Gathering and sorting supplies to make an embellished journal cover

I’m so excited to be back and sharing a fantastic project with you. This week, I’m using the Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 2, which is the current top-of-the-line sewing and embroidery machine to make an embellished journal cover.

The color of the DESIGNER EPIC2 above is the standard color, but you’ll notice in some of my photos that my version is PINK and ORANGE. At the launch, several limited color options were available, and how could I let that opportunity pass me by? The colors are vibrant and drool-worthy!

If you don’t have a color choice, you can still customize the capacitive color touch screen with the color option from the limited color editions. Be sure to explore the Settings Menu to discover how to customize your screen. Have I mentioned that I can’t live without the clock?

This week, I want to explore several of my favorite things – journal covers, collages, sewing and embroidery techniques, and the color orange! I made a journal cover several years ago and still love it. It’s my book where I keep track of my UFOs (unfinished projects). OK – so the entire book isn’t full of lists of UFOs, but a ‘few’ are being tracked, but we won’t go there.

When I made the orange journal cover, I pieced the cover together and then used decorative stitches along each seam, similar to what you’d do with a crazy patch quilt. I’ll get a little more adventuresome this time and use different techniques and stitches on the fabric and seams. Check out this blog post about other journal covers I’ve made. Can you believe I made this one in 2014?

What’s fun about a project like this is that you can go wild. The big question is how or where to start! Several of us were discussing color schemes for quilts the other day, and I realized I like monochromatic color schemes, or two or at most three colors. I’ll use many fabrics but usually keep within a color family. It makes it super easy to choose colors – you need ONE color, and most things in that color family will fit.

The same goes for selecting the embellishments. Choose the same color or complementary colors. It’s super easy to determine what to use. I don’t care if things don’t match 100%. In the grand scheme of things, the more, the merrier, but keeping it within the limited color choices is much more cohesive.

So I chose orange again and will make another journal cover for a different journal. I know I should branch out into another color, but I like orange, and since the journal is for myself, I can pick whatever color I want.

Look through your stash of embellishments and fabrics and see what color will make you happy. Now I almost caved and did NOT make a journal cover. This technique would make a fantastic piece of art that you can place over an artist’s stretcher canvas or turn into a wall quilt. Depending on how detailed you get in the embellishments, you can go anywhere with this. And as long as those bits are well secured, they can be used as a fidget quilt for adults. Oh, and I just had another thought for a larger piece of art I want to do! Oh – I need more time!

Oh my gosh – the ideas! I better get started and let my thoughts out!

As with anything, gathering the necessary supplies and tools is the best way to start. I’m a big advocate for storing my tools and supplies where I can easily find them. I’ve spent too much time searching or purchasing more because I couldn’t find what I needed.

I found that sorting and storing by color works best. I keep ‘like’ things together, and depending on the item, I also sort by color. It works for me, and it’s so fun to go shopping in my stash.

The first thing I need is some fabric scraps to assemble the collage. I have TWO shoe bins of orange scraps, so it’s time to make something. Since I started sorting my scraps by color many years ago, I’ve made so much use of those scraps; however, my collage piece is small and will not use up much – perhaps a quilt is in order?

I also have bags of non-cotton embellishments and bits. These are also sorted by color, so I grabbed the orange one. I’ll search this bag for things I can use to embellish the various areas of the journal cover. It’s an exciting bag of bits, and I have one for every color of the rainbow!

I have other novelty threads and yarn stored in their respective areas, so I quickly pulled some items I can use for embellishments.

Buttons, ribbons, etc., are excellent for embellishing a collage. And look at those machine embroidery flowers that my colleague made for me!! I can’t wait to use some of them on this journal cover. The DESIGNER EPIC 2 also has decorative stitches that use sequins, so I’ll find a home for some of those.

Let’s not forget about machine embroidery threads. Again, those are sorted by color, so grabbing the container and getting the box with the color I need is easy. It’s all about trying new ways of storing the different items to make it easy to use them. What works for one person doesn’t work for everyone, so keep an open mind as you explore storage options.

I also have some non-machine embroidery threads, and they are in containers by color. Do you see a theme here with my sorting? I also keep things in containers to quickly move them to my work table, as it doesn’t work for me if I have to stand at a cupboard to search. I like moveable containers!

So that’s it for the supplies, but let’s not forget the most important things – the tools I’ll use to stitch these embellishments in place. It’s time to dig through your box of Husqvarna Viking sewing machine presser feet. You know – the ones you bought but don’t know how to use. I’ve pulled out couching feet, buttonhole feet, and other feet to help sew on those embellishments!

While my supplies are tidy, I’m still figuring out how to store my sewing machine presser feet. Yes, there are several options, but for now, I keep them in a drawer and will figure out what to do with them, but that’s not an exercise for this week.

I also dug out this tool to make piping and may or may not use it. I’m sure there’ll be other feet that I’ll think of as I embellish the journal cover, but this is my starting point.

I’ll need a few other things along the way – some fusible fleece, probably some interfacing, fabric for the lining, bobbin thread, and a few other things. But I’ll mention those as I go along.

Having all your items sorted and appropriately stored makes it quick work to find anything you want. I’ve worked on sorting for several years, but now it’s like shopping in my store. And I LOVE it! I need to finish sorting my presser feet, then I’ll be in excellent shape!

So now that we have the tools, the supplies, and the Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 2 lined up and ready to go, it’s time to get started!

I can’t wait until tomorrow when I’ll share some of the amazing features of the DESIGNER EPIC 2. It’s so easy to create anything – you’ll love it!

Have a great day!

Ciao!

This is part 1 of 5 in this series

Go to part 2: Making fabric with scraps – Go wild!