We can take care of any of your sewing and embroidery needs. We’re convenient to Winchester, Virginia, and we will ship any product worldwide.
Please check out our Artfire Studio or contact us at 28SidesDesigns[at]gmail.com
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First I am having a WYSIWYG SALE!. All items in this category are already made and ready to ship, unlike most of my items which are made to order. This is to raise money to be able to buy christmas gifts (or more accurately supplies to make christmas gifts). Many of these items will make great christmas and birthday gifts.
Second, I will not be embroidering in house for very much longer. I do not have the demand of embroidered items to warrant keeping the embroidery machine. It is a wonderful machine, runs beautifully has a ton of hoops, embroidery stock designs, a great basic design editor (also used to transfer the designs from your computer to the machine). The software only runs on Windows XP or lower (down to 98 I believe). It is a Toyota 850 ESP 12 needle single head machine. You will also get all my embroidery thread (most of it is Madeira Polyneon and all but the black and white look almost new). If you are looking for a commercial embroidery machine, please contact me at 28sidesdesigns[at]gmail[dot]com.
Or if you would like one of my embroidered items, please contact me soon as I do not know for how long I will have the machine
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I love my embroidery machine. It allows me to really cool embellished items. There are tons of embroidery designs out there by tons of different people. However I have found two that really suit both my needs, style and are good quality designs (ie give me the least issues on my machine); Urban Threads and Embroidery Library.
Nerdy Ducky from their Ducky Collection
Although Urban Threads is the child of Embroidery Library they have a very different feel as well as they also have hand embroidery and digital stock art of almost all their designs. They have designs ranging from Retro to Rockin’, Goth to Steampunk, Metaphysical to Fantasy. They have things to suit almost all your age needs to, from child to adult. They also have an awesome <a href=”http://www.urbanthreads.com/pages?id=404″>tutorial</a> to show you different things you can do with the designs. I have a few things I’ve made using their tutes.
They have a wide range of steampunk designs. They are one of the few (possibly only) with real selection of steampunk designs for the machine. I use one of the designs, the clockwork fae for my avatar and in my banner and such because it is exactly what I cater to, fantasy, steampunk, renaissance.
In addition to the wide range of geeky/modern embroideries they have. The files themselves stitch out beautifully. In the beginning of my machine embroidery days, I was getting discouraged with the way the designs I tried always looks bad, skipped/loose stitching, bad tension, thread breaks and then the final designs just looked messy. Now some of it was the learning curve of learning to hoop, getting the right thread tension, needle to fabric combination, better thread (I use only madeira polyneon thread), but also it was badly digitize designs. The first time I used an Urban Threads design, it stitched out with less than half the issues of the stock ones I had (some by the very well known Dakota Collectibles).
Art Nouveau Baking from Embroidery Library
Now for the more mainstream, simpler designs I go to Embroidery Library. They have a wide variety of topics as well, far greater than Urban Threads. But their style is a bit more traditional to the feel of embroidery. They do have some hip, young designs but mostly that’s where I go to get designs that appeal across a greater expanse of people or if I want a more generic piece, but one that is still beautiful and a piece of art. Again I have almost no issues when I stitch out an Embroidery Library design.
These are just my two favorite places. They have such a great variety between the two, as well as many other embroidery design sites are soooo expensive (and sometimes you have to buy an entire pack to get the one design you want, while at Embroidery Library they have packs you can also purchase just one design, altho packs tend to be more cost efficient). Embroidery Library is downright cheap for price (but as I’ve stated before the designs are quality pieces) and Urban Threads, while more expensive than Embroidery Library, is still less so than many other sites I’ve seen.
If you know of a embroidery design site you like and love please share!!
Tags: emblibrary.com, embroidery, Library, machine, Review, stitching, Urban Threads, urbanthreads.com
Filed under: Embroidery
Danny Kaye and Glynis Johns are smuggling the proper heir to the throne in some wine casts. Danny Kaye is dressed as an old man and Glynis Johns is pretending to be his deaf and dumb granddaughter. They are stopped by the usurper’s men.
“Ask–Ask the girl if she’s seen a group in the forest” – Guard
“What?” – Danny Kaye
“Ask the girl if she’s seen a group in the forest” – Guard
“I’m sorry, wha-what was that?” – Danny Kaye
“ASK THE GIRL IF SHE’S SEEN A GROUP IN THE FOREST!!!!” -Guard
“No need to hollar, sir, for I hear very well in deed” – Danny Kaye
“WELL ASK HER!” – Guard
“Ask her what?” – Danny Kaye
“IF SHE’S SEEN A GROUP IN THE FOREST!!!!!!” – Guard
“Child, have you seen a group in the forest” – Danny Kaye
Glynis Johns makes hand gestures for some time
“She says ‘no’” – Danny Kaye
“What took her so long?” – Guard
“Stutters” – Danny Kay
Tags: Court Jester, Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, movie, Quote
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This has been the best Lemon Square I’ve had.
Preheat oven to 350F, prep an 8″x8″ square pan (I usually line it with parchment paper, makes clean up alot easier).
Crust:
1 Stick/1/2 cup Butter (softened
1/4 cup confectioner sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp salt (optional, I usually omit)
1 cup flour
Lemon Filling:
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tbl lemon juice
combine all crust ingredients, creaming them together until they look like crumbs, press into pan and bake in oven for about 15 min (until it browns slightly)
Make filling by combining all ingredients and beating until smooth.
