New Product Review: StitchNerd Adjustable Ring PinCushion

I am SOO excited to share this fantastic and adorable little pincushion ring from Sonia at StitchNerd.  Stitchnerd held a give-away on her blog for the pincushion ring pictured.  I became the lucky recipient and decided to do a small review so other sewistas may learn about this useful and cute accessory.

A bit about Sonia:  She has an obsession and fascination for vintage sewing machines - especially colorful ones.  Visit her blog to see all (22!!) of her sewing machines.  Let us pause for a moment and be in awe.  If you ever need a review on an older machine, she should be the first place you go to.  She has a post about how to clean one and will have a review on each of her machines.  Also, she sells pressing hams and other sewing supplies in her Etsy shop and on Ebay.  Her fabric choices are not run of the mill - very unique, fun, and hip.  Great person with a lot of talent and cool sewing machines.  And no, she won't sell one to you, so don't try.  She's also on Facebook! 

Anyway, on to the ring!  First off, the ring is beautiful.  The colors are muted sage, yellow, and one stripe of pastel orange.  The white flower button adds the perfect cute touch.  The best part? It's actually useful!  See the pins?  Usually there are 30 in there when I'm sewing my lovey blankets (exact number of pins that I use lol). 

Are you worried about the pins hitting your finger?  Don't be!  The bottom of the pin cushion is a super thick suede-ish leathery stuff (I don't think that's the correct term, but I haven't been pricked yet and that's the important part - Sonia, correct me).  The actual ring is adjustable, but I have the universal size 7 finger so I haven't needed to adjust it yet.  I don't use it much when I'm actually on the sewing machine because I'm so hands on with  my fabric.  I do keep it close by to put the pins in as I take them out of the blankets.  It came in a little pink box - perfect for a gift-giving to a seamstress friend or yourself!

Sonia, thanks so much for the gorgeous ring and I'm sorry it took me so long to post this.  Sonia is a dear and you will not disappointed when you purchase from her!  BTW, my mom is getting one of these for Christmas.

Tutorial: How to Embroider on Minky Fabric

Minky is a gorgeous fabric.  It's texture is like silk with a gentle heaviness that provides comfort and warmth.  I love working with this stuff.  It's not the most compliant fabric with which to work, but if you do everything right, the end results are fantastic. 

When I decided I wanted to make blankets with minky and satin and sell the products on-line, I did a lot of research on how to make the blankets and what would make them sell.  Personalization was the key.  However, a good embroidery machine costs significantly more than what I wanted to spend or could afford in the beginning.  QVC was a fantastic relief in this case, because they have a payment plan option.  I bought a Brother PE-770 embroidery machine with a 5x7 hoop.  I decided on this one because one, I can transfer embroidery files from my computer with a USB stick, and two, it did not have a single negative review on any site that I looked at.  I trust the reviews of people that have bought the machine and used it.  In this case, it worked out very well.  I made 5 payments and surprisingly, it has already paid for itself. 

Before I bought the embroidery machine, I also researched the best materials for embroidering on minky.  I found some helpful sites that explained uses for each stabilizer, but nothing specific for minky.  So, here's my tutorial.

There are two types of stabilizer to use on minky.  First is the wash away stabilizer.  Joann sells Sulky in a 9 ft roll for around $17 on-line (http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/productdetail.jsp?pageName=search&flag=true&PRODID=prd37977 ). Wait until they have a 40% off coupon or google 'Joann Fabrics Coupons' to see available coupons.  Hobby Lobby also has it and they have a 40% off coupon every other week.  Stock up!!  Another source is from Threadart.com.  They sell nearly the exact same thing for $1.29 per yard and it is twice as wide as the sulky stabilizer from Joann's.  This is their link: http://www.threadart.com/shop/category.aspx?catid=24  I buy from ThreadArt because they offer great shipping prices; I buy a lot of their supplies in bulk so I get a small discount.

