lines across, usually at one inch intervals; then up and down.  After the quilting was done, we trimmed the edges to make them straight, sewed around the edges and finally, add bias tape around the edges.  Potholders are great beginner projects for children.

A few decades down the road from those early days and I'm still making potholders.  The embroidery machine is funny about how many layers of fabric it will stitch.  I am working on that.  I started off hooping some plastic.  The heavy plastic is sturdy and after the satin stitches are applied, you can pull the item away from the plastic with a clean edge.  I sew a single stitch line around the shape of the potholder.  Then I apply 2 layers of fabric.  Put that back in the machine and sew another line around the shape.  Take the hoop off the machine and trim the excess fabric.  This is just like an applique.  Then put the hoop back into the machine and stitch the middle design.  Depending on the size of the middle design, you may want additional quilting.  This is the time to stitch the stipple.  Then take the hoop off the machine and add a couple of layers of fabric to the bottom.  I just pin the fabric to the plastic but make sure the pins are far away from the path of the needle.  Put the hoop back in the machine and sew another outline.  Take the hoop out and trim the edges.  Then I take 2 pieces of fabric, folded in half and pin them so that the folded edges meet in the middle on the back of the potholder.  Pin in place and sew another outline and trim.  Finish with your satin stitch.  The reason for the folded pieces is to put your hand inside, creating a mitt.


Yep, that's a lot of trimming and putting the hoop in and out of the machine.  You can save time and effort by not doing the "mitt" and just pin all of your layers of fabric on the bottom before the quilting and let the machine run to the end.  I'm still working on more layers of fabric.  Yes, I know I could and should probably use batting.  In fact, the machine doesn't have a problem with batting at all and I would get the thickness much easier.  Let's face it, I'm stubborn and I want to use up that scrap fabric.  Anyway, I'm still perfecting the process and hope to have lots of beautiful potholders on sale at the Arts & Wine Festival this year.

C'est tout, mes amis

Palm Tree Project

Love this palm tree! We actually did the palm tree for a display tablecloth but I liked it so much that I have used it to make this tote bag. The palm tree itself is 13" tall. The fabric is a polyesther and has a black silky lining. The handles are made from the same fabric as the tote. This tote has a pleat on each side at the bottom (similar to plastic store bags), thus allowing extra room.

July 3, 2009

Cajun Stitchery is a home based embroidery company. We do embroidery on ready made items that we can purchase for you. Some of the items might be t-shirts, polo shirts, ball caps, aprons, napkins, tote bags, beach bags, towels, etc.

You have a graphic artist onboard. If you have an idea of your own special design but need an artist to take your design from an idea into art that you can see, our talented graphic artist can do this.

You have a digitizer at your disposal. Our digitizer takes the artwork from either you or the graphic artist and turns it into embroidery stitches in a computer file readable by the embroidery machine.

Then you have the embroiderer. Our embroiderer takes the embroidery computer file from the computer to our commercial embroidery machine and onto whatever ready made product you have requested.

Voila! Your ideas and dreams can become a beautiful, embroidered item.

What about your child's drawings? Yes. This type of art can be digitized.

Logo? Of course, that can be digitized and embroidered.

That drawing that you hid in the closet. You know, the one that you drew and loved but just stashed away. Your art can be embroidered onto a table runner or an assortment of items of your choice.