Back on the old horse

After some conversations with friends at work, I realized just how much I missed crafting.  I haven't really done much since my daughter was born in 2009, because, well, those babies tend to take up a lot of time.

So lately I've been scheduling more craft nights with gals from work, trips to the local paint bar, and now, finally, getting my Etsy page back up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/1stExpressions).

My first steps were to reactivate some old listings - photo manipulation, photo conversion to cross-stitch, and a sewing pattern.  Now I'm working on some new listings, and my first one is inspired by tattoos.  Introducing the Sugar Skull Girl pattern:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/238500244/sugar-skull-girl-cross-stitch-pattern

It's a great cross-stitch because it only uses a few colors, the lines are bold enough to handle being very small, but the style is simple enough to be done very large. 

Right now I'm working on making it myself on 11 gauge cloth, so it will come out rather big (about 9"x13").  I usually don't like putting up patterns until I've practiced it, but I was just so happy when I made the pattern that I wanted to share it right away.

So, to all you still out there in blogger land, let me know what you think of this new pattern.  Want to see more like it?

Cross-Stitch Pattern Process

I just finished working on 2 custom picture to cross-stitch patterns for a woman on Etsy, and I thought it would be fun to share the steps involved in the conversion.

The original photo

First off, this woman was great because she sent me high-resolution scans (300 dpi) of the old photos, which made it a lot easier to work with!

Cropping

She said she wanted her and her brother, plus the railing he was holding, but she didn't care about the rest of the background. So I started by cropping the photo down to the approximate final size. I did a few touch-ups with the color at this point to improve the skin tone. I've found that when converting to cross-stitch, skin tone becomes much darker than it appears on the computer screen. So I actually over-lightened it because I know it will come out better that way.

Touch Ups

I mentioned that I fixed some of the color. I also removed the scratches that were present in the original, like in the girl's hair and on the boy's leg. This takes a little bit of time in Photoshop, but I definitely wouldn't want those blemishes to make it through to the final piece.

Remove background
Again, the client didn't care about the background, so I cut out everything except for the two kids and a part of the railing. When the piece is stitched, she has the option of only stitching the colored parts, or stitching the entire background white (or any other color for that matter). I prefer the former method, but I like to leave that option for the client.

Pixelating
Before importing the picture into the cross-stitch software, I use Photoshop to get an idea of how it will look. I pixelate the image so that each inch is 14 pixels per side, which is the same as 14-count Aida cloth (as the client specified). The image is blurry, but overall looks good.

Convert to stitches
I import the picture into the cross-stitch software, which then re-does the pixelating that I did in the last step. Only the software takes it a step further: it matches the color value of each pixel to known embroidery thread colors. This is the crucial step that would take forever by hand. However, the downside of the software is it has a hard time with detail, so the faces can get blurry and odd-looking. Another downside is that small variation in color can become extreme when pixelated, so a person can end up with a spot of green on their cheek or purple in their hair. These have to be cleaned up by hand and that's the most time-consuming part of the project. I also check through the image to make sure that each floss color is being used wisely. For example, it is inefficient to have one stitch of dark blue in a sea of medium blue because then you have to make just that one stitch differently, but the visual result won't be any different if you did it all in medium blue (of course, detailed areas like faces are the exception - one spot of dark blue can be an eye and you don't want to lose one of them). Also I don't like to make the client work with colors that have fewer than 10 stitches in the pattern, so I manually replace them with appropriate colors that are used elsewhere in the image.

Pattern

Finally, when I get the pattern to where I like it, I use the software to convert the pixels to symbols and match the symbols to the thread colors. I always double-check here because the software likes to use symbols that are very similar, like squares that differ by less than 10% in size. Once printed, it is almost impossible to tell the difference in these, so again I have to manually identify and adjust those. After that, it's just a matter of printing it out and sending it to the client!

