Bunny shirt perfect for a boy

Dashiell requested a bunny with carrot shirt. He had a VERY particular vision, and none of my bunny holding carrots designs were quite what he wanted. And we were about to settle on one (that I didn't own yet, of course) but then I remembered this design... the bunny is not holding the carrot but instead riding on it! He thought it was awesome and I got to work:

 

The bunny on carrot skateboard is from Lynnie Pinnie. So adorable!

I was out of town with my girl for Easter weekend, so I missed Dashiell's Easter egg hunt and party at preschool... no pictures! But here he is posing at home:

and pretending to be on a skateboard:

Castle Frame fit for a little Princess!

So I'm not taking orders. I'm not. But sometimes if you ask at the very right minute... I might say yes. Ha! If it's a "two birds with one stone" kinda situation.
A friend asked if I had time to make a birthday shirt for her sweet little girl. We were chatting on fb at the exact moment I was updating the LP testing database for new designs.
I told my friend that I was sorry, but I didn't have time.
Then a moment later said, "hold up, princess themed??"
I gave her one option, this sweet Swirly Split Castle Applique that I had the opportunity to test for LP. She loved it, and I got it done the next day!

Isn't this a great design?! One fabric, the beauty is in all the embroidery. I added Kendal and the 3 with LP's Strawberry Limeade.

And guess what?! If you do custom embroidery yourself, you can go grab it for free from LP's site for a limited time. HURRY!

Rejoice!

I have been so busy with my "day job" that I have severely neglected my blog. But I'm taking some time to catch up over spring break, and I want to share this beautiful project from earlier in the year... before Easter has come and gone!
I had the honor and privilege of testing this Rejoice design for Lynnie Pinnie:

Isn't it gorgeous? I love everything about it! The way the fabrics are tacked down and top stitched for the gradient sky, the texture of the cross, the font choice... it's beautiful!
I stitched it on a nice woven fabric first, then before I unhooped I floated two layers of burlap and a loop of ribbon under my hoop and added a triple-bean stitch rectangle around the perimeter to tack it all together. Trimmed it and frayed it and turned it into a wall hanging for myself!

When I hung it up my daughter said, "Oh is that for Easter?" and then immediately said it was good anytime though. That's exactly right! We can rejoice in our risen Savior every day of the year!

Holiday shirts with creative hooping

When you look at these two shirts, what do they have in common?

Besides the fact that they are holiday Lynnie Pinnie designs, that I tested, on 4T shirts, for my son. Ok, there's a lot in common, ha! But there's something else in common... can you see it?

These designs fall in the category of "off center" designs. The cape on Super Ginger

and the tail on Heart Monster

cause the body of the character to be off center. Placing these on shirts can be tricky so you have to pay attention. One strategy for good design placement is to scoot the design over in the hoop so it looks centered. But with both of these designs they completely fill the width of the hoop and there is no room to do that. Instead of taking these 5x7 designs into my 6x10 hoop (which would waste a lot of stabilizer), I hooped the shirts off center to compensate.

You can print templates, trim out the design, lay it on your shirt where it looks right, and then hoop your shirt. But I don't like to waste paper (oh who am I kidding, it's the ink I don't want to waste), instead I use my template to help me place my design.

I look at the design carefully in my software (I use Embird). I decide where I think the visual center of the design is (red line) and compare it to the actual design center (black line). For the Super Ginger design, the center of the head is about 14mm to the right of the vertical axis:

and the center of the monster's body is about 11-12 mm to the right of the vertical axis:

SO... what I do is find the center of my shirt, and then adjust where I lay my hoop template down. Instead of putting the axis of my template directly on my shirt's center line, I move it over to the left the appropriate amount. It looks weird to hoop your shirt off center, but in the end, the design looks perfectly placed!

I haven't gotten a good picture of my son in his monster shirt yet, but here he is in his Super Ginger shirt. Now that Christmas is past, we do not run the risk of you telling him his shirt is funny or cute. It is not funny. It is not cute. It is cool. Got it? COOL. Very important distinction. Remember that for next year if it still fits him. ;)

Misc Monogramming, the applique edition

And here are a random assortment of things I monogrammed this fall, with applique!
I got to test a new applique alphabet for EB. I really didn't have time to do it, but when I saw the preview image of the T I made time -- pretty Ts that don't look like Js are hard to come by! I love the way my monogram looks in this font!

