Baby gift basket dallas

Byline: Gary Snyder

Stitches 16th year of embellished competition attracted over 120 diverse entries vying in 14 categories. Some of the winning entrants proved that time and complexity are not necessarily the critical factors in determining the final reward; imagination and creativity are.

This year's independent panel of judges was comprised of Sandy Hirsch of Atelier Zundt, Westminster, Colo.; Joyce Yost of Digitalflash, Denver; and Adam Ulibarri of Summit Sportswear, Englewood, Colo.

Top Honors & The Prizes

Grand Prize honors went to Loredana Mariani and Antonello Ascione of AMG Progetti Industriali di Antonello Ascione in Naples, Italy, for their unique fantasy mask creation. Their efforts won them a Pulse Maestro Digitizing Software package from Pulse Microsystems, Mississauga, Ont., valued at $17,500.

The Creativity award went to an equally exquisite piece, which, ironically, incorporated stock designs. Lindee Goodall and the staff at Cactus Punch, Tucson, Ariz., earned themselves a $4,995 EOS Creator software package compliments of Compucon USA. in Greensboro, N.C., for their Ladies Pendleton Wool Jacket.

The People's Choice award, to be determined by attendees of the Embroidery Mart, The Industry Show, Nashville, August 2-3, will garner the winner a Melco Amaya [superscript] singlehead embroidery machine. The Amaya, valued at $13,500, was donated by Melco Embroidery Systems, Denver.

The first place winners in each category receive a $500 gift certificate from the following industry suppliers: The Embroidery Store, Greensboro, N.C.; Great Notions, Dallas; Gunold USA, Kennesaw, Ga.; John Solomon Inc., Sommerville, Mass.; Madeira USA Ltd., Laconia, N.H.; Pantograms Manufacturing Co., Tampa, Fla.; and Robison-Anton Textile Co., Fairview, N.J. In addition, Dalco Athletic Lettering, Dallas, is awarding its Stock Stitch IV software and a $200 gift certificate to the winner of the applique category, while Stahls' Inc., Saint Clair Shores, Mich., presents a Hotronix 16-inch-by-16-inch Clam Heat Press to the winner in the framed category.

Second place winners in each category receive $100 from Stitches Magazine; third place winners are awarded $75.

accessories

1st place & grand prize fantasy mask

Loredana Mariani and Antonello Ascione AMG Progetti Industriali di Antonello Ascione Naples, Italy

First place in this category also has the coveted distinction of being this year's Grand Prize winner. The life-size, wearable fantasy mask was conceived and realized by Loredana Mariani and Antonello Ascione. Mariani used diverse digitizing techniques, such as point-to-point punching with acute attention to the orientation of the lines and how the stitching would conform to the uneven surface, to weave this exceedingly elaborate creation.

The colorful disguise used 11 me-tallic threads and required 55 color changes. It took about five hours for artwork, four hours of punching and six hours of embroidery on a multihead machine to assemble this 356,489-stitch "maskerpiece."

2nd place

dreidl

Nancy Sedar Sherman Nancy Sedar Designs, Denver

This unique piece was inspired by a simple phone call from a gift shop asking if Sedar Sherman's husband would be interested in creating an embroidered dreidl for a show. He was too busy, so Nancy stepped in and sewed the traditional Hanukkah top on broadcloth using thread from Madeira USA Ltd. and Gunold USA Inc. The four-sided toy required 45,659 stitches, seven colors and 42 color changes on a Tajima TMEX-C1201 machine. A nonwoven cutaway backing was used.

"The first attempts took two to three weeks to design, research and coordinate," Sedar Sherman says. "Now, if I have all the parts, I can make one in a day."

3rd place

the rooster cafe

Chad Matthias Liberty Embroidery, Madison, N.C.

Starting with a clip art book of old engravings, Chad Matthias made some minor modifications and created the Rooster Cafe name to produce this third place finish.

"It didn't have much color, so I added some to punch it up a little," Matthias says. "I reduced it and put it on an apron to make it look like it was a real business."

The image was embroidered on a Barudan 6-head machine using Robison- Anton thread and 720 tearaway backing. It contains 34,938 stitches, took about two hours to digitize and an hour and a half to sew.

applique

1st place great harvest banner

Jason Gaspard, Dian Jakel and Moon Ja Lee Robert Gaspard Co. Inc. Brookfield, Wis.

