Fall Theme Machine Embroidery Blog Hop and a Giveaway

Welcome to my day for the Fall Theme Machine Embroidery Blog Hop, put together by SewCalGal,  I was thrilled and honored to be invited to join in the fun and fun it has been. Have you visited the other blogs? There are  so many beautiful projects.

Machine Embroidery is what brought me to quilting, I had this amazing machine that sewed out beautiful embroidery, but in the beginning I just didn't know what to do with this ever growing pile of blocks, then light bulb moment, add some sashing, a border and wow, I had a colorful and cute quilt!

This weeks Hop showcases designer Zandra Shaw from South Africa and her store Embroider Shoppe.  Thank goodness I had a good idea of what I'd like to do because she has so many wonderful designs and projects to choose from, but the timing was perfect for my usual holiday project so I stuck with the plan. I found Bernard & Bernice which are perfect.

Since the holidays find me deep into charity work, the thought of all of those little gifts needing to be wrapped can make me a little crazy, so I make these little stockings, it's a gift in a gift and everyone loves them. I've used them for co-workers and teachers, stuffed with candy, candles, gift cards and I even make a bunch for David's golf buddies with a sleeve of golf balls and tees. 

They're pretty easy, but here's directions if you'd like. I use felt for the stocking and fleece for the cuff, they don't fray so no worries. You'll also need a small piece of ribbon for the hanger.

First I draw out the quick pattern, I make them in different sizes so I have plenty on hand for whatever I'm putting in them. Cut out two layers for the stocking.

I don't hoop them, but use a hydro stabilizer which is much faster for me, you can do the same thing with any stabilizer and spray adhesive, just make sure you clean any over spray off of your hoops when you're done, last time I forgot and they looked like weird puppies with all of the dog hair that stuck to them. :)

For placement I use the little tabs on my hoop and a ruler to draw lines right on the stabilizer, I often mark my fabric with tiny dot for where I want the center of the design to be, the dot will be covered by the design, if it won't be covered, I just use a quilt marker which will air disappear.

Sew your design, pull off the stabilizer and with right sides together sew your stocking. Take your ribbon and sew it to the wrong side back of your stocking, make sure it's laying down, not up, I mess that up at least once each year.

For these stockings I cut my fleece 3" wide, you'll need to eye the size of your stocking and the placement of your design. I leave it in one long strip so I don't need to measure and since I'm mass producing these, I just trim it off when I'm done.  I do sew a tiny hem on one edge, just because I like the way it looks. 

Your stocking should still be inside out, pin the fleece to the top edge of the stocking with the RIGHT side of the fleece against the WRONG side of the stocking, that won't matter if you don't add the hem. 

Overhang the edge of the fleece about a quarter inch so you can sew it closed when you're done. 

After you've sewn the fleece all the way around the top of the stocking trim the end leaving another quarter inch, then sew those two ends together, watch out that you don't catch the ribbon, again guess how I know that :)

Turn your stocking right side out and pull the fleece and ribbon out and you've got cute, cute, cute. 

No pine tree around here, so I used a palm to show my creations.

I have to say these designs were a pleasure to sew, they had good stable understitching, the design itself provided good coverage without being thick, none of my fabric showed through, there were very few jump stitches and they were big enough to be easily clipped and my pet peeve, the outline stitches went exactly where they were supposed to, nothing was off. 

Zandra has generously provided Machine Embroidery designs for us to give away. All you need to do is take a look at the Embroider Shoppe, then come back here before midnight on Sunday and tell me what design or designs you'd like. I'll pick a winner and announce it on Monday Nov. 11th. The other bloggers also have giveaways, so if you missed anyone, you may want to go back and catch up. Here's the line up:

 Monday, Nov 4th

SewCalGal 

Tuesday, November 5th

I Have A Notion

Wednesday, November 6th

Patsy Thompson Designs 

Thursday, November 7th

Beaquilter

Friday, November 8th

Stormy Days

SewCalGal 

Huge thanks to Zandra for sharing her talent and of course to SewCalGal for putting this all together. I hope you've had fun.

Later Gators,

Dana