I am still alive, faithful followers....but barely! I feel like I just can't get caught up no matter how hard I try. I wanted to put this out there: I have been having much more frequently what are commonly called 'ocular migraines'. I was wondering if anyone else out there had any info they could share with me about this. Of course, the first time it happened I was sure I was going blind from the Lyme. It was super-scary, but I did a little research, and spoke to my Neurologist who said to just keep a log and if they become 'too frequent' to come in. What is 'too frequent'?? Do any of you know anyone that has these and has determined some sort of 'trigger'?? I still have not put two and two together with these.
Okay, enough with that. Let's get down to the good stuff!! *Blingaholics* unite! I have a fun project with freebies I am sharing today. If you are interested in creating some shirts of your own, just leave a comment or send me an email, and I will email you the embroidery font files *free of charge*!
Be sure to let me know what format your machine uses! My son goes to a new High School that opened last year with Freshman and Sophomore's only. Awesome! Beautiful campus, excellent staff, no Senior 'meanies' to detract from the excitement of Freshman year. One HUGE problem though.....Ugly school sweatshirts and T-shirts!! I have seen some from other schools in the area, and ours are definitely some of the ugliest! (sorry to whoever 'designed' them) I thought there was certainly room for improvement- let's leave it there. The beauty (??) of this project is that you can use the ideas to apply to any group. These pics for instruction are actually from some sweatshirts I am doing for another school.
First the 'legal stuff':
These designs are my own, and are copyrighted. You may use these ideas and files to create your projects and sell those projects. You may not copy or download these files and use the files for resale. I am giving this away to you, please do the same, but give credit or a linkback to Ticklish Moose and this blog. :)
A few notes about this project:
It is designed for use with machine embroidery, but you could also make templates with a graphics program and sew around the letters with a regular sewing machine, or even by hand! The project I am posting today is 'reverse applique'. I will also post a different project next week with the sweatshirts I have been doing with 'regular applique'. You can use either one of the files I will send you to do the reverse or regular applique.
I buy Guildan sweatshirts from Jiffy Shirts
I use between 40 and 60 5mm Hotfix crystals per sweatshirt.
April at A Crafty Family is my source for the crystals, and her level of customer service is second to none!
The first thing I want to discuss if fabric choice. From experience I have found that definite geometric prints do not work well for either of the applique applications. Random patterns, solids, batiks or blending fabrics are going to be your best bet. Use a good quality quilting cotton type of fabric, or even t-shirt knits. Pre-wash and dry both the sweatshirt and the fabric so you don't get any 'wonky' shrinkage after you are finished.
Second- use a good quality, medium weight, cut away stabilizer. Use a needle made for stretch/knit fabrics! I use a 90/14 ball point. If you use a sharp you will just punch/tear holes in the knit.
Iron the fabric!
Use any sweatshirt, hoodie or T-shirt.
Hoop the fabric and stabilizer, and spray the face with an embroidery fabric adhesive.
Turn the sweatshirt inside out. Fold the shirt across the chest just below the arm pits.
Now fold the shirt in 1/2 again, so that the center front is to the outside.
Line up the center front with the center marks on your hoop and press down the shirt. Open the fold across the hoop and press. Now open the shirt from the bottom, and adjust/smooth as needed, being careful not to stretch or pull the fabric of the shirt.
Add a top tear away/water soluble stabilizer once you have set the hoop on the machine.
Run your design!! Remove your hoops and tear off the top stabilizer.
Carefully cut through just the top layer. I have found that it works best to make basic cuts, and then go back and carefully trim the top layer.
I do basic trimming, and then go back and detail trim. Be sure to leave some of the sweatshirt material on the inside of the letters, as it curls up nicely after washing. Also, it makes it so you don't have to worry about being 'perfect' in your trimming!
After you get it looking like you want, use clear packing tape to remove any last bits of 'fuzzies' left from the adhesive spray and the back of the sweatshirt. This is also the point where I throw the shirt in the washer on rinse cycle only to remove any last bits of top stabilizer and fuzzies. Dry it in the dryer, and at this point you can be done, or go on the the *blingerator* phase of this project.
When I add the Hotfix crystals I have found it works well to dry place them ahead of time to figure out the best placing and spacing.
And there you have it!! Awesome shirts easily made in an afternoon.
Go Team!!
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I don;t know about ocular migraines in particular, but I do know about migraines in general. I have been having a lot more lately also! Seems like 3-4 per week! I used to have 1 every 2-4 months! What will hopefully help me figure out my triggers is an app I was able to download for my phone. If you have an android phone, maybe you can do the same, it's called MigraineTracker and it's free. I sure hope this helps you!!
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