One Direction quilt project- Harry

Finally... the last one. He happens to be the youngest member of One Direction, Harry Styles.

Harry singing into his mic

To add visual interest I chose this image of Harry. It is very different from the images of the other members. It feels more intimate.

Embroidery in process

After creating the pattern from the Sketch Guru image, & transferring  the image to the fabric, I began embroidering Harry using DMC floss #922. Below shows the finished block. The mic came out a bit wonky, but I love how his face & hair came out.

Finished block of Harry

Harry's name just above Liam's

Harry's lyrics in What Makes You Beautiful

Fiona chose this line because Harry flips his hair a lot & she thought it was ironic. (Love my kid!) I added the butterfly because Harry recently got a butterfly (more realistic, not this girly) tattoo on is abdomen.

With all of the embroidery complete, my mom started helping me on the construction of the quilt.

Cutting the All-Star sneaker fabric

To flank the larger top & bottom group blocks, Mom pieced strips of the various fabrics to create the blocks in all 4 corners.

Ironing the strip pieced blocks

Below is the quilt top laid out on my daughter's bed. Notice all the One Direction posters. (Mom did the colorful strip paint job on the walls last year.)

Pieced quilt top

We will use the rest of the fabric to go around the top, bottom, & sides making a full size quilt. Now we need to find some backing fabric, then take it over to our friends at KC Framing & Fabrics in Saratoga Springs, NY. Maybe we will find some great fabric on our trip to the UK this week. It is my daughter's first trip abroad & she is so excited!

I'll post about the One Direction Quilt Project again when it is finished!

One Direction quilt project- Zayn

If I were allowed to have a favorite member of British-Irish boy band One Direction, it would be Zayn Malik. He's very nice to look at, shy, & (as I stated before) has the best voice. You may ask why I am not allowed to have a fave? That would be my daughter, Fiona. In her opinion, I am too old to like One Direction! (But I do. There, I admit it.)

I digress... This post is about the embroidered pieces I created about Zayn. If you have been reading this blog you must be familiar with my process by now...

1.) Pick awesome image of your subject & save it. (check)

Zayn singing, showing off his swallowtail tattoo

 2.) Create pattern by tracing over a printed copy of said image, or use an app like SketchGuru. (check)

Pattern created and traced out on the fabric

 3.) Trace pattern onto the fabric you will be embroidering on. (check)

Embroidery in progress

4.) Begin embroidering with your floss of choice (in this case DMC #321). (check)

Finished embroidered block of Zayn Malik

 5.) Finish embroidering & iron. (check)

That's it. It is so simple!

Zayn and Niall's names written by me

 Again, I like to use my own handwriting when I letter. I like using cursive more because it feels more like a design, like art. Printing feels like work.

Lyrics Zayn sings in the song Moments

Fiona wanted me to embroider nearly all of the bridge that Zayn sings in "Moments", but that was too many words for Mommy's sanity. I shortened it.

Only one more "boy" left in the boy band. Stay tuned for... Harry!

One Direction quilt project- Niall

Niall is the only member of One Direction who is not British. He is from Mullingar, Ireland. Because of that, I decided to add an Irish flag & the Union Jack to one of the blocks. I also added the 1D logo and one of Zayn's tattoos. For more on this block, check out one of my previous posts.

Cartoon 1D with signatures for the quilt

Fiona chose Niall & his blocks to be embroidered in DMC floss #904. It definitely reminds me of Ireland, even though it has been 15 years since I was there.

I've shared this block before as a work in progress. See it here. Below is the finished block.

Niall playing the guitar in embroidery

I think it came out great based on the image I created the pattern from. I didn't quite capture his quiff, but I like it just the same.

Niall playing guitar in Live While We're Young video

Kiss You lyrics sung by Niall

I think these are the funniest lyrics in the entire song. Again, I added a guitar for Niall, because I was not embroidering a chin. (Or drool, for that matter.)

Niall's name is complete- starting on Zayn

& for those of you who like to see the underside of embroidery...

Showing off my stitches

Next up is the member I, personally, think has the best voice... Zayn!

One Direction quilt project- Liam

Today I am featuring Liam Payne of One Direction.

The image below is to give you an idea of what the original image looks like & what the Sketch Guru image looks like. I usually use the "SimpleSketch2" option in the app. I find it gives me best mix of strong outlines & finer details.

Liam Payne and image used to create the pattern

From this sketch image, I create the embroidery pattern. Sometimes I draw it right on the fabric, as is the case with this project.

