Hey! Hi again! I’m on a roll! I’ve been looking through my photos which is a surefire way to get me fired up about projects I’ve made but not shared - and today is just one such occasion! I wanted to share one of the very first embroidery projects I made with my Bernette 79 Sewing/Embroidery machine - and I liked it so much I made it twice!* Today, I bring you the story of the digger hoodie for two small humans I happen to know.
*Ok well, other people happened to like it quite a lot too…!
Before we start: I’m very lucky to have this Bernette B79 as part of my ambassadorship with Bernina New Zealand - I thoroughly vetted this machine before I decided to take it on, and I’d never share anything with you guys that I didn’t truly love! you can read more about the machine and my ambassadorship in this post!
This project started off as a ‘distraction gift’. A very, very good friend of mine was pregnant with her second kiddo, so naturally I was on a tear making clothes for her little one - tiny socks, onesies, and a little cardigan - as much as the concept of having kids of my own terrifies me, I absolutely adore making clothes for other people’s babies. One of the things I always try to do when it’s not a first kiddo though, is include something like a ‘consolation prize’ for the older siblings. Something that says, “sorry you’re not going to get 100% of your parents’ attention anymore but hey - here’s a cool toy!” In this case, the kiddo in question happens to be completely enamoured with construction equipment - and we were coming into winter, so the answer was obvious - a hoodie with one of his favourite machines on it!
Now. If you’re in New Zealand, you call this thing a digger - I (an American) know it as a backhoe or an excavator, but for purposes of this conversation we’re calling it a digger, because let’s face it…after six years, I’ve assimilated. I bought the embroidery file from embroiderydesigns.com - here’s the link, if you’re interested in a digger hoodie of your own. Meanwhile, the hoodie pattern is the Hooded Raglan Sweatshirt: 67 by Brindille and Twig - a free pattern!
The main fabric and lining are both merino blends from The Fabric Shop - such lovely, soft fabrics!
One of my biggest concerns with machine embroidery (especially for kiddos) is covering or hiding that scratchy embroidery back. It’s fine for a small piece of embroidery on grown-up clothes, but a full-front embroidery is bound to cause problems if it’s not enclosed, so I decided to line the body of the hoodie. I didn’t line the sleeves - partially because this is New Zealand, not Iceland, but also partially because the outer fabric on its own is stretchy enough to fit a grown-up’s hand and forearm through the sleeve which I thought would be helpful in dressing a toddler. Disguising the back of the embroidery in this manner pretty much determined the construction of the hoodie. I cut the pieces first, embroidered the digger, and then sewed the rest together after the embroidery was finished.
I can’t say enough about how awesome this embroidery file was to work with - it stitched out perfectly, but also I really enjoyed how the stitch directions on the different planes of the digger reflect the light differently and make it look impressively dimensional! I really enjoyed watching this one come to life! I used a single layer of tearaway stabiliser with the hoodie front, and I drew chalk centre lines on the hoodie to help centre the design. I was careful not to stretch the knit fabric when it went into the hoop - you want it to lay flat but relaxed so that it doesn’t pucker when you remove the hoop. I know the point of machine embroidery is that you can set it and walk away, but this was such a mesmerising project that I really just sat in front of the machine and watched the whole time!
Since the pattern only calls for the lining of the hood, I made a few changes to enclose the raglan seams as well, since I was already lining the body. I sandwiched the sleeves between the body outer and lining pieces, so that when I flipped it right sides out, the overlocked seams were hidden.
Aside from the adjustments to the raglan seam construction, the rest of the hoodie is assembled according to the pattern instructions - kids clothes are so speedy to put together! I used my Bernette B48 overlocker for the rest of the construction - although I’m not a huge fan of overlocking infant projects (I usually use a zigzag for onesies) - I think a toddler’s clothes need to stand up to a bit of abuse, so the security is good. Once done (and photographed!) I added it to my bag of gifts for my friend and her new baby, and I have heard that it was very well received by digger-obsessed Freddie, along with the gifts for the new baby - a reversible bucket hat, some socks, a blanket (which happens to be made out of the same merino as the hoodie lining!), some little pants and a sweater. This was a winter baby so I was focused on cozy things, and I love how they all look together!
However! This is not the end of the digger hoodie story! Another friend with a similarly-aged and similarly digger-obsessed toddler saw the instagram stories I posted while I was working on Digger hoodie 1.0, and requested another one of the same! I’m not usually one to take requests, but they’re very dear friends and I had plenty of both fabrics left over - so I got to watch that gorgeously shaded digger stitch out for a second time! The second hoodie is identical to the first - no changes - and it’s that one that you see modelled here by the very adventurous Riley!
By the looks of it, Riley’s going to get a second winter out of that hoodie which I’m really happy about! I did consider the possibility of making myself something with the digger - but really it’s the expertly digitised planes of the object that I love rather than the subject matter itself, so I ended up deciding that what I really wanted to do was work on my digitising skills. One day I’m absolutely going to embroider something huge on the front of a grownup-sized hoodie though!
There you have it! A less detailed project than last week’s post, but an epic one all the same, especially when you consider that it was so nice I made it twice! I’m working on a secret machine embroidery project at the moment - one that only my crew on Patreon know about - and it’s really giving me the opportunity to test my embroidery digitising skills, and I’m learning so much! Eventually that project will be revealed to the world, but if you ‘d like to see it come together, come say hi on Patreon! As always, give me a shout if you have any questions about the Bernette b79 (or the b48!) - and stay tuned for hopefully a more regular posting schedule although I know better at this point than to make any promises! See you next time, and thanks for stopping by!