www.LaurasSewingStudio.com

November 20, 2006

FREE COLLECTION WITH ORDERS

I did a little housekeeping in our production room and found some of our original inventory from back when we were only using jewel cases. So from today until January 1, 2007 we are giving away the Christmas 4x4 Collection with orders over $50.US while supplies last.

CLOSEOUT SALE Continues
2-4-6-8 Pocket Bag Booklet with  Pattern
By Rebecca Brent Kemp
50% off while supplies last

Gift Projects

Looking for a quick and easy way to make an original gift for someone special this season? One of my projects is a Pieced Fleece Blanket. This is the easiest ‘quilting’ you could ever do. Fleece doesn’t ravel and is stable enough to easily sew 2 raw edges together into any design you choose. Instructions for how to make the fringe is included.

Here are 2 more quilt patterns that would sew together fast using this technique. These 2 quilts are the same layout as the attic windows shown above. Use those same directions for the sashing, borders, and fringe.

Featured Project

For the next few weeks I will be featuring a NEW project made using the techniques and designs from my TOUCH OF NATURE book.

This is the second week in a series featuring this project

TOUCH OF NATURE: Textured Applique Machine Embroidery Techniques & Designs has been well received and I want to thank all of you who bought the book.  Of course, I could only touch on the potential of this art and still be able to get the book into print.  Therefore, for the next few issues of this newsletter, I would like to show you more versatility of the “Touch of Nature” concept.

All of the projects in TOUCH OF NATURE are embroidered as patches. In fact, all of the applique designs included on the CD in the back of the book can be made as patches. What does this mean?

It means when you hoop fabric to sew the designs you don't worry about design placement.  Just sew the design. Once the patch is made, you audition them onto your project, playing with the arrangement until you are happy with the placement.  Pin them on the project. Sew them on. It doesn't get any easier than that!

Use the applique designs included on the CD or use ones you already own.

In your book, look under “Applique Patches”. These instructions tell you how to make patches with appliques and what type of applique designs are appropriate for the “patch” technique. 

Featured Project

This is a simple purchased cotton knit top from Lands End.
 I made some organza and satin patches with fringe and a few fringe puff patches and stitched them onto the top.

One of the best things about making patches is being able to audition them onto a garment before commiting to their placement. Also if one of them gets damaged or the top get damaged, the patches can be replaced or removed and used on another project.

Rummaging through my fabric stash, I found colors that I like with the brown top - aqua, beige, gold, and brown organza and satin.  Next, I matched up some threads. I picked colors to compliment the fabrics and found some great multi colored threads.

In your copy of Touch of Nature, look in Appendix A at the pictures of the embroidery designs included on the CD. Notice the instructions for each design include what each color stop sews.  Keep your book open to these pages, so you will know what sews next.  In this series we’re going to do some mixing and matching of the designs and their parts.

For this project I made several patches and fringe puffs in various fabric/thread combinations.

After they were all made I auditioned them onto my top to determine how best to place them.

This week’s featured patch

These patches are made using the same design. All are made with an organza.

Follow the directions in Appendix A for sewing this design in the colors of your choice or use my variations

Hoop 2 layers of organza.

Following the directions in Appendix A sew only the background applique without adding any additional applique fabric. Sew with the colors of your choice. I used contrasting colors for the blanket stitch edge.

Now the patches are ready as shown above and can be sewn onto the project.

Optional: Add a free standing fringe puff to the center. See “Fringe Puffs - Free Standing Fringe Puffs” in the book to make these.

Shown sewn on with a free standing fringe puff added to the center

I attached this patch to the garment by sewing it on by hand with a few  bar tacks.

Hint: you can also try gathering the center of the appliques used in the periwinkle dot top using the background or center appliques.

Although I have used these patches on a knit top, they can be used on purses, skirts, jeans, etc - anywhere you want to add a little flair.

Next week I’ll feature another patch variation from this project

Albert’s Cubicle

Getting Email Attachments in a SPAM Littered World

A few folks have written Laura in the past weeks asking about why they haven't gotten the embroidery designs as attachments to their emails.  Almost all have stated that they've followed the directions on Laura's Complementary Designs page. Still, some of you are getting the emails directing you to this newsletter, but not the embroidery design attachments that are sometimes included.  If you're one of these people, there are still a few things you can try.

 Some Internet Service Providers (ISP) will block email file attachments that either fall into a known suspicious or an unknown category, in an effort to protect their customers and themselves from malicious hackers. In the PC world, the former category includes files with extension such as bat, com, exe, vbs, doc, xls, and ppt, to name just a few. By the nature of their file extension it's more economical for an ISP to disallowed and removed them emails than to scan each one for known virus profiles .  In the later category, binary files such as embroidery designs, that are not readily recognized can be disallowed and removed simply because they are different. Unfortunately, in the latter case, it's been proven that you can't even trust some know file formats such as the security that was made public  some month ago with IE and JPG files.

Still, there is somethings that you can try. You might try adding the Laura (Laura@LaurasSewingStudio.com) to your email address book.  If you use a web browser based email account like Yahoo!, MSN, or Hotmail, adding the email address to your address book will sometimes resolve the issue of receiving the attachments. Of course, not everyone uses the same email program, so if you not certain how to add someone your address book, Continental Airlines has put together a nice tutorial on how to do so on many of the favored email programs.