Lace Embroidery Anyone?

Last week I had another embroidery class. 

This time we are sewing LACE! 

I arrived to find out it was a small class with just me and one other lady and the instructor.  

We were told to pre-wind two to three bobbins with rayon embroidery thread in a color of our choice.  So I picked a bright blue and, of course, ran out of thread after winding my bobbins.  

The instructor helped me pick out a matching embroidery thread for our class and I had to get Wet n' Gone stabilizer (water solvable) too.

I didn't need any fabric for this particular lace design.

I chose a small butterfly as my first lace design to practice and also to make sure it was a "true" lace design.   

It is tiny...under 2 inches. 

For my second design I picked a triangle shape design..one that could be used as an insert on a v-shaped tee. 

It took over 60 minutes to stitch out.  

A lot of thread is used on lace designs. 

There is no fabric base, but I did use two layers of the stabilizer, rather the base is just stitches built upon each other to form the foundation.

I wasn't sure if I would like "lace" embroidery but I have to admit by the end of the class I did.  

The instructor had a book filled with all the different lace designs one could sew and lots of samples of ones she stitched up.

I particularly liked the lace designs that fit over Christmas ornaments (photo here).

  

The lace embroidery design turned out beautifully.  

I may use it as an insert on this little Disney Mickey sun dress that I have pinned together now. 

Once I tack it on the instructor said to wash the clothing article to get the rest of the stabilizer out of the lace design.  

It will help to soften it up so it's not too stiff.

I embroidered another little cosmetic bag for my shampoo girl.  

She admired my cosmetic bag last time I had my hair done and asked if she could buy one. 

So I decided to make one to give to her.  

I hope she likes it. 

Isn't this the cutest ruffled stool?

Wish I had a stool so I could sew one up.

Have a lovely weekend dear readers!  

Machine Embroidery Club

I've had two general classroom lessons on my new Janome Horizon Memory Craft 12000.  

This morning I went to my first monthly Embroidery Club meeting at my local sewing/vac store. 

There's a lot to drag to the club.  

Luckily the sewing machine has a wheeled case.  

There's a separate zippered and cushioned case for the embroidery arm.  

Then a zippered case that holds all the different size embroidery hoops.  

And finally a good sized tote to hold all the miscellaneous items (i.e., thread, needles, pins, thumb drive, attachments and accessories).  

During the summer months the club classes aren't structured so each member works on their own project. 

Not knowing this I didn't bring any fabric or stabilizer with me so I had to buy some muslim fabric and another roll of stabilizer.

  

My new turquoise tote bag, bought at a recent "31 Party", is perfect for storing and carrying all my miscellaneous sewing items to class. 

I decided to do a red work Christmas table runner as my project. 

So I worked on some Christmas red work designs.

 My thread kept breaking on the first three designs.  

I couldn't figure it out because I had a new needle and new bobbin in the machine.  

The instructor, Dianne, noticed my bobbin was in backwards.  Duh!  

I corrected that but still had thread breakage.  

Finally Dianne suggested changing the needle.  

I guess even new needles can be defective.

  

With that simple correction the fourth design stitched up beautifully.  

By then the three hour session was over and I packed up all my gear and texted Hubby to come and get me because I was hungry!

  

It was a fun class and I enjoyed walking around and talking to the other ladies and seeing what they were working on. 

Most of the women had Brother or Viking embroidery machines - no one had a Janome. 

Four designs so far.  

I don't know if I can do it, but I thought it would be neat to have one side of the table runner be Christmas designs in red work and the other side non-Christmas designs in blue work.  

Anyway that's my plan.

  

It was a good day to be indoors it reached a hot, humid high of 94 degrees today.  

The whole week will be in the middle to high 90's with no rain forecasted.  

Speaking of the weather, Hubby and I downloaded a new alarm/weather Disney app to our iPhones "Wake Up Disney" (price 99 cents) featuring the wonderful Donald Duck. 

It is so cute and if you have kids they will love it.  

Heck we love it!  

My Other Love...Sewing!

You all know how much I love to crochet but before I learned to crochet...

 sewing...

 was my hobby.

In Junior High I had an Home Ec course - my introduction to sewing.

I made a navy blue skirt.

 I don't remember if I used a sewing machine to make it.

I remember asking my Mom to hand sew the hem for me.

My Mom worked outside the home and the only sewing she did was mending.

So when did I learn to sew?

Of all places...college.  

Luckily my college room mates were sewers.

And great teachers too.  

However, I haven't done too much sewing the last decade. 

I never had any lessons with my original Janome New Home computized sewing machine - it was on-the-job training for me.

However, with the store where I recently purchased my new Janome Horizon Memory Craft 12000 nearby my home, I was able to sign up for some free sewing machine classes.

Last week I attended my first one.

We had an excellent teacher and made a cute little pouch using the buttonhole attachment and sewing the button on with the machine. 

This morning I had my second class.

This time we made this adorable little neon pocket purse using a twin needle and two embroidery threads and some decorative stitches.   

This was fun.

And we even put a zipper in the little purse.

The teacher said no one had ever picked out neon embroidery threads in yellow and orange before for this project.  

You know me...I love bright colors. 

I had forgotten how much I enjoy sewing.

I'm signed up to take a free embroidery class in the middle of May.

I'm really looking forward to learning how to embroider.  

I'm taking the little neon pocket purse with me to England.

Here's an overview video of my machine if you are interested in learning more about it: