I spend quite a lot of time each week on digitizing or tinkering with the website, but I also like to work on other crafts and projects. This page showcases mostly things I've been working on, though I do sometimes feature items made by my sisters. Most are embroidery-related, but some show other crafts and activities as well. Many of the items, though not all, are gift items for friends and siblings, mainly for Christmas, the biggest gift-giving time of the year in my family.
If any of these project ideas interest you, please let me know and I'll post some detailed instructions.
Small Door Banner
Posted 2018 Dec 28
A small banner just the right size (about 8x14") to hang on an entry door makes a great gift. I've made several of these as gifts for friends and family, many of them by request. I generally use an extra large size design (7" tall) for a banner like this.
Merry Christmas Bunting
Posted 2018 Dec 21
In recent years I've gone a little crazy with Christmas decorating, and this year I was inspired by a vintage Merry Christmas bunting to make an embroidered one of my own. See my discussion in this PDF.
Simple Drawstring Gift Bags
Posted 2018 Dec 14
DH used to hate Christmas wrapping, until I solved the problem with reusable drawstring fabric bags. Now he almost looks forward to it.
To learn more about this remarkable about-face, step into my studio!
I made stockings from this Christmas fox fabric as a surprise for Louise and Hector -- and added an embroidered design based on the images on the fabric. I just love how the fabric and the design coordinate.
To see a PDF of the finished stockings, click here. For a template and details of how I make my fully lined stockings, click here.
Coordinated Fabric-Embroidery Stockings
Posted 2018 Dec 07
Custom Underwear for the Guys
Posted 2018 Nov 30
It's difficult to find things to sew and embroider for men, but I discovered that my guys love their homemade underwear!
Click here to see a few samples and the pattern I use.
Customized Santa Hat
Posted 2018 Nov 23
We wear Santa hats for our Christmas Day festivities, so I generally keep a few on hand. I like to add something extra to the purchased hats to make them uniquely our own.
To make this one special, I added some embroidery in the form of appliqued holly leaves with red jingle bell berries. I made the leaves freestanding by appliqueing the green tartan fabric to two layers of green felt sandwiched over the hooped stabilizer. Then I attached them to the hat by stitching down the center line of each leaf with invisible thread. The jingle bells were stitched on afterward by hand.
Mini Stocking Ornaments
Posted 2018 Nov 16
Mini Stockings make a great friendship or hostess gift, and are quick to make up. There are just so many ways to personalize them, and you can add any one of more than two dozen mini toys.
The girls at Fredie's Fish & Chips, where my sister goes often, just loved their personalized mini-stocking ornaments, complete with lighthouse motif and Tiny Fish toys.
Here I made the little fishies in two different colors, and they look great in these seaside-themed mini stockings. Find the ornaments and the free fishie here.
Kaleidoscopic Cats Ornaments
Posted 2018 Nov 9
They're not embroidered, but these custom geodesic ornaments are a great way to showcase a favorite photo or image, like these ones that I made of all our cats, past and present.
You can read more about these in the PDF discussion.
Vintage Style Christmas Stocking
Posted 2018 Nov 2
This Christmas stocking from 1954 is a family heirloom now, and it seemed only fitting that the grandchildren should have stockings with the same design -- updated, of course, for machine applique.
Click here to see the design re-imagined for a new generation of heirloom Christmas stockings.
Christmas Birthday Stocking
Posted 2018 Oct 26
Although I made this stocking a few years back, it's still one of my favorites, and one I wish I had thought of years ago. It's perfect for someone who has a birthday over Christmas, when the celebration tends to be eclipsed by the larger holiday.
On this sock, I used the Balloon Alphabet to create her name, and the large size of the "My Birthday is December 25th" for the main image on the middle of the stocking. The toe is decorated with a piece of Christmas birthday cake.
This is quite a large stocking with room for both Christmas and birthday mementos; the design would work equally well for a Christmas Eve birthday too, using the "My Birthday is December 24th" design.
Click here to find the balloon alphabet free in 4" size.
Custom T-Shirts
Posted 2018 Oct 19
Each year I make customized tees for several of the guys on my list. The Harry Potter fan in the group will be sure to like his Hogwarts Alumnus shirt, while the blue tee with tilt-a-whirl applique will be a fun surprise for a fan of the classic circus ride.
Special-Interest Stockings
Posted 2018 Oct 12
The definitive Christmas special when Shaun was a kid was A Charlie Brown Christmas, so I couldn't resist adding this embroidered Snoopy to his Peanuts-print Christmas stocking. For his name and other details I used a cartoon-style font. And I'm sure Liam was equally thrilled with his football stocking featuring the insignia of his favorite team. The plain insert panel in the middle gives a nice background for the embroidery, especially when the print is busy.
Embroidered Patches
Posted 2018 Oct 5
I made 15 of these patches for a friend who was attending a TOGA gathering in Bangor, ME. I'm told they were a hit with the attendies.
To make these mementos, I used the Domed Sewing Machine case design in 3" size (find it in the Vintage Sewing collection) and replaced the caption with the title and date. I stitched them on felt backed with two layers of medium-weight tear-away stabilizer, then trimmed the felt to a narrow border. They can be stitched to a garment or attached using fabric glue.
Large Teddy Bear
Soft toy design has been a hobby of mine for years; way back when, I even used to design toys for magazine features, and published two books of my toy designs.
I don't do as much of this kind of sewing as I used to, but I do like to keep in practice, and recently made this bear for a friend's first grandchild.
This bear stands about 30" tall and takes nearly two pounds of polyester stuffing. He's been customized with an embroidered heart showing the baby's name.
Re-Upholstered 50s Chair
I taught myself upholstery years ago so I could refurbish some of my garage-sale furniture. This Scandinavian chair, dating from the 1950s, was one of my earliest purchases back in the early 80s. It's most likely Danish, and although I'm not expert I believe the wood is teak.
I've re-done the upholstery several times over the years, including stripping the chair right back to the wood foundation and replacing the foam and padding.
I'm happy to report that its most recent incarnation seems to hold little interest for my cat, who shredded the previous fabric but hasn't touched this version so far. We're only a couple of weeks in, so it remains to be seen if my luck will hold.
Matchbox Ornaments
Each Christmas, I make new crafty ornaments for friends and family. Among this year's offerings are these ornaments, made from match boxes.
Read more about them in my PDF discussion.
Embroidered Ornament
I'm not much of a fan, but my best friend is crazy about the mouse, so she really loved this Hallmark ornament of the Sorcerer's Apprentice. The price was prohibitive, though, so she went without.
But I had a solution that she really loved: I made her an embroidered substitute. Click here to read more about it.
If you're interested in stitching an embroidered design of your own, here's how I made it .
Look for more freebies throughout the site!
The design is for a tomato pincushion. Find a PDF with full instructions at this link.