Sassy Kid Blanks

Happy New Year! Is it 2014 already?? Where did 2013 go? We had a great end-of-the-year and a great Christmas. We hope you did too! Over the break I received some new blanks from a new supplier, and I’ve finally been able to get outside and take some photos and share with you what they have to offer. When I first started doing embroidery, I swear you had a choice of Rabbit Skins or Monag Kids. There have been lots of new blanks suppliers “born” over the past couple of years. We definitely have a great variety of sources out there and one of the newest is Sassy Kid Blanks. They are based out of South Carolina and you can read more about them on their website.

My disclaimer for 2014… I am no photographer! I do have a prop or two and the sun finally came out today, so I got my rain boots on (because my yard is a swamp) and had a little photo shoot. First off, below is their Girls Short Sleeve Shirt featuring our new Bunny 6 Applique Design. You can read a full description of their items on their website! I love the pom pom trim, the ruffle on the bottom and the puff sleeves! I love an applique design on this shirt!

IMG_8626

IMG_8627

Here’s a closeup of the pom pom and ruffle on the bottom of the shirt. This is a sz 6 shirt and the Bunny design is a 5×7 hoop design (on this shirt).

IMG_8628

All of their items I’m showing have a button or snap closure on the back of the neck. This helps with getting the garments on and off, and it also helps with hooping and getting it on your embroidery machine (especially the single needle machines – it gives you a little extra room to get the shirt out of the way).

IMG_8629

Below is their Baby Boy Short Sleeve Bodysuit. This would be precious under a little john john too with no embellishment.

IMG_8630

Snaps on the back.

IMG_8632

Here is their Baby Girl Long Sleeve Bodysuit. Again, this would be precious underneath a little Aline or other dress, or with a monogram or small applique or mini embroidery design.

IMG_8633

This is a shot of the back snaps and the little ruffles on the sleeves. I miss the baby clothes….

IMG_8634

Baby Girl Short Sleeve Bodysuit… So wittle and pwecious!! 🙂 Again, sweet underneath a sleeveless outfit or one with straps, or alone with a little monogram or applique/embroidery design. It would be cute with a little pair of bloomers too.

IMG_8635

Back – snaps and ruffle sleeves

IMG_8636

Here is their Girls Sleeveless A-line dress. This one is screaming for a cute monogram or applique design! Hopefully I can take care of that soon and I will repost!

IMG_8637

Pom pom trim and ruffle! This is a sz 6 also.

IMG_8638 IMG_8639

Here is their Boys Short Sleeve Shirt. This is a dressier option for a boys blank shirt ~ add a simple block or natural circle monogram and pair it with dressier pants or shorts.

IMG_8640

It also buttons up the back.

IMG_8642

Check out their Girls Long Sleeve Empire Waist Dress. LOVE LOVE LOVE this! You will see below that a monogram is perfect on these, as to not take away from all the adorable ruffles. All of these items are 100% interlock cotton knit, which means nice and thick to hold a monogram or applique/embroidery design!

IMG_8643

A closeup of the bottom ruffles ~ 2 layers!

IMG_8644

Love the collar, button closure in the back and puff style sleeve!

IMG_8645 IMG_8646

Girls Long Sleeve A-Line Dress ~ Simple and dainty with the pom pom trim! Also has the puff style sleeves.

IMG_8647 IMG_8648

This might be my favorite! Girls Sleeveless Empire Waist Dress. This was before I added a monogram.

IMG_8649 IMG_8650

It’s screaming MONOGRAM ME!!!!!

IMG_8651 IMG_8652

Girls Long Sleeve Shirt

IMG_8653

Button closure on the back to make it easier to get it over your child’s head! It really helps with hooping too and especially with the single needle machines.

IMG_8655

So my daughter was outside riding her bike in her Nike shorts and a long sleeve t-shirt from a bait & tackle store in Orange Beach, AL. Her hair was a mess, so I bribed her to model for me for 5 minutes in this dress. I now owe her $2. Of course the bright sun was blinding her and she usually has a better suntan for a dress like this. I managed to get a few decent shots and as you can see, Maggie photo bombed the picture too. Sissy is 5 (almost 6) and this is a size 6 dress. When I monogrammed it, I measured from the bottom of the ruffle around the neckline to the seam of the empire waist. That way the monogram was centered underneath the ruffle. This is Monogram Wizard Plus “Master Circle” font and it measured about 3.25″ tall and wide for this dress. She picked out the turquoise thread for the monogram.

