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Category Archives: Embroidery

Cloth Diaper #2

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We are expecting the arrival of a new baby boy cousin. And of course, my hands are working hard crafting baby gifts.

I like cloth diapers. I like especially because I used many, as I always found them helpful and with the versatility needed to facilitate my mother routine with a newborn.

Cloth diapers also have a special meaning for me because they were the first things I sewed and embroidered without being in cross stitch. Cloth diapers taught me other embroidery stitches and made me want to learn other things, and it was a challenge to sew the first bias in this cloth diapers! They were a great school for me 🙂

So when there are new babies coming, as a rule, I like to offer cloth diapers.

However, this cloth diaper is larger than the usual, it looks almost like a small blanket so it called for something more elaborate than I normally do.

The car is one of my appliqque designs and it’s available in my store. I chose to sew it by hand, because my studio is still a work in progress and my sewing machines don’t have a place to stay yet!

I chose a heavy border to give it a blanket look rather than a normal cloth diaper. As this cloth diaper is bigger than normal it’s grat to use as a summer blanket: fresh and light but super cozy!

The crochet stitch I used was the pom-pom stitch and while it is very easy to make it’s time consuming. It also consumes a lot of wool! A whole 50gr ball of yarn. If I had 20cm left over it was too much! But it is very cute and gives a different and original finish to the project.

And it’s a good light blanket and it sure is unique! There’s nothing like a handmade gift!

Cloth Diaper

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It has been a while since the last time I made a cloth diaper! This cloth diapers are used in Portugal as a burp cloth, they are made of a special cotton fabric almost like a gaze fabric or in a cotton knit when they are meant to be used as a simple cover for the baby stroller. The last ones I made where for Teresa and ended up using the same ones with Sofia!

This one was a special request and a great challenge! I was asked to make the decoration of the diaper that already had legs on it. At first the idea seemed delicious but turns out it was difficult for me to find a motive that seemed reasonable to me and that I could see working out great here. I do not know why but I don’t like painted cloth diapers, and I even like less those country patterns I see in most of the painted cloth diapers. Not my style nor my line of work so it occurred to me to make an application. Much more my style!

But it was not easy to decide especially because boys are not my thing and I had to get out of my comfort zone.

And so a nice and friendly elephant was born!

Task sucessfully completed!

Fabric Applique

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Today I want to share with you a simple, fast and easy way to turn a simple thing into a lot more! Have I mentioned that is simple? And easy? And fast?

So here it is:

Grab a simple piece of cloth, like a plain t-shirt in any color you want. You can also use long-sleeved sweaters, jackets, jeans, skirts … Anything you want.
Choose any motif you want and the size.
Applique the motif in your garment.
It is as easy and fast as this, and the best is that you cease to have a simple piece of clothing to have one of the favorite pieces of clothing of your children. You can see Teresa proudly wearing her cake T-shirt, as she calls it. This T-shirt is now one of her favorites and is certainly one of the cheapest!

These applique are very useful and I have been making them since I started sewing. It’s great because you can buy plain sweaters cheaper than the printed ones and decorate them with any design that your kids choose .

Applique is also a exelente way to hide those stains that will no longer disapear or mending clothes .

Of course you can also use this method to make applique in your own clothes, just choose the fabrics and the motif that works for you.

Well… but this is done with a XPTO sewing machine and I have a XPTO_less_100 sewing machine that its no good for this. Nope, you can do this, just like you see here, in your sewing machine as long as it has zig – zag stitch, and most machines do! So do not fear you can not do it on your machine because with my directions you will do it as well or even better than me!

Well… but this is for those who have a sewing machine and I don’t so it’s no good for me as I can’t make it. Truth but I provide you an alternative by sewing it by hand. Which is more or less the same thing but hand-stitched. And no, it doesn’t take more time and yes, it’s that easy, and results in the same way. And it has the same charm.

So how do I make this? Good question! To make these applique you need:

My new tutorial “Applique in Fabric”. If you’re a a subscriber you already have it free on your mail box. If you’re not you can buy it here:

[cryout-button-light url=”http://shop.meiasmarias.com/produto/fabric-applique-tutorial-english-instructions-pdf”]Applique Tutorial[/cryout-button-light]

A piece of clothing of your choice.
A motif to apply and materials suggested in the tutorial. Alternatively you can buy the applique kits in Store, all pieces cut and ready to be sewn, and kits are available in different sizes.
And what about those shiny things you added to your applique? My tutorial will also show you how to sew them on your garments!

Now you just have to get to work and transform your simple piece into something more!

Feel free to leave a comment on the comment box above and share your projects made from this tutorial!

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