Guest Post: Dana Beach

Hello everyone! I'm Dana from the blog Craftyminx, and I'm so happy to be here. I get my thrills from any craft, but embroidery has been a good friend of mine for a long time now. When Danielle asked me to do this guest post, I got a little giddy because I had the perfect Valentine's Day embroidery pattern to share with you. (Download it here!)

We have a new niece who is named Olive and her mom has been asking me to design some cute clothing with the theme of olives for her for a while now. Since Valentine's day is less than a month away, I decided she needed an "Olive Ewe" onesie for the holiday and designed this pattern for her.

Obviously, this doesn't only have to be used on onesies. You can embroider it on anything to give to a loved one.

Keep it in the hoop or frame it to give as an art piece.

Or get crazy and embroider a card for your special someone.

Here are some tips for embroidering on card stock:

Pre-poke your holes with a sharp needle making sure not to poke them any closer than an 1/8th of an inch. I use a t-pin for this because it doesn't hurt my fingers in the process and it makes the right sized hole for the needle I use.

Very carefully use the holes like you would a sewing card. Skip the satin stitch because those stitches have to be made too close together. The trick here is to keep from creasing or tearing your paper. If you've used a thick enough card stock and didn't punch your holes too close together this shouldn't be a problem.  

 I use tape on the back to hold down my ends so there are no bumpy knots.

I don't recommend using painter's tape, I just wanted you to be able to see the tape. You can cover the inside with a complementary paper after you've finished to clean it up a bit too.

 

If this design doesn't tickle your fancy, I have some vintage valentine embroidery patterns I created last year that you can use the same technique on to make some really cute cards. 

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Thank-you Dana for this SUPER cute pattern! How cute would this be for the Olive in your life? And if you don't have an Olive, it can work for any child of course! Such a sweet, simple pattern that you could whip up pretty fast for a Valentine's Day gift. It's perfect.

Be sure to check out Dana's blog chock full of crafty goodness.

She also just started a 365 project that I think is pretty darn brilliant. She's crocheting a granny square a day! How smart is that? I have a granny square blanket that I've started and only have a couple dozen squares done, and every time I look at them I feel overhwhelmed that I won't ever finish it. But doing a square a day is so doable! 

You can also follow Dana on Twitter and Flickr.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Comments

[Viviana]

So adorable! I really need to get my embroidery going, and this might be it! Thank you for sharing, Dana!

[Hannah]

This is such a sweet valentine idea!

[Michelle Clement]

Lovely, Dana! your patterns have my heart. :) I totally want to just stitch one up to have around my house all year! :)

[Melissa Mann]

cute :-)

[lisa]

Holy cuteness!!!! I love them!!! I'm gonnz to make some.

[lishyloo]

embroidering on vintage fabric? why didn't i think of that???? this is changing my life.

lishyloo