IMG_8658

It was like 12 degrees earlier this week, but today it’s a balmy 68 so this worked out perfect! This is her new bike she got for Christmas!

IMG_8659

A monogram is just perfect on this dress!

IMG_8661

The space between the bottom ruffle and the empire waist is about an even 5″ on this size 6 dress. Again, this monogram was about 3.25″ tall and wide. You could do it a little bigger if you wanted to.

IMG_8662 IMG_8663

IMG_8665

The painted fingernails and toes are compliments of a birthday party she went to last night.

IMG_8667IMG_8669

This was her telling me she was done w/ my $2 “photo shoot”. As you can see, the length falls well below the knee. So cute for spring & summer! I can see a lot of these on the beach this summer { beach pics with the fam}! It would work great as a swim cover-up too.

IMG_8671

Sassy Kid Blanks has some color options as well. They have a bubblegum type lighter pink (officially called Candy Pink) and a red option for girls (High Risk Red). A light blue (Skyway Blue) for boys. Please read their FAQ about shrinking, discount codes, etc. You can also check out their sizing options {measurements after washing are located in the size chart for each item}. Looks like girl sizes range from 12M to 8. Boys are 12M to 8 as well. Baby stuff ~ 3M, 6M, 9M & 12M I believe.

**Please note, their site is PRE-ORDER right now for March delivery. If you have ANY questions, please email them at info@sassykidblanks.com or use their Contact Us tab on their website. Check out their FAQ too! I’m just showing you some of the items they are offering. They can answer any and all questions you might have!

I’ve added them to my blanks list which is located under LINKS up top. SKB is also on Facebook! Have a great week!

Since Thursday…

Since Thursday I have taught a class, watched a Piggy Opera, slept in the woods and walked 18 miles. Seriously. It’s been a whirlwind of a weekend and today I’ve been swimming in Thanksgiving Feast festivities food planning for school next week. Looking forward to Thanksgiving break!!

Thursday night I taught an “Applique Basics” class at Beth’s Heirloom Sewing up in Wetumpka, AL. I taught 2 classes this past spring and another Thursday night. It’s a lot of fun and I always love to oogle over all the fabric at Beth’s. Her website is under construction, but you can find her on FACEBOOK in the meantime! Here are a few goodies I came home with and I CANNOT WAIT to do something with the hot pink w/ lime dots for Christmas.

IMG_8461

Now on to the Piggy Opera. Every year the Kindergarten class puts on a Piggy Opera at my kids’ school and it’s the cutest thing ever! This was my 3rd and last piggy opera and my Mallory was one of the little pigs. We got a few stares when we went to Target and Tazikis afterwards with the face makeup. All of the pigs and other characters were adorable!

photo (4)

You read it right. I slept in the woods too. This was our 5th annual weekend campout at FDR State Park near Callaway Gardens in Georgia. I cut my campout short and came home to sleep in my own bed Sunday night, but otherwise spent Friday and Saturday night in the woods. Lots of kids, campfires and trips to the camp bathroom. Here’s a shot of the boys Saturday morning after a good night’s sleep night 1. This year Mallory went too (her first time) and she had a blast!

photo (3)

Part of the reason I skipped out and came home Sunday night (after 2 nights of little sleep in a tent) was because Monday I headed to Atlanta for Market. I had been to “big market” twice already, but this was my first adventure to Cash & Carry, aka Immediate Delivery. Someone described it as a “holiday market on steroids”!! They were correct! We spent the morning shopping the temporaries and the afternoon walking the floors of the gift, clothing/jewelry and home buildings. We got back to Montgomery last night around 7:30 and it may take me another week to recover. I may have walked 18-20 miles over the course of the day.

photo (2)

Here are a few goodies I came home with. Several cute bibs, plus I stocked up on the white quilted “Oriental Products & Trading Co” bibs and their white infant gowns. I like to keep a few baby gifts on hand. I have to say, the “blanks” booths at the temporaries were all PACKED!! Tons of chevron bags and all that stuff you can monogram.

IMG_8460

Lastly…. we ARE having a sale right now at Applique Cafe! It’s a great time to stock up on Christmas designs, or maybe you’ve already moved on to Valentines and Easter? Have a good rest-of-the-week!!

Thanksgiving Papers 02

“I’m looking to buy an embroidery machine….”

