I simply had to provide a re-cap of my most recent Sew, Tell Me LIVE show with special guest Anna Aldmon from Anna's Awesome Appliqués!

Anna and I had a connection some time ago, then lost touch, and recently re-connected. Once we started a conversation, it was like no time had passed! Then I found out Anna was retiring, closing up her website and ceasing her online store filled with Amazing and Awesome machine embroidery designs.

Before that happened, I wanted to feature her, let all my Let's Go Sew friends see her beautiful designs, and learn her wonderful tips, tricks, and methods for creating stunning machine embroidered masterpieces.

If you're reading this before August 31st, 2025 you can still take advantage of Anna's 60 percent off site wide sale at www.annasawesomeappliques.com

More About The Video

Our conversation lasted for more that 90 minutes, filled inspiration, education, & FUN!
You can watch the whole video below:

Anna's Awesome Appliqués
Presentation ​in PDF form

I've put together a PDF with a recap of Anna's images here for you to download and review. It also includes links to Anna's videos on YouTube that coordinate with Anna's special techniques. I hope you enjoy this!

Anna's Block of the Month Collections

All of Anna's designs are quite incredible but I've always admired her collection of 12 different designs for block of the month. You can use each one individually or combine them for a gorgeous wall hanging like the one you see above.

Anna worked with an artist named Darcy Ashton for some of her collections, including thes block of the month beauties. I hought you might find it interesting to see the original "hand appliqué" version created by Darcy. Take a look at the following links to her books:
My Garden's Journal Part One by Darcy Ashton

My Garden's Journey Part Two by Darcy Ashton

Want to watch the video in sections?

I've divided the video up so you can watch or re-watch different parts with various topics below.

Note: These Sew, Tell Me LIVE shows are all about the community of the Let’s Go Sew family of friends so there is a lot of commenting and sewing chat mixed in.

Discussing Anna’s hand stitching background and starting to look at Anna’s “Awesome” Embroidery Collections CLICK HERE

Getting into Anna’s Tips and Techniques for Embroidery Machine Appliqué, the process, & the preparation. Getting into the details of her collections, fabric selections, and variations CLICK HERE

Overview of multi-hooping sequence for any embroidery machine and more details on collections CLICK HERE

Trapunto Stitches and selecting the right batting for the right look CLICK HERE

Piecing quilt designs in the hoop and pieced border blocks CLICK HERE

Joining strips to put embroidered blocks together CLICK HERE

Quilting in the hoop designs CLICK HERE

“Stained Glass” designs CLICK HERE

Cutting with cut files on a digital cutting machine CLICK HERE

Putting it all together with Applique in the hoop, Quilting in the hoop, & Joining strips, PLUS wool applique for a stunning and colorful in the hoop quilt CLICK HERE

Fun & Done Technique with Fun & Done finishing method, PLUS Mod Moves – Modern quilt in multiple color variations CLICK HERE

Wrapping up with Anna’s final collection – the Prism Twist and then her unique Hexagon designs, and finally the announcement of her retirement and retirement sale CLICK HERE

It was such a joy to spend this time with Anna and the Let's Go Sew family of friends! I'd love to hear you comments below!

This post is a live show re-cap with a show outline and resource links for you! You'll find a link to watch the entire show at the end of this post.

The most recent edition of the Let's Go Sew Sew, Tell Me live show was all about stitching for summer.

Yes, this was a looong LIVE show, but it is packed with tips and ideas for both sewing and embroidery.

This post gives you highlights, plus some resource links for items we chatted about on the show.

EASY ACCENTS FOR LITTLE GIRLS' TOPS

The first 11 minutes were spent saying hello, plus a bit of catching up with sewing friends. At time stamp 11:51 we started talking about some quick and easy summer fun projects, specifically decorating t-shirts.

Little girls t-shirts & tops are perfect for fast updates with a bit of trim, buttons, and embroidery for 3-D easy accents.   I released a video on my YouTube channel showing the tops below. These were originally seen on series 1100 of the PBS It's Sew Easy TV show.

This video is simply a quick tip video and only takes a minute and a half to watch. Enjoy!

NEXT UP, T-SHIRT TRANSFORMATION FOR 
LADIES CREW NECK T-SHIRTS

Interested in re-vamping a crew neck t-shirt to make it worthy of wearing with a necklace? ​Starting at timestamp 31:18    you'll see my simple steps for feminizing t-shirts like the kind you find as souvenir shirts. Below, you'll find a free downloadable PDF with the basic steps.

There's a smile worthy story behind the first shirt I did. Some years ago I had the privilege of working with Allbrands in Louisiana doing hands-on embroidery seminars. They customarily gifted attendees and teachers with commemorative t-shirts.

Yep, the "unisex" kind that make me personally feel very unfeminine. I happen to have some fusible webbing with me in my hotel room, so I trimmed away the crewneck, formed a scoop,  and fused the raw edge under. When I wore the shirt on stage the next day it got rave reviews, prompting me to promise to add a tutorial to my website when I got home. I've since re-vamped the instructions a bit.

​This t-shirt transformation will only take about one hour of your sewing time. You'll find my free tutorial with step-by-step photos, and complete written instructions when you CLICK HERE.

MORE T-SHIRT TALK WITH DAWN CHACE

My friend Dawn joined me for this entire show and shared a ton of her knowledge and expertise. As the owner and operator of the Creative Appliqués website, Dawn's embroidery experience spans from digitizing to mastery of a multi-needle machine and a whole lot in between those two topics!

Right around time stamp 45:23, Dawn shared her tips for embroidery on ready made t-shirts, with a particular emphasis on prepping both the t-shirt and the actual appliqué fabric used for embroidered appliqués. Her description of steps for "distortion prevention" are right on target!

We also had quite a discussion about stabilizer shrinkage with some great input by friends of Let's Go Sew in the live chat.

Hooping techniques, beating the dreaded "hoop burn" and design placement tips were hot topics too!

The remainder of the show revolved around more tips & tricks, questions from the live chat, and overall sharing of our love for creative endeavors!

We did toss around some favorite sites for obtaining nice embroidery designs. I'll save that list for a future post. Want to help me make a good list? I would really love to hear about yours! Please leave names of your "go to" embroidery sites in the comments at the end of this post. I'd love to hear from you on this topic or any other thoughts related to this show.

The Sew, Tell Me Show is broadcast with rare exception at 7PM EST on the 4th Monday of each month. You'll find it currently showing on my YouTube channel HERE and also on Facebook HERE.

As always, I'm grateful for those who watch live and all who watch the replay!

Resources for items mentioned in the show:

Connect with Dawn Chace of Creative Appliqués: Website: www.creativeappliques.com

Watch Dawn's intro to embroidering applique here: https://youtu.be/tEGORS5vnog

Pellon 180 knit stabilizer used for T-shirt: https://www.pellonprojects.com/products/knit-n-stable/

Alternative to Pellon 180: SewKeysE Extremely fine Fusible Knit Stay Tape by Emma Seabrooke

WATCH A REPLAY OF THE FULL SHOW BELOW!