Wee Bit O' Progress

Hey there stitchy peeps! I made some nice progress on the shirt I told you about yesterday, and I am here to show you what I've done. You're excited, right??

So, I think I will start where I left off yesterday: showing you the process of how I am doing everything. If this is boring to you, I apologize. I personally find this kind of stuff entertaining...does that make me weird? Nah... :-D

Ok, so I traced my pattern, and had to decide exactly where on the T-shirt I wanted to put it, and then I had to iron it on. Piece of cake. I played around with placement for a while, came up with something I liked, then dragged out the ol' ironing board and went to work. That's when I noticed IT. Sigh. A smudge. A teensy, tiny, itty-bitty, barely detectable little smudge. My beloved Sulky pen had smudged on the tracing paper while I was tracing the pattern.

Here, look, it really is hard to see it:


But once the pattern was ironed on the fabric...well, that's a different story.


Grrrr, grumble. I was none to pleased when I saw this!! Oh well, whatcha gonna do? :P

Anywho...

So, as I've mentioned before, stitching on T-shirts is NOT my favorite thing to do. That's because I never use stabilizer. That is, until now. But I don't think I have the stuff I am supposed to be using. The package says its for professionals (*snort* I am soooooo not a pro!) and machine embroidery. Whoopsies. I don't know why I didn't notice that when I bought the stuff. Perhaps I should, you know, research it a bit and find out what's out there. I heard the stuff from Sublime Stitching works well. Has anyone used it? What do you think of it?

So, here it is, the stuff I have:


(Look at the name of it! Tee hee, snicker.)

I cut a big piece of it, big enough for the Q-snaps to hold it in place:


I suppose I could've used a smaller piece, perhaps slightly larger than the pattern, and pinned it in place. But hey, that ain't my style.

So....even though this Stiffy stuff isn't what I should be using for stabilizer (or is it? I really don't know), it's working ok so far. I just hope it tears away with ease and doesn't pull out any of the stitches. Hmmm. Better not, or I just may cry.

Here's the little bit of stitching I got done last night:


I looooove the satin stitched collar. It's a little wonky, but it's not easy to tell that unless you're looking at it pretty closely. Satin stitch is one of the things that I have a hard time with, unless I am using it in a counted thread project, like this cross stitch WIP I've been working on for a few years (gasp!) now:


The little sheep (ewes) are Satin stitched with Wisper thread. Have you ever tried Wisper? It's fun, but can be a little trying at times. It's great for sheep and Santa's beard.

Ok, now I am digressing. I'll take that as a sign that my brain is tired of focusing and needs a little break. Time to veg out in front of the TV for a while...then go to the grocery store...ugh...then maybe after dinner and the kids are in bed I can finish this shirt and be back to tomorrow to show you pics. But don't hold me to that, ok? ;o)

Happy Stitching!