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Karen at Silver Seams

@silverseams.bsky.social
709 followers 98 following 2K posts

I use embroidery machines to do "impossible" 3d things, with more detail and precision than is otherwise practical. silverseams.com Keeper of the Machine Embroiderers & Plushie Maker feeds (ping me to be added!)

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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Ducks did that with a mouse in their feed once and unlike chickens, they can't really peck to kill it. Last I saw, one had it in her bill and the others were trying to yank it away while it shrieked, and then they went around the back of the garage. No idea how it ended. 😬
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
@joshuajfriedman.com It seems to be possible for bad actors to impersonate small accounts, even ones with domain verification, with complete impunity: they don't have enough followers to generate enough reports to cause their problem to bubble up in the moderation system.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
If you thought the goblins had some terrifying grins...
patreon.com
What even is time? | Karen at Silver Seams
As you may have guessed, I looked at September's days-of-the-month when I said I would drop the design on Friday, because I thought the fift
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
... which is your favorite eye combo to go with the mouth dubbed "Teeth Teeth Teeth"? (Bearing in mind that the pupils' size/position is variable, so if you prefer the exact eye expression from a different mouth, you can specify that too.)
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It is a long-standing tradition of mine to change course for the monthly design at the very end of the previous month. Especially when there's only 30 days in said previous month. But despite all the combinations, I only need to test four faces to get all the components. So I have a question:
ko-fi.com
Pumpkins again
Silver Seams published a post on Ko-fi
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
(I have actually never had the motor burn up so not sure if I got lucky or, more likely, it's because I am 99.9% ITH these days so mostly use prewound )
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I gave up and bought one of those cheap bobbin winders because even buying a replacement every time the motor burns up is worth the time because I have two machines that will *never* not do that. One would do it while I was watching while somehow appearing to wind just fine. HOW
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 25/10/2024
It's decorative gourd season. silverseams.com/shop/downloa... #bsnm #MachineEmbroidery
A variety of plush pumpkins around a machine-embroidered valet tray that reads "it's decorative gourd season."A couple of stuffed pumpkins made from Halloween-themed damask prints.
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Karen C @silver.phoenyx.net · 21/09/2026
I remembered I stitched out another slug when I made Alexander Mason, so I cut it out and stuffed it. Is there a reason for the shape, and for the background? Yeah. 🧶
A plush banana slug, this time curled in more of a C shape.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Alexander* is yours for the low, low price of sponsoring four matches between a scientist and a classroom full of kids. * and the satisfaction of having facilitated four matches. Also, four different matches, not the same classroom four times. Unless you want? Sarah could probably arrange it. 🤷
silverseams.com
Alexander Mason, Slug | Silver Seams
Alexander Mason: a slug plushie, made with squishy foiled plush leopard fabric.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Not all of my in-the-hoop designs have this kind of size range but this is the comparison between the 8x14" hoop version and the 4x4" hoop version. (Also yes the leopard slug will be available in the shop shortly, and I guess I should get the tiny(ish) banana in there too. Both are fundraisers.)
A large, squishy (okay you can't really tell that from the picture but trust me, it's squishmallow levels of squish) slug made from black plush fabric with foiled gold leopard markings.The big slug next to the keychain slug. It's close to three times its size, and extends from one side of the light box to the other.The big slug with a one-foot/30cm ruler. It's longer than the ruler (its body is about the length of, not counting its eyestalks which have little gold bead eyes).A closeup of the eye beads: because they're four-hole beads, the black thread from the two outer holes makes a sort of goat-like pupil on the eye, which real snails can be like too.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I gave her a name because usually my shop listings are "[color] [size] dragon" and I do not remember what this fabric is named (I could dig through the inventory spreadsheet but the random name generator was more fun). You cannot buy her but it is possible to acquire ownership nonetheless.
silverseams.com
Magnolia McGee, Slug | Silver Seams
Magnolia McGee: a slug "plushie," made with iridescent dancewear fabric.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
This is a banana-free version of the Banana Slug design: silverseams.com/shop/product... I discuss interlining too-thin-for-plushies dancewear fabric in the instructions, and that's what I've done here.
silverseams.com
Banana Slug Design | Silver Seams
A design to make slug plushies in the hoop of an embroidery machine.
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Karen C @silver.phoenyx.net · 16/09/2026
Hope my neighbors are entertained by their Ring footage of my holding a slug photoshoot on my stoop.
A large (7-8") stuffed slug in sunlight, showing off its iridescence.The opposite side of the slug.A close-up of its little sluggy eyes (faux anodized glass beads).
