4.03.2007

blueberries can dance?

Of course, they can. Especially when they take center stage on a tea towel! Last week I finished a custom order for one of my Blueberry Ballet tea towels. I started decorating and selling tea towels last year and sold out of the ones listed on my site. They take a while to make and I haven't had time to restock my supply so I usually do them as custom orders. This design is one of my favorites.




I start with a purchased towel and add coordinating fabric along the bottom edge—in this case a realistic blueberry print. And I slip in a row of blueberry-blue jumbo rickrack as I'm sewing the top edge—the bottom scallops catch in the stitching. You could sew it on top, too.

The blueberry motif is from a vintage Vogart iron-on transfer pattern that I got on Ebay several years ago. Lucky you—you don't have to go through the trouble of finding it. It's called Happy Fruits and you can buy copies at Patternbee. It's a cute design and there are others in the same set that feature all sorts of fruits, each with a funny saying if you want to include it with your finished design. The drunken pear ("Stewed Fruit") and the kissing apples ("Apple Sauce") are really too funny.

The embroidery goes quickly—it's mostly outline and straight stitch with a few lazy-daisy leaves and satin stitch eyes.



Really easy to do these yourself, but, if you don't feel like going to the trouble, I'll be happy to help you out. Unfortunately I can't promise a speedy turnaround at the moment as I'm getting kind of booked up for April. I'll probably write about some of my new projects here during the next couple of weeks. When you have a blog anything and everything becomes fair-game for a post.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I so love your towels!! Can you tell me where you purchase your towels? I ordered a few on the internet and now that I've received them they look like gauze and are not suitable for embroidery. What a great way to use the lovely rick rack.

Thank you so much for the stitching lessons. I am a crazy quilter and have learned most of the stitches from your tutorials.

You can email me at: jheinen10@frontiernet.net

Unknown said...

I absolutely love the blueberries! Where do you find the towels you embroider on? I have been looking for some plain linen ones but no luck yet.

Thanks for all your time with the embroidery lessons. I just discovered them and have been sitting at my computer with my hoop practicing each one!

Anonymous said...

Those are adorable! I am ordering the pattern right now. :) Thanks!

Sabine said...

One of the things I want to learn this year: embroidery!
I will return to your blog, very inspirational.

Sabine said...

One of the things I want to learn this year: embroidery!
I will return to your blog, very inspirational.