TEMPLATES are here (no more having to make your own)!!!

Yeah...look what is available now. They're here!

Etsy Shoppe
Embroidery Stitch Templates

I'm so excited! For the past few months, Janet of Creative Impressions and I have been working on the production/distribution of a new set of Embroidery Stitch Templates.

Yesterday, a case landed on my doorstep....thank you UPS guy!

So, I've loaded all of the information into my Etsy Shoppe (link above)...and these are available now for all of my followers and students (and their friends).

The set comes flat and is about the size of a booklet...so ships in a plain shipping envelope for minimal cost.

There are 5 pages of transparent, flexible plastic template sheets.

While they can be used just as is...my recommendation is to cut these apart into individual seam/motif templates. I've included dashed lines between so you can easily see where to cut them apart. A pair of utility scissors or a rotary cutter/mat is all you need.

I just cut these apart by scoring with my rotary cuter and then folding/snapping them apart. In this photo you can see some of the Straight Stitch Templates and some of the unique Motif Templates like the starts, flowers, hearts, etc.

Each individual template has the "type" of stitch base the template is for. You can see the actual seam marked on the template, and there will be little "holes" punched where each needle-up/needle-down position would be for that size/type of embroidery stitch seam.

Each individual template also has a single slightly larger hole punched out near the end...and the entire set (which took me about 5 minutes to cut apart) can be easily organized by placing on a key ring (like my Mrs. Owl here)...or tied together with cording/ribbon, etc.

The templates are clear so you can easily line them up along your seams for crazy quilt blocks...or even use them to mark hand embroidery on other projects!

If you have taken one of my free crazy quilt classes, or purchased any of my books...you have already gotten a short lesson on how to use this type of template. But, if you have not done either of these...here's a little recap for you:

USING TEMPLATES TO MARK CQ SEAMS:

1) Determine what embroidery template you would like to use and then place it on top of your finished fabric crazy quilt block...along a seam.

For the photo above, I'm using the #4 Herringbone Stitch base template and aligning the short "X" stitches top along the sewn seam line (see the arrow).

2) Use your pencil to place a "dot" in each of the holes. (I do this by placing the tip of the pencil into a hole...then "push down & twist"...but can't show that and hold the camera and push the shutter button with only two hands).

It is important to remember to hold the template steady...and push down hard enough to leave a dot. I like to lay my block on the table (or other hard surface) to mark my seams...then hoop the block to do the stitching.

3) The result is a series of little "dots" marking where the needle up/down placements are for this specific stitch (herringbone in this example).

Now, you do need to still know how to create a herringbone stitch...but the template also includes the photo of the actual finished stitching...so that can help guide you....

as you actually create the seam.

Continue to embroider the base seam following the little dots...until the entire seam is finished.

If your seam is longer than the template, just mark...then slide the template along the seam (aligning with the previous marked "dots"), and continue until you reach the end of the seam.

This completes the basic seam.

However, you can also continue using the "motif" templates to add even more stitching to a BASE SEAM.

4) Just align a motif template (here we're using the 5-prong template) wherever you might want that embroidery object to appear. For this example, we'll add several of these 5-prongs to one side of the seam...spacing them along the seam design.

The template shows the straight stitches for the 5-prong...(see arrow, hard to see in this photo).

These are marked in the same way...with "dots" in the little holes of the template.

Then, embroider as the design shows (usually using simple Straight Stitches) to create the motifs. In this example, I've added a series of these 5-prongs down one side of the base herringbone seam.

The seam is fine as is...and would be great on a traditional style crazy quilt or even as an adornment on the border of a traditional quilt.

BUT, we can keep adding "layers" of embellishment to make it more modern.

This photo shows the addition of small seed beads to the 5-prong motif elements; and round beads to some of the herringbone base stitches, plus glass flower spacer beads with seed bead centers to the base of the 5-prong elements.

This photo shows more layers...a trio of Fargo Roses in silk ribbon, with Detached Chain Stitch leaves on the opposite side of the seam from the 5-prong elements.

Lastly, the finished seam now includes some crystal montee slides between the Fargo Roses.

So, I hope you can appreciate that a complex looking seam...is really just a simple BASE SEAM with layers of other embellishing. That base seam...is neat, straight, and uniformly space because we marked the needle-up/down positions of the embroidery using a template.

Templates are available at my Etsy Shoppe and at Janet's Creative Impressions site (as soon as she can get the photo loaded). She also has other crafting, scrapbooking, and embellishing supplies...so I hope you will check her site out EVEN if you choose to get the templates from my Etsy Shoppe.

Hugs (as always)...Kathy

Round Robins Stitching

My stitching lately has been dedicated to seams for the Facebook Group, "Modern Crazy Quilt Seams" and two CQI Round Robins...thought you might like to see some of the round robin photos:

The little mama deer is a machine embroidery patch. These are really "time savers" if you can find realistic ones to sew in place, then surround with plants, etc.