Keyboard Jewelry

Entering my 8th month of pregnancy, I'm really itching to get crafting. Unfortunately all my sewing stuff has been packed up and moved to the basement to make room for the baby. So I'm stuck with non-sewing crafts. Not that that's a bad thing, it's just that I'm much less inspired than I am with sewing.

So I decided to dig out my old keyboard jewelry. I've got several pieces already made that I think are pretty cool. A few have sold on Etsy, and there was a lot of interest in them at the craft fairs last year.

I'm adding them slowly back into my shop. Some are already up there, but for others I have to make new listings.

Mid-Year Resolution

Well, it's halfway through the year and I'm about halfway through my pregnancy (can you guess which I'm more excited about?). I've been really slacking on my crafting...and almost all household chores. Now I'm really going to try to get back on track before November.

I'm in the process of switching my Etsy store from handmade items to hand-drafted patterns that I can sell as PDF files. I figure this way I can spend less time at the sewing machine, but still *hopefully* make sales. I'm loving that the new Etsy search feature actually shows my items instead of burying them beneath all the re-listers.



So my resolutions are:
1) Spend at least 15 minutes each day cleaning, and at least 3 days working on the baby room
2) Spend at least one day each week updating my Etsy store (preferably listing new items)
3) Post at least one new blog entry per week - be it crafting or baby related
3) Do my prenatal yoga workout every morning so I'll have energy to accomplish the above!

Ok - that shoud do it! Keep it simple, right?

pouncing

I feel bad for not posting in a while, but I'm so busy with work that I just haven't had time to think of something interesting. So I'll just put up some pretty pictures of things I found while pouncing for undiscovered shops:

Simple Shrug Pattern

I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for the remnant rack at Joann's. Anything I can find there for 1/2 price, I'll grab it. Unfortunately, I haven't been doing much with them. So part of my New Year's resolution was to start making things out of them. Today I was inspired by a 24" x 60" black stretchy cotton knit.


I wanted something to throw over my arms when it gets a little chilly, like in the office or when I'm too lazy to put on the heat in my sewing room, but I didn't want something long like my Cardi Wrap. I threw the fabric over my arms like a cape, and that's when I decided to make a simple shrug.

I also decided that I'd post the full "pattern" here for all of you! Feel free to use it to make many many shrugs!

Materials:
- about 20" of 60" wide 2-way stretch fabric. Can have pattern but something with a specific "up" and "down" (like pictures of bunnies) probably wouldn't work too well (since the bunnies would be right side up on the front but upside down on the back).
- ball point needle, size 9 or 11, depending on the thickness of your fabric
- some basic thread - cotton or polyester better than rayon or metallic
- a few pins

Step 1: Drape the fabric over your arms and pin in at least 4 places up your arm. I did wrist, elbow, largest part of bicep, and close to the armpit. This can take a little bit of work to do yourself, or you can have someone else help you. You only need to do this on one arm.


Step 2: Lay your fabric flat (just working on the side you pinned for the moment) and flatten out any wrinkles. I did this by taking out one pin at a time and shifting the fabric a little, then putting the pin back in. Repeat for all the pins. You can carefully try it on again if you want, but if you're using a good 2-way stretch fabric, you shouldn't have a problem.

This picture was a little hard to see where the pins were, so I drew the green line. The top and bottom of your fabric will probably not match up - this is fine.

Step 3: Cut about 1" below the pins (along the green line in the picture above). Stop when you get to the last pin (armpit). In my case, the top piece was completely cut off and the bottom piece was still "dangling".

Step 4: Unpin and unfold your fabric. Fold in half lengthwise (i.e., match up the two sleeves with the fold down the center back). Cut the second sleeve to match the first. Remember to cut both the top and the bottom of the sleeve, and to stop at the armpit.



Step 5: Cut a notch for the armpit, and then cut a gentle slope towards center back. Follow the green line in the picture above. You should have no more "dangling" fabric. If you have any "dangling" on the top, follow the same steps, except you don't need to notch it.