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Update! I think Spandex World has the same stuff. I'd be more sure if they also had the other colors (silver and cyan).
spandexworld.com
Animal Print Hologram (Black/Black)
Black holographic animal skin pattern on black nylon spandex.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Okay actually bluemoonfabrics.com/products/lum... is cephalopod fabric but, uh, $150/meter I should probably at least have a pattern drafted and tested before I buy any (almost 80" wide though, I admit I expected it to be much narrower) ... Oh wait, it is just lit, not animated. WELL IN THAT CASE
bluemoonfabrics.com
Luminous Fiber Optic Fabric | Blue Moon Fabrics
Introducing our Luminous Fiber Optic Fabric! A high-tech woven textile with integrated optical fibers that create an all-over illuminated glow. Control the colors and lighting effects using the includ...
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Oh no I made the mistake of looking at Blue Moon "real quick" and I have found cuttlefish fabric bluemoonfabrics.com/products/tie...
The fabric pictured under UV: it is deep magenta/purple/blue swirles with dark foiled cuttlefish markings.The fabric pictured under normal light: it has light pink to purple cloudy swirled background, with silvery foil cuttlefish "stripe" markings, sort of. The foil apparently has a holo effect but it's not visible in still pictures.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
(although if anybody has it Blue Moon will)
bluemoonfabrics.com
Blue Moon Fabrics - Fashion Starts Here!
Specializing in Stretch Sequin, Spandex and Fashion-Forward Textiles, Blue Moon Fabrics has the material you need to bring your Activewear, Swimwear, Dance Wear, Costuming and Couture designs to life.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
JoAnn 😭
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
For those who've bought the design, (1) thank you and (2) in case you wondered what the slug in the instruction pictures looked like when it's turned and stuffed, here a preview.
An iridescent "plush" slug in the poor (for photography) lighting of my sewing chair.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
("premade snails"? I mean, snails is slugs, slugs is snails, and I *will* have both premade snails and slugs, and a DIY snail design (besides the snap tab) but I do not know where my brain was)
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Okay, now you can make your own banana slugs! (Assuming you have an embroidery machine. If not, I will have info on more premade snails soon!) silverseams.com/shop/product...
silverseams.com
Banana Slug Design | Silver Seams
A design to make slug plushies in the hoop of an embroidery machine.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I lived in the Midwest for the first half century of my life, I don't take my car into *Philly* if I can help it. But we've schlepped flats of untaxed Jersey soda on the subway there, beads in Penn Station can't be much worse. 😆
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I'm in South Jersey, so couple hours from NYC. Not ideal but I could probably use a kick in the pants to get up there anyway, I don't tourist enough.
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Karen C @silver.phoenyx.net · 30/08/2026
Aside from the three or so finished(?) moths in that box, I also collected the various moth bits. Got at least five where I have all the parts (some didn't ever have anything but the wings done because I only needed one of each type).
A couple of rosy maple moths, a darth's head moth, a sort of Minnie Mouse moth, and more, all in pieces.A large Luna moth with its forewings detached, more random wings (cecropia, I think) and fluffy moth bodies.More random moth wings, some from print fabrics.
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Karen C @silver.phoenyx.net · 30/08/2026
Dug through the various boxes and baskets where I chuck testers and samples for things that are on-theme for Skype a Scientist, gotta clean these up and take glamour shots and listing text and then WE'RE GONNA HAVE AN AUCTION #invertefest (and some mostly-marine friends with vertebrae)
A box with a wild assortment of mostly plushies: sharks, octopuses, frogs, spiders, moths, a gingerbread Mothman, crabs, an eagle (go birds), ball python, etc.
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Karen C @silver.phoenyx.net · 29/08/2026
I've added it to my StoryGraph page if that's a thing anybody else is on.
app.thestorygraph.com
Sign In | The StoryGraph
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I mean I did too, we had phones very much like that, but the swipe thingy was throwing me. I had a literal "stick a card in, pull the ker-chunk lever to stamp the time on it" kind back in the very early 90's, after that I was somehow salaried.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I didn't recognize the time card one because the last one I used was mechanical. 😬 (in hindsight convincing early-career IT folks that they should be salaried was a scam, I am owed a lot of overtime pay)
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
(I'm also getting back into listing physical products, before the mountain of samples buries me in a landslide, so if you don't have an embroidery machine just give me a little while.)
