Sample this!

In my travels as an Educator it seems I am always coming up with a sample or two of a technique or an embroidery pattern. On my last trip to Niagara Falls, my sample suitcase was larger than my travel suitcase! My good friend and fellow Educator Lynn Swanson and I were quite the sight; each navigating two full size suitcases, carry-on luggage (gotta have the laptop) and purses through the airports and hotel lobbies. More than once we got stuck trying to cram our luggage and ourselves onto an elevator! I don’t think it occurred to either of us to take separate elevators, we just crammed everything into one. Needless to say, laughter is a big part of our bond.

Some of the samples I haul around include a framed photo stitch, a jean jacket & skirt, vests, kid clothes, tote bags, placemats, towels, sewing kit and accessories… you get the picture. My ‘aha moment’ (thanks Oprah) came when I decided to create a sample book to try and get better organized and at the same time, cut down on the bulk.

One of my samples is a wonderful flower featured on the new Laura Ashley Limited Edition Isodore™ Innov-is 5000, sewing, quilting and embroidery machine. It is such a beautiful design I thought I would share it.

 I have been machine embroidering for over 12 years now and I still find myself in awe when I am stitching out a design like this for the first time. If you have never seen a design unfold, it’s neat to see the progress. 

The first picture shows the flower in the beginning stages. Of course I didn’t think to start taking pictures until it had stitched for a long time. This design took a total of 3 hours to stitch out.

The centre of the design shows the underlay stitching. Underlay acts like a skeleton in an embroidery design.  It is the support and foundation of a design and provides stability to maintain design integrity. These stitches are laid down before the upper decorative stitches and are much lighter in coverage.

As more color and detail is added, the design begins to take shape.

 Getting there… Just a few thousand stitches left to go…

Voila! 

Sew till the next time...

Getting Started...

After a little prodding from my friends (I seem to need that) I have succumbed to the world of Blogging.

Here is the beginning of my story.

As an impressionable Grade 3 student, I would often go to play at my friend’s house – only I didn’t actually play for very long. Her mom Mary was a sewer.  I would stand for ages watching her, hoping for a chance to stitch a row or two.  It wasn’t long before she would let me stitch first so I could get it out of my system and then go play.

One day Mary called my mom.  It seemed that her daughter was a little frustrated that I would go over to their house and watch her sewing instead of doing the usual things little girls do. Mary had a solution.  She had her mom’s old singer treadle which she would lend me on the condition that when I bought a sewing machine of my own, no matter how long it took, I would return it. At the ripe old age of 8, I received my first sewing machine and I was in heaven! This started me on the path of where I am now.

My mom has never sewed with a machine although she did beautiful hand work. She did like to cross stitch when she could, but she had rarely had any spare time with raising three kids and keeping an exceptionally clean house. It was especially difficult for her as my baby sister was born severely handicapped.  My dad was a travelling salesman and my mom didn’t drive so we were house-bound a lot but I really didn't know the difference. Now I had a sewing machine! I always thought I was the luckiest kid on the planet.

Our family never had a lot of extra money (althought at the time I thought we were rich) but like most households there were always old sheets, aprons and of course old clothes.  Armed with a pair of scissors, I would cut apart anything I could (and some things I shouldn’t) and sewed them back together.  My dolls had new dresses & blankets, my sister had cloth toys and my mom had new purple potholders.  Looking back on it all now, I realize why she never used those potholders. They were two pieces of material with a couple layers of old sheets in between and very messy bias tape on the outside, but oh I was proud.

I sewed on that treadle until I got my very own machine. I returned the treadle that same week.  I was 17.