Chanel Parody Christmas Shirt - How to do a Simple Embroidery Machine Applique

So. . .I had this spare black long-sleeved shirt, and I was trying to think of something to do with it.

I got this idea the other day to do a Chanel parody but with a Christmas theme. 

So. . .Chanel just, like, within the past year, created a new fragrance called "Gabrielle" after it's namesake, Gabrielle Chanel (aka: Coco). Well, that got me started thinking about Gabriel the angel. . .

Then, I started thinking about how most historians believe that Jesus was born sometime between 5B.C. and 1A.D., so. . .I started thinking about the classic Chanel frangrance "Chanel No.5."

Okay, so. . .it's kind of a strange combination, granted, but. . .I kinda like it! It's nerdy, it's Christmas, it's Biblical, it's historical, and. . .it's fashion!

Okay, but this post isn't really about the parody itself. I just wanted to show you how to do an applique with your embroidery machine. They give you instructions online and on YouTube and stuff, but. . .I've discovered a few tricks that I wanted to share.

First of all, (and. . .sorry. . .I don't have pictures of this part. . .but) I chose a square shape, that was pre-loaded on my machine, and blew it up as large as it would go. Then, I ironed a piece of fusible interfacing onto the back of a piece of shiny white satin. Then, I put the fabric into my machine and embroidered a white square using a simple straight stitch. THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT! You may think you would want to embroider a black square on the white fabric, but I have learned that you get a better finish if you stick with thread the same color as the fabric. Anyway, keep this in mind, because it will make more sense later.

Okay, after I made the white square, I changed out my thread for black and carefully stitched out the words and numbers that I wanted. This part took a very long time because I am limited in my designs to what will fit in a 4"x4" square, plus, I had to embroider all the words and numbers separately. I had to eyeball where each word would go, and. . .actually, what you see above is my second attempt because the first time didn't work like I wanted. Very laborious. About two hours on this part.

If you are using a pre-made design as your applique, your process will go much faster!

Okay, so. . .then, I took my shirt and turned it inside out and measured the exact middle in two places and then drew a line connecting the two.

Then, I took a piece of tear-away stabilizer and folded in half.

Then, I placed the fold onto the line I drew.

Then, I ironed it in place.

I turned the shirt back right-side out and drew a line down the middle, the same way as before. Then, I took a ruler and held it from armpit to armpit and drew a line across.

Using these lines as guides, I centered the embroidery hoop over them.

Then, using BLACK thread, I stitched the same sized square on the black shirt. (Again, matching the thread to the fabric color is better! Why is it better? Because it makes everything look more professional.)

Then, I cut around the white square leaving about 2mm around the outside. Don't cut right on the line! If you cut too closely to the line or even over the line, you will make your fabric too small for the machine to pick up during the satin stitch step and you will have a gaping hole on the outer edge!

Next, I sprayed the back of the emblem with spray adhesive.

Then, taking the shirt out of the machine, but leaving the shirt in the hoop (really important! Don't unhoop your second square!!!), I matched up the two stitched squares and stuck the emblem on the shirt.

I put the whole thing back into the machine, chose the same sized square, only this time instead of choosing a simple stitch, I chose the thicker satin stitch.

The finished shirt.

Okay, close up like this, you can see why I chose white thread for the white fabric. If I'd chosen black for the original square, that line would have shown through the satin stitch. Also, keeping the satin stitch white helped just in case some of the white fabric decided to stick out from under the stitching. Remember when I did that "reverse applique"? Well, anyway, click that link I just gave you, because I want to show you something. . .Are you there yet?. . .Okay. . .so now scroll down to the second to the last picture. . .See how the red fabric is peeking through the white satin stitching around the circumference of the heart? If I had chosen red thread, you would not have noticed all that mess. So. . .let that be a lesson to you! Do your satin stitch in the same color as your TOP fabric if you want your project to look as professional as possible!

The End!

Tailoring - Quickest way to Tailor a Dress with a Side Zipper

Facebook has been showing me these seasonal dresses in my news feed lately.

And I love them.

They are so cute!

And so me!

Except one thing: I work for my church and even though most people have fun at Halloween, there are some people that don't particularly like jack-o-lanterns, ghosts, and witches. I am not one to go out of my way to offend people, so I just looked at them wistfully and thought I'd move on. . .

Until I saw this dress!

I mean. . .God made bats, right?

So I ordered it.

Only one problem, though. The smallest size they offered was XL. So. . .

It was way too big.

So. . .normally when I take a dress in, I go for the ol' side seam. However. . .

This dress has a side zipper.

There are two ways to fix this situation. The first one involves taking the zipper out, taking the dress in, and then putting the zipper back in.

No thank you. So. . .I did the second option: Take the already existing darts in even further!

Here you can see the dress--inside out--with the front darts pinned.

I pinched the darts up until I got to a "fading point." I put pins at that point.

Notice: I ONLY pinned the bodice. I left the skirt part alone.

I did the same to the back.

So here is the dress inside out and pinned.

Darts are annoying because you usually just have to sew from the bottom pin and eyeball your way up to the top pin. There is a really fool proof way to make sure that your darts are the same dimension. If you have a French curve and a chalk pencil, you can replicate the same shape on each dart. If you don't have a French curve, you can use a ruler in a pinch. . .but a French curve is better because your body is curved, whereas a ruler is straight. (If you don't have a tailor's pencil, use a regular pencil. It's on the wrong side of the fabric. Who's to know.) 

Then, all you have to do is sew along the line. Easy!

The finished dress. I didn't bother darting the skirt because it looks just as good without the darting, so why do more work?

Add a crinoline and you're done!

The End!

"Geek Chic" Embroidered T-Shirt

Some ladies on the Type Four DYT Facebook page and I were having a conversation about the next incarnation of Dr. Who being a female...

Anyways, this lead to a discussion of all things geekery, and thusly resulted in my being asked to make a "Geek Chic" shirt.

So I went home and looked through this DVD set of embroidery designs for glasses. I wanted the "E's" in the word to be wearing glasses. Since my machine is limited in space (4"x4") and since a lot of the patterns can only condense or grow in a margin of about 2mm either way, this is what I came up with. (I also have rectangular, round, and oval glasses as well.) It's not quite what I had in my head, but it's still cute, nonetheless.

This was a design for another lady.

I am currently charging $20 (which includes shipping and is based on what T-Shirts I can find in my small town!).

And yet another.

The End!!