Whatever I want Wednesday: Silent Scream for Spring time in Paris!

 Whatever I want Wednesday: Silent Scream for Spring time in Paris.
Long long long long Winter this year, but as I get older I believe they are getting longer perhaps? This thrift shop find is one of my favorite silhouettes the classic swing coat, a lovely winter white wool unlined and perfect for a shot of Spring feeling on a bright cold day.

 The design inspiration came for another of my friendly talented digitizers Luiz he had this Eiffel Tower gem up for grabs one day and I pounced on it here is his website where you can purchase some very nice designs for your own inspiration. http://www.vitordigitizing.net/ the little poodles are stock designs from Embroidery Library Luiz did design a poodle for me but my thrift shop 50's poodle broach needed to be brought into the concept along with some double needle standard sewing machine embellishment. Tried to keep it simple and clean so show off the beautiful Parisian Blue thread and its simple satin stitch embroidery. Please go check out Luiz's website he does some very beautiful work and he can turn your art into thread for you also!

what does this say in French: "let's get back to our sheep" or basically lets get back on track to what we were doing...we all know how a shiny object makes my day so it seemed PERFECT for me!

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What can I make for you?

Carolyn

Good Afternoon! Today is the day before the big race for kids pro snowmobile racing...they had me make these jerseys for them and I think they turned out pretty awesome!
This is a great example of how you can incorporate race wear for your snowmobiling crowd and team wear for the supporters of your cause.

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What can I make for you?

Carolyn

Make something for the Halibut: Whatever I Want Wednesday

Make Something For the Halibut on Whatever I Want Wednesday!
Hey Long Time No POST!!!
The shop is hopping busy and I really really like it.
Working on widgets and custom embroidery for a huge fishing benefit prompted me to stop and just make something for the house.

  I get an urge to create when I get really stressed out I guess its like working out at the gym only I work out my creative side.

 

This is why I love working for myself....just so I can stop and create something for the hell of it.

Yep Old Miss Mable will be all over this by the end of the day loosening up those stitches and snuffling on it.

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Thursday Thoughts: Loss, Heavy Metal and Mom's Love

  There are some projects that are more than just an embroidery job, this is one of those projects that made its own path.
 These T shirts were brought to me by a dear customer of mine and I was really honored that she wanted me to work on this for her.
 I can't imagine the pain of losing a child let alone deciding what items that were the most dear to them and honor their life, loves and hobbies.
  Her son was a lover of some pretty heavy metal music and his mom brought to me his most beloved t shirts that he wore daily. She admitted that these not her favorite images but they were his and he loved the music and it was the one thing that made him happy.
  This was a long thinking process for me over the last four month (yep...4 months) I started out many times trying to put them into neat squares or lining them up in some kind of order step by step and it just was not happening, that's when I just let it go and did what the shirts compelled me to do. So I let every wrinkle every thread break and every skip happen, embroidery wasn't backed to keep the rough look and colors were randomly choose from the spools on the machine. The center image was the only one that received special interest as it was the most thread bear to the point of disintegrating and probably his most prized so the collar and the image were kept together.
 The wings on the center image are a story in itself, three times I tried to do this and it came out of the hoop twice and I lined them back up in the computer program but still ended up uneven, so I said dang it, you deserve wings and then let it be and after this it ran the rest of it just fine.
 I will roll this up, give it to his mom and let her look at it in private at her home on Saturday.
I don't know if this is what she was thinking but I hope that her son is represented in my interpretation of his life. I do know his life was not perfect and there is beauty in that in its own way just like this piece...not perfect but creative and hopefully sentimental.

Thanks for visiting....

Carolyn

embroidery designs by Urban Threads

Mitten Monday: Westonka High School Homecoming Week

Yep get back on that horse Carolyn!

Best Piece I Ever Embroidered: A closer look

Stitches Magazine was a very nice honor to have my Dogwood Dollar Jacket in this last edition in the "Best Piece I Ever Embroidered" feature. stitches magazine September Issue.
I have had a few people ask if they can see some better images of this jacket and how it was done.

Here they are! This one dollar rack number was a fun fix and I was able to use some items from my old machine knitting days a fun way to incorporate texture into designs is to trap the "loose" pieces between the garment and solvy. Once it is all embroidered you can peel away the plastic and see the lovely fun thread showing through the designs.

The design choose for this jacket is an open work created by Erich Campbell and you may purchase this item here!
Erich's Dogwood Flower

Thriftshop Thursday: Fall Feathers

A nice denim number that was found on the dollar rack, this jacket sold in August and I hope she is wearing it on these crisp Fall days.

I love to work in texture with embroidery, so much of it is just flat on the fabric and there are so many fun things that you can embroider over using up all kinds of scraps and odd items.  This fabric is a nylon that is used for kites and it was just the right orange for these fun feathers.

