Ask Jenny - Everything You've Wanted to Know (But Were Afraid to Ask)

[mishti]

yay!  It's my turn.   

I want to repost a question another person posted: how do you choose stitches and colors to best accentuate what you're doing?

I found a great picture of a spanish woman in a beautiful dress and I think it would look fantastic if I embroidered it in all the right ways. 

And, if you will, since you requested ( ), what is your favorite movie?

[SublimeStitcher]

Hey  Mishti,

When choosing colors, I close my eyes and imagine the design already finished. I really do. I'll do it now...Hmmm (rubbing temples and imagining really hard) I see....reds and black and purple, yellow and green possibly for a lovely senorita pattern...mmmMhHHMM (snapping out of it). Like that.

And, I also just keep lots and lots of floss on hand. I eyeball it. I stitch some, decide I don't like it, pull it out and stitch it again.

All this is to say that I don't spend a lot of time beforehand figuring it out. Many of my color / stitch choices come out as I'm working. I base my color choices strongly on what colors I like, what I think goes well together...the same applies to my artwork. I don't work out the color composition ahead of time, but I will think about it a lot while looking at the piece.

A lot of you have asked for me to do something showing how I combine stitches for creative effects. I've heard this request really strongly- so stayed tuned. It will appear....

[ibmomof2]

I'm going to try my hand with clothing finally. Specifically some baby onesies for my soon to be nephew.

I know I "could" leave the back as is, but I'd rather not. I was thinking of maybe just attaching a small piece of white flannel fabric. Would it be better to fuse it with interfacing, or maybe just use a decorative stitch and have it frame the design on the front? Of course...now that I typed that out, stitching it would defeat the whole purpose. Hmmm 

What do you think?

[SublimeStitcher]

Hm. What do I think....hm.

Well, if the intention is to have a softer surface against the newborn's skin, you could:

-Avoid using any knots. Start off with a long tail and work it through the underside of the stitches

-Back it with fusible interfacing, and then launder it. Add a fabric softener sheet to the dryer. In my experience, this will cause the interfacing to really soften up and it might even get a little fuzzy. Usually this is an undesirable aspect of the interfacing, but might be good for the baby's skin. Just be sure that you really iron the interfacing on real good (like my grammar?). Ironing it from the front and the back helps with that.

-Do what you were thinking: baste or sew a patch of satin or soft flannel as a backing.

Let us know what you decide, and what works best!

Remember when posting to this thread:

~Stacked questions get the boot! (And are welcome to repost)
~Follow up comments / comments that don't ask a question make me smile, but also get the boot so the thread appears open for a new question on the homepage.

Why? Because I'm mean. No, no...it's just to keep some order around here...

Thank you! Next!

[Early Bird Special]

Umm, ok, I'll ask a question!  Totally personal, and not embroidery related.

So, I was wondering, what's your favorite food?  Do you enjoy cooking?  Are you vegetarian?  Sweet or Salty?  Come on lady, dish it!

xoxo
Amy

P.S. Do you have any tattoos?  Or plans for more in the future?

[SublimeStitcher]

Ooh, okay. Um...

My favorite food? Let's see. Any potato-cheese casserole kind of thing. Comfort food. Bar food. Whatever they serve in hospitals and geriatric cafeterias. Really. Mashed potatoes. Stuff that's bad for me. Cheeseburgers and pizza. I'd eat them every day if I could.

I am ashamed that I don't know how to cook. I know how to make a *few* things really really well (like dessert crepes, pizza from scratch- the crust too!) But 'cook' in the sense of see-what's-in-the-fridge-and-throw-together-dinner? I'm no good at it. If I win the lottery, I'm hiring a personal chef.

I am not a vegetarian, but I'm pretty picky about the meat I eat.

I like savory as much as sweet, but I have a HUGE sweet tooth. Right now, I have these chocolate cookies..and I've eaten like, four today.

I'm hungry now.

Yes, I have one tattoo on my left shoulder that I got when I was 18. It's an art nouveau design which looks like a tribal design. It's my only tattoo. I've thought several times about getting another one, but always stopped short. I might have this one re-worked / camouflaged or something. But I'm not getting sleeves any time soon.

Hey, thanks for the fun questions SewWabi! I hope you don't think less of me now...


VACATION TIME! That's right folks- I'm going on the first real vacation I've had in oh, about six years. Maybe longer. 'Real' meaning not visiting family (well, actually I will be...) and taking the whole month of August off. You won't be hearing a peep out of me after July 31st until sometime in September. Where am I going? Oh, I think I'll keep it a secret for now and tell you when I get back. I'll miss you all terribly! I'll send a postcard!

[Sew Its For You]

Jenny.. hmm a month of vacation can I tell you right now how jealous I am??  I wish I was going away,  You are going to get a much deserved vacation.. which brings me to my question...

Where is the furtherst you can remember someone ordering your patterns from?  Will you be doing embroidery while on vacation??

I had an idea too, have you ever thought of getting some of your patterns turned into fabric?  I think the camping well heck any of them would make super cool fabric...  Just a thought!

Have a great vacay!
julie

[brookeincraftland]

I just discovered sublime stitching about 2 days ago and I just started embroidery about 2 weeks ago and I had stayed away from it because of the UM,  patterns I didn't like so um, thanks for answering all the questions, just thought you should get a post telling you how great your site was, but so many good questions I don't need to ask one. No reply needed

[SublimeStitcher]

Hey! I'm back! Thanks for the kind well-wishes! So, I guess I should tell you where I was: I went to Paris. No, not Paris, Texas! That Paris. I used to be a nanny there a looong time ago and have a young niece I've not seen since she was an infant (the book is dedicated to her). This was the first time I'd been back in eight years, and it was my first real vacation in nearly six years. The month went by too fast, and I consider myself very, very lucky to be able to take that much time off. I have you all to thank for that as customers who support my company, and my incredible support staff back at the office who made sure orders were shipped, emails answered and that all ran smoothly without me (it did). I also visited a store owner from Lille who carries the patterns in her shop, Poodle Wah-Wah. It was great. I can't wait to go back.

So! This means the boards are open again for questions of all shapes and sizes. Fire away!

Just remember:

no stacking of questions (meaning, once a question is posted, please wait until I answer before posting a new one)

please refrain from posting comments (even though I really appreciate them)
so people checking the home page know when I've posted a response.

Thanks everyone! It's great to be home!

[Ravenau1]

Hi Jenny! Glad you enjoyed your break.

I love your designs and was just wondering, on your website you have Tad Williams listed as someone that you have done (or perhaps has purchased from you) embroidery for.  I love your work and am a huge Tad Williams fan (presuming it's Tad Williams the author) so was wondering what it was that you did for him? A portrait perhaps?

Thanks!
ELana