Moonwishes Sewing

After much thought and work we have decided to close our eBay store. Over the past few years eBay has gotten increasingly un-seller friendly and we have spent unbelievable amounts of time trying to keep our listings set up in the manner that eBay approves of. So instead of listings lots of new patterns for you to choose from we have been tweaking and tweaking and tweaking until our fingers are numb at eBay. Every time we would get finished 'fixing' our listings a new rule would come out. Well we finally said to ourselves enough is enough!

 We opened an ecrater store last year and have been working on getting it set up and functioning smoothly. After seeing how well the ecrater store worked for us, we closed the ebay store and now all our concentrtion will be on our ecrater store: Moonwishes Sewing and Crafts. We plan to eventually have 10,000 new, uncut patterns up for sale at ecrater which is double what we had at ebay. That means a larger choice for you to buy whether you are sewing the current fashions, making a vintage outfit, needing a pattern for a theatrical production or your own private collection, sewing for the kids or grandkids, we plan to have it covered. We have a lot of work ahead of us, so if you don't see what you are looking for at our store feel free to email us with the pattern company name, pattern number and size (if possible) and if we have it we will list it and notify you as soon as possible.

Our ecrater store has a great shipping matrix that calculates combined shipping and handling on purchases of more than one item and even is set to calculate a great shipping discount for large multiple pattern purchases when made all at the same time. We are supported by Google Checkout or Paypal for payment options. We prefer Google Checkout and if you use it and this code: A+Customer you will get 10% off your purchases (prior to taxes and postage). We look forward to your visits to our store.

Shop with us any time!

Zundt Design, Ltd has released an extraordinarily beautiful set of designs to show what they can do for those machine embroiderers that have larger hoops. No cause for alarm though, for those with just the 4” x 4” hoops as this set includes some smaller designs. These gorgeous designs are FREE. I’m not sure how long this offer will last, so take advantage of it as soon as possible. You will see why the Swiss are known for their beautiful embroidery. Don’t forget to sign up for their email new while you are at their site so you don’t miss out on their newest designs and offers. Click here to go directly to this newest offer: Click Here!

I used to sew large projects and found great satisfaction in finishing a king sized quilt or having a marathon sewing session that resulted in an entire wardrobe at the end of the week. Well my strength has ebbed and yet my desire to create is just as strong. I have found great delight in reading about others accomplishments, looking at sewing patterns and dreaming of how I would make it (if only I had the figure for it!), or reading books about sewing and telling you about them. But nothing equals actually sitting down at the sewing machine and making something.

After years of always getting a new tacky plastic checkbook cover with every new batch of checks, I¿ve discovered that this isn¿t happening anymore now that all my checkbook covers have completely worn out. This gave me a perfect excuse to make my own checkbook cover. I discovered a couple of things along the way so that the next one will go a little smoother, but for now this one is good enough and gave me a lovely sense of accomplishment. I used some blue and white stripped fabric that I had around the house and the design is from Janome¿s Victorian Rose designs only I changed the colors. This was my first attempt at machine embroidering a design on a patterned fabric. Might not be the right mix of colors, but my next try will be better. I hate wasting good fabric and thread when I¿m just experimenting.

The other newsletter I got was from Hatched In Africa. The designs these girls make are absolutely awesome. Many of them are heirloom quality and most of their design sets have a freebie to go with them. With their newsletter today came a link to a Mother¿s Day gift of an entire free alpha-bet for immediate download. Also there were links to their two newest design sets¿both with freebie designs. When I get to the Hatched in Africa site, I get mesmerized and could look at designs for hours as they are so beautiful. But of course that doesn¿t leave me any time for sewing myself or any of the other things I need to do. If you would like to visit Hatched in Africa, click HERE.

Both of these machine embroidery sites have newsletters that you can sign up for and I encourage anyone who likes a particular site to sign up for newsletters from the site. You never know what kind of goodie you will get such as the free alpha-bet that I got today (sorry I¿m not allowed to post it¿s link) or notification of special sales, and of course notification of the newest designs.

What a fun surprise yesterday when my latest Threads magazine came in the mail. A letter that I had written to the editor was published! I really enjoy this magazine and have learned so much about sewing from reading it.

This latest issue focuses in on inspiring and teaching new sewers the basics, including a pull-out section in the middle of the magazine to use for reference. There is also an article on basic hand stitches showing the most important stitches you may need to do with a hand needle and thread for that extra special touch in finishing a garment. There is a quick to make article on making a gypsy tiered skirt, one of the latest fashion must haves. The instructions show how to make the skirt without a pattern, but if you want a pattern for this type of skirt try our erater store Moonwishes Sewing and Crafts.

For the expert seamstress or those who want to be, there is a great article on finding and fixing patterns before cutting them out. I've always assumed when my garment pieces didn't match, that my sewing was at fault. It is nice to know that sometimes it is the pattern itself that had the error. I did find when sewing a top last summer that the cutting diagram was wrong which meant I cut out two left sided sleeves I was sure glad I had plenty of fabric for that project! Another article for the expert seamstress is on eliminating separate facings in a top with a couture lining technique. The technique looks like it is a bit time consuming but gives a lovely result.

