Sewing gifts is a personalized way to create something unique for those you care about. Give them any of these easy sewing projects for gifts next time.
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Our 2013 finished with a truly delightful day as the Sisters were joined by friends Anne and Barb and travelled to Castlemaine where we had an early Christmas celebration with Corliss, Megan and Annabelle at Threadbear. Officially the shop was closed but tucked away in the classroom at the back, we joined together for a day of sewing, talking, laughter and lots of eating. It was also the day of the big reveal. Inspired by Kim and her sewing group over on Threadheads Unite, the Sisters and friends decided to accept the challenge from Ann and make a quilt in secret from History Repeated. Now some of the Sisters were very productive and arrived with completed quilts, most notably Sue who had not only hand-pieced but also hand quilted her version of the hourglass quilt. First up from Clare next Ann, using a medallion from Reproduction Fabrics as her centre Sue's hourglass blocks in muted shades of red, blue and brown Anne's Pyramids Then there were those who had finished piecing the tops together... Barb Walker Meghan Barb, using an applique medallion completed many years ago Merri ...others with a collection of blocks made... Di Deb and Corliss ...while others are still trying to decide which quilt to make! Megan Annabelle But wait, I don't have a photo for Kerry's efforts! Maybe it's because Kerry was in charge of the camera? So tell me Kerry, which quilt did you choose and how much has been completed> Not content with making us work hard through the year, Ann has come up with next year's challenge. How about a little something from the Poos Collection? As this challenge is a little more, well challenging, we have decided to allow ourselves two years to complete the quilt. Hmm, I wonder who will be the over achievers on this? Until next time................ Meghan
In this tutorial, we show you how to add ric rac to your favorite fabrics to create beautiful reversible cloth napkins perfect for any table.
September and October has been busy, fun and nervous time. It started when my friend Myra Dunn from Myfluffybag visited the end of September. I had a fun packed activities awaiting her. First was Quilts in the Barn's annual exhibition. The next day was Geelong Fibre Forum, a yearly event. The last day of Myra's visited I took her to ours favourite Niko Kafe in Oakleigh. What the little time we had left. We managed to play in the Treehouse Studio creating two quilts that we got inspired from Quilts in the Barn's exhibition the vintage crumb quilt. The evening before all these activities Myra mentioned the word "crumb quilting" which we looked up in Youtube, but it wasn't until we saw a vintage crumb quilt that we were in-loved with it! You might also want to know about my nervous time? I had a small surgery on my back to removed infected cysts. I had that done a couple of days after Myra's left. I was a nervous lack for couple of weeks prior to the operation. I'm not a fan of hospital, doctor or pain! It was over in a couple of hours while I was knocked out, phew! I'm now home on sick-leave for 2 weeks. The pain had gone with the help of strong pain killers and a course of antibiotic. I'm up and about because sitting is not the most comfortable position when you have surgery on your back! I can walks and stand though! Now back to the Yellow Crumb Quilt. After returned from Quilts in the Barn exhibition both Myra and I were all inspired by 100 or so vintage quilts. One quilt in particular was a yellow Crumb quilt. With tone of scraps I've accumulated from quilts such as Rags to Riches and Handkerchief Corner quilt. We started to tackled our crumb quilts. I choose yellow base and Myra chooses red for hers. The block to be 5" finished so I cut the 'F' fabric (feature fabric), which is yellow 3" wide strip, but instead of crumb piecing the whole length of strip as per YouTube's instruction I pre-cute my 3" strip into 3.5" pieces. I chain pieced all my blocks until I finished. If you are quilters you would be able to make this quilt by looking at my photos. I will try to explain under each photo what I'm doing. Enjoy! I will need 230 block for a single size quilt. I will not put them together until I finished piecing all blocks. Myra's Red Crumb Quilt Crumb units. Very simple and not too many pieces. Attach 3.5" 'F' fabric onto crumb pieces. Crumb blocks ready to trim. Crumb units trimmed and ready to assemble. Block complete, now make 229 more blocks! Imagine using Japanese fabric! I'm using my beloved Singer Featherweight to pieced this quilt. I love using it for memorable quilt. Here are the leftover crumbs. It's time to discarded them. Vintage crumb quilt. Closed up of the vintage quilt. Even closer look! I can't see why you can't make larger blocks or make a modern looking quilt with it. I imagine using those bright and modern fabric in a quilt like this, but I love using vintage and recycled fabric so this version is perfect for me. I hope to piece all the blocks by the time I return to work. It's a lot of fun piecing the blocks. There are so many variations of piecing I can do. With all the scraps I pre-cut for the previous quilts. It makes the process going faster than I have to cut everything from scratch. Until next time Nat
A score of fabric works of uncommon artistry and beauty by Jack Edson are currently on show in the Nichols School Gallery.
