Most of us have collected tons of embroidery designs. For those of us who’ve been embroidering for 10+ years, it’s safe to say the number of designs we own is frightening and/or a bit overwhelming. I always want to find ways to re-fashion some of our embroideries, twisting them from their intended use. Here are some examples that I hope you find inspiring for summer fun:
- Nancy Zieman’s Dressed-Up Embroidered Alphabet — This is a new product of applique letters, but wow, what possibilities! Team these letters without the flowers in your favorite sports fabrics. What about using patriotic fabrics and creating some totes, tees and tablewear?
- Anita Goodesign’s Winter Monogram offers up some interesting takes, if you dare look beyond the winter theme. I’m creating a patriotic USA banner, using the designs that feature star borders and swag borders. You can make the corners that feature berries into grapes by just changing the thread colors. Doing a monogram on a wine bottle tote with this border would be a fabulous hostess gift.
- Also from Anita Goodesign, what about using the Baby Butterflies pack and substituting patriotic fabrics for the applique pieces? That’d give any young girl a great tee for the fireworks, and all summer long!
- Dakota’s Peanuts designs gives you those loveable characters, Snoopy and Woodstock, doing all sorts of summer activities. Combine Snoopy with an American flag design (there are several choices built right into the Ellegante 2!) and add the words “All American Dog” for a fun shirt that your Peanuts lover will enjoy.
- There’s a great exclusive floral design, also built into the Ellegante 2, that would be super for the Fourth of July festivities. Try embroidering design #5 from the floral section in the colors shown. It’d be a hit, and useable all summer long. It’d also be great on the edge of linen placemats for summer!
I’m sure you can come up with many other ways to re-invent some of the designs from your stash to fit your summer holiday themes. And, when you’re looking to purchase new design packs, you might try to think of the other ways you can use them. Sometimes, it makes it easier to add the collection to your growing design library.
