Project: Vote for the Yeti Dreaming of Soup!

I am a finalist in the Lil Blue Boo & Dharma Trading Design Challenge! How exciting. Go vote for me here. There are 15 other entries and they are pretty good so I'm going to need all the help I can get.

Remember I did a reverse applique using an image on the bottom piece of fabric. That's not easy! Plus I embroidered that soup freehand to make it all dreamy. No stencils, no tracing, no nothing.

Go give the yeti and shout out.

Project: Design Challenge finished! Yeti dreams of soup.

If you were a yeti, what would dream about? Soup!

I'm so happy with the way this dress for the Design Challenge turned out. And Zadie loves it to. When I finished it I held it over my legs so it would be at her eye level and she screamed, "Yeti dress!!!!" and gave it (and me) a huge hug. Success.

For my embellishments, I did a reverse applique using one of my yeti t-shirts. I'm happy with the way it turned out and it was totally worth the challenge. If you like doing this technique, try it with a design element. Just trace your image onto thin paper (or photocopy it) to use as a template for placing the fabric underneath your garment. Use a lot of pins to get it right. I stitched around the edges before I cut then went around it again after. Basically I felt that the machine stitching wasn't standing out next to the embroidery so I wanted it to pop a bit more. It wasn't necessary to the construction because I used Wonder Under around the edges of the yeti.

I did the embroidery starting with the bowl of soup. I mapped out where I wanted everything with pins and then just did it freehand. I wanted it to look dreamy so I didn't want to draw on the dress and "trace" with the needle and thread. Finally, I surrounded it with the thought bubble.

Doing this project really reminded me of my love for embroidery. I'll be doing more of this type of work to Zadie's future outfits. If anyone wants a tutorial on my reverse applique, leave a comment. If there is enough demand, I'll write one up.

For more on Project: Project, read this post.

Project: Design Challenge in Progress

Lil Blue Boo sent me the pattern for the Design Challenge via email right away and after work, I got started. The whole Lemon clan looked through the Goodwill bin and Mr. Lemon donated some of his shirts to the cause while I pulled a couple of shirts Zadie had grown out of from the pile.

I ended up choosing the stripes for the bottom because that had been a favorite shirt of mine but it shrunk up too short. The sleeves are from a shirt I got for a dollar. I put Zadie in it all the time but she recently grew out of it. The red and grey are from pre-baby shirts I'll never ever wear again.

Mr. Lemon had gotten dinner together during an unusually long nap so I cut all the pieces out before we ate. After Zadie's bedtime, I stitched the whole thing up in less than an hour. It is a very clear and simple pattern. (I used existing hems for both the bottom of the dress and the sleeves for a more polished look).

I've already started my embellishments (because that's what the challenge is all about). This morning I asked Zadie what the _____ who is now living at the bottom of the shirt will do. She said, "Soup!" so soup it is. Mr. Lemon's trip was cancelled so I'll be able to spend more time on this today than I thought so I'm hoping for greatness. More on Monday!

For more on Project: Project, read this post.

Project: Another challenge

Always a sucker for a sewing challenge, I am throwing myself into the Lil Blue Boo & Dharma Trading Design Challenge ring. The deal is you have to buy one of the Lil Blue Boo patterns (all pattern proceeds are being donated to Three Angels Haiti). Then you have to sew up the garment and embellish it.

I bought the super cute Sienna t-shirt dress because I'm crazy and love to torture myself. I hate knit and my sewing machine feels the same way but, oh well, here goes. As soon as I saw the pattern I had a bunch of ideas. Unfortunately the deadline is Monday (Monday!) so I gotta get busy. Also, Mr. Lemon is heading out of town for the weekend so I'm flying solo on wild toddler duty. Wish me luck. You'll be seeing some yetis in the future. You know it.