So here’s a very easy use of Kraft-Tex and machine embroidery to create a charming village.
I re-upped this border design which I used on my last quilt project. Some simple white Kraft-Tex and an exacto knife, and I trimmed the whole thing.
I attached it with crazy glue to a 1 x 1 block painted white. Honestly, the simplest of ideas. And yet, it’s really effective. For anyone who’s not familiar with Kraft-tex, it’s a tough, durable leather-like textile. It withstands a lot. It won’t rip. It’s washable, if that’s what you want to do.
But I just used a sticky-back tearaway stabilizer (Stabilstick) with a piece of the white Kraft-Tex on top. This particular design is ideal for this application. It’s not stitch heavy, but enough to hold its visibility.
I created three of these village scenes, added some fairy lights, with a backdrop of a white birch, which I already owned.
A bit of white filler which I found in the basement (for making stuffed shapes, pillows, etc.)
And when I was done, I had a charming village which would look lovely on a mantle. I have it on a book shelf in our hallway.
It took very little time to create this scenario, and of course, I wished there had been a series of these borders with other shops and scenes all in the same profile. But this worked out on its own.
I hope your holidays are peaceful and calm. May you enjoy your craft and create beautiful things. Happy Stitching!
No one uses paper any more. I know. Just a quick email or text…how are you? what’s up? how’s everything? hey, thanks (I may be using too much punctuation.)
But I am a card writer. I would much rather tell someone how I feel in long form. And if I want to confound my son, like sending a message in code, I use cursive, which no one in younger generations can interpret.
Last year, or maybe the year before, or maybe even 2019, I purchased some card stock for machine embroidery.
I did not purchase anything new to make these. That’s part of my new goal, to be as much of a non-consumer as possible unless it is electronic. The designs don’t count, at least not in my book, as they are digital–a simple download, and off we go.
Here are a few tips if you want to work with machine embroidery and cardstock:
Use designs specifically digitized for cards. Unless you are daring and a pro, I don’t recommend trying to use any design that is stitch-heavy. It’s just not worth the hassle.
Use a sticky back cutaway stabilizer like Stabilstick Cutaway from OESD
Score the paper side of the stabilizer, and remove it from inside the hoop. You hoop the stabilizer first, paper side up, then score it with a straight pin. Don’t be afraid. Then just tear it out of the inside of the hoop.
On OESD designs, the first stitch is for placement of the card. The first color of the design is a stitched rectangle that goes directly onto the stabilizer and shows you where to place the card. It saves you from some fiddling you might have to do with other designs to get the placement centered.
General machine embroidery tip: If the machine says it will take 15 minutes to stitch out, allow 30 minutes. The time allowed for stitching is just that: stitching time. It doesn’t account for any thread changing time, or cutting of jump stitches or your general speed that you like to work. The more thread changes, the more time you should allow “over” the predicted time.
Always start with a well-oiled machine, a full bobbin and a new needle (sharp or Microtex 80/12.)
This Christmas card from OESD was quite stitch heavy, and I’m not sure I would do it again. It required an applique for the black background. I measured the placement stitch and cut a piece of Kraft-Tex to fit. It turned out well, but I did not appreciate the amount of time involved for one card.
You can see the back of one of the cards. I think you can cover that up with another piece of cardstock. But I thought that some of the charm was that it looked as nice from behind as it did from the front.
As someone who loves stationery, I found these lovely and easy to stitch, for the most part. The designs do come with thread charts and instructions, but it’s a lot more fun to choose your own color way.
Finally, for the last card in the box, I took one of my photos (a peace lily bloom, with a pointsettia background). I transferred it onto the card using Transfer Artist Paper. It was simple and easy, and now I have a set of personalized cards for all occasions.
I hope you still write letters from time to time. I love to receive them and I think others do too. In a world where everything is fleeting, fast and electronic, let’s cherish a little bit of slow communication.
Once again, I’m on the path to create something new and fresh for Valentine’s Day. I don’t know why I always want to make something for this holiday…it’s so over-hyped and over-done already. Except that it’s mid-winter, and once I put the holiday decorations away, I’m left yearning to do something different. And I always find something unique for Valentine’s Day.
I noticed that I tend to use Kraft-Tex paper a lot for this holiday. Not sure why, it just inspires me.