Happy Day Scribble Alphabet is a quick stitch since it's not satin stitch. I really like this style, this is currently my favorite shirt.

A while back Cristy added an alternate left D to the Natural Circle embroidery font, and now the I2S Circle Monogram applique set has been updated as well! I tested it for her on a turtleneck for Dashiell, and miracles of miracles he has actually worn it! ;)

Mid-fall there was an I2S customer having troubles with a particular design so I wanted to sew a sample in effort to troubleshoot with her. I considered the season, the letter and my stash of blanks and realized Sawyer was the perfect candidate for my project. I was able to help a customer and he got a cool shirt to wear while cheering on the Noles!

 

 This is I2S's Football Applique Alphabet, beautiful as always!

Dashiell's little friend had a birthday party recently, so I used 8CP's Snowflake Monogram on this little shirt for her

This sparkly fabric is perfect for snowflakes!

 A coworker of my husband is going to have a baby boy very soon. He will be named after his grandfather and father, so as the third they are going to call him Tripp. I made this monogrammed set as a shower gift:

 

I used Lynnie Pinnie's Stitchy Font:

Misc Monogramming

Here are a random assortment of items I monogrammed simply with embroidery throughout the fall!
Barb contacted me wanting keyfobs for herself and her husband. I used LP's Taylor font for their names, and DS's keyfob design.

Marci asked me to monogram a couple robes for her:

I used I2S's Fancy Circle monogram

I monogrammed this towel for my friend Amy using EB's Striped Lexi Monogram Alphabet

I made a stay-put towel for Cherri using EB's Chandler Chevron Alphabet

 

I monogrammed Annaliese's apron (and her doll's apron too!) using 8CP's Satin Split Curlz font

Sabrina asked me to make a keychain for her niece to attach to a lunchbox. I used I2S's Behind These Hazel Eyes

This keychain was ordered for a new college student, we incorporated all three school colors by using 8CP's Two Color Script:

Tarika asked me to monogram a few baby items. Aren't these bibs elegant?

I used I2S's Covered By Your Grace for Joshua

and I2S's Nick for Damon III

and I2S's One Thing for Kendall

Cayden is 5!

As we approached Cayden's 4th birthday, he was into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I couldn't find any good "inspired" designs to buy so I created my own, remember that? (you can see it here) Well when I posted a pic of it in an applique group, Lyndsie of Lynnie Pinnie asked if she could digitize a set of Ninja numbers based on my idea, remember that? (I blogged about it here, and again here).
Well the boy that inspired it all is now FIVE and still likes TMNT! :)

This year instead of cobbling together my own ninja 5, I used the one in LP's set. I added his name with 8CP's Chinese Take Away.

Gobble Gobble!

Here are a few more turkey shirts I made this year.
I thought this turkey was so cute when I bought it from Applique Cafe TWO years ago. Last fall I bought the same chevron she used in her sample image with every intention of using the design... but didn't. So when Rachel asked me to make a shirt for her daughter, I jumped at the opportunity to finally use this design/fabric combo. Yes, I know there are hundreds of listings on Etsy just like it.... and I don't care :) That's because this fabric is *perfect* for this design!

I did however do a something a bit more unique with the name. :) I don't often use multiple colors within the same name, but I really wanted to tie in all the different colors in the chevron. I used I2S's As the Deer font and thought it turned out cute!

For one of my niece's I used LP's Girly Turkey. The jewelry and shoes on this thing are so funny!

For my other niece and nephew I used I2S's Turkey for Monogram applique.

I stitched Z's first using the 4x4 size. I decided to go with single initials and used Cutsie Joe.

My intention was to use the 5x7 size for G's, but it was just too big on this little 18 month tee. So I nicely asked my boss :) if she could create an intermediate size and I'd test it for her. It turned out perfect, and you fellow embroiderers can benefit from my suggestion -- if you have bought this design go download again to get the additional size!

 

And lastly, a little turkey face onesie. I plucked the face off of the 5x7 size of I2S's Turkey LOVE design and put it on this khaki colored onesie that has been sitting in my stash for years :)