The feathers were hooped individually then cut out by hand and fibers pulled out for the edges then sewn down separately on the jacket.

There are many times that I like to connect designs by just free sewing in my standard table machine I think that it gives a nice touch to the pieces that incorporates unstructured freedom to the designs and keeps the "clip art" look from happening it connects everything together nicely.

If you would like this The Ostrich Fall Feather design is from Erich Campbell's collection and you may purchase it here for your own fun project!

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Carolyn 

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Thriftshop Thursday: These boots are made for loungin

 Needed a little art therapy today: so I like to hole up in the shop with music and just Mabel sleeping on the floor. Been thinking about making boots and some moccasins so when  Face Book friend Luiz Vetor Mendez Digitizer sent me this I was thrilled!

Luiz lives in Brazil and makes beautiful art for clothing designers. The boots are 100% wool and a suede sole on them. This was a great break in for me so now I know what I would like to do with leather and embroidery plus...put a heal on them....excited!

Thanks for visiting!

Carolyn

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Thriftshop Thursday: Marry Me Ragnar

Well I was very inspired by the Bunad show I attended with the family and my passion for designs of my Norwegian heritage and of course my hot warrior Ragnar from the Vikings show on History Chanel ;-).

I was not really looking for a project but when you are not looking, of course it shows up.

There it was this beautiful blank canvas of inspiration in the photo below...a plain Jane waiting for some lovin.

100% Linen and actually well taken care of all mine for $5.00

it's long its probably from the early 80's but it is a classic.

In order to get those beautiful embroidered ropes on there this garment had to be deconstructed by choosing a side to split open and lie flat for hooping.

I also chose to use regular surger thread for the design to keep the mat look with the fine linen.

This dress was hooped 16 times in a 17" hoop to get the simple embroidery design on it as a repeat pattern.

This project took about 6 hours if I added all the time blocks up. It takes a fair amount of focus to keep everything in the same spaces and lines the music of choice when I work on this much "brain work" is a wonderful site

focus at will for creative or big thinkers

this is what I listen to most of the mornings too. Here is the process narrowed down for you.

There is a lot to be said about very simple one line designs used in the proper format, they offer so much variety and they almost always add a very sophisticated look to nice fabrics.

Sometimes less is better when you are working on projects....and sometimes you just feel

the need to go "whole hog". Now if I can talk my husband into taking me to 

the Minnesota Renaissance Festival this would be the place to wear it!

Embroidery design provided by: http://www.theonlystitch.com/

Thanks for visiting!

Carolyn

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Bunad Bonanza at Mall of America, You Betcha!

 Ohhhhhh boy what a visual extravaganza of fun! I was lucky enough to catch the Daughters of Norway Bunad Festival this month at the Bloomington MN, Mall of America with my mom, sister in law and niece.

I took waaaaayyy to many blurry pictures to post and was trying to listen and shoot at the same time...not a good thing for a visual person!

All of the ladies were so very nice to stop and let me take a photo of their fine crewel work and the many different designs that were represented. Each region in Norway has a traditional costume done in specific colors and flower/abstract designs. The groups shown here are very proud of their authenticity and workwomanship (my new word) I did stop a few women where under the "certain age" that deems a Bunad owner/wearer these ladies were wearing their mothers Bunads in memory of them as some have only been worn one or two times by the original owner it was a very personal moment for some of them and they were very proud to wear them in memory of their mothers. 

A Bunad is a personal and financial investment and can cost up to 2000.00 dollars, never mind the amount of time invested by the "creator" it is truly a labor of love.

I will not give to many facts on regions as this time as I myself am just learning and I want to be correct in the true regions, styles and like good Norwegian if you don't know EXACTLY what yer talking about then ya better just keep it to yourself , here is a link for you to go investigate and see just how involved these garments are 

A good link to Bunad regions and costumes

I am in awe, as a professional machine embroiderer I love the handwork and was surprised that machine embroidery is never used on these garments...it must be that stoic Scandinavian thing...

nothing easy comes with good reward: "Earn It" lol.

daughters of Norway

Thanks for visiting!

Carolyn

What Can I Make For You!

Thriftshop Thursday: TASTE! Donation...if you are giving it away then love what you give.

I get a lot of inquires for donations to causes and I think they are a very good way to get your work out there and test your creative juices. I personally like to make something that uses all the things I have ON HAND like all the bits and pieces of fabrics that I pick up here and there at thrift shops and designs that I purchase on a whim because I think they are pretty darn awesome.

I also feel that if you are going to donate, then donate with your talents that you are selling, donate what you do and what you know your recipient can use or cannot buy over the counter in a unique way.

Maybe I'm off track but I love to just "pull something otta my _ _ _" for donations because well...I work well under pressure ;-)

Thanks for Visiting!

Carolyn 

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