It was a wonderful weekend. We spent it with cousins and we stitched it up (among other creative things). While visiting , we stopped in at Heirloom Quilts. The girls each picked fabric for their skirts. It was so much fun. If Iz could have, she would have taken a cut from every single bolt. She’s a girl after my own heart.
I had promised my cousin that I would teach her to sew, and making one of these is so perfect. She learned how to measure herself, how to rip fabric (so we didn’t worry about cutting straight lines), how to iron, wind a bobbin, thread the machine and sew in straight lines. It’s the perfect skirt, because it’s ok if you can’t sew a straight line, you won’t see it! You can totally design them with the right fabrics and band placement.
photo by Iz
Iz loves the sewing machine. If the table were lower, she could certainly step on the pedal herself.
Sarah did such a great job. Her skirt was AWESOME! The prints she picked were adorable and a total reflection of her personality. It was great for me, I’ve been missing . I keep thinking that I’ll just start teaching again. soon. really soon!
PS – Want to make your own Twirly? Here’s a really, really wonderful tute from .
starts tomorrow. Pattern is from the wonderful () and arrived in the mail today. Dots are from , which we visited this morning. Even though they have a bucket of toys, I was rushed, but I like the dots.
Even though 12″ of snow fell around us yesterday (with probably the same amount again in a few days), I’m thinking about a Spring/Summer hat. I know that soon, we’ll be outside all day long, working in the garden, going for nature walks, playing in the river. (could it be that I’m trying to get out of that Feb FunK?) So that means we’ll need hats.
I picked up some lovely remnants at the other day, some really fabulous geometrics that would make excellent hats. I’ll make a few more this year, with Iz being a lot more active, I’m sure we’ll leave a few behind. I’d like to have one or two, and Rob could probably use one too.
I’m teaching a bucket hat class in March. Since this hat is like “magic”, the class is “Sew With ME!!: Make a Bucket Hat” and is geared to adult/child pair stitchers (all ages are welcome). We’ll measure our heads and make our own patterns then stitch up a loverly hat. The class is Sunday, March 2, 9-12 at . I hope you’ll join me!
After reading on , I decided I must try this coat. Looks like it is pretty versatile, good for spring, good for fall and winter. I’m thinking a in a hot color (umm, like GARNET!) with a contrast lining. And, because I live in New England, I want to use .
Then for , I thought I’d try the from . I’ve read many a blog on stitchers working with Jalie patterns, and I’m pretty excited to try it. I have a favorite t-shirt, I love the neck drop and length, so I’ll be adjusting the pattern to match that T. I do love that the pattern is all sizes, so I’ll be tracing my pattern to pattern paper, so I can use the pattern again for my daughter (when she’s a bit older). Plus it’s a nice heavy paper, much less delicate than the normal tissue paper. I’ve got a few lightweight jerseys to try for this pattern, but I really want to find a cozy wool jersey. Can anybody share a good place on-line for light weight wool jersey? . .
T-shirt Class info at :
Skill Level – Advanced Beginner (must know how to sew)
$125
Saturday Oct 13, 20 2PM-5PM
Working from a commercial pattern, we’ll fit and stitch up your best fitting t-shirt yet! All of this while learning / practicing how to sew a knit! FUN! Seriously, you’ll be surprised at how simple it is to work with knits. For fun – since it’s winter, pick a wool jersey to make your t-shirt, nice an cozy!)
Supplies Needed: Your Sewing Machine, Your Sewing Kit, a commercial pattern, fabric and notions as noted on your pattern envelope. Pattern Paper will be available during class.
I, myself, can barely stand it! I love it so much. It was super hard to part with it today, as it went to school with Iz, where she would be using it during her nap time during her FIRST FULL DAY of school. She’ll be home any minute (a is picking her up – our car wouldn’t start yesterday, and we were stranded in town. I tried calling , but where he was working, there was no signal. I called this f, who was home with a sleeping baby, this – who was at the dentist’s office with son, and more and more friends, who of course were not home waiting by the phone for my distress call. Poor little Iz, she started crying after the first few tries of me starting the car and it not starting, and her dad not answering his phone (I promise you there was no foul language when his phone went straight to voicemail – grin) and wanted to know between tears how she would get home to take a nap, and that she didn’t want me, she wanted her daddy, daddy, please answer the phone! Rob finally called and came to our rescue. He checked under the hood, and couldn’t see anything. I called our mechanic, such a great guy! First – he wanted to make sure I was ok, and if I needed a ride. He could give me a ride right away, but the tow would be at the end of the day. Rob drove us home and we dropped the keys with the mechanic. I spoke to him this morning, it was the battery, I now have a new battery, and everything is ok…).
