SCHOOL'S OUT!

I think the photograph below of these two smiling faces says it all.

I know this is a Scrapbooking blog... but

The above apron was one of the items I gave to my son's teacher as a year-end appreciation gift.  I bought the plain white apron and added some beautiful embroidery to personalize the gift. I know some of you have thought about getting a machine to enhance your scrapbooking, and I highly recommend a combination embroidery/sewing machine to enhance your gift giving as well. I've included a few pictures below of the process which you might find fun.

Embroidery machines have a display screen that not only allows you to edit your pattern, but also prompts you on the necessary thread color changes.

The first of ten thread color changes stitches out into beautiful delicate leaves.   How about a butterfly... or two?

It's always fun to see the image taking shape.

Finally the name stitches out. This butterfly pattern is one of my favorite designs that was actually downloaded from an internet site called Zundt Designs.  The embroidery machine itself  has a floppy disc slot to accommodate downloaded images and patterns.  Once you input the image into the embroidery machine you can add more images or text to complete your project.

The shiny material on top of the apron is water soluable stabilizer and helps hold the fabric in place while the embroidery needle moves up and down.  Because the needle skips from color to color there are always alot of little jump stitches to clip once the project is complete. The newer embroidery machines actually clip the stitches automatically so you don't have to do this by hand. Once the project is finished sewing out, I simply run the apron under warm water and the stabilizer dissolves. Hang dry the apron and iron when completely dry and voila.

I've had my Brother ULTD machine now for several years and I never get tired of watching projects like this appear before my eyes.  It's truly revolutionized my gift giving and recipients love the personalized touch.

Hope you enjoyed the photos.  Thanks for stopping by!

Lisa