One of my projects that I want to finish this month is adding some flair to this Sam’s Club denim jacket that I bought a few years ago.

I made the “Hope Tattoo” FPP quilt block a few weeks ago for the back of the jacket. Didn’t like the light blue. Not grungy enough.

So I just made the word HOPE from the FPP pattern and hand basted that to the back of the jacket with the intention of embroidering swallows around the word.

I ordered the book “Beautiful Birds” by Beth Moyes after seeing an embroidered swallow on Pinterest.

I have A BUNCH of DMC embroidery thread. I ordered it to arrive in DC when I came in December. The thread and a cute little box were on sale. I really felt that I had just about every color of thread possible.

Not so.

The instructions for the swallow included the color numbers of embroidery thread. The only one I had was Black. 301. Ha!

But I think I came pretty close in replacing the threads with colors that I had. Since the author references the DMC color numbers in her instructions, I made a little handwritten key to know which color I was using as a substitution.

I followed the instructions and did a practice embroidery and hung it on the gallery wall that will someday have lots of hand crafted pieces. Two is a start!

It was a bunch of stitches and I decided that it wasn’t appropriate for the swallows on the back of the jacket. They needed to be bigger and I’m not a good enough hand stitcher to enlarge them. But it was okay for the front. I used completely different colors. The pattern calls for very long straight stitches but I felt that they might get ruined with the wear and tear the jacket goes through. Plus washing. Rather than long stitches, I did a whole lot of back stitches.

To transfer embroidery patterns, I copy them in my printer to a paper that is coated with something sticky that washes out with cold water. I tried “Sticky Water Soluble” from Furwey this time. It worked fine.

Since I had ruled out embroidery, I had to find another way to put swallows on the back of the jacket. I didn’t want the words “Hope” just hanging out there by themselves!

I turned to applique. I didn’t want to use Heat n’ Bond Lite because it does fray eventually. I only use it now if that project will not be laundered often.

Have you ever done freezer paper applique?

First off, you need freezer paper. Not waxed paper. Not parchment paper. You can usually buy it at a grocery store. It’s an amazing tool and a staple in my sewing room. One side is plain paper and the other side is waxy. If you put the waxy side down on fabric and iron, it sticks to the fabric. It’s temporary. Pulls right up. I’ve been using it to make softies and felt projects for years.

For freezer paper applique, you iron 3 layers of freezer paper together then cut out your pattern. Lay the waxy side down on the wrong side of your fabric and press. Cut around the pattern, leaving an allowance. About 1/4″ to 1/2″.

Get out your spray starch. Another staple in my sewing room. The firmer the better. Spray some into the cap of the starch. Take the cheapest paint brush you can find. And paint it around the fabric. A little at a time–clipping the curves and pressing as you go.

Here is where a stilleto comes in handy. It holds the fabric down as you press. Saves your fingertips!

Anyhow, this is a very FIDDLY procedure. You have to have lots of patience as you press the edges down.

When you are finished. You can just pop the freezer paper pattern out and use it again. Really.

My plan was to make the swallows in this manner. Then scribble stitch them onto the back of the jacket. As with the embroidery, I did a test piece first. In this case, three times.

This turned out to be a bad plan. I scribbly stitched each attempt onto some denim. The problem was the tail section and wings. They are supposed to be slender ending in a point. I tried three times and even just did scribbly stitch to make that section. I wasn’t happy with any of them.

But, I did save my test fabric and put it on my gallery wall.

Lest you think I’m only going to have swallows hanging up there, just want to say that I am now working on an embroidery tiger for the display. Speaking of, did you know that DMC has FREE embroidery patterns on its site? That’s where I got this tiger. You can also buy kits with all the supplies. But I have a lot of floss.

Anyhow. I am not giving up on putting swallows on the back of this jacket. It won’t be embroidery and it won’t be freezer paper applique. Back to the “drawing” board.

Next week–the final product. (I hope!)

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