Friday, August 5, 2016

Friday Freebie and Winner!


Thank you all for entering my contest, it was fun reading the comments and quips. The winner of a free pattern is Kim Budash! Congratulations Kim, you can pick any pattern from my E-Crater store and email me with your choice.

For everyone else, I thought I would offer my newest idea as a freebie. I wanted to try a technique with Press and Seal and I have been wanting to make something as a gift that I can give to members of our choir, especially the ones who sang at Dani's funeral and I thought this would be a wonderful gift for them.

As for the press and seal, I liked it in one way and not in others. I found sewing through it, hard with the larger needle that I use for pearl cotton. It stayed on but the lettering faded as I went and I used a black art pen on dark wool, so I am sure that didn't help either.

This is how it looked with the stitching on the Press and Seal.


It pulled off fairly, easily but then I had to get around those small letters, that was not easy. I pulled and the stitches pulled so it messed a few up. Then I realized it would be easier to clip as much as I could and that made it easier to pull out the pieces between the stitching. Once I got going, it went faster. I also messed up on some spacing, and I guess it shifted a bit, the design is not perfect and I had a hard time following lines with the chain stitch.


I took out some of the stitches on the wing and fixed it up a bit. I cut out a second piece of wool and a piece of batting cut smaller than the design and blanket stitched them together. Then I added some leaves and red balls. I used pearl cotton through the top and put the leaves on top of that.

This is how it came out. I am not thrilled with this one, the wings are a mess and I think the lettering needs to be lighter? You can also add a bell to the bottom, this one is rusty but I may use new ones for choir gifts. What I want to do is try another but make it neater and not so prim, as the gifts.


Here is the pattern I used, you may use it for yourself or as gifts. All I ask is, if you come up with a better look, please share. I really wanted to make something special and I think this is a wonderful idea as a gift so please share you pieces with us and better ideas to make nicer lettering.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, filled with joy and adventures.

The bell is 5 1/2" long, but you can make it as small or large as you want. I think this would be nice in a larger version to put on the wall.


10 comments:

Sandi said...

Lovely design Debbie. I wonder if you threaded a regular needle with a heavier thread and without a knot you did a running stitch to perforate the plastic if it would help when you used the Perle cotton? Would be more time but could make things a bit easier..

I'm sure they will love receiving those gifts from you.

Saundra said...

That is very nice of you to thank them with that special gift.

Anna said...

I think the press 'n seal would drive me crazy...love the sweet design :) Thank you!

Kate said...

Love your design, Debbie. Thanks for sharing.

Linda R said...

I think the press and seal works great. I clip close and then use tweezers to remove the small pieces.

annie said...

Have never tried the press and seal, that's a great design!

Karen said...

I have been wondering about the Press 'n Seal method. Wonder how it works with a finer needle.

moosecraft said...

Great idea for a gift! Thanks for sharing the freebie as well as the info on your experience with Press 'n Seal.

Anonymous said...

This is very beautiful.
I hope this doesn't come across as rude, but "it's" should not have an apostrophe. They way you have it written, "it's" means "it is"; it doesn't who ownership, as I am sure was your intent.

Cindy

Carole said...

Beautiful work! I now use Transfer eze. It dissolves in water. Once I stitched everything, I just wet the piece and let it dry. Comes out beautiful. I can photocopy anything on it and stitch it out! It's also what I use for hand embroidery towels. I just love it! Cheers!