Dimwit Ahead

Okay, so here's what happened. As you know, I recently discovered the Sticky Fabri-Solvy method of transferring embroidery designs onto fabric. It's been working okay, but I have a few complaints about it. For one thing, it's hard to needle through since it adds yet another layer to the fabric and the stabilizer. For another, it is a little messy and difficult to rinse out once you've finished stitching. Last time I rinsed it out in the washing machine after first checking with the resident engineer to see if he felt it would be diluted enough to avoid damaging the washer and/or the plumbing. That actually worked very well, but I've had a problem with that particular stitchery wanting to crinkle up more than the others. I'm figuring that putting it in the washer, even with cold water, led to a little bit of shrinkage.

So recently I got this brilliant (I thought) idea to use t-shirt transfers to do the embroidery transfer. Again, I checked with the resident engineer...he, being the only one in this household ever to actually accomplish a t-shirt transfer...and asked him if he thought that was a viable idea. He did. Then, I went to my old friend Google and asked where I could purchase the materials for this new venture of mine. I found just what I wanted on Amazon at a fairly reasonable price. I didn't need the best t-shirt transfers money could buy because I just wanted to get the lines from pattern to fabric. I didn't need it to last beyond even a single washing. Eventually the transfers came.

So I've been stitching away on my current Vintage Tin stitchery, seen here before I started on it:

I've made my way all around the outside and most of the way through the "4" now. Today I was going to start piecing the next section of the Gardener's Journal quilt:

and I say to myself, "Self, as long as you're going to drag out the Gardener's Journal bin, you might as well try out those t-shirt transfers by making the next stitcheries for said quilt." And I answer, "Hey, Self! Good idea! You are so danged smart sometimes!" Giving myself a congratulatory pat on the back for the time I'll be saving, I set about doing the transfer. And as long as I'm learning something new, I figure I'll make up a tutorial for any other folks out there like me who have never done this before. (And if you already know how this process ends with me as the "dimwit," I just have one thing to say: Shut up.)

So here I go explaining all about scanning the designs and turning them into jpegs, and I even take some cool screenshots to show you how extra smart I am. The designs are small, and so they both fit on an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet.

and then I explain ever so intelligently that you'll need to reverse the design so that it doesn't end up as a mirror image of what you want, and I show you how to do it:

And then I print out said reversed design.

And then I print it onto the t-shirt transfer. Here, I didn't bother with any pictures. However, I did burn off three t-shirt transfer sheets before I figured out that my printer will very smartly reverse the design for me if I just tell it I'm printing on t-shirt transfer paper. This, I find so cool that I have to call Mike at work and tell him about it. So, if you have a Canon MX922 ink jet printer, forget everything I said up there. Anyway...eventually I'm satisfied that I have my cool t-shirt transfer/embroidery design ready to iron onto my fabric.

And then, I go to my ironing board and proceed. (Insert Trisha Yearwood's version of Heaven, Heartache here and sing out loud.) Can you see the problem here? 

If you think about what a t-shirt transfer feels like once it's transferred to the t-shirt, it has a kind of plastic or rubbery feel, right?

And that's what transferred to my fabric. The design transferred, yes, along with that plastic rubbery backing. Oy. That isn't going to work at all. Even if I was okay with that tactile gook, I'm not sure I can even poke a needle through it.

Okay, so that equals an epic FAIL. Back to Plan A. Actually, I haven't given up on the idea of a different way to transfer designs short of tracing with my light box or using the Sticky Fabri-Solvy. I have another plan up my sleeve, but that will have to wait for another day. My friend, Google and I have been talking again. Do you think Google could be a bad influence on me? 

So I spent a couple of hours on that wasted effort. Appropriately deflated, I set about doing some housework, and then returned to the sewing room to piece together Section "F" of the Gardener's Journal quilt. I needed to first trim the four embroidery designs, and so this is where I started.

And I spent the remainer of the day piecing together this section.

Now all of the stitcheries I have completed are pieced into the quilt. There are still three more sections, which include about six more stitcheries. This is what I have so far:

And that brings you up to date on my day. 

We are still pretty much snowed in here, although Mike got off the hill to go to work today. The warming temperatures and rain didn't really materialize...at least not at the top of the hill where we are. We had some freezing rain yesterday that only resulted in a layer of ice over the accumulated snow. When I checked this afternoon we were at 34°F., and so I'm assuming some melting occurred, but you wouldn't know it to look outside.

Tomorrow is a swimming day if I can get off the hill, and then I need to do some grocery shopping. After that my plan is to start my February NewFO project which consists of this Duluth Trees wallhanging pattern by Frieda Anderson.

I spent some time looking at it this afternoon, and it can be cut sort of free-form. We'll see how it goes. It'll be a good warm up for my free-form rose wall-hanging.

How did your day go? I hope you used your time more wisely than I did.