A Birthday for Frances {Faux Embroidery Project Preview} - Read Along with Me

If you're like me you LOVE so many of the embroidery patterns out there, but don't feel like you have time to use them.  Well, Twin Stitchers and I are hoping to change that!  I've been experimenting with some new techniques using her embroidery patterns for projects other than embroidery. 

Firecracker saw my first project and wanted to try one too.  Here she is with hers (and our Read-Along book)...

And here's mine...

I used the (My Sister My Friend item #OU813 from Twin Stitchers found here.) The pattern comes with a bunch of different heads/hairstyles for personalization. I adjusted the size of one sister to make her smaller to match my girls' ages better. The original pattern also comes with a cute border that I didn't use because of my frame dimensions, but it adds a lot to the design.

Since Sweet Pea's birthday is coming up at the end of the month, this turned out to be the perfect chance for Firecracker to make her a special birthday present.

I'm still experimenting with different kinds of pens and such to see what works best, so a full tutorial will be coming in a weeks or two.  But I thought I'd include a few pictures of the current process in case you're anxious to try your own.

We used muslin for the fabric, painters' tape to secure it to the table, an ultra-fine tip Sharpie permanent marker (I suggest the grown-up does this as you need to do it quickly since it bleeds...I'm experimenting with other pens that will work better), and regular crayola crayons.  I printed the PDF pattern from Twin Stitchers with my slight changes, and put it underneath the fabric to trace.  Muslin is thin enough you can see through just enough to trace.  Then I taped it to the table, so it wouldn't move around while Firecracker worked.

Even the white crayon works on the light brown muslin.

I tried to get Firecracker to stop here once she'd colored the picture in...

But she had plans for a whole background.

She was super happy with her finished piece. 

I especially love the roots she added...they've started learning about seeds and plants in school.  And of course an artist MUST sign her work.

I went looking for a good read-along book to go with our project.  I just couldn't wait two weeks until our Read-Along is over to share this!  (I'm having so much fun with the Read-Along, but there are days when I miss the crafting posts too.)  I remember all the Frances books from when I was younger.  Our library system didn't have A Birthday for Frances (can you believe it!?!  It's a classic!), but Firecracker's teacher was able to let us borrow it.

A Birthday for Frances by Russell Hoban is a classic.  Frances if feeling jealous that her little sister's birthday is coming.  Despite her jealousy, she loves her sister and decides to get her a present.  She asks her parents for two weeks of allowance to buy some gumballs and a chompo bar.  Through the book, she's struggles within herself and wants the chompo bar for herself, but ultimately decides to give it to her sister.  I'd forgotten about the cute rhymes and little songs that Frances makes up in all the books, and it was fun to read a book I remembered from my childhood with Firecracker. 

Our situation isn't quite the same since this project didn't require much sacrifice...and the hardest part is that Firecracker wanted to give it to Sweet Pea IMMEDIATELY instead of waiting for her birthday...but I've convinced her to wait.  Firecracker is so loving to Sweet Pea, that I don't think she'd ever be jealous of her having a birthday...which makes the centiment in the picture so perfect for the two of them.

They really are great friends.

Twin Stitchers is having a special right now to celebrate the brand new patterns that just came out.  Any order of $10 or more is half off...that means you get $10 of patterns for only $5.  Since her prices are super reasonable ($5 or less for many of her E-patterns) this is a great value!

If you're just now joining us, be sure to visit our Read-Along Archives to see the books we've already read.