• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Melanie Testa

  • home
  • Bio+
    • about
    • Breast Cancer Advocacy
    • Contact
  • Portfolio
    • Quilts
    • Mixed Media
    • Florabunda! by RJR Fabrics
    • Meadowlark by Windham
    • Soy Wax Resist
  • In Print
    • my book – Playful Fabric Printing
    • my book – Dreaming From the Journal Page
    • my book – Inspired to Quilt
    • my DVD – Print, Collage, Quilt
    • published in
  • blog
  • Store

Pattern

Batwing Mask w Jersey Knit ear loops and Toggle Bead cinch (FREE PDF Pattern)


Jersey Knit Batwing<——-download this 

I have been kinda bonkers for the GoodNotes app for iPad with pencil!

Here is a FREE PDF #MellyMasks pattern, made using the GoodNotes app. This is a six page, full color pdf pattern with artistic illustrations. The PDF is indexed, has thumbnails and bookmarked pages for easy reference.

Please, if you print this out, let me know if the pattern measures properly! If you have suggestions on other masks you would like a pattern for, leave a comment! I would love to know your thoughts!

October 24, 2020 By Melanie Tagged With: Batwing, Free PDF Pattern, MellyMasks, Pattern

Gentleman Doll

Gentleman Doll is a mask makers YouTube channel of note! I suggest you check it out and subscribe! Gentleman Doll (PDF)wear glasses sAvailable in multiple sizes DIY Mask Making 

Gentleman Doll sometimes provides PDFs for print out, and in the case of the mask you see here, the PDF can be found in the description of the above linked YouTube video.

Their videos are visual, without words or voice over. Gentleman Doll does not center themself in the camera’s field of vision. But, their backlog of patterns and videos is extensive. The patterns are easy to understand, well thought out and fairly easy to execute.

Gentleman Doll uses centimeters, so I have obtained two new rulers to accommodate my explorations with this mask maker  

These mask have a nose wire sewn into the arch of the nose. I am sewing all sizes for my Etsy and for local give away.

This mask goes great with Carrie Bloomston’s Newspaper fabric too! 


I think the most interesting part about making this mask is the origami like folding that transforms the almost rectangular flat piece of sewn fabric into the 3D cup like shape. 


I highly suggest you check your printer settings prior to printing the pdf out! I learned the hard way that my printer was set to print at 87%. You will want to print the pdf off at 100%. 

The PDF pattern is graded to sizes Small (child), Medium (teen), Large (Adult) and Extra Large (Adult). This is what is called a 3D mask, as it has a cup like shape that fits from nose to chin and across the cheeks. It fits onto the face by way of ear elastic.

Being a visual learner, I respond well to learning from Gentleman Doll by watching their videos. I understand some folks might rather have written words to follow, and if that is the case for you, maybe Gentleman Doll isn’t a good fit for you. But if it is, Gentleman Doll has some great content. This isn’t the only mask by Gentleman Doll that I have made!

I am sold on this YouTube channel and all of the work that Gentleman Doll puts out.

June 1, 2020 By Melanie Tagged With: Gentleman Doll, Masks, Melly Masks, Pattern, Review, YouTube

Florabunda!’s Blue without You Pattern debut and GIVEAWAY!

Just look at this sun dazzled quilt. Doesn’t it make you want to curl up and read a book, out in the sun? Hope for a breeze. Have a full day of relaxation and contented, good feelings? That’s how it makes me feel!

Tiffany Hayes designed Blue without You,  specifically for Florabunda! Isn’t it lovely?

I am offering you a copy of Blue without You as a GIVEAWAY, off my blog today! Comment on this post to win your copy. I bought one for myself too!


Please!! Check out RJR Fabrics Instagram page today and each day this week, as this is the second day of the Florabunda! Blog Hop Celebration GIVEAWAY!! RJR will be highlighting some of the blog hop participants and will host a 5-day-long giveaway, all through Instagram. (Follow them on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/rjrfabrics/). 

Quilty Box , a company that sells and ships specially selected fabrics, tools and other exciting products for quilters by subscription, will also have special offers for those who follow Florabunda! Blog Hoppers on Instagram (don’t forget @RJRFabrics, @QuiltyBox and @MellyTesta) to increase your chances for winning the give-aways).

There are 12 quilt makers and artists participating, and all of us have made quilts and usable items showcasing Florabunda! Join us each day through June 16. 

June 7–Tiffany Hayes

June 8–Deborah Boschert

June 9–Sara Mika

June 10–Lyric Kinard

*June 11–Kathy York 

June 11–Teri Lucas

*June 12—Susan Brubaker Knapp  

June 12 Leslie Tucker Jenison 

*June 13—Tiffany Hayes  <—Blue without You Pattern Release

June 13—Jamie Fingal 

June 14–Debby Brown 

*June 14–Heidi Kelly 

June 15– David Gilleland 

June 15—Melanie Testa <— Here! <—I added this day for myself.
 
June 16 Melanie Testa, Quilty Box Swag!

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

June 13, 2018 By Melanie Tagged With: Blog Hop, Florabunda, Give Away, Needle in a Hayes Stack, Pattern, RJR Fabrics, Tiffany Hayes

Exponential Sew-plies

One for each day of the week?

