Freehand machine embroidery

February isn't just my brothers month. A few days after him it was both his wifes birthday and mothers day. My sister in law had wanted me to make a embroidery of their dog for a long time so i decided that this would be a good opportunity fulfill her wish.

And when I first got started I desided to make a butterfly for my mother as well.

I mounted the pieces on some suede leather and made some pouches of that like i did last time. The only difference now was that i decided to line the pouches with fabric that matched the colors of the dog/butterfly.sadly I forgot to take a picture of that before I gave them away.

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Freehand machine embroidery - not amused

Last week was my brothers birthday so I decided to sew him a picture of their family dog.
First i drew some weak pencil lines on a very thin piece of white cotton. What I should have done next was to iron some interfacing to the back to prevented the fabric from creasing. That is what I will do the next time I sew a similar picture, but this time I didnt have time to start over so i just left it as it is. My brother loves pink so the color of the background was a given from the start and the crown is silver, but that was difficult to capture in the picture. 

Men from mars, women from...

This weekend provided a little taste of spring here in Norway and I decided to use the opportunity to get some pictures taken in proper light. So finally I'm able to show you the rest of my freehand machine embroidered purses. The plan is to add them to my shop this week.

I spend a lot of time changing the color of the thread when I'm working on this project. That’s why I sew two of each motif at once, so that I feel a little efficient.

The bulldogs’twin brother was actually the first thing I sold on the spring market a couple of weeks ago. A man came over and said: "Is that supposed to be a bulldog?" and as the woman I am, I started over analyzing his tone of voice and reading between the lines (It’s not so out of proportion that you need to criticize... try to sew your own you person you...) before answering a quiet yes... The man: Ok, in that case I'll need to have it. And that was it... He was just a man of few words and had no hidden agenda what so ever.

The episode made me think and I have decided that this years` goal is to be more confident in myself and the work that I do so that I don’t worry about invisible critique from people that I don’t know. Because those that compare handmade with mass-produced products from the Far East is not in my target group anyway.

http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/
http://www.myrepurposedlife.net/

Freehand machine embroidery

It might sound self contradicting, but there is a lot more manual work needed for this than it might seem. I don’t have a fancy sewing machine mine is a plain and hard working one that is more than enough for my needs. But that also means that when I want to make something other than bowls and bags its not an easy task.

Maybe it was my short trip to London that gave me a little preview of spring that inspired me or maybe it was just the thought of warmer and lighter days ahead… either way I suddenly got the urge to sew birds.

One bird turned into two, and three, and then fox saw the light of day followed by a bulldog and a dachshund.

I mounted them on scraps of leather, denim and linen before sewing small zippered purses. Hopefully I’ll be able to show you the rest later this week, but for now the two sparrows will have to do.

http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/
http://www.myrepurposedlife.net/