Custom Koozies

These are fun to make!

 

Here is a Can Koozie I embroidered.   Shown is front and back.  I actually drew and digitized the motorcycle design myself - (from a clipart design) - in the digitizing software I have. Embroidering can koozies is easy and fun! You can order blanks here from BlankKoozies.com, and you're off to customizing!

Loved this design - Isn't it Chic? The Koozie blanks come in a huge assortment of colors, even some kewl patterns.

Gotta have one for my husband!

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Some More on Sewing

Sew Terrific~!

This skirt was my first ever serious project that I did after buying my sewing machine.  It is from a pattern.  I was all excited at picking out the material I remember it like yesterday, I had only the most basic idea of what I was doing, but I was determined to make this skirt.  I had originally planned to make a matching vest, but never got to that. This skirt has a zipper and everything!  I experimented with one of the fancy stitches from my machine along the hem trim.  I was so thrilled that this project worked out, I would have lost a lot of hope if it turned out to be a train wreck!  I proudly wore (and still wear) this skirt to work on many occasions and no one knew it was homemade!

This is a tiered ruffle skirt and a matching tank top, coordinated with a patch of the skirt material sewn into the neckline of the tank.  I want to make the same outfit in a cotton batik material that I paid $12.99/yd for but I had fallen in love with it when I saw it, and silly me, when I looked at the bolt end it had an orange sitcker that said 7.90, so I thought it was on red letter clearance for 7.90/yd.  I didn't realize the $12.99 charge until I looked at my receipt when I got home.  When I was back at the store a few days later, (Don't I live there!?!), I found the bolt again and brought it to the cutting counter and asked the sales associate if the price was 7.90 and she told me "No,,, the 7.90 was the amount of fabric on the bolt when they got it in.!"  Well learn as you go!. Don't let the orange stickers fool you... the clearance are maked in RED... i.e. "Red Tag" clearance.  LOL  Seems silly when I think about it - that I missed that... I wouln't have bought it at the $12.99 for sure... But I will be proud of the outfit when its done, because the material is gorgeous and a perfect hand for this outfit.

Here's one item that when I was done I coudn't believe my eyes!  It so totally didn't look homemade!  My husband had been looking for a few years for a White Demin vest, and never could find one.  Everytime he came close, when it arrived it was off white or something. He tried so many searches, so after he saw me progressing in my endeavors, he said "You could make me one."  He found the material he wanted, and I used a Kwik Sew Men's Jean Jacket Pattern, but used cutoff sleeves instead of putting in the sleeves of the jacket.  I even included the inside pockets that the guys love for stuff.  so it's got the two chest pockets, two hand pockets, and two inside pockets.  I embroidered the SD his intitals, and then he installed the patches on the front and back.  I even included a made by label...  This vest just got packed away for the winter with the rest of the summer whites... will be back out next spring/summer...

 

 

 

Every project I've been sewing over the past year seems to have been giving me each new skills setting me up for projects that come down the road...  So suffice it to say how much I've learned by doing... I started out by reading a lot and picked up many useful tips - learning alot of sewing basics to build on even before I got my machine.  The research gave me a great foundation to build skills on.  Now if I could just get better at learning my materials!  That will come in time...

 

This craft was born out of a suggestion from my one and only hunny...  I don't remember all of the details, but he suggested one day that I might pick up sewing - he thought I'd be good at it, and would have some fun.  So upon looking into it, I realized right off the bat that sewing alone wasn't going to work for me - I had to have the embroidery, too, so I had to invest the $$$.  Picked up the machine 2nd hand off EBay, and it was in exellent condition - wouln't even know it was an older model.  (not a newbie like me anyway).  I was blessed to get this machine.  The investment has brought countless hours of joy, and I'm looking forward to all the things I have yet to learn and explore.... Thanks Hunny!!!

 

 

More on Embroidery...

Here's another collection of my Embroidery

Gotta love M&M Characters! This one is a chef, so it made it's way onto a personalized T-Shirt I made for myself...

Hubby wanted a patriotic embroidery design for a denim shirt for Memorial Day this year for riding on his bike.  thought this eagle head was very unusual and worthy of a denim shirt!

 

My husband's heritage is the Garifuna people.  It is a tribe born of native american and african peoples.  the Garifuna emerged out of the joining of West African's, Caribs and Arawaks, back in the 1300's.  In the late 1700's the Garifuna lost a war and settled off the coast of Honduras, while some disbersed and settled in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Belize.   There is an estimated 600,000 poplulation today, some of which are in the United States, in NY, LA, and Miami.  (NY has the largest pop of the US)  So, I embroidered a design for him on a denim vest.  :-)  Close up of the embroidery below. 

 

Cannot get away from the motorycle designs! His latest bike is a HONDA VTX1300R. In the inner circles it's VTX's are referred to as "VTXtreme"

Gotta have a motorycle design for myself!!!!  My bike is  HONDA Shadow Aero 1100.

Don't forget about my JEEP!!!!! This orginal design was small, but I enlarged it on my embroidery software and then the text was added with the software also.

 

 

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Some Sewing Projects

These are a few of my Sewing Projects done, starting in 2011...

