Baby Bibs

I'm currently working on two baby bibs for lil man.  One is a Valentine's Day inspired creation of tattoo-like hearts inscribed with Mom and Dad.

The other is a nod to his UFC-loving Daddy - a skull with the words TAP OUT using Jenny Hart's Tattoo Alphabet .

I love them both separately but equally.

The Tap Out bib was relatively easy to transfer and stitch.  I've got some learning to do in stitching letters, but overall I'm happy with this design.  I'd love a smoother satin stitch, I think it will come with more practice and experience.  I've learned that one or two strands at a time make a much smoother satin stitch.

The Tattooed Hearts bib was much more trouble, but in the end is proving to be worth the pain.  I first tried to transfer the patterns manually.  Using Jenny Hart's Tattoo Your Towels patterns, I thought I could just cut and lay them out to create what I saw in my own mind's eye.  The result was not pretty.

But I was not to be discouraged.

I had previously scanned the transfers into pdf format before I began working with them.  I used Adobe Photoshop to arrange on the computer what I had dreamed up.

I was in love.

I then took some time to trace the design with colors, outlining my pattern and arranging a color scheme.

I printed the pattern, scaled it to the right size for the bib.  I bought some transfer paper and a hot iron transfer pencil.

I traced the pattern on the translucent paper, then flipped the paper over and used the hot iron transfer pencil to retrace the design on the back.

This worked okay, but the transfer was still not dark or clear.  The fabric is a very thick terry cloth material, so it is the best it's going to get, I believe.

The bibs are a very good, absorbent quality I bought at Toys-R-Us.  I stitched them with a full six strand, so that the floss did not get lost in the terry cloth, except for the lettering and satin stitches.  I used 2 strands for that.  The clothe was sometimes hard to poke the needle through, but overall I am happy with the bibs. 

I do like that I can now reuse this pattern over and over again.  All I need to do is retrace the design with the hot iron transfer pencils before reusing it for a new project.  I also like that I have scraps left from the paper I cut the pattern from to use for smaller designs.

I don't care for the red transfer which ends up being a light pink on the fabric as I work, but there was no black available.

I'm hoping to finish the hearts design tonight so that I can have it ready for lil man this weekend when we go make the trek to Minnesota.

Update:

And it's done.  Finished it last night around 10:30, washed, dried, snapped a quick pic this morning.

Works in Progress

Okay, long time no post.  I have some works in progress, though I haven't posted anything new in a while.

I finished the first sampler, and felt an inexplicable pride.  I was very happy with my color choices, and that I was able to learn the stitches and finish it in about one week.  It is not perfect, of course, but that's not what this is supposed to be about anyway.

It's about creating.  A creative outlet for me that I can do at home or carry anywhere else with me.  It's about adding that little something extra to our white kitchen towels.  It's about giving hand made gifts.

After that, I started on the second sampler, which I am very happy with.  I've learned a couple of new techniques.  Splitting the floss.  What a huge difference this can make in your stitches!  Blending floss.  Oh, how I love this effect.

Apparently, it is Very Important to get dark, uniform lines when transferring.  I thought at the time that it would be okay, even though they were slightly lighter, I thought I could make it work.  Except!  That now I can't see those little x-x-x's for the cross stitches, which I would just eyeball, but a) I'm not much for eyeballing things, and b) with the left side mirroring those same x-x-x's it will be obvious and ruin all my hard work and my beautiful sampler.  So, I've decided to put that aside until I can figure out a way to transfer the pattern directly over top of where the old transfer.  A light box would come in handy.  Hubs tried to help me transfer using or shoji lamp, but the fabric lampshade did not lend itself well.  We've derided to try it on a sunny day over a window with sunlight exposure.

Which left me with nothing to stitch.

*Sigh*

So, I got out some new towels.  And set out to make some new transfers.  I love each and every one of them.

The Eyes.

The Fan Dancer.

The Fairy.

Tweeny's bird cage and curious kitty.  She did not much care for her sampler.  But, I thought she may have more interest in her own design.  She did like the idea of stitching, but didn't get very far.

We also got some more floss colors specifically for our new towel transfers.  I hope I finish one of these WIPs at some point.  Otherwise, I'm just doomed to a life of *oh look!  something new and shiny to stich!*  Which will just not be the same.....