oh fransson

Save the Whales

These are the buttons I made for Michelle's Embroidered Button Swap.  I had never made embroidered buttons before and it was considerably more challenging than I'd expected.  As you can see, they're not particularly uniform!

I ended up making them like this:

First I cut a little whale out of fusible webbing-backed wool felt and pressed it onto some linen.

Then I wrapped the felt shape with perle cotton floss . . .

. . . until it was completely covered.

Then I backstitched around the whole thing.

Next, I added an eye and spout.

To create the "water," I sewed a little scrap of fabric directly under the whale embroidery.

To create the "waves," I hand-stitched a row of baby ric-rac along the top of the "water."  Then I used a little template to cut the whole thing into a circle before stretching it over the button form.

 

They kind of remind me of those animals that JCrew embroiders on everything (which cracks me up).  Hopefully whomever receives them has a preppy project in the works!

Wristlet Mania

I just finished a bunch of wristlets and wanted to show them off.

Made with, from left to right: 1) Jackie Shapiro's Botanical Pop with red satin, 2) Alexander Henry Noguchi and Necco with black satin, 3) Alexander Henry butterfly rint and Denyse Schmidt Katie Jump Rope basketweave print,

4) Jennifer Paganelli's Bell Bottoms & Girlfriends with chocolate satin, 5) Amy Butler's Nigella and Lotus with teal satin, 6) Michael Miller Ginger Blossom with Kaufman floral with kiwi satin,

7) Kaufman Origami Flower with Bell Bottoms check with turquoise satin, 8) Amy Butler's Midwest Modern with aqua satin, and 9) Amy Butler's Midwest Modern with cornflower satin.

(My lawn somehow changed color for this photo!)

Here's a shot of the quilted satin backs. . .

. . .and here they are all lined up.  I love making wristlets!

Pattern Questions

I wanted to take a minute to answer a couple of questions that were asked about the "Paper or Plastic?" pattern/tutorial.

How long does it take to make?  It takes me less than an hour to make the Plastic version and about an hour and a half to make the Paper version.  I would imagine it would take anyone else (i.e. anyone who didn't make up the pattern) a little bit longer, but they're both pretty basic designs.  The Plastic version is slightly easier than the Paper version, but I wouldn't say that either project is particularly challenging.

Are pattern pieces included?  Much like my other tutorials, this one doesn't use pattern pieces, but provides a list of the different sized pieces you'll need and from which fabric they need to be cut.  It's been my experience that, for a project like this where all pieces are rectangular, rotary cutting is considerably more efficient than using patterns.   

Can you really use the bags to carry your cat?  That depends entirely upon your cat's level of cooperation.  My cat doesn't like to be carried -- she just likes to sleep in the bags.

May I sell bags made with this pattern?  Unfortunately, no.  I realize these are sort of generic bag styles, but I want to keep "not for commercial use" consistent across all my work.  There's big IF though.  IF you want to sell these for a non-profit event (school bazaar, church fundraiser, etc.) please contact me. 

Please let me know if you have any other questions and I'll add the answers to this post.