A Plethora of Pillowcases
for Rene
The problem with having kids ... apart from the obvious ones ... is that there are times when they get their noses out of joint. What you do for one kid .... completely appropriate for that kid ... is interpreted as "YOU DON'T LOVE ME ANYMORE" by the others. [sigh] Remind me again why I had kids? :-)
Having said that, there really is nothing that I like doing more than making stuff for my kids. :-)
So, when Dear Daughter #3 saw the pillows I made for Dear Daughter #2 [which I haven't made a web page for as yet ... and I *know* I'm going to hear complaints on that score when this page goes live before the other one does. tell me again why I had kids? :-)] so anyway, Dear Daughter #3 opined that I DIDN'T LOVE HER ANYMORE .. eventhough she didn't WANT any of the throw pillows I made for her sister (oy vey .. why do kids do that???) ... I thought, just maybe she'd like some pillowcases.
Bingo! I hit the jackpot with that idea. Sometimes Mom comes up with a good idea. :-)
Tangentially, I'm always on the lookout for cool piratey-themed fabric. In times past, they were few and far between and I bought all that I could find. Nowadays, nifty, neato pirate fabric is all over the place and I have become somewhat of a pirate fabric snob. :-) Additionally, if they come in certain colors (red/pink, lilac/purple or cyan/blue) it's an automatic 'given' that I will buy them, since those are the colors that got "assigned" to my girls when they were young, for identification of their personal belongings. (Rene can't claim that the lilac toothbrush is her's ... cuz everyone in the family knows that LILAC is for LISA. It just made life a whole lot simpler for us poor adults.)
So when I found some incredible pink piratey fabric AND some pink flannel camoflauge fabric, it was a foregone conclusion that Rene would get something made from them. They became the pillowcases shown above.
As an aside, Rene's current beau is in the Marines. The pink camo just gave me hysterics because there is nothing more of an oxymoron than PINK camo. :-) Mr. Pirate was aghast. One of my military friends was aghast. Rene can hardly wait to show her beau that particular pillowcase. :-) (note to self: I really must dig out the "GI Joe twirly skirt" outfit I made for our oldest Dear Daughter, at her request, when she was about 3 years old. Boy, she thought she was Hot Stuff and I wouldn't have been surprised if all the GI Janes had been jealous. :-) )
Here's a breakdown of each embroidered pillowcase and the designs I used on them. I chose the alphabets I did based on whether or not they would fit in the pillowcase band. I had some really lovely ones I had initially thought to use, but they turned out to be too tall.
One note of annoyance ... when I download embroidery design files, I have a system so that I can identify where each design came from. I do this so that I can actually REFER people back to that site. Usually the design files are zipped and I *always* keep the zip file as my master copy .. just in case something ever goes wrong with my specific design file. I am amazed that designers do not put an information file in the zip telling the downloader WHERE the file came from. When I go back to the site to find specific designs (as below), sometimes a search of the site comes up empty. In these cases, an information file in the zip would be endlessly helpful. However, many times I just can't find the file again for any of my readers to download for themselves. :-(
 | The heart intials are from Embroidery RN. Personally, I would have liked the satin stitching to be a just a little wider, in order to hide the foundation stitching. But, I just love the effect when you overlap the hearts! Check out the rest of her free alphabets ... there are a LOT of simply adorable ones!
The crossbones also came from Embroidery RN. The tiny, tiny skull and crossbones came from SewForum Embroidery Designs, but danged if I can find the specific post that offered it. I seem to remember that it was named 'tiny skull' but nothing came up with those search keywords. :-( |
 | The delightful little candy hearts came from Artistic Thread Works. That link will take you to their Search page and the set with the candy hearts is "Valentine Hearts Set of 5". The specific design is ATG5334. Since I'm not a member of Artistic ThreadWorks, I rather suspect that it was a February freebie design and I picked it up that way. It's not a freebie any longer; you'll need to buy the entire design set. Thanks to Shebru of Martha Pullen's Embroidery Phorum for finding that design! Excellent sleuthing! |
 | This is an outstanding applique. Not only did the digitizer give us a placement outline but the foundation tack-down stitch is a substantial zig-zag. The applique fabric isn't going anywhere! The final satin stitches are absolutely beautiful.
This is a case where I obtained the design file before I started keeping track of where I got it. The zip file contains ONLY the alphabet ... no identification information. I would love to be able to refer you to it .. it is a beautiful set of letters .. but I can't because the digitizer didn't put an info file in the zip! aarrgghh! |
These 3 pillowcases were part of a bigger package for Dear Daughter #3 ... the others were not embellished in any way but simply made from nifty-neato fabric. Please notice the fantastic gray/pink skull-and-crossbones fabric! :-)
The pink pillowcase was a double border print with Disney classic princesses on one end.
The red & white heart fabric was an incredible SCORE from WalMart. It was late February when I was in the store and they were trying to get rid of their St. Valentine's day fabric. To do this, they had it at 75% off. Listen to me ... 75% off!! And the fabric wasn't junky or thin or anything to beware of; it was *nice* stuff! That red & white heart fabric AND the heart fabric with the embroidered candy hearts were a whopping 61¢/yard! I bought the rest of both bolts .. about 4-1/2 yards and 5 yards respectively. SCORE! :-)
Dear Daughter also requested boxer shorts for herself from both of those heart fabrics .... they are next on the list. :-)