Quickie Tutorial: How to frame your embroidery.

Hello lovely readers,
Today I have a quick tutorial for any of you who might be new to embroidery: How to frame your finished projects.

For this project I used a simple 9" wooden embroidery hoop from my local craft chain, some white embroidery floss, and the embroidered design I mentioned in my last post.
Start with your finished embroidery centered in your hoop, pulled taught, and the hoop screw tightened.

For a round embroidery hoop, begin my trimming your excess fabric off around the hoop (it doesn't have to be pretty - mine sure isn't.

Cut a long piece of either very strong thread or embroidery floss (I suggest using the same color as your fabric). This piece should be as long as the circumference of your hoop and an extra few inches.

Thread it on an embroidery needle and knot one end. Then run a simple, very wide straight stitch all the way around your fabric to the outside. Mine was about an inch from the edge of the hoop, and about 3/4" long on each stitch. You want some decent spacing because you'll be gathering this stitch.

Once you've stitched all the way around, bring your thread to the right side of the fabric and gently pull your gathers tight.

Once the stitches are gathered tightly, run a couple of back stitches and then knot off your thread.

If your embroidery hoop is not very deep like mine (mine is not even 1/2" deep) then your fabric gathers might be too bulky to lie flat enough against a wall.  Simply iron your gathers flat (you might have to use just the edge of your iron) but it works great to reduce the gathered bulk.

And now your embroidery is ready to hang!

Have a happy week,

Make Beautiful Things... by Urban Threads

Happy weekend, my dears readers!
I'm currently riding the high of a finished project. My last project, finishing my 1930's bra, went so well that I thought I would do some more needlework. I think it's becoming a rather nice therapy for me.
This month I worked on a great embroidery pattern by Urban Threads, whose patterns I just can't seem to get enough of.
The pattern I used is Make Beautiful Things, which by the way, just happens to be on sale right now!

50 cents!!!!!!!!

Urban Threads Patterns come in two formats, designed for hand embroidery and for machine embroidery - both of which come as instant downloads just like my patterns. The patterns are usually rather elaborate (which I like because they're super time consuming) and can take quite a bit of time to trace and transfer onto your fabric. But boy, is it worth it!

Lookit what I made! I know, I have some practicing to do.

This is now hanging over my drafting table as a cheerful reminder that I love my job because I get to help other people make beautiful things.

Months ago I used another Urban Threads pattern to embroider this for a friend back in Norway (who is famous there for her amazing cakes and cupcakes).

Made using this pattern by Urban Threads.

And up next for me on my embroidery to-do list is a little something for my kitchen:

Death before Decaf by Urban Threads.

If you're into embroidery, or you're interested in giving it a try, I definitely recommend Urban Threads' patterns.
But what about you? Do you embroider? Do you use your own designs, hunt for great vintage embroidery transfers, or do you have a favorite source for your patterns?

Just one more thing before I head outside to weed my garden. As some of my might have seen on my facebook page earlier this week, a colleague of mine just lost her husband and is as devastated as you might imagine (there has been too much loss, lately!). 
Many of you know how crippling funerals can be financially so if you'd like to do some good today, her Etsy shop is still up and running (a welcome distraction, I know from experience). If you're pattern hungry, you might like to stop by her shop, Stitching By Numbers.

And thanks so much to those of you who did already- you are absolute gems and I'm honored to have such kindhearted readers! 

Adding Cut-Work to your Next Lingerie Project

Recently I was the happy recipient of a handful of lingerie patterns from the 1970's - 1980's. I was so delighted to find that folded up inside one of the slip patterns were a couple of pages from a magazine, I'm guessing late 70's or early 80's, and the bit featured was how to add cut-work to a slip. And it included a pattern!
I have no information on which magazine these were from, but the motif/ pattern given is meant to be resized much larger - but I think it would look amazing in just the size it is, for a more delicate look.

So without further ado, here is this great cut-work tutorial and pattern!

And here are a few slip patterns you might try adding it to! The pattern called for in the original tutorial is Kwik Sew 941, and there are plenty of affordable copies online.

It's ok as far as lingerie patterns go but my copy of this article was actually found tucked inside Sew Lovely S701... and though I didn't see it executed, I like where the idea was going...

The following pattern, available here, would also look amazing with bits and pieces of this motif scattered about the skirt or hem.

Or the motif sized down a bit would look endlessly sexy on the bust of this slip pattern, available here.

How about you? Have you ever used cut-work in any of your sewing?

In other news - I have just discovered an ant crawling along the edge of my desk here and now I must re-home him. Here's a tip: Don't eat Reese's peanut butter cups in your office.

Finished UFO: My 1930's Silk Bra - Depew #610

Hello lovely readers. In our last post we talked about my getting back to sewing as a bit of therapy. I have been working with my hands for the last 4 days now and it has helped enormously! I finished a UFO project from before my mother passed away and also got started on a beautiful embroidery project. I'm feeling just a little bit more myself today.

The bra pattern that was sitting unfinished was about half done and was waiting for a fitting so that I could put my closure at the back. The bra is made using my any size draft-at-home pattern, Depew #610 and I'm so happy with how it came out. (Keep in mind that it fits me perfectly, though it's a bit off on Lusty Lulu - she's a bit more symmetrical than I am).

I used silk crepe de chine for the main fabric, and I re-purposed a soft silk vintage scarf (cutting around a few pinholes) for the lining.

My California Studio

Hello lovely readers.
For a week now I have been staring at a blank blog post editor, trying to find inspiration to blog about something you might all like. My inspiration seems to have fled - along with my camera battery charger - so a few post ideas are on the back burner pending battery power and photographs. Inspiration has been a hard thing to come by lately, as you might imagine. For those of you who are strangers to loss or depression (you, a happy minority, I would guess) there is a listlessness that can plague one's days after a great loss, and it can be hard to find your way back from it.

