Day 14

Question: Do you name or title your projects, and how do you choose those names? Sometimes I choose a name by an item in the project, or from a song that I listen to, or just a fond memory.

Lady Bird’s Bzzy Garden, and Lady Bird 2 by Christen Brown

The theme for each of these crazy-pieced wall hangings came from the creme colored print that has flowers and ladybugs on it. I used a variety of garden themed buttons including flowers, bees, fruits and vegetables, and gardening tools. I also used ladybugs (representing our daughter), frogs (representing my husband), and bunnies (representing me.)

I used the same printed fabrics for each wall hanging. On the first I used black as an accent color, and worked the border row stitches in black, with the decorative and detail stitches worked in the same colors as the fabrics. In the second piece I used creme as an accent color, including in a variety of cotton laces. The border row, decorative and detail stitches are all worked in the colors found in the fabrics.

These two pieces can be found in The Embroidery Book, by C&T Publishing.

Happy Stitching~Christen

Day 6

Question: What type of embellishments to you like to work with on your projects? Buttons, beads, and charms? What about those little notions like snaps, hooks and eyes and safety pins? How about found objects, like paper or ribbonwork ephemera?

Scrap Pins, is a new project that you will find in my upcoming book, Creative Embroidery, Mixing the Old with the New. I used bits of ribbon, lace, and fabric for the base, and all kinds of treasures for adornments. Ugly Bug Ball, is an example of another project, called the Hoop Frame. The spiderweb was created with vintage silk embroidery ribbon and rickrack trims. The bugs are made from sewing notions stitched with perle cotton, or beads.

Scraps and Leftovers, by Christen Brown

The fabrics in this wall hanging are all scraps left over from other projects, with leftovers of ribbon, lace, trims, appliques, and zippers for embellishments. I literally emptied the sewing box in search of buckles, safety pins, snaps, and hooks and eyes. I combined these with vintage buttons, charms, and other ephemera. The quilted and embroidered stitches were all worked in perle cotton thread. The pin in the center was from an original Shirley Temple doll that belonged to my mom.

This piece can be found in my book, The Embroidery Book, by C&T Publishing.

Happy Stitching~Christen

Day 1

Question: When did you first learn to sew, and who was your teacher? I learned from my mom, when I was around 7 or 8. She made all of our dresses when we were growing up, and I sat by her side picking up the pins and putting them into a pincushion. I loved looking through her sewing box, and playing with all of the tools. How many of the tools and notions below, do you have in your own sewing box?

Create, Sew and, Stitch, and Play, Garland by Christen Brown

This garland is made from two different sizes of heart shapes, cut from a pieced hex cutter quilt, and backed with fast2fuse. Each heart was first hand-quilted with perle cotton, then embellished with vintage and new sewing notions and other ephemera. The hand stitched embellishments include all manner of vintage sewing notions, including seam gauges, pin cushions, knitting knobby, tatting shuttle, bodkins, safety pins, tape measures, scissors, thimbles, crochet hooks, buckles, bobbins, seam rippers and more. The large hearts are trimmed with a zipper half, and the small hearts with rickrack. The ribbon base is embellished with vintage buttons, and rosettes with a vintage bell for the center.

This piece can be found in my new book, Creative Stitching, Mixing the Old with the New, by C&T Publishing.

Happy Stitching~Christen

Day 1

Question: Who did you learn to sew from?I learned to sew at home, by helping my mom, who made all of our clothes. I also had a great Home Ec. teacher in the 7th and 8th grades.

Scraps and Leftovers, by Christen Brown

This monochromatic color palette combines a very subtle blend of colors: cream, sand, tan, and brown with a dash of black, brass and silver. The fabrics are all scraps from other projects, with leftovers of ribbon, lace, trims, appliques, and zippers for embellishments. I literally emptied the sewing box in search of buckles, safety pins, snaps, and hoops and eyes. I combined these with vintage buttons, charms, and other ephemera. The quilted and embroidered stitches were all worked in perle cotton thread. The pin in the center was from an original Shirley Temple doll.

This piece can be found in my book, The Embroidery Book, by C&T Publishing.

Happy Stitching~Christen