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Moleskine Embroidery

No sewing machines were harmed in the making of this journal. In my continuing effort to break a needle my machine remains unfazed.  Since this machine can embroider canvas and other thick fabrics, I thought I’d give it a go.  Other than a few tension problems, it worked out pretty well.  And I really like the textural quality of the embroidery.  I was inspired by all of the great moleskine journals on Etsy and this needlepoint sketchbook kit, available at purl.

I may try some appliqué next.  I think these journals embroidered with little animals would make nice gifts for new mothers.  It’s nice to have a place to write down all of the precious things your baby does.

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Etsy Finds Friday

It’s all about journals today.  If you’re not familiar with moleskine notebooks, they are made in Italy and apparently pronounced mol-a-skeen’-a (though I fear sounding like a museum curator or Alex Trebek using this pronunciation).  But they are a good size and handy to have around.  Pictured above is a selection of some nice journals that I found on Etsy, mostly Moleskine cahiers, which can be found (unembellished) here.  And here‘s a pretty cool exhibit of some artists’ moleskine notebooks.

New York notebook from bombus, $11.

Renaissance Moleskine Pocket Notebook, $10 from Juniper Berry Design.

Orange Bicycle Notebook with Cover from Randl + Slow Loris, $28.

Goliath Moleskine, $9.50 from LullaLoo.

Gocco Printed Notebook from danita.art, $16.

Embroidered PBR Journal, $12 from Nowvember.

Golden Girl, $7 from cutiepie company.

Sunflowers Gocco Printed Notebook from goshdarnknit, $12.

Large Journal Jacket, on sale! for $10 from Keyka Lou.

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Back to School Tee

Many of you will have kids headed back to school soon (here in Georgia, school begins next week). So here’s a quick appliqué project. I think it would be cute with a matching skirt or pants.

Supplies:

  • cotton tee
  • fabric scrap
  • lightweight interfacing (optional)
  • wool felt (approximately 4″ x 4″)
  • thread

Step #1: Wash and dry felt square. It will shrink considerably.

Step #2: Cut out fabric and interfacing according to back-to-school-tee-template. Iron on interfacing to the back of the apple shape.

Step #3: Pin apple to center of shirt and sew a zig-zag stitch around the edge.

Step #4: Cut out leaf shape from felt. Pin onto shirt and sew around edges, then through center.

Step #5: Sew a quick stem. Done!

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Fake Smocking

I didn’t make this dress, but I took a plain white linen dress and added the embroidered ribbon and stitching. I stitched around the hem and liked the puckered look it was creating, so I decided to run the decorative stitch in rows along the bodice. It turned out to be a very sweet look, I think.

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Pippi Longstocking

Sometimes I select books just for the cover art. I just bought a couple of new chapter books for the girls for that very reason. I love the artwork by Charlie & Lola artist Lauren Child for this updated version of the classic Pippi Longstocking by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren.

And My Father’s Dragon, by Ruth Stiles Gannett and illustrated by Ruth Chrisman Gannett, has such beautiful cover artwork (although sadly the inside illustrations are in black and white). Looks like a good story, so we’ll see if looks or substance wins.