These days, I am obsessed with little houses. So I found this set of cross stitch designs on Etsy, from Waxing Moon Designs. It is an e-pattern with 3 designs.
I don’t do cross stitch, but I digitize designs. So I used my Bernina Embroidery Software to re-create these in machine embroidery.
I love thiem.
Each one is adorably cute and just perfect for Valentine’s Day.
These are stitched out on the brown craft paper color of Kraft-Tex. I always use 2 layers of Stabilstick cutaway stabilizer when machine embroidering. I could easily turn these into cards or ornaments or hanging decorations.
Here is a post where I created an entire village for a Christmas tree skirt. (It’s from 2020.) And below is a video (I’m not good at videos.) showing all the different buildings in the little cross stitch town.
These days I’ve been kicking around the idea of a quilt village, with my own designs of tiny houses and a village. I have some ideas, but I have to work out the patterns.
I want to do them in applique, but it’s all still in my mind. I have other projects to finish before then.
So stay warm during this mid-winter season, and Happy Stitching!
I update this sign on my door with the seasons. And I thought it would be cute to put up something for Valentine’s Day.
So I shopped around some of my favorite machine embroidery sites, looking for a charming Valentine’s Day design.
I was confronted by a trashy array of cupcakes, lips and kissing pigs. (OK, I know some of you would love the kissing pigs.) But it’s not what I was looking for at all.
And the hearts .So many hideous hearts. Big, ugly, hearts with loads of swirls and ornation. Gathered in multiples, in solid colors, outlines, curving, distorted, nouveau, deco, modern, punk, angry, broken, baroque, and dipped in gnomes.
I hated it all.
Truly, this is a message to all machine embroidery designers: You can do better on Valentine’s Day.
I would have settled for one of those vintage red trucks with a load of flowers and sweets…tastefully done, with some script. Or how about all the charming old school Valentine’s from the forties? Wouldn’t it be cute to have a line of those in embroidery? Or how about those old Victorian Valentine’s Day cards? Tell me you couldn’t create some designs that played off of those? Or anything cozy? After all, we’re still in the dead of winter.
Anything other than the selection that’s available now. Which is gag-worthy.
And I say that with love in my heart for artists and designers.
So after all of that, I settled on a design that barely hints of Valentine’s Day, but is warm, inviting and sweet. And it will look just as good on February 15 as it does right now. In fact, it will even carry into spring.
It’s a bit stitch heavy, but looks great against the black.
I did the design on black Kraft-tex, which is surprisingly good at supporting machine embroidery. The trick is to use two layers of cutaway stabilizer.
I still have to figure out how to create a Valentine for my husband this year. Sadly, it won’t likely be machine embroidery, though I had hoped to find something charming. I thought about the kissing pigs, and then decided against an off-color joke about our pandemic weight gains.
I have other tricks up my sleeve, though.
So carry on, sewists. Surround yourselves with bright colors and whatever helps get you through the day.
I am not ashamed to say I had a rough summer. Between the pandemic, and a kid who’s still in the school system, I managed to fall while taking pictures. Hard. On my knee, but did a number on the ankle too.
Wound up in the ER, and x-rays were fine, but still healing. On top of that, I have the usual “You know, at your age…” health issues. But hard as I tried, I was not able to avoid going to a doctor until coronavirus is eradicated….as I had hoped. Who am I kidding?
So layer on top of that all the societal and natural disaster issues we’re facing and I made a decision:
TO PAINT MY FRONT DOOR CORAL.
Why? That’s a good question. I was all set to go with teal. And then I randomly saw a pic online of a coral front door. And I couldn’t get it out of my head. You need to know that my front door is a very dark, forest green. It has been that way for 18 years.
But it suddenly became my obsession. A primal scream, I think. I NEED A CORAL FRONT DOOR.
Since then I have discovered, to my surprise, that a front door that faces south should indeed be red or orange according to feng shui principles. Who knew. (Not me.) So, apparently, I did the right thing.
It was not my favorite. It went on kind of gloppy and was a semi-gloss. I’m generally a satin girl. And please note, that while I was doing this I was NEVER sure it was going to work. My only thought was that if I ruined the front door, we needed a new one anyway.
The first coat was pretty hideous. It was a lot of work just to get that far, and needed several hours to dry. I had to keep going back and smooth over places that wanted to drip. At this point, I was really torn. Give up now and paint it black? Or forge ahead and see where I end up. Anyone in their right mind would have hired a professional to salvage what they could.
I went for it.
Two more coats later.
My husband strolled by while I was in the process. “You’re making the front door pink?”
“IT’S NOT PINK, IT’S CORAL!”
He and my teenage son exchanged glances and backed away. They don’t really care.
But at least here’s where I get to the sewing part. Now I needed something to put on the door.
I have some black Kraft-tex, and so anyone who’s read this blog in the past, knows I love my Kraft-tex. I wanted a round doorhanger, but one that I could update seasonally. Or just when I got tired of it.
But the tool has a maximum circle size of about 8.5 inches. Not nearly as big as I wanted it.
So I approached my husband with the tool, and I told him what I wanted to do. He has a mill and a 3D printer. I wondered if he could help me find a way to get bigger circles.
He sniffed around the tool for a bit, while I went off to make dinner. An hour later he handed me an extender. Then he attached it.
He simply fitted it to the device, added a screw and bolt to hold it together and, like magic, I can now make circles about twice the size. It was amazing! And it worked perfectly. My new circle was somewhere near 18 ” acorss, almost the entire length of the Kraft-tex paper.
Now I just stitched my embroidery out and attached it with a single stitch to the the circle. I made slots so that I could switch out the seasonal part at any time.
I finished it up with a ribbon and hung it with a flourish.
I have no idea how anyone else is coping. I hope you are doing well.
I highly recommend doing something you’ve been afraid to do. (Let’s not get reckless here, I’m talking about painting a door, or a room, or yikes! a dresser.)
I didn’t know I needed this color in my life. Nor do I know how long I will want it. But it showed up at the right time for me.
I make ridiculous projects for my husband every Valentine’s Day. Some are useful, some are decorative, some silly and some just for fun. You can see some past projects:
This year, since I have Kraft-Tex in abundance, I made another small project for him combining machine embroidery and a really simple bag design. Seriously, it doesn’t get any simpler than this. Here’s a link to the video from Mr. Domestic.
A couple of things:
I used a zipper foot when sewing in the zipper. I think this is just personal preference. I like to see where I’m headed and I thought it was just easier.
Two layers of cutaway, with the Stabilstick cutaway on top were almost enough. As you can see in the following picture, I still had a problem because the design had so many stitches it perforated the Kraft-Tex. It was no big deal because it was only in one area, and I stitched over it, and all was fine.
The reason this occurred is because I did not have the Kraft-Tex fit the hoop so it was hanging over the side and pulling just enough to rip the fabric.
I cut out the design in a rounded square and stitched the whole thing down onto one side of the bag.
After that, I just followed the directions in the video. Other than the embroidery design, seriously, it took minutes.
In the video, Mr. Domestic uses pre-washed Kraft-Tex, and I used unwashed. I want to try using the pre-washed at some point.
I do want to point out that Kraft-Tex is biodegradable, but doesn’t fall apart in the wash. In the ground, it detriorates after two weeks. Compare that to 100% cotton fabric, which may take around 5 months, and synthetic textiles including polyester, spandex, nylon, and rayon may take between 20 to 200 years to fully biodegrade*. Kraft-Tex is OEKO-TEX certified, which is standard in the textile industry in that the end product is certified to be non-toxic. It also holds an FSC accreditation (Forest Stewardship Council) Essentially, this means that the product is regulated to be using forestry resources responsibly as defined by the highest industry standards.
So that explains one of the reasons I try to use Kraft-Tex when I can. I wish I could make clothes out of it, but that’s for the chemists and engineers to figure out how to make it just a bit softer.
* I got this info from a website called Edge Expo. It is targeted to sustainable fashion.
Have you ever spent hours on Pinterest? Wandered through quaint little shops in a seaside village or a charming midwestern town?
I’ve spent some time in local shops and in large home decor stores. I’ve browsed online and been to craft shows and art shows.
And I’m discouraged.
