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National Sewing Month

Day 28

What form of piecing do you prefer? I really love crazy-piecing, simply because you can use the pieces and scraps that you have on hand, and the pieced lines provide a variety of opportunities to embroider and embellish.

Victoriana 1 and Victoriana 2 by Christen Brown

These two pieces were stitched using the same fabrics, and are almost identically pieced together. I was going to make a purse, but decided that two small wall hangings were more desirable. The embroidery stitches were worked in silk embroidery ribbon, perle cotton and cotton floss. Beads, charms and buttons were used for the embellishments.

You can find these two pieces in The Embroidery Book by C&T Publishing.

The Crazy Lady Victoriana by Christen Brown

This piece was made using the same fabrics as the above two pieces, with the addition of several vintage silk ties and their lining fabrics. I created this piece while I was teaching a class titled the Crazy Corner. I enjoyed adding in all of the embellishments such as a birds nest, fabric yo-yos, and ribbonwork flowers.

Happy Stitching, ~Christen

National Sewing Month

Day 25

What sewer does not have a favorite needle keep, or pincushion. Here are a few of mine:

Some of these are classes, some were shown as examples in book, all are used and loved.

Happy Stitching, ~Christen

National Sewing Month

Day 12

Question: Do you sew functional forms or fabulous frivolities?

8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″

Gypsy Treasures by Christen Brown

This little purse is made from a beautiful cotton batik fabric by Hoffman (who else?). The fabrics were heavily quilted and textured, using a twin needled for the quilting. Surface techniques include a vine created from yarn, covered in gold metallic threads, fabric yo-yos, and machine couched novelty yarn details. The sections of fabric are embroidered with raised and textured stitches, beaded embroidery stitches, shisha mirrors, and buttons.

This piece can be seen in my book Embroidered and Embellished by C&T Publishing. Textured and Treated Reticule, is also a PDF class lesson.

Happy Stitching, ~Christen

Day 29 of FLOWERS GALORE!

Day 29 of FLOWERS GALORE!

Country Cottage Tussy Mussy

May your day be filled with everything and everyone that you love!

This is a class that I taught for Joggles. I loved working with all of the different materials, and textures which include cotton fabric, lace, grosgrain ribbon, satin ribbon, felt, crochet streamers, and vintage buttons. The vessel that the flowers are displayed in is made from a cardboard cone that has been covered with mixed media techniques.

One of the flowers that I think is the prettiest is the shabby rose. If you would like to make this flower click here.

Happy Stitching, enjoy~ Christen!

Day 27 of FLOWERS GALORE!

Day 27 of FLOWERS GALORE!

dyed ribbon corsages

dyed ribbon corsages

dyed ribbon corsages

Corsages to Dye For

This is a series of classes that I taught on-line for Joggles, Corsages to Dye For I, Corsages to Dye For II, and Corsages to Dye For III. The student learned how to mix colors and dye her own ribbons. The flowers and leaves were made with ribbonwork techniques, and a little bit of embroidery. Many of the techniques can be found in my two ribbonwork books by C&T Publishing.

Ribbonwork Gardens a book by Christen Brown

Happy Stitching, enjoy~ Christen!

Day 25 of FLOWERS GALORE!

Day 25 of FLOWERS GALORE!

buttons, charms, ribbon

Funky Junky Steampunky

This was an on-line class that I taught for Joggles. The base of the bracelet is made from two ribbons that are woven together to make a larger base. The flowers are made from zippers lined with satin ribbon, other flowers are made from satin and vintage lace. Additional embellishments include glass, shell and metal buttons; metal, glass and wood charms; lace appliques and other collected treasures.

Happy Stitching, enjoy~ Christen!

Day 22 of FLOWERS GALORE!

Day 22 of FLOWERS GALORE!

Vase with Flowers

This is one of nine blocks that were designed for my class the Stitch Along Sampler series. The embroidery stitches included both traditional and silk ribbon techniques. The stitches can be found in my book Embroidered and Embellished by C&T Publishing.

Happy Stitching, enjoy~ Christen!

Day 20 of FLOWERS GALORE!

Day 20 of FLOWERS GALORE!

Lace in Bloom

This is a sampling of the flowers that I created for a class that I call Lace in Bloom. Several of the flowers are made with individual petals that are made from a “magic web” technique that I created using Solvy. The other flowers are made from a length of lace. All of the laces were dyed with ColorHue dyes. Fun, fun, fun!

Happy Stitching, enjoy~ Christen!

Day 18 of FLOWERS GALORE!

Day 18 of FLOWERS GALORE!

Ribbon Embroidered Brooches

This project the Ribbon Embroidered Brooch, is a class that I just love to teach. The project is simple and elegant, and one the student can easily finish one in a few hours. There are just a few stitches, the woven rose, lazy daisy, French knot, and chain stitch, with a couched cord edge. These stitches can be found in my book The Embroidery Book by C&T Publishing.

Happy Stitching, enjoy~ Christen!

Day 17 of FLOWERS GALORE!

Day 17 of FLOWERS GALORE!

Crazy Pieced Needle Case

This is a close-up view of a needle case that I made for a class that I teach. The base is crazy-pieced with cotton fabrics and embellished with ribbonwok flowers, silk ribbon embroidered flowers, traditional and silk ribbon embroidery stitches, buttons, charms, vintage tatted trim and appliques. Many of the stitches can be found in my book The Embroidery Book by C&T Publishing.

Happy Stitching, enjoy~ Christen!