Sun Hat Embroidery Baby Gifts

Posted on December 23, 2008 by handk

I hardly ever have the time or planning necessary for creating more involved projects for baby gifts. I like to buy a small gift and match an embroidery project to the gift-a sun hat, a bib, or onesie.
I made this butterfly hat to give to my cousin’s new daughter for Christmas. The leather baby shoes are from Target, as is the sun hat. I hand drew the butterfly pattern with a pencil. Sometimes I will iron-on a pattern to the hats, but it is easy to burn the nylon fabric of the hat. I try to stick to simple designs that I can easily match or use transfer paper to trace a pattern.

Here are a couple more examples of baby gifts I made this summer to give to my husband’s co-workers.

hand drawn caterpillar, paired with a Zutano tee.

Cherries pattern is from Sublime Stitching.

The Vespa pattern was posted by Average Jane Crafter.

Don’t try this at home

Posted on December 19, 2008 by handk

I almost lept out the door at the UPS man the other day when he dropped this off. I was so excited to get the new Sukie Iron-On Craft Pad from Chronicle. I had high hopes I would be able to pull off some quick Christmas gifts. The many designs in the craft pad are colorful and fun. I love the color pallette.
I was able to make this set of napkins and two baby tees.

napkins

craft pad tees

Even though I followed the directions as closely as possible, I ran into a lot of problems. The transfers bled through substantially. If the iron was hot enough to transfer all the color, several times I burned the fabric. If the iron was cooler, the design did not transfer very well. Also, I washed the two baby tees and the animal design came almost completely off. The butterfly still looks good, but it is much lighter than in this picture. The napkins faired better. I think the design will hold on those. They are 100% cotton napkins from Target. All in all, if you are persistant you can make this work, but be prepared to have some false starts. It took a large amount of patience, a good movie to watch, and coffee to keep at it until the wee hours.

Next, I am going to try to come up with a project to do with the transfers once they have been used. I hate to throw out the pretty designs, so I want some kind of paper project to re-use these. Stay tuned.

Buttoned Up

Posted on December 17, 2008 by handk

mamalibrarian's ribbon

Last night, faced with wrapping the teacher thank-you gift for my son’s class, I decided to borrow the button-ribbon idea from this Anthropologie box my sister-in-law gave me for my birthday. I used grosgrain ribbon and embroidery floss to secure the buttons. The Anthropologie version has actual button holes on the cotton tape. I was working on this at 11:00 last night, so no time for button holes! It turned out nicely, but I think I prefer the muted colors of the Anthropologie version.

Anthropologie ribbon