Divine inspiration is the nature of the business for the Robert Gaspard Co., a manufacturer of liturgical banners and garments since 1954. The winning applique, digitized by hand by Dian Jakel and sewn by Moon Ja Lee, "is a new design that we have added to our catalog in the last few years," Jason Gaspard says. "It didn't really present any problems, it was just a matter of selecting the right colors."

Taking over 80 hours to create and sew on a Chandler machine, the banner combines rayon and metallic gold thread with several appliques and fabric paint. The foundation fabric itself is interlined for stability.

2nd place

monkey pillow

Brian Alden and Linda Walton Brian Alden Design, Dallas

The design featured on this second place winner incorporated the use of many appliques. The bodies of the monkeys were created with a textured fabric resembling the material used to fabricate the main body of the pillow, while the appliques used for the base of the tree, and the leaves and blossoms were made of a secondary striped fabric. The design was stitched with a variety of threads, including a metallic thread used on the focal points. No information is available on the type of machine used or the number of stitches required to complete this design.

3rd place

southwest tablecloth

Lisa Calder Hardrock Embroidery, Vidor, Texas

According to Lisa Calder, her third place Southwest tablecloth entry was inspired by the Stitch-Off competition. The 275,000-stitch design took 16 hours to create and was sewn on a Melco EMC 10/4TCE machine using Ackermann Isacord 40 thread and a cutaway backing. The tablecloth itself was purchased at Wal-Mart and the rest of the materials used were "scrap."

cap

1st place hardrock cowboy hat

Lisa Calder Hardrock Embroidery Vidor, Texas

Lisa Calder, who began embroidering by hand, is always excited by the newest industry developments and was looking for something different to do for the competition. She settled on sewing a stock design on an old cowboy hat.

"I just wanted to see if it could be done," she says of her winning entry. "It turned out to be more of a job than I thought it was going to be." Calder spent an hour and a half saddling the reluctant material with some 10,000 stitches. She prevailed using Isacord 40 thread and a tearaway backing on her Melco EMC 10/4TCE machine.

2nd place

bunnies & sunflowers

Janice Steffen AMI Dunbrooke, Marcus, Iowa

Sometimes regular work orders make the best entries, as illustrated by Janice Steffen's second place winner. Her Bunnies & Sunflowers design is 14,800 stitches and took four hours to produce. No backing was used when the design was sewn with Ackermann Isacord thread on a Tajima 4-head machine.

3rd place

bowhunters

Kim Schwartz AMI Dunbrooke, Marcus, Iowa

"This is similar to an actual piece of artwork we punched," Kim Schwartz says of her third place Bowhunters cap. The 22,000-stitch design was sewn on a Tajima machine and took four hours to complete. It incorporates Ackermann Isacord thread, buckram backing and hardwood camouflage material.

children's wear

1st place fuzzy lion

Joel J. Rapp Bison Embroidery Williamsville, N.Y.

Joel J. Rapp says he was trying to "create something cute" for his newborn son - and he certainly succeeded with this winning design. While using the plush felt as an applique was tricky, it also has definite kid appeal.

"It's difficult to do something that large on such a small garment," Rapp concedes. "Usually you do something smaller for toddler fleece."

Rapp used Robison-Anton thread in addition to two felt appliques to simulate the fuzzy lion. It took about 10 hours and 9,557 stitches on his singlehead Tajima TMEX-C1501 to get it right.

2nd place

blouse with bunnies

Janis Ravins Punch Perfect, Barrie, Ont.

Endeavoring to depict the Easter season in a red, white and blue motif was the inspiration behind this second place blouse and bunnies design from Janis Ravins. The 6,451-stitch image employs Ackermann Isacord, Madeira and Robison-Anton threads as well as a cutaway pellon backing. It took only a half-hour to embroider on a Tajima machine.

3rd place

bunny & egg basket

Chad Matthias Liberty Embroidery, Madison, N.C.

Easter also inspired the third place winner in this category. Originally, it was a black and white image in a Broder clip art package that caught his eye, Chad Matthias says. "I wanted to give the bunny a realistic fur look and add a lot of color to make it really stand out."