This is my "Last minute Blouse" & "Last Minute Skirt" both via Rostitchery.  The tutes can be found here.  I think I found my way to her tutes via AllFreeSewing.com.  When I wore it to the office, Liz said she really thought I bought it at the store!  Again my dress form really came in handy for this outfit!  And the material! got it for like $2.99/yd!!! It has body to it.  I'm still not well versed on all my materials and what they are called, so for lack of knowledge I have to describe this as a heavy-weighted rayon.  :-D  It has a real nice hand, but is prone to wrinkles....

This is my Ruffle Waist Skirt.  This was a tutorial by Robie Dodson of So Sew Something. This is her "So Let's Go Home" skirt, as she was leaving the hospital after having a baby.  This skirt was awesome for my summer wardrobe, as it doubled as a summer dress, and work skirt as shown here.  Beautiful tutorial! Here is a link to her Tutorials/Blog Page.  Thanks Robie -- you're fabulous!

Ahhh!  Some of my favorite pieces!!! (there is another one below).... My Onesies!!! they are fabulous to wear and I love lounging in them!  The pattern is a Kwik Sew #K2175,  found here and the fun thing is you can adjust the height if you are shorter or taller! Picking your fabric and complimentary colored zipper and cuff materials is so much fun!  Fleece comes in so-o-o-o-o-o-o many different patterns, I still don't know the difference between polar fleece and anti-pill fleece, I can only surmise that one is for real cold, and the other holds it's softness wash after wash.  I will find out someday!  The few people I've asked at JoAnn's weren't sure either.  I'll do a web search one day, or you could tell me!  This was the second onesie I made, the first one (below) i loved so much, I just wanted to be able to change off now and again!

Yes!  My other Onesie!!!!  This says Live-Laugh-Love-Peace on it...

This knit dress was made from a tute by Sophia Dengo.  The tute can be found here on Pinterest: 20 Minute Dress  Her's was a short length, and I still may shorten this one, but so far this one stands as it is.  It was the first dress I made after getting my dress form.  I made another dress from this tutorial, but it was real difficult to attach the waist elastic all around consistently, but with the dress form the pinning was easy and the waist came out perfect!  I got my dress form on Amazon.com  This is a Singer DF150 on Amazon and is adjustable.  I got size Medium, where some other forms I would need a size small, so check the measurements.

Here is my cute little clutch bag - embroidered with a guy now fondly referred to as "Syndey"... The embroidered message says"Save the Earth... it's the only planet with chocolate!"  That embroidery  design can be found here.  I will come back and list the pattern I used for the clutch.

Sew Much Fun with Embroidery

Here is a selection of some sewing and embroidery projects.

This one I made around June of 2012, It is a series of Jacobean Vintage Fruit Collection designs embroidered onto White denim, cut and washed so that the squares freyed, and sewn onto the yellow T-Shirt.  I had fallen in love with the Jacobean designs, and wanted to make a summer shirt - this one goes perfect with white jeans!  Jacobean designs can be found Here. 

This denim tote bag was from a tutorial found on Embroidery Library, Inspired by a woman named Suzanne and then made into a tutorial by Kenny - Master Digitizer on Embroidery Library team.  The tute can be found here: Upcycled Denim Tote.  I made it out of two pairs of old jeans, and I embroidered the design (also from Emblibrary) onto a Sweatshirt piece, beacuse I loved the design so much I wanted it to be a featured panel of my tote bag.  The design is called "Bible and Doves" found on Embroidery Library, here.  Below you will see how I used the seat of one pair of the jeans to create the back panel of the tote.  That comes in real handy because when I go shopping now, I slip my car keys in the back pocket and they are real easy to fetch when I get back to the Jeep!

Here is my cute little clutch bag - embroidered with a guy now fondly referred to as "Syndey"... The embroidered message says"Save the Earth... it's the only planet with chocolate!"  That embroidery  design can be found here.  I will come back and list the pattern I used for the clutch.

Here are my riding pants - embroidered on one leg with my "Lady Rider" and on the other leg with "Wild Side Motorcycle Design" The flames are "Flaming Rose Border" design.  I've patched in close-ups of the designs on the pants.

These are my Game Day Jeans! I have embroidery software, so I was able to design the "RAVENS" letters with that, and the the other designs were from the Library. (Except the Ravens logo - that's my private stash)  The football with swirls is here, and the shooting stars, here.  I usually wear my team jersey either 92 Haloti Ngata, or 52 Ray Lewis, with these jeans, too...  waiting to go to a game this year, we'll see about getting some tickets!  I'll definitely have the only pair of these!!!

 

Okay, here is my tablet case.  This is patterned after an IPAD tute from NapKitten on Etsy. You can see it here.  I completely customized it to fit my Galaxy Tab2 tablet where everything is in a different spot and different sizing...  It has an easel feature so it stands while you watch a movie or surf on it.  This took two days to make, but one of those days was a Sunday, and I was a crazy woman all day at it. :-D...

 

Here's a sample of me sewing out a Patch of a Jacobean design Letter J.  This is going on my Denim Jacket.  As I mentioned above I love Jacobean collections and their alphabet is awesome, too.  You can check it out here.

