slightly torrid

That's a quote from "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House", one of my favorite movies ever. Myrna Loy plays wife to ad man Cary Grant and when they finally move into that dream house, their daughter accidentally discovers her mother's diary from college in one of the boxes. She reads it and declares it "slightly torrid." The movie is full of funny lines in the style of dry humor that I particularly like, but you can rent it and see for yourself.

The point of this is that "slightly torrid" is a good way to describe a new embroidery pattern that I've just listed. The originals are a set of pillowcases from the early 1960s with ready-for-bed kitties perched on crescent moons surrounded by stars to depict the night sky.



The male, dressed in a night shirt and cap, holds a candle and the word "Able" is spelled out above his head. The female, looking very come-hither in an off-the-shoulder nightgown, rose, and cigarette holder has the word "Willing". Cute and silly and just a little risque—at least it was at that time.



I've wanted to trace this pattern for years but I only had the female pillowcase. I made a pillow from it and foolishly didn't make a scan of the piece before embroidering it. Then I found the male pillowcase but it was poorly embroidered. I can sometimes trace a pattern from a finished piece but it's more difficult. I started but wasn't happy with how it was coming along.



Last month I found the complete set—not yet started and with the original printed instructions. Yay! So here they are. The pattern, called Bedtime Cats, is available as a PDF or printed pattern. Also just listed is Lovely Lilacs, a pattern with a selection of lilac sprays for use on towels and a tablecloth/napkin set.

I'll make pillows again from the originals and now you can, too. Won't they look great in a vintage-style bedroom?

hen party

Speaking of birds, I recently listed a new embroidery pattern on my website. Called Gossip Girls, it's a design taken from a vintage stamped-for-embroidery clothespin apron, and it features two hens—one in a polka dot bonnet, the other in an apron—gossiping over a fence. Such a cute design and one I hadn't seen before. Eventually I'll get to embroidering the original apron (found on Ebay) but I traced the pattern right away!



I've also added the option of purchasing my patterns as PDFs instead of printed copies. It's always been a problem for international customers to order patterns because the shipping can be outrageously high—often more than the pattern itself. It also solves the problem of being able to use the patterns over again—you can just print out a new copy. All you need to view and print the files is Adobe Acrobat Reader and you can download it for free here if you don't already have it on your computer.

Being able to offer PDF patterns also solves a huge problem for me, one that's prevented me from selling some of the larger designs. I'm only able to print 8 1/2 x 11 sheets on my printer and some patterns are larger than that (this new chicken one, for example, is 8.5" x 12"). For my own use I can print them in sections and tape them together but I can't sell and ship them like that. The customer, having the pdf in hand, can print out a new copy whenever she needs it. And with the option of printing the designs larger or smaller, depending on your project.

So, look for more larger designs soon. In the meantime check out the other great patterns I have for sale. If you like chickens, you'll love #VP103 Poultry Diner!

a cottage of your very own

A couple of weeks ago, Susan showed some very cool embroidered pictures of cottages on her T-Cozy blog. Knowing that I sell copies of vintage patterns on my website, she emailed to ask if I knew anyone who could take her original picture and make a pattern from it. It was a challenging picture to trace (lots of tiny leaves and flowers) but I told her I'd do it. Yes, it's possible to digitally trace original embroidery but it's not magic—you still have to do all the tracing. It's just done with a mouse instead of a writing instrument and a steady hand and graphic design background doesn't hurt either.

The pattern is now for sale and you can head over to her latest blog post for ordering information. It's a really a cool pattern, and not just because I had a hand in it's creation. Everyone loves a sweet little cottage surrounded by flowers, even if they don't really live in one themselves.

A beginning embroiderer may want to practice up on their stitches—about half of the design is cross stitch (that's easy) but the rest uses a variety of other stitches—like chain, outline, French knot, and lazy daisy. If you need help with those, check out my Stitch School posts listed to the right in the sidebar. And, like my patterns, you'll need to transfer the design to your own fabric.

Someone emailed me recently asking if I'd do a tutorial on transfering patterns. I didn't think it was that complicated as I just lay the pattern on a lightbox with the fabric on top and trace over the lines with an air-soluable marker. But, that only works if your fabric can be seen through. I recently bought some flannel-backed baby burp cloths that I thought would be cute with a bit of embroidery in the corners. I set up the lightbox and (oh, no!), you can't see through the layers of fabric. There is another way to do it involving a transfer pencil, so maybe a tutorial would be a good idea after all.

I'll add it to the list. Next up for Stitch School is a post about attaching beads and sequins (or other small objects) because sometimes you just need a little extra bling! I'll try to get that posted next week if the weather cooperates for picture-taking. They weren't kidding about those April showers—it's rained every day since the beginning of the month!

new embroidery patterns

I've listed some new patterns on my website—


For you cat lovers there's Kitten Capers based on a vintage nursery quilt. This pattern comes with a copy of the original directions for making the quilt although you certainly don't have to—the blocks would make really cute pillows, too!