Anyway… It was a strange day for me. I looked at another space for , which is quite perfect. Much less expensive and I won’t have to set-up and break-down, which was starting to get old. Once I was home, I just didn’t know what to do first. Tons to do, and now all day to do it? I found my groove, and cleaned and organized and actually got quite a few little things done. A little after lunch, I realized that I really missed Iz! Would she nap ok? (she did, fell asleep fast…why does that happen so well for other people? Although I do love our cuddly time while she dozes off…). Would she melt down because the day was too long? Would she, would she would she? Of course, everything was great. She ate her lunch and her snacks. She fell asleep like all the other kids, and slept so long, she had to be gently woken up. She asked me if she could nap at school every day with her special quilt. (update: Iz could not fall asleep at night. Was she overtired from her first long day? Was she completely thrown off by napping elsewhere and having to be woken up? It took almost 3 hours of crying, backrubbing, crying, screaming, back rubbing, reading, screaming, crying, before she finally fell asleep. AND she was up at 6am. She is exhausted, and when I took her to school the next day, she wanted to stay all day, with me there too. We’ll see how she is in a few hours…)
I’ve gotten a few emails asking me how I made this quilt – so here’s how I did it. I have been sewing for over 30 years (but I’m only 16! how is this possible?). So I do know how to sew, but I think this is so easy, anybody can do it! If you are new to sewing, or just want to practice before you dive in and invest in materials (this can be an expensive hobby….), try making a doll quilt – say 24×28? And see what happens. And apologies for not documenting with more photos. I’ll do that with my next quilting project. I was just too excited and didn’t stop to take photos.
I didn’t refer to any books, or websites, but did ask questions. really helped me with this, and without them, it would have taken me much longer to figure out. If anyone knows of a great basic quilting book or websites, post them in the comments so people can find them.
Steps:
1. Draw a picture of your quilt and figure out the size you want. I wanted about a 50×53 quilt. Big enough for my daughter to lie down on, and big enough to wrap up in.
2. I then went to the fabric store and picked 10 prints that I thought I would like together. I also went to the fabric store with colors in mind, so I brought some inspiration with me – a cloth swim diaper. But you could bring a photo or a picture. I wanted red and aqua. I like how my quilt turned out, but I wish it were more red and aqua, I strayed with too much yellow – but I love it anyway.
3. So – based on my print choices (the more you have, the more interesting and varied the quilt…), and the size of my quilt AND the width of the fabric, I figured I needed 1/2 yards of each print, cutting 7×7 squares (BUT – I am making TWO! – so half of that if you are making one, but you won’t fit the same amount of squares in 1/4 yard as you would a 1/2 yard, might have better luck with fat quarters if you are doing 1/4 yards) – sketch them out with a grid and see how many squares you get. The thing to do is not waste fabric, so your square size needs to be efficient. I liked working with the 7″ squares. I love little squares but that is a lot of cutting and sewing and I didn’t want to get discouraged.
4. I then took everything home and put it in the washer. I iron my fabric dry, it helps to keep the wrinkles to a minimum, but you can dry them too (better so they will shrink). But make sure you iron everything as flat as possible, wrinkles will change everything.
5. I invested in a rotary cutter and self healing mat, and one of those big quilting rulers (not sure what they are exactly called…). Best $$ ever spent, it makes measuring and cutting a breeze. I cut several layers at once, and it worked out well.
6. After everything was cut, I wanted a really random layout, so first I mixed up my piles of swatches, then I placed them all on my bed 7 rows by 8 rows. Once I had it all laid out, I moved a block or two. I don’t have a space to leave these out (you can use a flannel sheet and they will stick to the flannel – you can hang it on the wall and they shouldn’t fall off). I pinned each row together, keeping tops up. In the upper left hand corner I pinned a label, A, B, C, D… so I could remember the order. I put my pile in order with A on top.
