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October 2008 - Posts
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If you like the simple embroidered designs you see on vintage aprons, dish towels, and pillow cases, chances are they were made from an Aunt Martha's Hot Iron Transfer pattern. These are the cute designs of cartoon characters doing the laundry, or shopping, or gardening, with a day of the week as part of the design, that you see on the dish towels. They are the beautiful flower garden patterns, like you see on pillow cases or aprons. There are designs for the kitchen to decorate pot holders, or curtains. There are antique car designs, Holiday designs, simple cross stitch, alphabets and numerals for monograms.
The patterns range from elegant, in the cutwork embroidery designs, to whimsical, in the dish towel designs, to the fun and frolic of country folks having fun. Each packet comes with several designs printed on newsprint type paper, and can be used several times before fading. With the purchase of a transfer pencil, which is similar to a red wax pencil, you can then trace over the design and print more.
The use of these patterns is not limited to embroidery. The designs can be imprinted on something for use with paints or crayons, be made into appliques, traced for scrapbooking, or the old craft of woodburning; use your imagination to come up with many ideas.
To imprint the patterns on fabric, you need an iron and ironing board or similar padded board, some straight pins,(no plastic head pins, they will melt under the iron) and the washed fabric for your project. You cut out the section of the pattern you want, leaving a bit of space around the design for the pins, lay the pattern face down on the fabric, making sure it is the right direction that you want it to be, pin in place. From there follow the instructions on the package, but generally they are: Set your iron on cotton, use a dry iron (no steam or moisture), then when it is hot, apply iron, moving slowly back and forth on paper. Gently lift one corner of the paper to check for a clear stamping, and if it is you are done. Let cool and remove from fabric. If it isn't quite clear enough, don't move pins or paper, but apply iron again. That's it, you have a stamped piece ready for decorating.
These make a good simple project for doing basic embroidery. Choose some basic colors of embroidery thread, a pack of embroidery needles, a small embroidery hoop, and a cotton dish towel or a white pillow case and you've got a quick project for decorating or for a gift.
The Aunt Martha's patterns have been around for decades. They are in a yellow packet, and over the years have had a pink border, white border, green border or no border. The cost for a packet is about $1.00 to $1.50 new, and I've seen them in Wal-mart's crafts section with the embroidery thread. A Google search will bring up ones available on the internet.
Embroidery is a simple peaceful past time. Turn off the TV and start a project. Now is a great time for that. Enjoy!
Edey
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In light of the economic problems currently happening, now is a good time to learn to sew if you don't know how, or improve the skills that you do have. At one time clothing construction was a common knowledge skill, taught to daughters by their mothers and grandmothers. Ready-made clothing was not always easily available and then only for the well-to-do, so out of necessity it was important that someone in the family knew how to make the clothes that everyone needed.
It is troubling to me to see that so many fabric stores have closed down. Fabric and thread and other sewing supplies are needed, especially in hard times, when the price of everything is so high.
Preparing ahead of time for a disaster: Keeping some yardage on hand of fabric that can be made into simple clothing would be a good idea. It could be thought of as adding to your disaster preparations, the same as you would store food or water, or medicines, or tools. Some suggestions would be a bolt of muslin; several 3 or 4 yard pieces of 100% cotton, like calico; some lightweight canvas or denim, and flannel. This yardage can make shirts, skirts, pants, sheets, dishtowels, pillow cases, diapers, cloth pads, scarves, napkins, blankets, tarps, shade shelters, curtains.
Another suggestion to have on hand: Extra large white 100% cotton t-shirts. Why? Right now buying knit fabric in a store like Joann's is expensive; the last time I looked it was about $9.00 a yard not on sale. But you can buy t-shirts for less than half that price. There is quite a bit of material in a big t-shirt. The knit fabric in a t-shirt can be made into comfortable underwear, also diapers, cloth pads, pillowcases, washcloths, headcoverings for cold weather, and rags when it all gets too worn for wear.
Owning a functional sewing machine that can sew any type of fabric is also important. A treadle or hand cranked machine would not require electricity to use.
It would be good to find a basic pattern that can be used to make many different types of clothing and know how to use it that way. If you were knowledgeable you could draft your own patterns as needed.
None of us knows what the future will be. Right now with our global economy failing, we just don't know how that will play out, as it has never been like this before. We have come to rely on clothing made cheaply from Asia and other parts of the world. Will these always be available and affordable? Will you always have the money to pay them?
Having a skill like sewing and having the tools and supplies on hand to make what you need, could mean the difference of you and your family being healthy, secure and comfortable - or not.
It is something to think about. Edey
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Many people I know start making Christmas gifts in July; some even do it year round. But not me. Sewing quilted items, or felts or fleece; knitting or crocheting are just too hot to handle in 90°+ heat. Depression has a way of settling in along with a form of cabin fever - stuck in front of the air condtioner for days at a time, too hot and humid even with A/C to move around.
So why am I writng this?
Because when the first cool days of Fall happen, and I realize that the stifling heat of summer is gone, then my mood changes, takes off in flight and I am happy again. I want to dig out my Christmas craft books, my quilting books, my cookbooks and start planning what to do for the holidays. There is such joy in all of that. I like to look up traditional and Early American recipes made from scratch to have with our holiday meal; last year for the first time I made steamed pudding, and found that it was actually like nutbread, and I learned a new way of baking, steam-baking on a stovetop.
I search for simple ornaments to make using the fabric, yarn, paints and thread that I have on hand. I think of projects that I might do with my grandson, things that I can, at the same time, teach him of simple traditonal ways. Pomander balls made with cloves and oranges, cookie cutter ornaments made with card stock- then painted, origami designs, bread dough ornaments, pine cone ornaments, wood cutout ornaments, all made simply, slowly, quietly, peacefully. Ornaments can be made with fabric cutouts using pinking shears for a pretty edge, stiffened with glue, decorated with rickrack braid, gold rope, beads, sequins, glitter, etc.
I find that this year I need these activities more than ever. With the problems with the economy right now, and the uncertainty of our security that it has caused, knowing that I still will be able to have these simple activities in my life provides enormous comfort. The financial world may crumble, credit may be only for the wealthy that don't need it, but all of that doesn't matter, for I have my piecin' bag, my treadle and handcrank sewing machines, and my recycled craft supplies, and I am happy. Edey
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