Back of my denim Jacket - This design can be found here.  I added the "Guardian Angel" text to the bottom after the design was sewn out. :-)

Front of the jacket with the 4 patches.  The butterfly on music is here, and the Art Nuveau Butterfly is here

My Husband wanted a helmet bag that he could carry his helmet around comfortably when he was out on the road shopping and what not.  The ones that come with the helmets are string tied, and the thin cord just cuts through your shoulder.  So I came up with this design, a zippered bag, lined with velveteen, or crushed velvet, and a regular type duffel shoulder strap with a padded shoulder piece.  the strap is adjustable, and is held by D rings on the sides.  the bag is designed with two side panels and a gusset running along the bottom, and up the sides, so 3 pieces total.  It was a real challenge putting in the zipper for this, this way, and I'm sure there was a way to do it perfectly, but I fumbled through it and made my own design to cover up any flaws that may have occured. :-D ...  LOL... this is the result.  Oh yeah, I embroidered the design on both sides, the motorcycle so at first glance anyone can tell it's something that has to do with motorcycles, the Honda VTX, because that's his bike model and he wanted that on there, and then I put "Scorpion Helmet Bag"... Scorpion is our favorite brand of helmet, and I wanted "helmet bag" on there somewhere so folks didn't think he was carrying a  purse.... LOL  Now this all looks like it fits when he's walking around.  He loved it - gave it rave reviews!...

I gotta tell you, I'm having the biggest blast sewing and embroidering, and making different things.  In between all that I design things with my photos in photoshop -- I love personalized things - personalized keychains, calendars, cards, clothing, art, tshirts, flags, and not just with names, I mean with personal photos, photo creations that I've made, graphic art designs, stuff like that!  I just LOVE being creative!  Come back and see me, I'll be posting more!

Ravens Creations...

 

Go Ravens!!!

 

Here is my feature:  "Ray-Ray".  He is from a tute (tutorial) "Joyful Bear" from a Chilean designer named Joy.  Found Here:  JoyFul Bear Tute .  This Cutie took about 4 days, and was my first attempt at a teddy bear.  It was a great way to use up some Ravens material that I had left over (from the vest below) and it was just in time for the Season Opener 2012!  Ray-Ray is my Mascot!

 I custom made these Ravens Bucket Seat Covers with the new Ravens Plaid Fleece material that came out this season (2012), and then I personlized them with "Jo's Jeep" embroidered on the upper back rest.  The covers are reinforced with fleece batting for stability.

These are my custom visors made to fit my thin visors that are native to the Jeep Wrangler.  The driver's side has a mesh pocket for my sunglasses, two pen holder slots, a clear vinyl closeable pouch for loose change, a mesh pouch for my blue tooth, and a pocket for a post-it pad.  The passenger side holds a pack of tissues, has a large clear vinyl closeable pouch, and a post-it holder also.  Go Ravens!

 

 

My Husband ordered up a Ravens vest from me, so I custom tailored this one for him, modeled after a leather one in his closet.  This is Ravens fleece, lined with black denim, and two toggle closures. He wears this on game day when he rides his motorcycle...

 

Then I made a custom fit motorcyle back rest pad cover that I customized with embroidery of the Ravens logo, for his bike.  I emboidered my "designed by" on the front :-)...  I completed the look with studs to match his seat and saddlebags...  I made this one a few weeks ago (Sept 2012).  I am too embarrassed to post the one I made for him last year when I was an utter newbie!  It is really embarassing, but he had it on all the time anyway!  You know us creative folk, always our own worst critics!  

 

Here is my Ravens game day lounge outfit.  It is a fleece hoodie and lounge pants along with booties.  This is a picture taken on our anniversary trip to Ocean City, MD in December 2011.
 

 

And no woman's wardrobe is complete without a Ravens purse!  This I made a long time ago near the beginning of when I got the machine.  It was made out of denim from a pattern by McCall's or Butterick.

The beginnings of a Blog...

Welcome To My Blog...

Hi!

I'm starting my first ever Blog on the advice of my co-worker.  This blog will house my sewing creations and who knows -- might take on a life of it's own with any of my other graphic art creations.  I'm always so excited to show the gals at the office and the fabric store what I've been sewing/creating that the suggestion of a blog sounded fun for me to compile and share my photos of the creations I've been making... I've some catching up to do, there's been some fun things over the past year 1/2 that I've owned my machine...

I have a Janome MemoryCraft 10000, which is a sewing and embroidery machine.  The embroidery is so much fun!  I get most all of my embroidery designs from Embroidery Library - you can browse their huge catalog here. 

Anyway, let the blog begin!  Here is my feature:  "Ray-Ray".  He is from a tute (tutorial) "Joyful Bear" from a Chilean designer named Joy.  Found Here:  JoyFul Bear Tute. 

This Cutie took about 4 days, and was my first attempt at a teddy bear.  The tute was great, and I had loved the design she had which was what made me try it.  It was a great way to use up some Ravens material I had left, and just in time for the season opener!

Well we're on our way to blogging... Ray-Ray is my Mascot!

Cheers!!!