Take crust out of the oven and pour Lemon Filling on top and return to oven for about 20-25 min until the top is browned but it’s still soft, don’t overbake.
Let it cool for about 1 hour and sprinkle with confectioner sugar if you like. Then serve.
Tags: baking, dessert, lemon, recipe, squares
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Sock
I recently (re)picked up knitting and instead of making a scarf as my first project I went with a sock. I practiced knitting in the round on 4 double pointed needles, usually refered to as DPNs. I also wanted to learn cabling, so after practicing on some yarn my mother gave me to practice with, I incorporated some cabling down the front of the sock. This was very much a learning sock.
This sock was knitting using Silver’s Sock Class which has fantastic intructions on how to make a sock and the skills required. The yarn I used is 50% wool, 25% bamboo, 25% nylon. This yarn made a great sock, the wool makes it warm while the nylon and bamboo keep it fairly soft and washable. While I doubt I will offer socks in my shop any time soon, I will probably be offering fingerless gloves once I develop one I like.
Tags: cabling, handmade, knitting, socks, wool, yarn
Filed under: Clothing
I recently watched The Covenant (2006). It wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad. It wasn’t even mediocre. It was FAIL. It could’ve been good. It could’ve been very good. The acting was good, the concept good. The cinematography was pretty. But it tried to be a dark fantasy movie and then went, “WAIT!! WE NEED TO APPEAL TO THE TEEN MASSES!” And so didn’t actually develope anything. It would’ve been better as a trilogy or even a two parter. I mini-series it would’ve excelled at. But they tried to shove it into a 1.5 hour movie. Very Very Very disappointing.
Tags: movie, Review, the covenant
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Check out my facebook fan page for special discounts
Tags: coupons, discounts, special sales
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Lucius: The vampires didn’t realize you were following a human did they, Raze?
Raze: No. (grunts) I mean, I don’t think so.
Lucius: You don’t think or you don’t know?
Raze: I’m not sure.
It just cracks me up. Probably because whenever I would tell my dad I didn’t think something, he would say something snarky about me not thinking (typically when I did something stupid)
Tags: movie, Quotes, Underworld
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Sulis Tunic wrap closeup
I recently had someone contact me about making a tunic for them. They gave me a rough sketch and they wanted it to a wrap top with three panels in the front and sleeveless. I was really excited to do this. I haven’t had much time to work on creating orginial designs (more just altering premade patterns) but this gave me the incentive to really buckle down and do it.
Sulis Tunic WIP front
Sulis Tunic Back WIP
The biggest concern of mine was lack of ease in woven fabrics. I have very little experience working in knits and experience with wrap top made of wovens has taught me that they tend to shift alot and don’t shift back (creating potentially embarrassing accidental flashing). So instead of cutting the wrap straight to the grain I cut it on the bias. The bias has the greatest amount of stretchiness (also called ease) of the fabric. The bias-cut will help to fit the tunic to the body to avoid Janet Jackson-like wardrobe malfunctions.
The tunic is also shaped to the torso by four darts, two in the front that help taper from the bust to the waist, and two princess seam darts in the back.
The tunic is a true wrap top, it will have closures for the under panel and over panel and tie at the side seams. The under panel ends below the waist and right above the hip. It is a long tunic , down to the knees but has five panels in the “skirt” part. three in the front and two in the back. two of the slits aren’t formed by seams left separated. They will have facings to finish the edges. The necklines and armholes will also be finished with facings.
Sulis Tunic - 45 degree view
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I am currently reading Book 2 in the Darkglass Mountain Trilogy by Sara Douglass and would like to say it’s a wonderfully written story. The base story is your typical high fantasy; man must retrieve birthright to save the world. He has his servants and friends and enemies and maybe allies and maybe enemies and enemies that are allies and allies that are enemies yada yada yada. Bu,t the characters are well written, and I want to hit many of the characters over the head with hard objects because they are being impossibly stupid, but that just further proves that they are well developed and written so I feel for these characters.
The story is so vivid I am watching the books not reading them. I can see the Darkglass Pyramid and the deserts and the camps. I don’t remember reading it. This is the mark of a wonderful book when I can barely sit here while the book sits on the table waiting for me to read it (the only thing that gives me strength is that Book 3 isn’t due out until June 1st in the US…although I believe it’s available overseas)
Also I would like to say that Sara Douglass is an awesome woman and writer (not just because of her skills) but also her determination. I was only introduced to her books a short time ago (want to say I read Serpent Bride (book 1) in January. I wasn’t expecting the third book for a long long time because I read on a website that she had been diagnosed with cancer. So I was horrified that such a talented person had been given such a difficult thing but also that she might not be able to finish the series. My fears were unfounded because I just read that she is in remission (and there was much rejoicing) and also that book three was due out June 1, 2010…three years after book 1 was released. That is just amazing (I’m used to waiting years for new books) so she is now ranks among some of the most amazing people ever. In not just beating cancer but also in completing a series in a reasonable (actually in less) time span (take note Melanie Rawn)
Tags: book, Dark, Glass, Infinity Gate, Mountain, Review, Sara Douglass, Serpent Bride, Trilogy, Twisted Citadel
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