Wow… 2 posts in the past week! I’m on a roll!! It’s Tuesday and I have a little time between homework checking and getting the eldest child off to soccer practice. I get asked on a weekly basis “I am looking to buy an embroidery machine. Which would you recommend?” While I would have thought I had posted this helpful info before, I couldn’t find much when I searched in my blog. When asked this question, my answer is usually “look at the Brother PE770”. Let me say this… there are LOTS and LOTS of different beginner embroidery machines out there. You can find single needle machines from Brother, Bernina, Singer, etc. I only recommend the PE770 because that is what I (and so many others) started with. Mine was actually a PE700 model but that’s just an older model number. Of course it has been several years since I have had it, so I can’t tell you how to adjust the tension or even thread the thing. However, if you google it, you can find plenty of info out there. I got my first one via E-bay from Ken’s Sewing Center in Muscle Shoals, AL. They shipped it to me and I taught myself how to use it. I got my second one (PE780D I think ~ Disney version) from Ken’s also and again, they shipped it right to me. Here is a link to this machine on their website and there is a video demo you can watch if you are interested.

I couldn’t find a photo of my old machine (although I KNOW I have some somewhere) so here is a stock photo! Again, I taught myself how to use it with very little sewing experience.

PE700

Here are a few features:

  • 136 built in embroidery designs (I never used any of these)
  • 6 embroidery alphanumeric fonts (you MAY want additional font software)
  • Patterns can be rotated in 1, 10 or 90 degree increments
  • 10 built in frame shapes and 12 border styles
  • Maximum embroidery field of 5″ x 7″ (I believe the machines comes with a 5×7 hoop only)
  • Expand to 12″ x 5″ with optional multi-position embroidery frame
  • Embroidery speeds up to 650 spm (my 6 needle stitches 1,000 SPM)
  • Easily import designs from your USB memory stick (you will use a thumb drive ~ save files to it from your computer, then put the memory stick in to the machine to sew)

Here are the different hoop sizes. The machine comes with a 5″ x 7″ hoop which is plenty big for most projects. You can also purchase the 4″ x 4″ and the 2″ x 3″ hoops. You will use the 4×4 hoop for smaller projects (think onesies, baby gowns, etc.). I don’t recall using the 2×3 much. On this note, there are also Brother SE model machines out there and the max hoop you can use is 4×4. Most people learn quickly that 4×4 is not big enough for a long term machine and quickly want to upgrade to at least 5×7. If you can spend the extra money, get a machine with at least a 5×7 hoop. There is also a 5 x 12 multi positional hoop you can purchase, but I never got this hoop nor do I understand how to use it. You would need to talk to a sewing center about how to use it and if it would work for you.

I used my PE machines for about 3 years and did everything I wanted to do on them. There is a huge jump in price from most single needle machines (w/ 5×7 hoops) to larger hoop machines. To fit an applique design and a name, for example, you can always hoop twice! {Stitch the design, then rehoop and add the name}

pe700 hoops

What else will you need? Embroidery thread is a must. I use Isacord and Exquisite brands 98% of the time. Both are 100% polyester. You can get Exquisite from Ken’s Sewing Center and Isacord from Sewingmachine.com. Both should sell actual thread charts (with real thread samples) which makes ordering online easier.

IMG_8401

You will also need stabilizers. You can find more posts on stabilizer under Helpful Posts. Stabilizer supports your garment or item when stitching designs (embroidery {all thread} or applique {fabric}).

IMG_8402

Bobbins are needed too. There is a certain type bobbin that fits each embroidery machine, so you will need to find out from your sewing center (or wherever you buy your machine or supplies) which bobbins to get. I like PREWOUND bobbins. Below are magnetic bobbins I use in my PR650 6-needle machine. Most single needle machines use regular prewound bobbins (not magnetic). You can also wind your own, but prewound are easier and the tension is more consistent!

IMG_8403

Of course there are other things you will need like scissors, fabric for applique, etc. Hopefully if you are in the market for a machine, this will get you started! Here are RECOMMENDATIONS on my blog for the software I use and where I got it. Again, there is lots of software out there but these are the ones I use and like!

recommendations

Lastly, you may have noticed a new ad button on my sidebar! Some good friends of mine own an awesome home & garden center here in Montgomery (AL) and they are working on expanding their website. If you are in the SOUTH then you may have heard of Southern Homes & Gardens (or you may have been to their store). They also advertise in Southern Living quite often. We are working on a giveaway on Facebook for SH&G, but in the meantime check out their online store!

shg

Have a great week! We are working on new designs for Applique Cafe such as this one…

birthday hat 2-5x72