This weekend I became obsessed with making a Gather your Sew-plies purse for each day of the week. You can see, I am well on my way. I have been settling into a new form of textile art, which isn’t clearly defined yet but it seems to have something to do with cloth, dressing myself, and embroidering and embellishing the clothing I wear, make and use. All of the sudden, I feel as though my clothing can become a journal. I can trace off a drawing from my journal, embroider it onto my clothing, I can say things, verbally and visually on the clothing I wear, it if it were my journal.

I have been playing with the idea of labels. We like to categorize things, people, visual impressions, items. When working with clothing we have lots of physical labels, actual labels that tell us about size, fiber content, washing instructions and the like. I have been having fun inserting and using found labels in new ways. Here you see my latest Gather your Sew-plies purse is a size 14, or is 14th in some unspecified order. I have been daydreaming of removing and redistributing the labels that are sewn onto my clothing.

This latest Sew-plies purse goes with a t-shirt blouse I bought at H&M. I started embroidering it just this morning. This is part of my new approach. I am going to work on and wear the clothing I choose to embellish all summer long. This is an active project. I don’t yet have a blouse to pair with the pink Gather your Sew-plies purse…but I have been thinking about how to remedy that.

I will be teaching in Arlington Texas this week and will be away from home for almost 4 days. Luckily, I now have an iPad (A.K.A iMelly) and can keep up with you guys wherever I am.

May 29, 2012 By Melanie Tagged With: Free, Gather your Sew-plies!!, Pattern, PDF, Purse, Sew-plies

V2

Today my man and I celebrate his Birthday by going to a Mets game. I, of course, need a project. I have decided to reinterpret the Gather your Sew-plies purse. I am now perfecting and expanding this pattern!

I would love it if you would make one and show me how you put it together.

I pulled this linen and silk out of a bin and they looked so interesting together. It isn’t what I would have thought to be drawn to. I am daydreaming a new neckstrap. I am having fun building.

May 26, 2012 By Melanie Tagged With: Embroidery, Gather your Sew-plies!!, Pattern, PDF, Purse

Thank you and Welcome

If you are coming here from Create Mixed Media, thanks so much for stopping by and welcome. I have created this downloadable PDF pattern for the small purse (below) as a welcome and thanks to all of my readers. 

Gather your Sew-plies!! <——Click it.

I will be posting once a month on the Create Mixed Media website. This month I am exploring embroidery and ‘journaling’ on clothing. In the days to come, you can follow me here, on my blog to see what I come  up with and next month I will post a recap on the Create Mixed Media site. I also plan to extract ideas from my journals to stamp, stencil and surface design clothing, I hope you will join me in both places.

Wear them close.

The Gather your Sew-plies pattern is really more of a ‘recipe’, as the bag is a work in progress and I will be making additions and changes to it in the month to come. If embroidering on cloth is of interest to you and you would like to have fun and make you own marks, perhaps you’ll whip up a purse, it keeps your supplies close at hand. The first change I will be making to my purse is the addition of a button to keep the pouch closed. I have come up with an ingenious manner to do this and I will be discussing it within the next few days.

mess is managed by neat arrangments.

In the meantime, I would like to tell you what I carry in my little purse. A small plastic thimble-I love thimbles and I usually carry a silver thimble, my favorite thimble, but until this bag gets its button closure, the plastic thimble will remain tucked in my pouch. Scissors, these are a pair from Kai and they are an economically priced scissor that is super sharp and pretty awesome. Again, I have a prettier pair of embroidery scissors that I cherish, but these are my travel scissors. Thread (Auriful #12, have you hand sewn with this thread? It’s like butter). Thread Heaven, I am loyal to this stuff, it really helps to ‘prepare’ your thread. And do you see that gray paper that holds some black embroidery floss? That is 400 grit sand paper. I think it is a great idea to carry sandpaper with you. Just yesterday I noticed a burr on a needle, I had the paper at the ready and sanded that burr right off.

So please use the link above to download your copy of ‘Gather your Sew-plies’ pattern and I hope you will join me in making marks on cloth this month. Welcome.

And please, register for the free webinar next week.

April 19, 2012 By Melanie Tagged With: Embroidery, Free, Hand Sewing, Pattern, PDF, Purse, Sew-plies, Tutorial

Primary Sidebar

All things me:



InspiredtoQuiltSideBar

Tags

#QuiltwithLove Birds Blog Hop Breast cancer Breast Pockets cancer Craft Napa Dreaming From The Journal Page Embroidery Etsy Facebook Family Female Magazine Fitness Florabunda friends Gather your Sew-plies!! Give Away Hand Printed Hand Sewing Inspiration Instagram Journaling Meadowlark Melly Marks Multicolor Printing Multicolor Stamps NYC Peach Playful Fabric Printing Procion MX dye Quilt Quilting RJR Fabrics Sew-plies Sew Along Stamps Stencil Studio Supplies Teaching The 20 The Clever Guild Video Windham Fabrics

Footer

Copyright © 2021 ·Foodie Pro Theme · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress · Log in