For the machine embroider, there is a very interesting article on embroidering off the edge of a garment. In this case a collar was featured with part of the flower coming off of the collar edge. It certainly gives a high fashion look that is easy to achieve by following the simple steps.

For those who really have difficulty envisioning a particular pattern on themselves, there is a great article on drawing your own croquis, using pens and markers to figure out if a pattern is in the correct proportion and style for you. It is a great way to take those tall skinny models and bring them down to your size.

So many designs, so little time to sew! 

Embroidery Library has just come out with a huge batch of Christmas designs including patchwork reindeer to make a Christmas quilt. Each of Santa's reindeer are represented in different blocks, plus additional designs are available to have a complete co-ordinating quilt or other project. In the hoop Christmas stocking designs are now out with all sorts of styles of stockings that can be made in your hoop and then hung on the tree with small gifts or gift cards. Another large selection of outline quilting designs are also now available. Now ready for download are their two FREE July designs.

Embroidery Library has also changed their main URL to http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/Default.aspx so if you have Embroidery Library bookmarked, you will need to change it.

Prepare to spend some time at the site when you go as there are so many new embroidery designs to look at, and all at great low pricing!

Embroidery Library  has just announced their newest designs for the fishermen lover, or those who love fishermen.  There is a lot of new fish designs.  Many the fish look very lifelike, and if you want to just sew out the fish without any words on them, you can omit the last thread change. They also show lots of projects and other 'fishy' designs. Get them now and have a great project made up in time for Father's Day.  They have also just released their May free designs, and currently their April free designs are available until April 30 so if you visit their site, you can still get four free designs, if you've never visited this site before. 

 Embroidery library designs are beautiful, very detailed and are very inexpensive.  This a very worthwhile site that you should visit and bookmark if you like machine embroidery.

The current Sew News magazine (May 2005) has an interesting article on Vintage Patterns written by Kristina Seleshanko. Although by virtue of the fact that it is a magazine article, it does not go into great depth about vintage patterns.  The article does give a broad review of what to look for in vintage patterns, vintage being defined as “anything that’s at least a decade but less than a century old”. 

We get so used to our current patterns with their lines, markings, and instructions that it is hard to imagine patterns, which were marked only with perforations and no instruction sheets. Thankfully, the author provides a timeline of the history of patterns to give you some insight as to what you can expect for certain vintage patterns depending on which decade they were produced. As sewing has evolved in the last century so too has the terminology. If you are planning on sewing with vintage patterns frequently, it might pay to get a sewing instruction book from the same era so you have greater understanding of terminology and sewing methods of the time. These books can frequently be found at thrift stores, yard sales, through Internet book sites such as Amazon, and through eBay.

Bodies have also changed throughout the years and along with that came sizing changes in the pattern companies. Being a size 12 now doesn’t mean the same as being a size 12 60-70 years ago when every pattern envelope showed women with what appeared to be 20-inch waistlines. I know I sure haven’t seen too many women looking like that recently! If you plan to buy a vintage pattern to make a garment for yourself, double-check your own body measurements against the pattern, especially if you aren’t very good at altering patterns.

There are many sources of vintage patterns: yard sales, thrift stores and via the Internet. In my ecrater Store, I sell sewing patterns from the major pattern companies: Vogue, Butterick, McCall’s, Burda, New Look and Simplicity. I do have a selection of vintage patterns throughout my store, although the majority of our patterns are New and Uncut patterns. I enjoy rooting through the patterns myself, comparing them to days and sewing memories of years ago and also to current fashions as they repeat the fashions of my teens. For example, even though ponchos can be a warm and comfortable garment, who would have thought that they would make such a huge come back?

If you have never considered sewing with a vintage pattern or have considered but were scared to try, this article can be a springboard to help you start to navigate the unknown or unfamiliar waters of vintage patterns. To learn more about Kristina Seleshanko you can visit her website.

Hot off the press! Embroidery Library, has just introduced their new April designs. If you love the folk look of Eastern European designs, you will love these designs. “Add vivid color and bold, geometric designs to garments and home décor by incorporating designs that were inspired by Eastern European techniques, such as Polish paper cutting and traditional Hungarian textile art.  From brilliant floral sprays to pastoral rural scenes, Eastern European folk art is known for its use of vibrant color and geometric shapes.”

The designs are shown in project packs for decorating adult or children’s shirts, dining room décor packs and companion pieces. These are bright, bold designs that should make you happy just seeing the wonderful colors stitching out! For those who love Pennsylvania Dutch designs, these designs are reminiscent of them and you should certainly be able to find a project or two that you would like to do.

While visiting Embroidery Library, don’t forget to take a minute or two to download the two new free designs and see what else is available at this wonderful embroidery design site!