Hand quilting results in dashed lines of stitches and a quilt with a soft look. Methods of hand quilting vary as much as quilters do. Adapt the techniques that follow to suit your style.
I have been playing with my Serger lately. So far I have altered some clothing and made a blanket with stretchy fabric. There were many clo...
A couple weeks ago I started on a new project . ..a sew-a-long of sorts. I am actually working on two projects, beginning with something pin...
Sew directionally - This handy sewing tip helps you get both sides of the garment to stay the same length throughout the construction process.
Looking for the perfect gift for the sewing enthusiast in your life? From tailor to seamstress to quilter, you'll find the perfect present for your sewist!
Guess what! My brand new patterns for Miss Kate are finally (FINALLY!) ready to go, and I am so happy to share them with you today! (Warning: many, many photos ahead. I promise I'll try to keep the exclamation points...
Chain Piecing Paper Piecing The Naptime Dress Felt Ghosties Easy Overlapping Pillow Cover ...
Sew up a microwave bowl potholder with cotton batting and fabric scraps. Use the quilt as you go technique. Great for saving fingers on hot bowls!
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Turning a pile of fabric and stuffing into a lovable toy animal feels a bit…
Textiles Handwerk mit einer Nadel seit der Bronzezeit
You may have noticed the blog button on my right sidebar for Crazy Annie's Stitchin'. Well, not only does she have an amazing assortment of cross stitch goodness in her shop at wonderful prices, she is also taking orders for Little House Needleworks "Sheep Virtues" chart of the month club as well as Eugenia Tuffet travels the world club by JABC. Both feature adorable sheep. (Yes.....I joined the Sheep Virtues club :) Anyhoo....she asked me about making project bags to go along with the theme. So here are the bags and mug organizers that will be sold exclusively through Crazy Annie's Stitchin. You can read more details about both clubs in her newsletter HERE You don't have to be a club member to purchase one of these bags. I really enjoyed making these and I'm working on another design with a more playful looking sheep for next week. I like primitives, but I have to admit, I like bright happy prints more. Just like my other project bags, they are padded with Warm & Natural and have hand stitched wool felt hearts for zipper pulls.
Replying to @meatloafsmom55 a basic tutorial on English paper piecing (EPP) to create hexagon quilts if you have any questions just leave me a comment 📸rachii_roo #englishpaperpiecing #hexiequilts...
Check out this step by step tutorial that walks you through making your own custom DIY pattern weights out of marble tiles!
Oh yes I did write that title just to grab you but, sorry, I don't have any real pearls or wisdom at all. I'm hoping I'll acquire some of both a little further down the road, but right now I'm simply going to share with you how I applique. It's...
As every seamstress or tailor knows, the little bits that get into a sewing machine can spell big trouble. Here is a quick and easy tip to deep clean your sewing machine so that it will keep going and going.
Explore Laurraine Yuyama's 2330 photos on Flickr!
WHEN I made my Blueberry Crumb Quilt, I decided to try the Quilt As You Go (QAYG) method at the last minute. While I was quilting, I jotted down a few tips that I wanted to remember for next time. This is my Blueberry Crumb Quilt. You can read about this quilt saga HERE . There are a couple of links within the post which will lead you to all of the posts related to the quilt. As I mentioned before, this was my first time using the QAYG method. I did a quick (meaning I remember reading about it somewhere) search of the blogs and I found this tutorial on MaureenCracknellHandmade's blog. I followed her tutorial and I made a few notes for my own personal reference. Her are my thoughts: Quilting the Blocks After you have made all of your blocks, cut your quilt batting into squares that measure at least 1" larger than you block on all sides. In the case of my quilt, the blocks were 12 1/2" so I cut the batting squares to 14 1/2". Pros:This is an excellent way to use up your scrap pieces of quilt batting that you have left over from previous projects. Cons: This is a time consuming process. In my case, I needed a total of 90 blocks for the two quilts and it seemed like I was cutting quilt batting forever...just ask my tennis elbow & empty bottle of Advil. Place the quilt blocks in the center of the quilt batting. Baste the blocks using your preferred method. I tend to use the curved quilter's safety pins and boy did I use a ton of them on this project. Pros: I found it much easier to baste each individual block versus basting an entire quilt at once (My knees were much happier that I didn't have to spend all of that time bending over my quilt on the tile floor!) I set everything up into piles: one pile of quilt blocks, one pile of quilt batting squares, and one large container of safety pins. Whenever I had a free moment, I would walk over and baste a few quilt squares. In the end, I had a hefty pile of basted quilt squares that were ready at a moment's notice to be quilted. Quilt each square using your