And a fun pattern of animals in hats that I'm calling Party Animals, also based on a set of vintage quilt blocks—


Can you tell I like quilt blocks? A lot of my patterns are based on them, and I think I like them so much because they are the perfect size for pillows. That's certainly the reason I started buying them. And I always scanned and digitally-traced (my computer background helps with this part) each one to keep for my records anyway. Then I got the idea to share them.

I have lots more tracings in various stages of completion so look for more patterns soon. And I may at some point, start selling off some of the originals. It's getting so that, even if I embroider every day for the rest of my life, I'll never get to them all. Yes, it's an addiction :)

Special offer for blog readers during the month of March—Buy 1 embroidery pattern, get 1 embroidery pattern free! I don't think there's a way to set up a code for this in my shopping cart so, when you check out, write the word BOGO in the comments section and tell me which pattern (equal or lesser value) you want for your free one.

you can never have too many strawberries

Seeing all those pillows again in my last post got me reminiscing about some of the linens I used to make them. The two pillows on the top shelf at the far right were made from a set of embroidered tea towels that I bought on Ebay. And they had some of the prettiest examples of cross stitch embroidery I've seen. The colors were bright and the stitching was perfectly done—and tiny, too. The finished pillows were only 14 inches square so that gives you an idea of the size. The towels had some stains that I couldn't get out so I didn't feel too bad about cutting them up.



I love anything with fruit—fabric, embroidery, buttons (and to eat, of course!) and anything I make with them (especially cherries and strawberries) seems to fly off my website. So, I guess I'm not the only one feels the way I do about them.



I wish I'd kept a closeup picture of the raspberries so you could see the stitch that was used. It's sort of an interlocked chain stitch that makes little round loops—the perfect thing for a berry. I'll see if I can find it somewhere in my embroidery books.

I did make a pattern of the strawberry design right before I sold the pillows. And you can download your very own copy here. (You'll need Acrobat Reader to open the file and be patient—it may take a while to open.) The pattern sheet also includes the border design of strawberries and leaves that ran along the bottom of the towel. I used that section across the back of the pillow. For some reason I didn't make a pattern from the raspberries (maybe because of that weird stitch that was used). I'll see what I can do using my photo as reference.

Have fun with this pattern, which is perfect for tea towels but makes a pretty cool pillow, too!

chickens

Vicki, of Pattern Bee and turkey feathers fame, has a picture up of the towels she embroidered using my diner chicken patterns. And I commented that I should show a picture of the pillow I did, forgetting that I already had shown the embroidery and fabrics in a previous post. Last August - yikes. I finished it some time during the winter. I often have pillows in various states of completion and it takes a while to finish them sometimes.

But I never followed up to show you the finished pillow.



This time, I stuck to my original plan and didn't make any changes to the design. The only thing I'd change now would be to make the outer borders (the chicken print) wider but the pillow is already 20x20 and the next standard size is 27x27—that's pretty big. I made this from the original stamped-for-embroidery towel and the design was set diagonally on the corner so I had to use it that way on the pillow, too. It took up more space than I would have liked.

You can find a tracing of this pattern (and a few others) for sale here. And don't forget to use coupon code STITCH SCHOOL when you check out for 25% off your pattern purchase. Good until the end of this month!

new patterns

A big thank you to everyone who's taken the embroidery poll I placed in the sidebar a couple of months ago—all 246 of you! I was trying to get a sense of what people are looking for and whether I needed to change my focus with my own patterns. Based on those results:

34% of you don't mind tracing your own patterns
33% have no preference
17% only purchase iron-on transfers
15% like to buy packaged kits with supplies included

and from the comments of my testers (thanks to you, too), I'm going to stick with my original plan. For now.

The patterns I'll be selling are ones that you'll have to trace yourself. After I investigate the feasibility of iron-on transfer patterns, I may switch to that option. It's the same amount of work for me but if it adds a lot to the cost of producing them —and thereby the purchase price—I may decide not to go in that direction.

Given that I'm a one-person operation working out of a spare bedroom in my home, it's very unlikely that I'll ever be able to offer things in kit form. Sorry to those of you who like that option.

So, without further ado, the patterns are up! Just six to start—with more on the way as I get time to package and list them on the website. The amount of sheets in each pattern varies, but each will arrive in a plastic zip-top sleeve with a basic stitch guide. Some patterns include a copy of the original manufacturer's directions (if they were included with the original project I purchased). And yes, these are all traced from stamped-for-embroidery projects in my collection—everything from tea towels to baby bibs—and designs that were never available as printed patterns!

As an extra thank you to my Stitch School "students" and blog readers, take 25% off your pattern order until the end of this month. Just enter the words STITCH SCHOOL when you check out and the discount will be applied. If you're planning to order more than one and will be paying with Paypal, I can send you an invoice with reduced shipping. If you're paying with a credit card I'll reduce the shipping for you when I process your card.