Wash away stabilizer prevents the minky fur from showing through the embroidery thread.  It's a necessary supply if you will be embroidering on minky.  Like the name suggests, the stabilizer will dissolve in cold water.  You can either wash the fabric after the embroidery is done or you can soak the design with a damp wash cloth.  It will not dissolve from the humidity in the air, but keep it in a plastic bag or the original packaging tube to be sure.  I'm a Klutz and yes I spill water on my work space.  The plastic bag is from experience!

The second stabilizer will be tear away stabilizer.  Again, I buy this from ThreadArt because they offer a 100 yd roll for $30.  It ends up costing me about $0.17 of tear away stabilizer for each design I do.  I purchased my 100 yd roll two months ago and will need another one soon!  I go through a lot!!!    http://www.threadart.com/shop/category.aspx?catid=17

I've found that the regular tear-away is sufficient for my needs.   There are different weights of stabilizer (heavy, medium, and light) and more of each type of stabilizer.  I've heard a lot of talk about self-adhesive stabilizer.  The best thing about this is being able to only hoop the stabilizer and then sticking a hard fabric (like a tote bag, super slippery material, or one that suffers from 'hoop burn') on top.  In short, you don't have to hoop a difficult fabric.  It's worth looking into, but once you get used to hooping minky, it's not difficult at all. 

BTW, hoop burn occurs with certain types of fabrics like oil cloth and others.  After you unhoop a fabric, the hoop impression may still be there and will not wash out.  It permanently alters the shape of the fabric.  Minky is not one of these fabrics, but test out a swatch of other materials before you do a finished piece.  Better safe than sorry!

Another great thing that you'll really want is temporary spray adhesive.  DO NOT GET PERMANENT!! BAAAAD idea!  :0)  I get mine from Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon and stock up.  ( http://shop.hobbylobby.com/products/temporary-spray-adhesive-483586/) I can't find it any cheaper on-line, or if I do, the shipping cost negates the savings.  Again, I use Sulky, but I have not tried anything else although they are available.  I don't have much time nowadays to test new products like that because I am always doing a customer's blanket.  When I get time, I will update and put how these work.

As for thread, ThreadArt has the best deals.  I use the 40 wt thread and have not had a single problem with the quality or thread breakage.  Brothers are notorious for tension issues and I have had the same with my PE770.  To use both the smaller (1000M) and larger spools (5000M), my husband made this awesome contraption.  You can also buy one - google external universal thread holder and you should find one.  EBay has quite a few as well.  Here's a photo of the ingenius, but oh-so-handy thread holder.

Dont make fun of my messy sewing space.  I've cleaned it up since then.  A little bit.
JoAnn has coats and Clark polyester embroidery thread, but is nearly three times as expensive as ThreadArt's!!  The selection of colors for CandC is not as a broad and the engineering design of the bobbin is poor.  Madeira Polyneon from Fabric.com is top-notch, but slightly pricey.  Completely worth it!  Bobbin thread can be purchased in either the color of your thread or in black or white.  My bobbin thread is never seen so I choose white in the 5000M spools.  You'll need the contraption for this. 
Okay, so in conclusion, these are the supplies that we need:

Bobbin Thread
Tear Away Stabilizer
Temporary Spray Adhesive
Compatible Hoop for Machine
Wash Away Stabilizer
Polyester Embroidery Thread

Now let's embroider on some minky!
*A handy tip:  Put the hoop together without fabric and just tighten it.  Take the non-adjustable (inner) ring out and loosen the outer ring about 6-7 turns.  This will give you a good starting point for the minky and stabilizers.