7. I used hot pink thread to sew my quilt together. I read somewhere that you should use 100% cotton for baby quilts, because you wash them a lot, but I only had mercerized thread on hand, and the quilt shop said that would work fine. I took two squares, and put right sides toghether. The seam allowance is 1/4″, or the edge of your presser foot, so I lined up the edge of my presser foot with the right edge of my two squares and just stitched with a straight stitch. DO NOT CLIP YOUR ENDS. Because we don’t back tac (too much bulk)- the stitching won’t be secured until the quilt is finished, so don’t clip your long threads. I opened up my two squares, picked up the next block in the row, and with right sides together sewed the next block down (basically, you are sewing the row together, then once all the rows are sewn, you will sew the long rows together – making the quilt top!). Once each row is finished, I pin the appropriate label in the top left corner and press all my seams open.
8. So, once all the rows are sewn together, I sew the long rows together. Press seams open when you are done.
9. Now your quilt top should be done, so measure it. You will need batting (100% cotton only, best for babies and washes well)), backing and a binding. The batting and backing should extend at least 2″ on every side bigger than the quilt top. I ended up piecing my backing, so just make a sketch and see what you like. I took the width of the fabric by the length of my quilt for the center, then pieced top, bottom, and side borders – like a frame. The top and bottom are the same length as the center panel (the width of the fabric) and the sides are as tall as the quilt (top, center and bottom).
12. I decided to quilt (on my machine) just a regular window pane through the middle of my blocks (so it appears that I pieced a lot more than I did). I pin basted the whole thing. There has to be a better way than what I did. I pinned 3-4 pins on every block seam. You do this to prevent shifting and fabric moving. Then I started on one end and stitched down the row, top to bottom. I then rolled the quilt (so it will fit in my machine) and did the next row down the center of the blocks. Out of habit, I always sew in the same direction, this prevents twisting of fabric when you sew. So, if pick a direction and stick with it. When I was done with the length, I turned the quilt and did the width. I did get some puckering (which makes me crazy, but I know my daughter won’t mind .
11. Next is the binding. I like to make bias tape (call me crazy..), so 1/2 a yard makes enough bias tape for this size quilt – with some left over. I used a 25mm bias tape maker and cut 2″ wide bias strips. There are other ways to do this. You can make straight tape – there are sources on-line or maybe a quilting friend can help…
12. I pinned my binding to the front of the quilt, then stitched it down to the front. I folded it over the edge and hand stitched it down.
I didn’t use a special foot, but I did use 2 new needles. One to sew the blocks together and one to quilt with. Use a heavier needle for the quilting and make your stitches a little longer and lighten up on the tension, or the batting will pull through. The sharp needles make it much easier to sew.
I am really looking forward to making another quilt. This was so much fun, and I love that I have made something for my daughter that she will have forever. I do need to “sign” the quilt, so I’m going to make a little patch and applique it on somewhere. Pictures of that – later.
Iz needs a blanket, as next week she will be napping at school once a week. I thought it would be fun if we picked out fabric and made a quilt, so we took a trip to . I love walking into the shop. Tons of color, tons of patterns and the people are always so nice. And – where to start? First things first, Iz was escorted to the bucket-o-toys. I knew she wouldn’t be into picking fabric, at least not for very long. I pulled out my little inspiration – a cloth swim diaper (sorry – no picture), aqua with pink and red and yellow flowers – and away we went. I love working with creative people who know their store and their product. There was really no browsing (ok – because I knew there was a time limit if Iz and I were out shopping together…), and this is what I came home with. 1/2 yard of each. It’s enough to make TWO 45ish by 54ish quilts. I was so excited, I came home and threw them in the wash right away (why is it that some people don’t wash before they sew? is it easier to handle? I am so worried about shrinkage, plus the sizing in the fabric is no good for my allergies – or my body for that matter – yuck…anyway….). As soon as it came out of the wash, up they went to get ironed dry.
I love my handy dandy rotary cutter and self healing mat. They are so wonderful. I could not imagine cutting 150 or so 7″ squares with scissors. Cutting is not my favorite thing (although Iz loves using her ladybug scissors – and is quite good at it too!). I think that if I couldn’t have cut these out quickly with my rotary cutter, the fabric you see above, would have turned into skirts (not a bad thing!). Surprisingly, Iz sat quietly on the floor of my studio while I cut these out. I couldn’t believe that this was happening. Maybe because she knows all of this is for her (well half – the other is for a future cousin)? Thinking back to it, she was so content. Is this a step towards more independence for both of us?
I was so excited, I didn’t take a photo of all the cut squares. They sure did look nice though.