I am missing originality and I am as much a consumer as everyone else. Where are all the original thinkers? Where are the creatives out there doing what’s never been done? Am I just missing it? How can I go from an exurb of Chicago to a small town in Wisconsin, and find basically the exact same products?
I loved the inspirational script messages at one time, but to be honest, aren’t they getting old? If one more piece of wood or vinyl sticky for my wall tells me to “choose joy” I’m going to scream. (What does that mean anyway? Choose joy. Instead of eating chocolate? Instead of crying? Instead of reading the newspaper? Instead of choosing to make a change? Instead of choosing to work out?)
I even have a little houseplant pot that bears the message “grow.” The plant is suffering. And I think it’s because the pressure is too great and the obvious command on its outer shell is intimidating and off-putting.
I might also be watering it too much.
Nevertheless, it serves as a reminder that these constant, script-y, positive messages are numbing us to the reality around us.
If you are INSPIRED to paint the face of a cow in purples, oranges and teals, bless your heart and the artwork will be beautiful. But if you are purchasing the same one that’s shown in a chain of stores across the country, because…umm…”farmhouse”, well, what’s the point?
But anyone who thinks that farmhouse style begins and ends with anything but manure and straw and hay is kidding themselves. And the farmhouse I knew was cramped. We didn’t have a whole lot of decorative items. Most of them were practical. You needed a broom nearby to chase the bats that flew in at night. You needed a vacuum cleaner to get at the flies that swarmed the window sills in the summertime. You needed plenty of logs in the basement to keep the house heated all winter. You needed hooks and pegs for jackets and boots and fishing poles. When I was out in the barn no one ever had to tell me to “choose joy.”
Joy showed up uninvited. So did laughter and tears and hugs.
This week, let’s all go out and find something original to do. Something one-of-a-kind.
That’s the beauty of sewing. We can make things that no one else has made, and make memories that no one else has experienced.
Let’s be more authentic. And let’s ditch the mass market.
This time, I decided to try a little acrylic paint on it and see how it holds up in weather. The previous sign that I did has been out in rainstorms, thunder, wind and more, and looks just as nice as it did the day I put it out there.
To be honest, I’m a little shocked that it held up so well.
So this time, I pulled out my acrylics and painted up a patriotic floral for the Fourth of July. I have not added any finishing, like Mod Podge or varnish of any kind.
For the record, I asked Kraft-Tex for more information about their product. It is recyclable, and therefore biodegradable, but doesn’t fall apart in the rain. It is OEKO-TEX certified, which is standard in the textile industry in that the end product is certified to be non-toxic. It also holds an FSC accreditation (Forest Stewardship Council) Essentially, this means that the product is regulated to be using forestry resources responsibly as defined by the highest industry standards.
I’ll be getting back to my wool and quilting momentarily. But for now, I’m having a great time with outdoor decorating and garden crafts…using my sewing machine.
If you’ve followed this blog at all, you know that I have a lot of fun with Kraft-Tex, a paper/fabric that can be washed, doesn’t fray, and needs no finishing.
This time, since I am into garden season, I thought I’d try something slightly different by adding a garden flag made from Kraft-Tex. Now, I know that it has been a truly rainy season in my area, so I though it would be interesting to find out how the flag holds up during rain. I know it can be washed and dried without any issues, and I already tested the ribbon I’m using for color-fastness. So I’m not really worried about the rain.
I promise to show you what it looks like after a few weeks. We’ll all find out!
The embroidery showed up really well on white, and then I placed it on the grey or charcoal color. I find that Kraft-Tex holds up well with lots of embroidery…upwards of 20,000 stitches..as long as I use the right stabilizers. I find it best to use a medium weight cutaway, with a layer of Stabilstick cutaway on top of that — 2 layers of cutaway in total.
Then I cut out the pieces and used a bit of scrapbook tape to hold them in position while I stitched them down onto a larger piece of Kraft-Tex.
After assembling the flag, I added some velcro to the top, along with a fold so that it hangs nicely on the iron bar. A bone folder works great to give a nice solid crease. And the velcro makes it easy on-off. I’m thinking that I could make a number or these through the seasons…Fourth of July next.
Finally, I’m playing around with placement outside. I don’t have my annuals set up out there yet, so it’s a bit early. In the meantime, this is easy and gratifying stitching to get done for any season.
