Halloween/Thanksgiving: Towels, Door Hangers and Placemats

It's been a while since I've stitched fingertip towels. A few years ago I bought a stash of blank towels in various colors from Linens 'N Things with the intention of embroidering them for holidays and gifts. In October I pulled a few pairs of towels out of storage to make some Halloween and autumn decorations. The first two designs I selected were fall freebies from Embroidery Library - Trick-or-Treat Kids (below, left) and Watercolor Pumpkin (right). The Watercolor Pumpkin used unexpected color combinations that produced a very pretty towel.

A few days after I stitched the first two towels, Embroidery Library shared on their Facebook page an embossed embroidery design in black thread on orange toweling for Halloween. It inspired me to try some bright colors on these purple fingertip towels. I purchased two embossed designs -- the Trick or Treat design was stitched in Erin Green RA rayon thread, while the Pumpkin design was stitched with one of the Old Texas Orange RA rayon colors. The green version turned out quite vibrant, and almost glows in the dark.

Creative Machine Embroidery magazine offered this door hanger design as a limited time free download, with instructions provided in the Sept/Oct 2010 issue.

My first attempt at stitching this in-the-hoop design was unsuccessful. The instructions called for stiff interfacing layered under the front piece of fabric (I used peltex from my stash); the embroidery designs and appliques were to be sewn through all those layers. I suffered several broken needles and shredded thread, even with a large size topstitch needle. Rather than continue, I trashed the first try.

The second time around, I stitched through top layer fabric only, adding the peltex to back before the final satin stitching. The end result was better, but you can see the appliqued pumpkin 'bubbles' a little. I think a better approach would be to use thin cotton batting on the top instead of the peltex.

I really liked the effect of the satin stitched edgings on this design -- after the traditional satin border is stitched, a line of straight stitching is done on top, giving it a slightly braided appearance.

After finishing the door hanger from CME, I decided to try one from Embroidery Library, for comparison. I purchased the Give Thanks design and used a piece of muslin from my tea-dyeing experiment. Embroidery Library's instructions for in-the-hoop door hangers call for a piece of cut-away stabilizer layered between the top fabric and the hooped tear-away stabilizer. The embroidery went a lot smoother on this one -- no broken needles or thread -- but the resulting door hanger is a bit thin. It looks nice and since it's only purpose is to hang around, that's fine with me.

Keeping with the autumn decorating theme, I wanted some new placemats to coordinate with my napkins. I found inexpensive woven cotton placemats at Bed, Bath & Beyond in just the right navy color.

The Swirly Pumpkin Cluster design is part of a design pack called Autumn Swirls from Starbird Designs. I pulled thread colors for the embroidery to match the colors in my napkins. They turned out great and looked so nice on our table all month long.

*****

In case you're wondering ... I'm still working on my Burda coat, but don't have anything new to share other than I've finished a second muslin and cut out my wool fabric. I had to put it on the back burner over Thanksgiving, but hope to work on it in December, along with my Christmas sewing projects.

In Progress: Burda Coat 7855

Over a year ago I bought wool fabric, lining and this Butterick pattern, intending to make a first attempt at constructing a coat.

As usually happens, other projects were deemed a higher priority, so my poor coat fabric was stored away for another day.

This year, I really need a new coat. When I started prepping my pattern, I realized the the largest size included in this pattern envelope would need to be enlarged -- by quite a bit on almost every pattern piece. That would require a lot of redrafting on a garment style I haven't made before. Not a challenge I wanted to tackle just yet.

My first plan was to look for the same pattern in an envelope with a larger group of sizes, hoping to morph the top of one with the bottom of the other ... but I was out of luck.

Next, I searched through the pattern books at my local JoAnn Fabrics for a similar style and found this coat pattern, Burda 7855.

It has classic lines, princess seams and a center back seam. The collar is slightly different.

But the best part is that the multi-sized pattern is much closer to the sizes I need. I'll still need to make some adjustments, but I'm less worried about distorting the proportions of the coat.

I decided to make View B, the shorter version of the coat, without the trim on the waist and cuffs.

This is my first time sewing a Burda pattern. Before getting started, I visited PatternReview.com to get any hints or tips; I found only one review of this pattern, a favorable one. Searching the message boards, I noticed a reference to The Great Coat Sew-Along - it was a sew-along during 2008-09. The group blog is still up and is jammed full of information on constructing a coat. What a great reference!

I've made a first attempt at a muslin version of the coat, using the largest size in the pattern. Just as I expected, the notched collar was a bit of a challenge, since I've never made one before. The pattern instructions are pretty clear, I just had to read them a few times before I understood them. Everything else progressed fairly smoothly.

Overall, the first muslin version of the coat turned out okay. I've made some adjustments up and down and am in the process of cutting and sewing a second muslin before I cut into the wool. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish this before it gets too cold - and while I still have time to do my Christmas sewing.

Finished: Manhattan Handbag

Here's another finished bag from September - it's the Manhattan Handbag pattern from Pink Sand Beach Designs:

This one is for me. I wasn't sure I was going to like this pattern, but I have to admit that I love this bag. Each side is made up of pieced wedges of 6 different fabrics, with a coordinating center panel . The fabrics were already in my stash - I chose watery blue/greens and chocolate browns, a color combo that feels cheerful, but not overly bright. The center panel is faux leather fabric, another remnant from my collection. It really dresses up the bag.

Of course, I had to change it up a bit with extra pockets and add-ons. I bought the straps and snap closure from QuiltPlus at one of the quilt shows; they're hand stitched in place.

I added a zippered welt pocket on one side of the lining, similar to the pocket on the outside of the Huntington Hobo I made earlier.

On the other side of the lining I added a second layer of divided pockets.

Along the sides of the center panel of the lining, two small pockets.

Here's the view of the pockets inside the finished bag:

This shows the layered divided pockets and the small side pocket for my cell phone

After using the bag for a few days, I decided I needed to add a tab with a D-ring on each side to keep track of my keys. The longer tab can hang on the outside or the inside, where it helps keep my cell phone safely in it's pocket.

Naturally, I needed new accessories for this bag - a sunglass case (below, left - my adaption of a QuiltPlus pattern) and a Wonder Wallet and a small Perfect Pouch (below, right - both Lazy Girl Designs patterns).

There are more photos of this bag in my Bags & Purses (Not Lazy) Flickr set.

Mets Pumpkin Stencils

Just in time for Halloween 2010, the Mets shared a link for fans to .gif and .pdf files with stencil images for carving pumpkins. Here's the link to the fan page.

I didn't get a chance to carve a pumpkin, but thought I could use the designs to create one in fabric, using the stencil images to create appliques or perhaps to digitize them for machine embroidery.

So maybe next year I'll have a fabric Mr. Met pumpkin ...