Blog

Christmas Presents – for Me and for You, along with some Mask Musings

Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to you all!  Christmas week is here, and while I am not quite ready, I am working on it.  I have heard from several of you… I can smell the wonderful aroma of your coffee cakes!  I hope you have enjoyed them, and remember, you don’t have to limit to baking at Christmas – they are wonderful any time of the year!

I have my a new Christmas present for my sewing room – a new embroidery machine (and no I am not defecting to the dark side!).  I am adding this to my toolbox of hobbies, especially as I have a grandson to sew for!  I went for a machine that only does embroidery (still looks like a sewing machine), so I can leave the embroidery module on and not have to switch back and forth.  I have cleared a space (yeah!) and have unpacked it from the box… I am penciling in the 26th as my play day for my new machine.
Do you have any good tips to share?  I have plenty of stabilizers, in all different forms (regular, tear away, water soluble, etc. in different weights and colors).  I also have a drawer full of embroidery thread – I stocked up a couple of years ago when one of our local quilt shops closed down when the owner retired.

For YOU….

 

I have a roll of lightweight tear away stabilizer that I am offering to you.  This is left over from a garment manufacturer – when I saw it at one of my garment district stops, I knew I could share it with you!  It is 51 ” wide.  I tried using it to trace patterns, and NO – it tears too easily.   I will send up to 3 yards to anyone who wants it, all you have to do is pay for shipping.  I will figure that out this week and post what shipping will be.  I have to run to the post office to see if I can ship it with regular postage.  I put it in a big envelope, but it is not flat, so it may be better to ship it priority, which will make it a bit more expensive.  It will ether be $2.00 (I am keeping my fingers crossed) or $7.50 if I have to go to a larger envelope.

If you would like a package, just click HERE and ‘order’ it.  There will be a $00.00 charge showing, and I will email you once I find out the shipping charge.  Merry Christmas!

Mask Musings!

 

I have made several masks (haven’t we all?!) and my Christmas mask utilized one of my ‘quilting’ skills – fussy cutting.  Not that I am a quilter (yet), but I am around quilters enough to pick up the lingo.  Fussy cutting is when you place your pattern piece on the fabric so that you get a specific motif placed exactly where you want it.  I cut this out so that the Christmas tree with Charlie Brown was centered on one side, and Sally and Charlie Brown were centered on the other.  I altered this pattern so the elastic was easier to adjust (this is the Creative Grids template that has 3 sizes on the same acrylic pattern, depending on how you lay it on the fabric).  The directions have you sew the ends of the elastic to the mask, but when you do that, it is difficult to adjust the elastic.

 

 

I shortened the width of the mask by the SA (I think here it is 1/4″).  Then I sewed the outer mask and the inner mask.  I sewed them to each other at the top and the bottom, RS together.  I turned them RS out and pressed.  Then I took a bias strip that is 1 5/8″ wide, folded the ends under so that no raw ends were showing, and sewed it to the back of the mask, RS together.  Fold the bias up, over, and under on the Front side of the mask and top stitch in place.  Thread the elastic through (this will fit a 1/4″elastic and I cut it about 7-8″).  Then you can sew the elastic end together, and then slide them around so that the sewn ends are in the bias casing.

If this is something that you would like a step by step tutorial on, please let me know and I will do that.  I was hoping by this point, masks would be passe’ but NOT in California!

 

Of course, once I had worked this out,  a new elastic option was introduced so you can sew the elastic in and still adjust.  You can see in the picture that the elastic (which is about 8″) has a little plastic slide so that you can adjust the elastic.  I have the white posted here (a package of 10 for $5)

As Christmas week starts, I am thinking about this last year and how it is so different from what we have known before.  We won’t have the same family and friends get together, but I am thankful that my family and friends are healthy.  I have not seen my grandson in a year, but because of Zoom, I get to talk with him almost every day.  I miss seeing all of you in person, as all of my classes were cancelled, but I am able to teach virtually.  While it is not the same as in person, I have been able to connect with some that would not have been able to make it to an in-person class.  While I would never choose for this situation to happen, I am thankful for some of the unexpected gifts that have come my way.

Hopefully I will see you in a couple of weeks for my Embroidery of Madeira class!  Just click on the link to register.

I wish you all a safe, happy, and healthy Holiday Season, a Blessed New Year, and a hope that we will be able to see each other in person!

Happy Stitching to you all!

Vaune

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *