Wreath for the Duck Hunter

Since my MOG duties included the rehearsal dinner, I wanted to incorporate my son's love (and yes, obsession) with duck hunting.  Yes, he gets his obsessive qualities from his mother's gene pool honestly.  His is hunting and mine is all things sewing....why not combine the two???

He sent me a picture of two "love" ducks so I added a little to the newly digitized design to include the date and their names.  I purchased the 12" wide burlap ribbon that is so readily available at Hobby Lobby ( use the coupon and you'll save bundles!).  This was to be the nucleus of my duck wreath theme.  I used my 6 needle Brother 600II to embroider the duck design on this burlap using heavy weight stabilizer that I cut away from the back side and Press and Seal (yes from the kitchen) on top to keep any needles from getting caught on the wide weave. (sorry I didn't take pics of the process, check out the blog post Machine Embroidered Dog Collar).  The rest is history!  A few cat tails, a resin duck and some greenery!  Oh, and let's not forget the big "G" I got off the clearance aisle at Hobby Lobby a couple of months back!

I threw together another arrangement for the head table while I was decorating the tables....

Susan Spann did our cake.  Check out her FB page  Susan's Sweets.  

Could you tell we used the "duck hunting" theme???

All in a day's work!

So happy when I'm stitching,

Renee

PS.  Please be mindful of the use of any content.  It is the property of Renee Galloway.  Feel free to share but give credit where it is due.  Thanks!

Machine Embroidered Dog Collar

This post is all about Nelli and her participation in my son's wedding as ringbearer!

Since she is his baby, he and the bride wanted her to be in the wedding.  Naturally grandmom (or Ney-Ney) needed to make wedding attire!

I started with scrap white broadcloth that I had cut off the flower girl dress prior to hemming and used the same mini blue rick rack I had put on the flower girl's angel wings. (see previous post Wedding Sewing)  It was easy to make a casing and straight stitch the rick rack on each edge, but how did I want to embellish a dog collar to make her look like a girl but not make the son say "no way Mom!" ?

Why not use the same machine embroidery design I used on a burlap ribbon for other wedding decor?

Egad! I love working under pressure (yes, it was the night before we were supposed to head to the out of town wedding and the day after I had spent the whole day in bed with strep throat)!!!

I pulled a piece of burlap out of the trash can and readied it for embroidery by using spray adhesive onto Wet and Gone stabilizer.  After hooping and pulling up my saved design, I threaded the proper thread and began my "in the hoop" dog tag.

A satin bow the same color as the flower girl's and blue satin ribbon with love knots to hold the bow together were added to make the perfect wedding collar for our Nelli!

In Stitches,

Renee

PS.  All content is the property of Renee Galloway.  Please feel free to pin on Pinterest or share but remember to give credit where credit is due!  Thanks!

Wedding Sewing

When my son proposed last year at Maywood Christian Camp during our camp week, I knew I had a year to prepare.  I was hoping the bride would ask me to smock the flower girl dress and of course a quilt!  

A flower girl dress was needed for the outdoor, country-style wedding so after collaboration, we decided on a back- buttoned bishop made in white broadcloth.  I would use her peach, blue and yellow color theme for the smocking and embelish it with cast on daisies in the same colorway.  

I chose the buttons first, then matched DMC thread to the buttons.

Here is a look as it hangs (should have put a darker background behind it) prior to giving it to her to try on.  I also used a growth ring on the hem.  Not only does it provide extra length for later, but it is an EASY way to hem by machine without it looking like it!

I used mini rick rack in blue as trim on the angel wings.  The trick to this was to pleat the neckline first, leaving long quilting threads.  Flattening the sleeves completely, I was able to iron a 1/4 " double turned edge and used a blindstitch for hemming to attach the rick rack to make it appear to float off the edge of the sleeves.

She and my niece pose for the camera! (trying to keep her busy until time to walk down the aisle)

The flower girl was perfectly comfortable in her dress and boots as she spread petals on the burlap runway...

Handwork was done while watching tv and traveling and quilt designing started in the sewing studio during the day.

More wedding sewing in the next post .... the dog needs a wedding collar!

Always in stitches,

Renee