Pool Party Patch

Not sure why it took so long for me to make a Mokuyobi branded patch but here it is! It features one of the characters from a new fabric design for Spring 2015. This super cool new Mokuyobi Threads 2.5" circle Pool Party Patch will be included in every retail order over $20 before shipping cost. While supplies last!

Robot Patch Process

Check out this new robot patch available now on the Mokuyobi website. We've been rolling out with a bunch of new patches and have a lot more cool ones to come so I wanted to show a bit of the process of creating the patch from sketch to vector to embroidered patch. I thought it would be fun for a promo image to combine the finished patch with the line drawing sketch style where the design started. Have a look!

Etsy Craft Party

I was asked to participate in a fun mini pre-event at Etsy for their recapturing old photographs themed craft party. Two other NYC based sellers (Harp and Thistle and Mawusi) and myself were invited to choose a photograph which Etsy printed out on Spoonflower fabric. Then we all met up at Etsy HQ in Dumbo to work on our projects and eat snacks! You can read Etsy's blog post about it here.

The image I chose was a photograph of a neon acrylic/watercolor painting I completed for the Brooklyn Art Library's Penpal Painting Exchange. Here's the work in progress:

We took a photo together after we finished our embroidery pieces in their photo booth. Strangely it didn't work so we tried again and ended up with this amazing doubly exposed image! Couldn't have planned it better.

This was all leading up to Etsy's big Craft Party event that they held in Dumbo. I went with my friend Rob and they provided you with a vintage photograph of complete strangers, four colors of embroidery floss, and a needle. Here are the masterpieces that Rob and I made, mine is on the right.

And some closeups!

New Patches

Two new iron on patches, Eat Green for all of you veggie lovers out there and Extreme Helmet for the thrill seeker in all of us. Available now on the Mokuyobi site.

Science Patches

In the past months I've been working with Harlem Biospace, a new biotech incubator in NYC that offers affordable shared lab space and a community for biotech start ups. I designed patches for their HypotheKids K-5 summer camp program launching in July which aims to highlight different science and engineering disciplines through hands-on experiments. You can read more about the program here. One patch will be given to the campers for each of the 8 weeks of the program, each pertaining to a different science theme. I also made a patch for their Hk Maker Lab, a six week summer science program for teens in NYC. I think they all came out pretty awesome, take a look!

Camping Club Patch

A little late to the game comes a new iron on patch, Camping Club in unexpected pastel colors!  Snag one on the Mokuyobi Threads site or in the Etsy Zipperteeth Shop!

2.5 inch circle, perfect for you and your camping buddies!

New Embroidered Patches

Finally got around to making some new illustrations for embroidered patches.  The top three were made as a nod to boy scout/girl scout patches as acknowledgement of learning a new skill/completing a project.  Shades of a Feather, Camping Cabins, and Plaid Shirt!  Bear Friend Society is just a fun one and Camera Crew is pretty straight forward.  The neon mountains patch is featured on the vintage style blue linen 5 panel hat and is now available for sale by itself.  The others are some of the older designs, all now available on Mokuyobi Threads and in the Etsy shop.

All Patches 

Award Badges

I ironed the three achievement badges on a ranger-y button down short sleeve shirt and when I wear it I look like I legit work at a forest preserve, the coolest forest preserve ever, obviously.

Sewn on a blue Bedford Bag

Teeny loves all of the patches, she just can't bear to pick a favorite!

Handmade Cards for the Win

With summer comes LOTS of important holidays.  My good friend Dustin's birthday, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and my Mom's birthday.  I try to make a special card for all of them (If I can get a free minute).  This year I totally rocked it on the DIY cards using a big spread of crafty supplies: tissue paper, embroidery thread, watercolors & washi tape.  Some of which I even got to deliver in person which was exciting since I don't always see my family on these special days.

Remember that DIY pouf tutorial I did a little bit ago?  Well I thought it would go great inside a card as a tissue paper surprise!

Magic!!

The first card of its kind! (I think, maybe)

Embroidered paper card!  You can get really detailed with it but it can be quite time consuming.

A simple design can be really great too!

This was the card for my mom's birthday present.  I drew a feather with a felt tip pen, cut it out, and then used watercolors to give the feather some pizzaz!

I wrapped the present in some brown craft paper and secured it with neon green washi tape.  Then I tied the card to the present with some hot pink rope.

Close-up shot.

And last but not least a television Father's day card I made with cardstock, felt tip pens, and washi tape. So simple but so fun!  Definitely a winner.

Totally Rad Embroidery

With my awesome portfolio site up, the embroidery section was looking pretty sparse.  Illustrations, patterns, and sewing are all mega fast compared to doing an embroidery which is why my knitting section is non-existent.  But I've been seeing so much awesome embroidery lately and I need to step up my game.  What better way to do that than to make a TOTALLY RAD embroidery (literally).  Embroidered typography is the best (fact).

First I was running low on my embroidery colors and there's nothing worse than being in the middle of an embroidery project and running out of a color.  Such a creativity killer, so I made sure to stock up!

After spending forever to wind and organize my thread (it was so worth it though) I was ready to go!

When it comes to embroidery projects, air erasing markers are my best friend.  Draw to your heart's content and the ink will just disappear over time, no wash or water necessary!  How new the pen is, how hard you press, and how many times you trace over the same line will affect on how long the ink will last.  Could be a few hours to over a week if you get too carried away!  But it will erase eventually, never fails.

Picking colors was super hard, it's difficult to imagine how the shapes of color will work together when you're done.  You just gotta go for it.

And I did my fair share of cutting and re-embroidering the mess ups and change of color decisions.  Behind the scenes secrets, shhhh!

Many hours later... Totally Rad is Totally Done! (almost)

Close-up of the R with my fancy double row split stitch.

Teeny Cat is a Totally Rad sleeper! (You can see what a mess my erasable pen lines were).

After the ink erased I mounted the fabric onto stretcher boards used to make canvases.  

The final size of it is 9 inches wide by 6 inches tall which they conveniently (sarcasm) don't have as a standard size canvas or as individual stretcher board lengths at the Utrecht by my studio (the smallest one they had was 8") so I had to do a bit of DIY magic.

I think it turned out pretty well!  And I already uploaded it as a new project to my portfolio site, go me!

It looks so fancy when you stretch an embroidery over stretcher boards.  Like professional or something. Whoa.  Can't wait to hang it on the wall!  P.S. I have more embroidery projects in the works, stay tuned!!