First: Lay your minky fabric out without stretching it.  I put it on carpet so it doesn't slip. 
Second: Slide your hoop underneath the minky fabric exactly where you want your design to be.
Third: Lift your minky back away from the hoop.  Don't move the fabric or the hoop from the process.
Fourth:  Cut a piece of tear away stabilizer slightly larger than your bottom hoop if you're not using spray adhesive.  You can cut it slightly smaller or the same if you are using the spray.
Fifth *optional*: Spray the adhesive onto the stabilizer. 
Sixth: Fold your minky back onto the hoop and stabilizer.  Don't move the hoop and don't stretch out the minky in the process.  Make sure it has no wrinkles or bumps over the hoop area.
Seventh:  Cut a piece of wash away stabilizer slightly larger than your hoop area. 
Eigth:  Put the wash away stabilizer (doesn't matter which side faces up) onto the hoop area on top of the minky.
Ninth:  This is the hardest part!  Push the smaller non-adjustable ring of the hoop into the larger adjustable ring.  Keep everything on the floor and push the hoops together.  Try your best not to move the minky and to keep everything taut during this time.  Once the inner ring is inside of the outer ring and your fabric is nice and tight (doesn't have to be like a drum head, but if you can move it more than an 1/8 inch, re-hoop), tighten the screw to the outer hoop. 
You may not get it perfect the first time, but keep doing it and you will.  Here are some pictures to show you what it looks like after being hooped.

The wash away stabilizer:

The tear away stabilizer:

Tear away with temporary spray adhesive:

Brother PE-770 in action:

Tip: Hoop your fabric so the bulk of the material will hang over the moving part of the embroidery machine.  Obviously I didn't do that in this sample, but I learned that I should have and it would have made it easier. 

There you go!  Please let me know if I need to add anything!

Reflection: Where did the time go?

This month has been finished in almost an instant.  With record sales and record hours of staying awake, I'm a bit more than exhausted.  It's funny how this venture started out as a small hobby and has become a second job, one that has been needed in order to maintain our current lifestyle (ie, pay the mortgage and cars and babysitters).  Last night, we went out for ice cream and we didn't care that the kids didn't finish their cones or that I didn't feel like finishing mine either.  We had that small but significant luxury that we haven't been able to enjoy in quite some time. 

My customers have been so incredibly awesome and the feedback and messages I receive that tell me how they love the blankets...beyond incredible - it makes the hard work and long hours totally worth it.  I get to do something that I love every night (instead of doing the laundry...so what if I'm six loads behind?) and people respect and want my work. The best parts of the job outweigh the worse parts, and that's what counts.

The worse parts - lack of time with my husband and lack of sleep - aren't all that horrible.  My husband has learned that we can still spend time together if he watches TV while I sew in the same room, or helps me cut, or makes me something handy that I need to make sewing easier.  No, he hasn't replaced me in the housework aspect (I'm just too good at that people) but I schedule nights off early from blanket-making in order to get some stuff done around the house.  And the sleep?  I used to be in college.  Coca-cola and coffee are my new best friends...again.  And I get to drink a little amaretto sour before I go to bed to help shut off my brain.  See?  Lack of sleep isn't all that bad! 

In all seriousness, I love what I'm doing.  I love my chemistry day job and I love my sewing job.  I stay out of my nook when I am with the kids; since the blankets have gotten busier, I make sure I am completely with them when I am with them (that makes sense, right?).  The few hours that we spend together are pretty awesome, even if they do drive me nuts.  Time is precious and if the second job has taught me anything, it is to enjoy everything that I have time to do. 

And I don't enjoy laundry, but I need pants for work. 

What have been your accomplishments this month?

There are NEVER Enough Pillows

My girlfriend found these awesome pillow cases on Etsy.  She loved them...except for the price.  They were incredibly expensive ($50 for two cases!) and not to mention the $12 in shipping.  So, she turned to her friend that can sew anything...me!  And since she used to watch my son three days a week for free, I thought I could return the favor and make her some awesome pillow cases that were machine washable, kid-friendly, and free. Always a plus, right? 

I used orange satin circles in varying sizes and heat sealed (I burned them with a tea light!) them so that they wouldn't fray to create the flower.  Tip: All synthetic materials can be burned so that they don't fray.  I prefer serging if the edges won't be seen, but burning gives a great edge effect and rolls the satin slightly inward.  The more you burn, the more it rolls.  I'll put up a tutorial on how to make the satin flower (I can't explain without pictures...it just doesn't seem to do the ease justice!).  The middle is a coordinating button with the colors of the pillow fabric. 

The fabric is an outdoor fabric that I got at JoAnn's.  Although it says it should be dry-cleaned, it can be put into the washer on gentle or hand-washed.  I put it in with my blankets to wash. 