Step 6: Unfold your fabric again, and refold it as you did the first time (i.e., top to bottom). It should look like a long tube. If your fabric has a distinct right and wrong side, the right sides should be together. Pin along the bottom of the sleeves from the wrist to the armpit notch, 1" away from the edge. You can now carefully try it on to make sure the fit is still good.



Step 7: Using a stretch stitch (looks like a lightning bolt), sew up each sleeve from the wrist to the armpit notch, using a 1" seam allowance. If your machine does not have a stretch stitch, you can use a straight stitch with a bit longer than usual stitch length. Make sure to reinforce (backtack) at the wrist and the armpit. If you'd like, you can finish the seams and edges with an overlock or zig-zag stitch, or use a rolled hem for the edges. I took the lazy route and left the edges raw. The wrist edges are actually the selvedges, so no work was needed on them!


This pattern would be great for anybody regardless of size. You could make it more elegant by using a stretch lace or sheer or make it more fun by adding a cuff or collar in a different fabric. Dress it up or down, you can't fail!! Again, feel free to use this pattern to make shrugs for yourself or to sell, but please don't copy the pattern or pictures without linking back to this page. And don't try to sell the pattern with my pictures. That's just wrong. At the very least, take your own pictures.

creation process

I decided for today's post I'd put up some in-progress shots of a top I've been working on. I picked up two remnant pieces at Joann's that were almost the exact same size - one was a black stretch poly with white polka dots and an interesting mix of green thrown in; the other was solid black poly/spandex mix. At first I toyed with the idea of a skirt, and then decided to make a top.

The original design was going to be a fitted V-neck with an empire seam, and then a looser fit below. I started by cutting out the front and back upper portion (above the empire seam). I purposefully offset the line of green a little to the right of center because I thought it gave it an interesting asymmetrical look. I also liked having different patterns running over the two sides of the bust.

The entire garment was going to be made of the two layers of fabric - the patterned on the outside and the solid as a lining. Since the solid fabric has a tighter stretch to it, it is a bit more snug. This acts kinda like a undergarment, in that it provides a smoother base for the outer layer of fabric.

Silly me, of course, I cut out the lower back piece without leaving enough fabric for the lower front piece. So I tried cutting that piece in half horizontally and attaching it to the front and back that way. The result was not very pleasing. Instead of highlighting the empire line, it just made it look very jumbled. Plus it was about 2" shorter than I had intended. If this had been for a skinny girl, the length probably wouldn't have been much of an issue. But plus size gals are different - there has to be enough coverage.

I was almost ready to give up on this one, throw it in the back of the closet where I would probably never look at it again. But I was thinking about a top I own that has a contrast fabric under the bust line and I thought that idea could work here. I had already cut the black fabric to match the lower pieces, so I just recut them to form a solid band. I fit that to the garment and it looked great.

I added a bit of the polka dot fabric at the bust to make the gathering effect, which I thought just made the neckline that much sexier. I finished off the seams and hem and I absolutely love it. It's sexy without being risque, and I think it's a style many women would like. I will definitely remember this if I come into any other fun stretch fabric.

Calling Cape Cod Crafters!!

So a friend & I were having lunch today and discussing the idea of getting together a crafting "guild" for Etsy sellers on Cape Cod. Apparently she'd talked about this with other crafters she knew, just as I'd discussed it a few weeks ago with another crafting friend.

I love the idea of getting young (in body or mind), vibrant crafters together - people who don't want to make granny squares all day. I think we could have a lot of fun planning events - we both agreed that the typical "craft fair" conjures images of sweaters with appliques and bake sale cookies. My ideal would combine the traditional booths with some more exciting elements - like a Chinese auction or a fashion show! I think holding a runway show with handmade clothing, jewelry, accessories, and even shoes or makeup would be fantastic.


From just the people I've spoken to, we already have some women's clothing, jewelry, purses, shawls, pet accessories, baby clothes, photography, and more.


I'd love to see what other people out there think! Please post or send me a convo if you're in the Cape Cod area and would be interested in showing that handmade items aren't just for grannies anymore!