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Embroidering..............

Kimberly did the rabbit with hat........
This I did from a Dover pattern........
I got this verigated thread from an OLD 'dime' store in Houston.........

And good old Holly Hobbie..............




James and I used to teach the young people at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church years ago. I had all the girls over one night to teach them some new stitches and have fun embroidering with them. It did NOT go very well. Only one girl out of the whole bunch could even thread a needle. Of course, she was the only girl that could even do a simple stitch. The other girls struggled the whole night threading needles and doing knots. It was a sad eye opening experience. What had their mothers been doing with them? These were teen girls.......this meant that if a button fell off that they could not even sew it back on.
Well, my girls know how to embroider. They know how to tie knots and to thread a needle. It isn't just so they can make things, but so they can enjoy their hands being busy. I love to see them take handwork along on trips, to an appointment or anywhere they know they will have spare time. I am always looking for a good can to keep all of our stuff in. Lunchboxes, plastic or tin work great. Even the little ones work if you have a little project and a little hoop! Teach your girls to keep their hands busy even when they're watching a movie.........at least 2 hours won't be TOTALLY wasted. They are good for girls to give as gifts and to prepare for their own home. Grandmas love to get gifts like this. "look at what my granddaughter did!" Doilies aren't necessary as Anne of Green Gables reminded her bosom buddy, but they're nice to have around.
This also is not a costly craft. Oh yes, you can make it costly be insisting on all the fancy things you can buy. The Victorian scissors in the shape of a peacock, hoops from the mall, upper scale thread and patterns. But it doesn't have to be that way.
I buy lots of my iron on patterns at sales and thrift stores, I buy muslin and light colored fabric, cut it into a square and hem it......then iron or draw a pattern onto it. You can find hoops and thread at sales also. They don't cost very much anyway........get a few colors everytime you go shopping. Make your girls excited to go to Hobby Lobby instead of the mall!
You can embroider on the ends of pillowcases, fill a plain colored tablecloth with flowers, a dish towel with bunnies, handkerchiefs, baby blankets, quilt squares, pot holders, decorate aprons, muslin bags, the bodice of a jumper, a hem on a baby dress, frame something your daughter made. IF you see a plain 'ANYTHING' just envision what could be embroidered on it! We use cloth dinner napkins. Our SPCA thrift store always has LOTS. Some of them might have a small stain on them, but look at it as added character.
Have you been to sales or antique stores that have embroidered doilies? I think they are all lovely......I just think of the woman that did it and where she was when she worked on it........did she sit in front of a fan, was she? on a road trip somewhere?
We have so much enjoyed embroidering around here, I just wanted to encourage you to look into this fun simple craft and maybe take it up as your own. You just customize it to your likes. I of course like bunnies, some like Indian art, some like cross-stitching, animals.........there's a whole world out there of things to do. We like to trace pictures out of Dover coloring books and embroider ladies in long dresses. Their eyes and noses are always a challenge, but somehow we get by!
I am now selling kits on the Rabbit Hutch if you'd like to go take a look. I customize them to your skill level and what you'd like to embroider.
Try something new........or start back where you left off.
Go to Dover Books and type in Ribbon Embroidery.........it should be the top book.....it's $6.95 and for the more advanced........they are the NEATEST iron on transfers we have ever had. Our book is in shreds!!! Olivia did a whole table-cloth full of their patterns.

www.the-rabbit-hutch.blogspot.com
(go here to see more about kits)

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Comments

Kristi said…
Great ideas about the pillowcases and tablecloths and such. I think Hannah and I will start a project when she gets back from camp! ;)

~Kristi
Charity Grace said…
I used to embroider a lot. Recently I again tried to take it up and it looks terrible. I think I'm making my stitches too big. Your post encourages me to try again. I find it very relaxing, but I'd like for it to look nice too.

You are so right about crafting not having to cost a fortune. There are lots of inexpensive options. You had great ideas.
Anonymous said…
How old do you think girls should be before they really have the dexterity to try embroidery? Mine are 7 and 8, and I'm not sure they wouldn't be discouraged after repeatedly pricking their thumbs!
Anonymous said…
gem, it really just depends on the girl. We have a girl in our church that is 9 that does fine work. By that I mean she can do hard stitches and is very neat and precise. She also has beautiful handwriting.
You would have to know your own daughters to see if it would discourage them. I would say if they started on something simple that they would be tickled to see a finished project and hopefully want to do another one. Kind of like playing piano.....one little tune learned can spark a child to learn another one.
Attitude matters, too. If it is introduced to a daughter, it has to be a fun interesting time for them. Something challenging, but not so hard they get discouraged and not so easy that they are bored with it! Hmmmmmm, now that is quite an order, isn't it?
You gotta find the balance on how early to start girls in their 'life long crafts!'. It could be a good thing for one and not so good of a thing for the next.
Somewhere along the line girls gotta learn things like this because it is the very thing that makes them WANT to be a keeper at home! They have so many things they are working on to fix their home up, that it is a happy place for them to be.
Anonymous said…
Hi! I thought the embroidering looked pretty. I was thinking about the Holly Hobbie one, and when I saw you said that you would rather take your girls to the Hobby Lobby than the the mall, I did a double take. It just so happens that my baby sister Sophie has a Holly Hobbie doll and by acident I called it Hobby Lobby! Isn't that funny? So, now whenever we talk about Holly Hobbie, we call her Hobby Lobby!
~Emma (mamalama's dd #2)

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