Shower Curtaingate 2015

Happy Friday Y’all! It’s been a wacky however-many-weeks since school started. I think I said in my Back to School Post …and I quote….  “Now I hope to have more time again to work, blog, get organized, monogram stuff, clean out closets and all that other stuff we put on our to-do list for when the kiddies go back to school!” Blah blah blah yeah that was a joke. Me thinking I would have more time sounded like a good idea! I forgot allllll about laundry, bible study, library duty, recess duty, morning runs to Target, 12:30 carpool, 3:20 carpool, 5:30 soccer, 7:00 soccer, 4:00 soccer, 5:15 soccer, etc. I haven’t really had time to organize or clean out anything. But, I have had time for Shower Curtaingate 2015, which consumed a week or two of my embroidery life.

I have a sweet customer that I’ve been doing monogramming for for YEARS. She dropped off this cute Pottery Barn Kids shower curtain for me to monogram, and since I’ve done a shower curtain or two in my career, I had little no worries. I formatted the humongous “B” in my Monogram Wizard Plus software (Library font) and made it as big as I could get it to fit my 11.8″ x 7.9″ hoop. I *carefully* hooped the shower curtain and put it on my machine to stitch. I even took a picture and put it on Instagram! The first attempt was 84 minutes and 42,852 stitches. About 10,000 stitches in, I realized that part of the shower curtain was being SEWN in to the B on my machine from underneath!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was SO CAREFUL in making sure the machine would not sew the shower curtain, and yet it did!!!!

Below is a photo AFTER I had to cut the shower curtain loose from my hoop. Even Jeff tried to “cut out” the monogram from the back/bobbin side, but people, you can’t merely cut out 10,000 FILL stitches. I gave it a day, and then scrounged up a 10% off coupon from PBK and ordered a replacement. I won’t tell you how much that set me back. I almost drove to Birmingham to buy another one, but it’s a new shower curtain and they didn’t have them in stores. So I ordered. Then I waited.

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So friends, about a week later, I got the replacement shower curtain in the mail and attempted to monogram it AGAIN….. This time I made SURE the shower curtain was all free from the sewing arm underneath. It wasn’t until I was about 50,000 stitches in that I realized that for some reason, the weight of the shower curtain was causing the edge of my hoop to ever-so-slightly bump the arm of the machine where the bobbin stays. Therefore and henceforth, my B got *off* on the right side, left about 1/2″ gap in the middle and I finally just stopped the machine {and cried a little}. 2 Pottery Barn Kids shower curtains. 2.

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Here’s a closeup of my wonky B. There was no salvaging this B. However, the shower curtain itself was still in tact (no hole cut in it) so I came up with a plan!

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I decided to create a patch using the white canvas material from the 1st shower curtain (with the hole in it). I cut out a huge square of it and proceeded to stitch a new B in it with a frame around it (outline stitch only). This time I used the MWP Pharmacy B which is not as thick, and I had Jeff digitize a custom sized Frame Patch 2. Again, I only stitched the outline stitch of the frame plus the fill stitch B. I would use this “patch” and applique it in to the 2nd shower curtain. Hang with me! I know this is hard to follow….

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Once it was done, I removed the stabilizer (solvy on top) and trimmed closely AROUND the frame outline stitch. The outline stitch would be use as my placement guide on the 2nd shower curtain.

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Sorry this photo is fuzzy, but I hooped the 2nd shower curtain with the messed up B on it, with the messed up B centered in the hoop as closely as I could get it. I then stitched another outline stitch of my frame patch, and then REMOVED the fabric and messed up B inside. I trimmed inside that outline stitch and closely. After I cut it out, what was left was medium cutaway stabilizer inside the frame patch outline which was also hooped with the shower curtain (stabilizer, that is).

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Next… I placed my outlined *new* B “patch” that I stitched alone and lined up the outline stitches of the frame. I used some temporary spray adhesive to stick the patch down and made sure the outline stitches of the frame patch lined up with one another. I then stitched a tackdown stitch, which tacked the patch in place.

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Lastly, I stitched the satin stitch around the frame patch, which created an applique patch of the new B! Did I lose you?

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Here is the finished product! I think it turned out great and saved me from buying ANOTHER shower curtain! So 2 shower curtains and $$.$$ later, I think I have decided that I am retiring from the shower curtain monogramming business. UNLESS… it’s something like a 3 letter monogram or something not quite as huge as this B. In hindsight, I should have sewn an applique “B” using red fabric, instead of an 80,000+ stitch count fill stitch letter. Live and learn.

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Thank you to all of my Instagram followers who liked, commented, prayed and cried with me over this saga of an embroidery job. By the way, I let my customer know what was going on all along the way. She was super sweet and felt super sorry for me. I honestly like how the {B inside the frame} turned out better than just a plain B!

In other news, here are several new designs I listed a couple of days ago! We haven’t done a “Stitch” the dog design in a long time, so I was excited about the Halloween Stitch! I also adore this Puppy and love the fast and easy “vintage” redwork stitch designs (Footballs & Megaphones)! You can see all of these at Applique Cafe!

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What’s your “Shower Curtaingate” story? We all have at least 1!!

Comments

  1. so sad and scary! Glad it worked out and I love the frame!

  2. YIKES! I really felt your pain!!!! Exactly one year ago a bride gave me a Hermes hanky to embroidery – she wanted it tacked inside her gown, & presumably use afterwards as a hanky. I practiced using various stabilizers that would wash away, & I really needed a 60 weight thread but I live in a rural area where it is unavailable. I was so nervous because I knew it was expensive! It turned out well but I spent a huge amount of time on it But my worst was a queen size set of sheets for a wedding gift. I don’t even remember what went wrong…only that I had to go and purchase another set. Why oh why could she not have registered for white or cream – but no, they had to be a certain set of yellow! I am still using the pillowcases as scraps for appliques, and yes I even use the fitted and top sheets on my children’s bed when they come home. They have never asked whose initials are on them, I guess because everything else I have at home IS monogrammed! But I still cringe when I use them & think about it.

  3. Hi! I love your blog. I have the same machine that you have. I recently was asked to monogram a thirty-one yoga mat tote and a matiching tote. The yoga mat tote is heavily printed and I know that I want to put a patch on it. The lunch bag has a pocket on the front that I would like to embroider on. Do you have any suggestions on what you would do? Thanks in advance for any kind of advice that you can offer.

    • Which tote is it??

      • One is an All Pro Tote and the other is the thermal tote with a pocket on the front. I was thinking about embroidering a patch on the all pro tote because it has a busy design. I was thinking about embroidering the initials on the front pocket of the thermal tote.