I wanted a really random layout. One quilt needs to be done by next Monday (Iz will need it Tuesday morning), so I have been really excited to get started and finish! (my wonderful creative husband), wanted to help out. We’ve been trying to spend our evenings working together and not in front of the television, but rather reading books, working on our projects, helping each other. It’s much nicer than turning into a vegetable at night. He suggested mixing up the swatches before laying out the quilts. It’s what he does when he does his . So, away we went. It made it really easy to lay out each quilt. 7 squares by 8 rows. Once we finished I only rearranged 1 or 2 (can’t help it, too much training…). Then, how to mark them? I didn’t have a place big enough to keep them out in their order, no flannel sheet or sticky board to keep them in order. So I tagged each row. 1a, 1b, 1c and so on. Pinned in the upper left corner. EASY! So easy to take each pile and sew a row. Then sew the rows together. This is what one of them looks like:
I love how the back looks. Maybe an idea for another type of quilt? Have to research that…
Anyway – each top took me about an hour to piece together. Not bad. I was a little worried that they would take me longer, and I only have a week to finish. Iz really likes them. “Is that mine mama? Can I make a quilt too?” There is something wonderfully satisfying about making things for your children.
I love the size of the quilt and I don’t think I’m going to add a border. I think I’ll bind it (I’m leaning towards a green binding of some sort) and I think the back of the quilt will be some sort of orange. Although, I am a bit worried about the dirt factor – maybe something darker? I’m off to Valley Fabrics again tomorrow to find the backing, get the batting and find the fabric for the binding. I’m planning on machine quilting this, and can anybody tell me – Do I need a special foot for my sewing machine? or can I use the standard one? I was also thinking about rounding the corners, instead of leaving them square. I am planning on a bias binding. Any advice?
ps – This is my first quilt. I have dreamed of making quilts since I think about the 4th grade. A friends mother tried to get me started, but instead of cutting squares, she had me cut tons of triangles. She lost me there. Then, in high school, I had a self portrait project (I wish I could find it). I painted a lifesize me on fabric, then cut it up into squares and mixed it with other squares of fabric. Kind of a quilt, but I didn’t consider it a quilt then.
Have you checked out yet? I love it. Open Source Sewing. You can download their patterns at no charge, and make your own clothes. Or download their patterns, use them as a starting point and make something new from them. I love a bunch of their stuff. I especially love the and check out what has I’ve downloaded this dress pattern and plan on using something in my stash for it.
Yes, no fabric shopping for me. I have so much fabric, I’m looking for projects to do so I can thin the stash out a bit. I really need to buy fabric for projects instead of just buying fabrics.
Just a reminder – the Pants Class at starts this weekend. We will be taking a commercial pattern and adjusting it to fit YOU! There is still room – email me from the LuckyStitches website to sign up! (There’s a on BurdaStyle.com if you can’t make it to the pattern store in time!)
Happy Sewing
Before I left for college, I had TONS of fabric. I kept it through college, used a bit of it while still buying fabric, then at some point (i must be blocking the memory), I dumped it all. I know…WHAT WAS I THINKING?
I now have to order on-line because the only local place is . Francesca has an amazing selection of cotton fabric. (I hope she expands her fabric selection to encompass material other than cotton made for quilting!).
I was super pleased to get this package in the mail from Kristin and Beth, I think, really have their finger on the pulse of their customers. My package arrived super quick! I opened it to find these fabulous little packages. First – the fabric and pattern, sealed in plastic, protecting my new treasures. Then, the awesome hand written note thanking me for my order, in a package that contained a little fat quarter (from a promo) and a magnet business card. No doubt one of my NEW favorite places to shop. And there’s nothing like supporting other women in business. You go GIRLS!
Now this was such a contrast from my order from . I’ve shopped in their store when . It’s a treasure chest of knits and basically 3 floors piled high with bolts. Too much to go through on a lunch hour (even an extended one). I placed the order on-line. (I need knits for my wrap dress and couldn’t find even a SOLID FREAKIN’ KNIT in all of Western Mass. that would be suitable for this pattern ARRGGHHH makes me really miss the city).
This is what I got in the mail a few days later:
A rumpled Freakin’ mess.
I folded them neatly so you could see what they look like:
I was astonished at the difference. Clearly – Spandex World is about the $$, but Sew, Mama, Sew! is making relationships. I’ll definitly order from Sew, Mama, Sew! again. I’ll look harder for knits from somewhere else. Anybody have a great on-line knit source? Share!
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