Basic Blanks

Hello readers! It has been a while since I last posted! School started. Soccer started. Homework started. Did I mention that school and soccer started? And homework? It has been a busy few weeks settling back in to school and homework X 3. The first couple of weeks were ROUGH, but I think we are settling in and getting in to a good routine. All 3 of my kids play soccer also, so that’s another story. Oh, and now Football Season has started. I feel like we JUST watched football like a month ago (from last season) and now it’s on my TV again. Happy Fall! 

So….. I have posted in the past about hats (just search “HATS”). I have also posted about blanks and have a nifty list on my blog – look under LINKS. I wanted to elaborate on some basic blanks that I’ve come to love. When I say basic, I mean hats, visors, Comfort Colors t-shirts, pigment dyed stuff, etc. The hats below are Adams Brand and can be found at Apparel N Bags. These are “pigment dyed” which is super popular right now. I have posted these hats before this summer and these designs are from Applique Cafe of course (Anchor Patch & Mini Dog).

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Another item I just got and LOVE – see below! This is a Comfort Colors long sleeved t-shirt from Apparel N Bags also. The color is Neon Red Orange, and when I first got it I had no idea what I was going to do with it. I dug through my fabric bins and honestly didn’t have ANY neon fabric to match for an applique. So… I decided to go with a classic monogram. This is Monogram Wizard Plus “Master Circle”, which is my GO-TO monogram font for like everything under the sun for girls. After much debate on thread colors, I went with Isacord #4240 which is a pretty blue color. My monogram is 4.88″ X 4.96″ so kind of big. This is a YXS sized shirt, and believe me, the color is NEON! I love the colors together and am happy with the way it turned out!

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These pictures don’t really reflect how bright the shirt color is, but it’s a great color!

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This is my sweet precious daughter, and this is what she wears like every day after school. Nike shorts are a staple, and any t-shirt she can find. Doesn’t have to match! Another reason I will be ordering some of the CC l/s tees is for her! At least I can monogram the shirt and it may look a little cuter?!? Maybe I should match ALL of her Nike shorts?

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A few more pics!

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What do you think? Check out Apparel N Bags for other cool “BASIC BLANKS”!! They sell everything from duffle bags to t-shirts to infant blanks!

Have you visited Applique Cafe recently?? If so, you may have noticed our “Digitzer’s Pick” on our home page! We now have like 800+ designs on our website! So…. we thought it might be a great idea to showcase some of our older designs so you don’t forget about them!  Our PICK right now is actually a design from last year I think, but it was too cute not to *pick*!! Click HERE to check out our Joy 4 design! The way it works is that we will randomly pick a design to showcase and feature it on our home page. We might leave it up there for a week, or it may be 3 days. I didn’t want to set a schedule (like a design of the week) because we all know how busy everyone is and how forgetful I am and I wanted to be able to change it out when I have time and feel like it! We hope you enjoy our PICKS! p.s. I am working on a cute graphic to feature the chosen designs on for my website! For now you get my Pic Monkey graphics.

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Have a great rest-of-the-weekend!!

The Year of Hats

I am declaring the summer of 2014 The Year of Hats, or the Season of Hats, or the SUMMER OF HATS? I’m doing hats every week and this will be my 3rd blog post this summer on doing hats. Check out the first 2 HERE and HERE. I’ve also done 2 posts so far on VISORS, so check them out HERE and HERE.

I have mostly done monogramming on hats, but recently did our new Anchor Patch (which comes in a “small size” great for hats).

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This week we listed a new Mini Dog Applique AKA “Stitch” so I sampled it on a hat as well. It was a little trickier because I had to trim around the small legs of the dog. I typically use Gingher 4″ curved scissors to trim my appliques, but busted out the “Snips” for this hat. I used my 5.5″ X 6″ Fast Frame + sticky stabilizer and pinned the front of my hat to the frame. I use the seam on the front of the hat for my center and it’s best to get the front of the hat as flat as possible and pinned down securely. I also use chip clips to clip the bill of the hat (which is flattened) to the frame.

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Here it is after I’ve unpinned. I not only use a layer of fabric, but I fuse it to a layer of medium cutaway stabilizer with Heat N Bond Lite so that the seam doesn’t show through my fabric. Fabric alone would probably work, but adding a layer of stabilizer keeps it firm and you can’t see the hat color or seam through the fabric.

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Finished product! Please note that the dog polka dot fabric is not wrinkled. For some reason the camera captured the dots weird and it looks that way, but it’s flat and smooth!

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More hats. These cute seersucker striped hats came from the J. Crew Outlet and were about 6 bucks each. My sister in law bought all they had and I have 3 more to do today. Again, flatten the bill, chip clip it to the fast frame and smooth and pin the front of the hat.

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I used Monogram Wizard Plus “Master Circle font and this is roughly 2.75” tall. I think I increased it a couple of times once I got it on my machine and saw that I had a little more room.

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This is what it looks like from the bottom. Most hats come with a “lip” or mini liner (the white part) that folds down – I usually pin it back before I pin the hat to the frame. The chip clips keep the bill flat and in place on the frame.

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Finished product!

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Here is another type of Fast Frame that I was told worked great with hats. It’s a 6″ thin radius frame and this one is from Ken’s Sewing Center. I believe you can also get a 4″ thin radius frame which might also work great for hats. Make sure you get THIN. Most 7 in 1 Fast Frame sets come with a regular radius frame, but I believe the thin will allow you to get closer to the bill on the front. They also sell these frames at Sewingmachine.com, but are currently not on the website. I was told they should be available next week online. Again, I don’t have one yet, but was told they work great for hats!

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We listed a few new designs this week and are having a quick little July 4th SALE at Applique Cafe.

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Here are our new designs for this week, which include a couple for BACK TO SCHOOL!! We also added a new “Patch Applique“. I love the TOOLS and these new patch designs are only 1 fabric and super easy to sew.

 

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Have a safe 4th of July!!

Simply Classic!

Good afternoon! I am back to work full steam ahead today after having been on vacation all last week at the beach with my whole entire (party of 17) family. It’s good to be home! We missed Maggie and it’s always good to get back to reality and turn my machine on again! Here are a few pics from our trip. This was our 9th year going to the Seagrove/Seacrest area of Florida (which is near Seaside in between Destin and Panama City Beach). It’s BEAUTIFUL!!

Sissy sporting her MONOGRAMMED visor I did for her! I used Monogram Wizard Plus “Camp” font with motif SySerif 26 dots in between. Check out my recent blog post on doing VISORS.

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Here are all the cousins minus one that is older. All boys but Sissy!

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My 3 at a concert at Alys Beach. G lost one of his front teeth the 1st night we were there!

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My oldest teaching little brother how to skim board. The sand is gorgeous and the water is beautiful! We had red flags a few days but overall it was a great beach week!

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Before I left we listed a couple of “new” designs, meaning they were new to the website, and sort of a “new” style to Applique Cafe. These are 1 FABRIC PATCH DESIGNS. The base fabric is done in 3 steps just like any applique designs (marking, tackdown & satin). After that, it’s all thread and super easy and fast to stitch. As you can see, I’ve used a lot of old school ‘good ole’ gingham fabric on these designs. There’s much controversy over whether or not CHEVRON is here to stay or (some hope) heading out of style. Gingham is both CLASSIC and SIMPLE!! Polka dots work too and even stripes.

This is our Ice Cream Cone Patch & Fire Truck Patch, both of which are available on our website now.

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This Train Patch is a new design and will be listed hopefully sometime tomorrow.

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Did I mention it was PATCH WEEK? We are already thinking of BACK TO SCHOOL. Here’s a quick and easy APPLE PATCH that will also be listed this week. I used seersucker striped fabric on this one.

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Also new is an Anchor Patch which will come in our regular 4×4, 5×7 and 6×10 sizes + we are including a smaller size (2.70″ X 2.70″) which is great for hats. This is an Adams brand pigment dyed hat and I stitched it this morning using my Fast Frames. You could also hoop a piece of sticky stabilizer I believe and do the same thing on a single needle machine (or any machine with no fast frames). The key is to get the bill of the hat flat, and also to get the front part of the hat where the applique (or monogram) will go flat and straight. *Check out my other recent post on doing HATS! I used chip clips to keep the bill of the hat flat and attached to the frame. I also smoothed the hat fabric and pinned it down. The seam of the hat is a great marker for your center.

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This is what it looks like from underneath.

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I used a red gingham fabric, and I applied Heat N Bond Lite to the fabric and fused it to a piece of medium weight cutaway stabilizer. I also applied HNBL to the stabilizer. Why did I use stabilizer? I was afraid the cotton gingham would be too thin on its own so the stabilizer makes it thicker and more stable for the applique.

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Finished product!

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I also sewed the Anchor Patch in the 5×7 size. It is new and will also be listed this week. anchor patch 5x7 500

One more new design for this week ~ Pencil Patch. This is great for BACK TO SCHOOL (yikes!!) and I used Monogram Wizard Plus “Kazoo” font which is for idea purposes only. Be on the lookout for a Crayon Patch similar to this!

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Hats are really popular right now as well as visors. The “pigment dyed” is also super popular!

I wanted to mention that I would not be at the Everything Applique Conference in Atlanta this weekend. I was leary about committing to do it back in April because I knew it was going to fall right after my first summer vacation. I thought I could swing it, but then realized it was going to be too much to get back from vacation and then leave town again for a long weekend with half of my sewing room. Summer is so short so I’m enjoying spending time with my kids and just having fun! Have a great week, and check Applique Cafe in a day or two for our new designs (and maybe a summer SALE).