Appliqued Sewing Journal

 Being thankful for acts of kindness

Today's journal cover is for the mother of a colleague.  I work with her son and he makes time to generate random acts of kindness as he goes about his daily life, those small things which make the world a happier place!  She is a talented needlewoman, so a sewing journal should be the perfect little gift. 

The printed fabric is a design called 'Sew Retro Montage' by Makower UK and was a gift from 'Style at Home' magazine.  I have a couple of metres of it and am looking forward to using it in many more projects.  The sage green material is from a pair of second-hand upcycled curtains.  I put them through the wash which thankfully removed the 1990's style glaze.  Do you remember when shiny cotton was used as an accent fabric in 'swag and tail' window and curtain treatments? 

'Sew Retro Montage' fabric by Makower

 As the notebook cover is for a sewing journal, I drew a vintage inspired sewing machine for the applique.  I then traced the pieces onto fusible web and ironed them into place.

Next I used black thread to outline the design which really makes it stand out.  This is the fun part of the process and I use my regular sewing machine and a technique called 'free-style machine embroidery'.

I embroidered the recipient's name using the same technique 

Happy Christmas June

 ...and Phil!