preferred method. I am a fanatic for straight line quilting using my walking foot. For these quilts and this QAYG method, I thought that it would be great to quilt each quilt block differently. I chose 4 different straight line quilting motifs: Squares Within Squares Diagonal Lines Horizontal Lines X Marks The Spot (which was my favorite) Pros: This is a time friendly process. I would sit down in between tasks (like doing homework, walking the dog, making dinner, etc.) and I would quilt a few blocks! Before I knew it I was done quilting all of the blocks. This was also the least stressed out that I have ever been when quilting a quilt! I don't know about you, but when I normally quilt my quilts I tense up: my shoulders get stiff and I tend to wrinkle my brow because I am concentrating really hard on what I am doing! (and wrinkling anything is not a good thing) Not this time, just me and my blocks without a care in the world. I also liked the fact that I didn't have a HUGE quilt just hanging/sitting on my quilt table...you know what I mean...when you stop quilting for a minute/or an hour and your quilt is sitting at you machine with the needle down! When all of the blocks are quilted, trim the blocks down to the appropriate size. Pros: All of your blocks are perfectly quilted and cut to the correct size. Cons: Once again, this is a time consuming step, which didn't help my carpal tunnel and requirement for more Advil. In the end, I loved looking at the back of all of those quilted blocks. They made such a lovely stack: Joining The Blocks Together With Right Sides Together (RST), sew two quilted blocks together. Matching your seams together using this method can be tricky because you really can't see your seams because of the quilt batting. I checked and rechecked my seams several times to make sure that they would match up. Be sure to use LOTS of pins during this step. After you have sewn your blocks together, press the back seams OPEN. This will help to reduce the bulk that can easily become a hot mess. Continue to joins all of your squares into rows. Press each of your seams OPEN. Once all of the rows have been sewn together, give the front of the quilt a really, really good pressing. Adding The Backing Fabric Now you will add the quilted top to your backing fabric. I did this the same way that I would normally baste a quilt...the good old fashioned quilt sandwich. Pros: The top of the quilt was already quilted and I didn't have to deal with all of those "puckering" issues that you normally have when you are trying to smooth out the three layers of the quilt. Cons: I had to get back down on the floor to baste the three layers together...once again my aching knees. Because of the weight of the quilt, I used a lot of pins just to be sure that everything was secure. I haven't used spray baste in a long time and it might be a good option for the QAYG method. Add your final stitches to join the backing fabric. Since the front/quilt top was already quilted, I chose to simply stitch in the ditch along all of the rows and columns. I didn't want to add any additional quilting lines to the front of the quilt and it gives the back of the quilt a simple, completed look. Final Thoughts I enjoyed the QAYG process and I would do it again for all of my larger quilts. Remember that with all of the additional cutting of the quilt batting and basting of each quilt block, this process takes much longer than the usual quilting process. I would practice on a smaller project before tackling something larger. I would also be cautious if you have lots of points on the block that need to match up when you are joining your blocks together because you really can't see the seams because of the quilt batting. I give the process "two thumbs up"! Until Next Time...Happy Quilting Little Lady Patchwork...the SHOP Moda Precuts Moda Fabrics Free Priority Shipping On Orders Over $25.00
What's the best sewing or quilting advice you ever received? The advice that I use every time I sew, came from my mom. “Sew, press, sew, press.” I can hear
A friend's birthday is today and I wanted to make a little something for her. I found a cool tutorial to make a sewing caddy/pin cushion (link) on the Blue Patch Quilter's blog and thought I give it try. When filling the caddy, I put steel wool at the top to help keep pins & needles sharp... and I made a bean bag to put in the bottom to give it a little weight. I think it turned out nicely...
Today I worked on the portable shelves for fabric bolts. The photo at upper left is the inspiration piece. I took the photo at The Quilter's Harvest shop in Higginsville, Missouri. The proportion changed a bit in translating to 1:12, but with the mini bolts in place, it works! The point was to make some small modular units. Display space around the perimeter is limited, since I want to hang several quilts. I made three units. The magnetic jig was right handy! Over the course of the afternoon I managed to get a couple of coats of paint on them as well as paint the counter and another bolt shelf. I started to paint the inside on the first one, then realized that it won't be seen once the bolts are in place. I gave the counter a couple coats of satin white enamel, too. It needs another coat, but I like it much better than the yukky stain.