I also used this awesome tutorial from Cottage Magpie, although I didn't use the ruffles on the outside, for the actual casing. 

Here are the finished results.  I'm making some of my own to match my furniture, so I'll get a pic of what they looked like stuffed.  And the envelope enclosure on the back. 

The Truth Shall Set You Free

Oi, I'm going to go ahead and confess...I don't know how to do everything sewing related.  I had to Google last Wednesday what a French seam is.  Turns out I was doing it anyway (yay for luck) on a lot of the kids clothes and curtains.  The hardest thing that I just figured out TODAY?  Mitered edges on a baby blanket. 

Yes, I make a satin trim for my baby blankets.  I add about an extra 1.5 to 2.5 inches (depending on the size of the blanket; smaller for the lovey, larger for the stroller) and 'roll' it over.  I had the hardest time figuring out how to make perfect 45 degree angles for each corner.  I decided to roll it under and sew it.  I really liked the result because I could add some contrasting color from the stitches.  But how to make the all-mighty invisible mitered corner? 

Today, I found the link and the light bulb went off.  It was a beautiful moment.

Here's the link. 

And it was so simple. 

Mitered corners are at my fingertips.  I am going to miter everything. 

A Sneak Peak: New Pouches

After I had my first kid, I realized how hard it was to be an organized, forget fashionable, mom.  My diaper bag was a cheap black sling that held next to nothing and I could NEVER find anything.  I remember packing like eight diapers, but when it came time to change him I could not find one.  And the bag was small!  Finally, I found a really cute last season Vera Bradley make-up bag to put a couple of diapers in.  That was great for awhile until I had another kid and voila! I had TWO kids in diapers. 

This bag has gone through many stages, from being solely a pouch with no padding, to padding, to padding and stabilizer, to the end product: decorated, fashion-forward padding pouch that hold quite a few diapers and a wipes case.  And it's cute. 

Feast your eyes:

Each has a sewn-in hook and loop fastener (Velcro) to keep it secure.  A cute ribbon or pom adorn each flap to give it some needed flair.  I made my own buttons on some (so easy...note to put method in blog post) and added some coordinating or contrasting ribbon to make it really pop.  Overall, very roomy.  I stuff four diapers and a wipes case in there and it closes like a charm.  When I travel, my Kindle goes into it.  I don't know if it fits an iPad** as I don't have one and have yet to make a template for one, but it would not be hard to slightly adjust the pouch to fit an iPad. 

For my next go-round of the pouch, I'd like to add a diaper changing mat and a handle on top (or wrist strap!). 

There you have it!  I'll have a post up on how to make these.  Extremely simple!

-M

**Revised:  It DOES fit an iPad.  Yay!!!

I'm here! Love me!

I'm Megan.  I make super soft minky and satin blankets.  I also make pillowcases, seat covers, curtains, backpacks, totes, diaper pouches, sheets...pretty much anything that involves fabric and can be run through a sewing machine.  I HATE to hand-sew, but I'll do it.  Currently, sewing is not my full-time job, and it's not for a few reasons.  One, sewing doesn't make a lot of money (for me, anyway) and two, I really like what I'm doing in my day job.  Right now, as good ol' Hannah Montana put it, 'I've got the best of both worlds.'  Sorry for those of you that puked.

Ahem. 

My two kiddos LOVE my blankets and are the largest connoisseurs of such.  I made them satin pillow cases and they FREAKED.  So did my god daughter.  They make my heart melt and they are the reason I keep doing what I do. 

I sell some of my stuff on Etsy, mainly blankets.  You can check that stuff out when you click here.

For this blog, I'd like to share some simple tips on how to make the things that I do, because as complex and difficult as they look (that was sarcasm, people; you'll be seeing a lot of it), they really are very simple.  I'll be showcasing my items and letting you know where I'll be at craft shows.  My craft show items are at a discount because Etsy and PayPal take quite a few fees from me, not to mention shipping.  Let me know if you'd like to buy something from there and we'll figure something out. 

So, for my first act, please use the following coupon code for 10% off your purchase:  10offnow  (It's best to copy and paste).

Thanks!