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I am terrible about promoting but I have a Patreon and Ko-Fi (same content) on which I post at least one in-the-hoop machine embroidery design every month, usually a plush charm. This month: Mothman, spooky eyes, and a snail tab (so far). www.patreon.com/silverseams/... ko-fi.com/post/There-i...
patreon.com
There is no slug emoji | Karen at Silver Seams
... but that's okay, probably one of the Snail Facts is that slugs are just snails with no (or with internal) shells. (I don't know yet, I h
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
I occasionally mention it in mine (somehow I forgot with the Mothman, but the purple sample one has both abs and glutes...) but I figure it's a step too complicated for most people, and the ones that want to do them, know how to make it work. 😆
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Karen C @silver.phoenyx.net · 23/08/2026
A lighter-yellow, less-ripe banana slug! This one has its sensory tentacles retracted and its optical ones end in glass beads. Like the previous one, it's about 8" long as the crow flies, and it is yours for a shipping label and a donation ($25 for this one) to @skypeascientist.bsky.social.
A plush banana slug, with a 12-oz can for scale. Yes, I should have had a banana for scale but all that's in the house are plantains, which this slug *is* the size of.A top-down view of the slug, showing off its light green embroidered grooves and graceful curve.A face-on view of the slug. This one only appears to have two tentacles/eyestalks, but it has small jet glass beads on the ends of them.This slug can be yours! Or you can wait for ones with fancier coloration, but they'll be more expensive.
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Karen C @silver.phoenyx.net · 22/08/2026
Critter is a prototype so its eyes are a little derpy but if you send @skypeascientist.bsky.social twenty bucks and you send me a shipping label it's yours. Check the alt for details on it.
A plush banana slug, about eight inches long (as the crow flies... measuring the curve along its back is probably closer to ten inches).A different angle on the slug. Its mantle is not a separate piece, but is formed by the stitched grooves along the rest of its body.Close up of the slug's face. It's made of a low-pile yellow plush from an original pattern I'm developing.Looking down on its eye stalks. The eyes are embroidered, and one is a bit caught in the seam so it has kind of a derpy Chihuahua squint.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
The kawaii mothman design is out! The plushies themselves are not listed yet, but that is forthcoming. ko-fi.com/post/Kawaii-...
The cover image for the Kawaii Mothman, with both a classic mothman and a non-man moth variant.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Fat quarter collecting is different from fabric collecting, in addition to fabric collecting being a different hobby from sewing. Anyway this was the last one they had.
A fat quarter with faux NASA patches: meatball, Apollo 11, couple of shuttle related ones.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
(I will take lightbox pictures tomorrow, and have links to the embroidery-machine design and a way to get the finished plush.)
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
He's pulling a caboose as well, of course.
The plush mothman's generous backside.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
If your mothman has well-defined abs he's probably dehydrated, get him some nectar right away.
A tiny plush mothman, with machine embroidered pecs and abs.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Got out the moth-moth to see how the wings work on the chibi mothman and somehow I am making another moth?
A deflated realistic-ish deaths head hawk moth plush WIP, next to a yardstick showing its 20" wingspan.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
The design listing is up! You can make so many different little goblins in your embroidery machine. You can buy it as a one-off design, or it's the July reward for monthly members on both Patreon and Ko-fi.
silverseams.com
Kawaii Goblin Design | Silver Seams
In-the-hoop machine embroidery design for goblin plushies
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Some generations of it are okay but I just pulled my JoAnn pickle minky out (kelly-green dot/bump minky) and that is the objectively worst minky ever. Waxy *and* crunchy! And this project involved hand-sewing.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
(If you don't have an embroidery machine, I will be making listings for the demonstration goblins too.)
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
The design listing is up! You can make so many different little goblins in your embroidery machine. You can buy it as a one-off design, or it's the July reward for monthly members on both Patreon and Ko-fi.
silverseams.com
Kawaii Goblin Design | Silver Seams
In-the-hoop machine embroidery design for goblin plushies
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Product photography is my passion. 🙃
A group picture of the plush goblins in the light box. Everybody's in frame, didn't catch the edge of the backdrop... but the picture is upside down. At least that's easy to fix.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Never thought I'd be making in-the-hoop clothing on an embroidery machine but here we are. 😉
A preview image from the instruction pages for the clothes for the embroidery machine goblins.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
I'm back! (Unscheduled break because one of the kids was in the hospital)
Most of the pieces of three plush goblins on a lap desk for assembly.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
*herd of deer frozen in headlights, cigarettes dangling slackly from hooves or lips*
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Yep, and if you are trying to pack "light" or things less likely to wrinkle, you're going to go for poly or poly blend.
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Karen at Silver Seams @silverseams.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
This, plus the bit about traveling: less laundry access + clothes being in suitcases all the time + polyester clothes + stress just dials it all the way up.
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