Traced out on the fabric

I didn't use my light box for this because the lines were so sharp. I just laid on my bed with some good overhead light & traced away.

Finished block of Liam all ironed

Using the trusty outline stitch, I embroidered Liam in purple- DMC floss #327. My favorite part of this is Liam's chevron tattoo peeking out from the arm of his sport coat.

Liam's name in my handwriting

Below is Liam's lyric block with the lines from "Over Again" that Fiona picked out. I traced Fiona's hand & embroidered the outline in light purple- DMC floss #209. Adding Fiona's hand made this quilt even more specific to her!

Liam's lyric block- Over Again

Up next... the boy from the Emerald Isle- Niall.

One Direction quilt project- Louis

The One Direction Quilt Project is advancing quite well...Today I am featuring Louis Tomlinson!

Louis singing

In consultation with my very opinionated daughter (I have no idea where she gets that from!), we chose this image of Louis (twitter: @Louis_Tomlinson).

Creating the pattern

I used the app Sketch Guru again, then using a pencil, I traced out the line drawing/ pattern directly on the bamboo/ cotton fabric.

Embroidery in process

Breaking out my trusty hoop & needle, I got to work (outline stitch, of course). Fiona chose DMC floss #334. You can see the finished block below.

Finished block

Louis named embroidered on a group block

Above is Louis' name that I wrote out directly onto the fabric. I say, make it more personal & use your own handwriting, or create your own font to use.

Below, I used a modified font for the random uppercase letters & my own handwriting for the rest. Fiona chose the lyrics to be featured based on some of her favorite songs.

Lyrics Louis sings from the 1D song Nobody Compares

Stay tuned... Next up: Liam!

My Best Friend's Wedding... Well, Engagement

Well, my best friend is getting married for the 2nd time this June, now that marriage equality has been achieved here in NY. Unfortunately, the 1st time around (with a man) didn't last as long as she expected... but she has found a wonderful woman to share her life with.

For Christmas 2012, I decided to make an embroidered portrait using one of their engagement photographs as a basis. It came out great, if I do say so myself. Did I give it to my best friend? No, I did not. We have been friends for over 20 years (I can't believe I am old enough to say that!) & is very easy to buy for. I gave the portrait to her fiance!


I started out printing out the image in the size I wanted the finished portrait to be. Using a regular marker, I traced the image to come up with the pattern.

Sandy and Kathleen's engagement picture

I flipped the paper over & created a reverse image pattern & used that for the project.
 

reverse image embroidery pattern

I try to keep the back of my embroidery neat so that stray treads don't show through the white bamboo/cotton fabric. I used a DMC dark blue floss, because my best friend's favorite color is blue. I should ask her fiance what her favorite color is!

back of the piece showing my stitches

The completed portrait is simple and lovely. I placed it in a simple white frame so that the embroidery is the focus.

finished embroidered portrait

Continuation of the One Direction project

Fiona has chosen the lyrics she wants to grace her One Direction quilt. &, so far, I have 3 completed & 1 in the works. She chose a favorite line sung by each one of the lads & I embroidered them in the same color I embroidered their portraits in.

I took the lyrics & wrote them out on graph paper using the occasional block capital letter & my own handwriting. I had thought of having Fiona write out the lyrics & embroider her handwriting, but after she thought about it, she decided that she didn't want to...

Lyrics graphed out to create patterns

What Makes You Beautiful

Above is one of Harry's lines from the quadruple platinum, Billboard top 4 single, "What Makes You Beautiful." I added a butterfly because, apparently, Harry recently got a butterfly tattoo.

Moments

 Zayn sings the bridge in the Ed Sheeran/ Si Hulbert penned song "Moments." Ed Sheeran is the Grammy nominated singer/songwriter of A-Team. I just added hearts & a leaf because leaves fall... &, honestly, I couldn't think of any other images.

Kiss You

 "Kiss You" is a playful song with a fun music video I have included below. Niall sings this amusing line. I added a guitar because Niall plays...

Over Again

I am currently working on Liam's line in another song penned by Ed Sheeran (along with Robert Conlon & Alexander Gowers) called "Over Again." I am adding an embroidered outline of Fiona's hand to this block.

*"Kiss You" video is not my property (One Direction, Syco, Sony).  I have used it here for your entertainment only. Please visit One Direction's You Tube page for more videos (There are a lot.)