I am searching high and low to find my spark again (and that blasted charger) and I think it might be found in sewing. Of course my to do list is massive and that's what usually keeps me away from my sewing, but sometimes you just need to blow off the "musts" and deal with the "needs."

I have a few U.F.O.'s floating about my sewing space and I think I'll finish a much neglected silk bra today. But first, I thought I would show you my new studio. For those of you who are new to A Few Threads Loose, I moved to California about 9 months ago and finishing my new studio space has been an evolving project.

I was recently featured on the Pattern Pattern Blog (which is fantastic, by the way) and it was motivation enough to finish my studio and take some photos (using the last of my battery power, coincidentally).

So, without further ado, here is my (almost) finished studio!

My pattern drafting table also pulls triple duty as a pattern folding and shipping station.

Wee Butters (now almost 70 lbs and still growing!) keeps me company all day as I work. He and Vinny the cat play constantly and provide numerous hilarious distractions from work.

You can see Vinny the cat hiding out (and most likely cleaning the dog slobber from his fur) in his tiny cube behind my chair.

I'm excited to try out my new sewing corner - before, the machine was cramped on my drafting table and it was frustrating as all get out.

You all remember Boobs McGee, of course.

And of course, no workspace is complete without a picture of happier times, and cartoon monster post-its.

Coming soon: a giveaway, pictures of my garden (my best therapy so far) and a little sumthin' to do with vintage cars.

I'm off to sew!

Back to Blogging with a Sew Expensive... Simplicity 2229

It has been a very strange month. Recently I have been able to get back to working a bit and have found it a very welcome distraction from... everything else.
I've been trying to figure out how to ease myself back into blogging next but - this being my first experience with this kind of life-altering grief - I didn't have the foggiest idea of how to do it. When is too soon? Do I have anything worth writing? Can I even sit still at a computer that long without dissolving into a puddle of tears? Do my readers really want to be depressed to death?

As with some things, ripping the band-aid off is, I think, the only way to do it. But I am starting easy. A nice, happy Sew Expensive post should do nicely.

These posts always make me happy. Shopping for patterns is a fantastic coping mechanism and last month, as I was trying to take my mind off of other horrors, I turned to Ebay for all of the lovely distractions offered there.

This one I bookmarked because it was just too pretty not to talk about. Simplicity 2229 recently sold on Ebay for an uncomfortable, yet relatively reasonable $157.64.

Was it worth it? Well, yes and no. There's always the debate of a pattern being worth what one person is willing to pay for it. And sure, if you're more interested in say, making a reproduction of the dress, then why not? But from a pattern collector/ seller standpoint, the sad condition of the envelope has me shaking my head and mouthing a big "Nope."

Yes it's quite rare, obviously this pattern doesn't come up for sale very often, but if you just want to sew a dress, then I think The Vintage Pattern Lending Library or another pattern reproduction company would be your best bet.
I think about the value of gown patterns more in depth about once a year - usually when the date of the next Air Force ball gets announced to all and sundry.
And were I to make a gown, and not use one of my own personal collection, or one of the gown patterns from Mrs. Depew Vintage, then VPLL would be the way to go. And if I had to choose, I would choose this beauty:

McCall 7595 Pattern Reproduction by The Vintage Pattern Lending Library.

At the fantastic price of $17.50, wouldn't you agree?
And if I may ask, what is the most you've ever spent on a sewing pattern, and why?
For me, it was to get my hands on one of my much sought Simplicity S-Series patterns, and I spent $105. Shhh, don't tell my husband!

Wherein I lose my Treasure...

When I wrote to you all months ago that I was going to attempt to post more about my personal life, I had no idea that I would find myself compelled to share with you... this, the most deeply personal and painful thing to ever happen to me.

Ten days ago, my Mama passed away.

And almost as much as I feel the urge to call my sister, or my aunts (whom my mama affectionately referred to as "the treasures"), or my best friend, or my mama herself to find solace in this impossible time, I feel the urge to talk to you, dear readers. I know that my posts can be trite sometimes, really, I blog about stuff, things that no one can take with them in the end, but I feel that regardless, you've all been there for me these last several years. I have come to think of you all as my friends, my circle... my people.

The last month has been the hardest of my life. I feel that I have grown, grown too big, reached my limit, shattered, been pressed down, hardened and remade into another form that better fits the reality that I suddenly find myself in. I arrived in Nebraska 28 years old, wearing sneakers and a t-shirt with a dinosaur on it. I left, so very, very old.
For two weeks after I wrote to you all about leaving to look after my Mama in the hospital, I watched her fade away, withdraw and finally say goodby.

March 9th, our whole family was going to be in Nebraska to celebrate my mother's marriage to her Fiancé, Guy -the man she had waited her whole life for. Instead, she was admitted to the hospital and 9 days after the day she was to become a bride, my family instead came together to lay her to rest. She was only 57.

I find that my brain is incapable of understanding a world in which she is gone. Its seems to want to freeze, like an overburdened computer, when it's asked to process this information that is so counter-intuitive to everything else it knows. So I just give it simple tasks, one thing at a time. I do the dishes, I answer a few emails, I watch Glee in my sweatpants - things that don't ask too much of my poor mind. And then I try again.
I know that this is a process and I'm hoping that by attempting one task at a time that I understand, then someday I'll understand this too. I hope.

Thank you all so much for the warm wishes and prayers that you sent my way after my last post. And thank you for being here for me - you have no idea how dear each of you is to me.

--Anna