Mending

This is something of a joke at my house. Because I will absolutely fix things, and hem things.

The belt loops on my partners pats had worn through. I sliced up a some denim from another pair of pants and pulled out the belt loop attachments for my Baby Lock. After about thirty minutes of looking for the directions and setting up the machine (it doesn't take long unless you don't use all the features very often. I ended up using the 3/4" attachment.  

This attachment makes quick work of making the belt loop pieces.

In a few minutes I made about four yards of belt loop. 

Then I ripped off the old belt loops, cut the new belt loops, and marked the fold with my Frixion pen, and got sewing.

There you have it. A brand new belt loop. Maybe next time I will use matching thread. Although, then how will you know there was mending?

My favorite tools and supplies (affiliate links):

Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler

Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades

Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
Fiskars 8-inch scissors

Juki TL-2010Q

Dritz Deluxe Seam Ripper

Pilot Frixion Colors Erasable Marker - 12 Colors

Fleece Sewing

A friend of mine has one of those really big skeletons from Halloween. He wants to dress the big one up as a skeletal Santa and the little ones up as elves. He asked if I could make them some hats. I said sure. This is the stack of fabrics I pulled that met the red, green, black, and white requirements. 

Step two was to measure the skull circumference of one of the small skeletons. We have one sitting around so that was an easy step. Then I found a free pattern, and tutorial for a Santa hat at Fleece Fun. 

I made one to test my sizing. Just a little loose. Time to make the hat for the big guy. 

I supersized the pattern from Fleece Fun based on the measurements my friend sent me. 

I made the ball for the end of the pointy hat. 

And sewed it up into a huge hat. 

This is how big it is. Big enough to cover the shoulders of my dress form. 

Then I cut and sewed six elf hats. 

Aren't these delightful!

This was a great project. I can't wait to see the pictures of the skeletons and their hats.

Tools and Supplies (affiliate links):

Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Fiskars 8-inch scissors
Juki TL-2010Q

Make May Modern

Last Saturday the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild held their Make May Modern one day retreat. I didn't attend in person but they encouraged everyone to make a tote using the Ruby Star Society Reusable Shopping Tote pattern (free). Since I didn't attend I decided to at least sew along with part of my day and make the tote. This fabric has been in my collection for more than five years. I'm pretty sure it came to me as a mystery box of quilting cottons from Craftsy. Large prints almost always become totes or bags because I don't have much luck cutting them up for quilts. 

This little pattern has you measure for your cutting lines. I used my Creative Grids Circle Savvy 11-3/4in x 18-1/2in Quilt Ruler to cut the curves. I use the Fiskars Stick Rotary Cutter, 28mm to cut those arcs.

I cut the pocket a little bigger than the pattern asked for. 

I used the serger to tidy up the straps before folding and top stitching. This pattern uses French seams but doesn't make it sound complicated. 

It does fold into the pocket. Not that it I managed to fold it to look pretty. Usually I fold my totes so they are tidy but this is the first time I've made one with a pocket specifically for the task. 

Overall this was a great afternoon project. I don't think this bag will become my go-to bag as it does have some waste. I might use some of the techniques on other simple totes, though. It does have a very professional finish. 

Tools and supplies (affiliate links):
Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle
Creative Grids 6.5" Square Ruler
Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler
Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Fiskars 8-inch scissors
Juki TL-2010Q

Creative Grids Circle Savvy 11-3/4in x 18-1/2in Quilt Ruler

Fiskars Stick Rotary Cutter, 28mm

Effortless Twin Pouch

Spencer Ogg recently posted a free tutorial to make the Effortless Twin Pouch. A friend of mine is a big fan of their patterns. I learned about this tutorial through the Facebook Spencer Ogg Bag Sewing Group. I popped over to the site and checked it out. 

These are my fabrics for the two pouches I made. 

Zippers are from ZipIt on Etsy. Excellent selection and service. My favorite source for zippers in an amazing array of colors and sizes. 

This is a great little project that uses about one fat quarter worth of fabric and a coordinating zipper. I think it would make a great add-on for swaps. I've already filled the orange one with my pens and pencils to tidy my desk. I'm sure it would hold your sketching supplies, or colored pencils, for art on the go. 

Tools and supplies (affiliate links):

Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle 
Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler

Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Fiskars 8-inch scissors

Juki TL-2010Q

Dritz Craft Pins, 1-3/4-Inch (250-Count)

Quilted Vest

I keep seeing people and their amazing quilt coats made from quilts. Sometimes the panels are designed and quilted instead of being cut from a quilt. Either way, the results really speak to me. Like all things creative there is some discomfort for some people about cutting up a serviceable quilt to make a coat. I'm sure people have their reasons. I'll point out an exchange I had with my darling husband to illustrate.

While discussing the issue, I said to a friend "They don't realize how many quilts I have."

 

"No one does." Added my husband. 

And that is mostly true. I could count them. But I would rather make more quilts. And that is where we run into the idea that there is nothing wrong with cutting up a perfectly good quilt, or making quilted pieces, and constructing a coat, or vest, or pot holders, or whatever you fancy. Many people quilt for the love of quilts, and their construction. Not all of these quilts will make it into a museum, and many won't. Some will be used and loved until they fall apart (this is what I hope for every quilt I make). Some will hide away in the closet for... I'm not sure what. Perhaps they wait for my inevitable demise. I hope when that happens, if I still have quilts, everyone that comes to remember me takes one away with them. And uses it until it is in tatters. For every quilt deserves to be loved like that. Loved to bits. 

For my first quilted garment, I decided to quilt up a solid fabric using a great edge-to-edge design called Gridlock from Longarm League. I bought this design to finish my Assemble! quilt and I liked it so much I thought it would be perfect for this gray fabric. 

I used some leftover blue flannel I had hanging around for the other side. I also used up a bunch of bobbins with mostly matching thread while keeping the top thread constant throughout. 

I used a great free quilted vest pattern from Purl Soho to cut my vest. I lengthened the front hem a little to make the bottom hem even all the way across. Squaring corners is easier for me than those curves.  

Here are my pieces. I chose a dark purple with cross-hatching to make my bias binding. 

It was a slow assembly process. Meaning I would sew a little and then move on to other things until the following week. 

I finished up all the edges with my overlocker/serger before assembly.  

I mostly wanted to keep the mess down while I worked and to have the inside edges clean so I didn't have to apply binding to them.

I was not looking forward to finishing the arm holes. 

In the end they weren't so bad. Maybe not perfect but finished. 

There was some wrestling of the vest but it turned out much more neatly than I expected. 

I added the label and sent it through the wash. 

I'm almost embarrassed to show it now that it has been washed. Of course it will need to be washed at some point. On the other hand. I like the crinkly quilt look. It also softened up nicely. I'm sure a couple more trips through the wash will make it even more snuggly. 

There are a couple things I will do differently on the next quilted garment. I'll be sure to share. 

Have you made a quilted garment? Did you make your pieces or cut up a quilt? 

Tools and supplies (affiliate links):

Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle 
Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler

Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Fiskars 8-inch scissors

Juki TL-2010Q

Dritz Craft Pins, 1-3/4-Inch (250-Count)

Paper or Plastic? Neither!

Pulled out the serger this past weekend to make some quick totes. It took me almost as long to set it up for 4-thread overlock as it did to make my totes. I'm not saying it is difficult to change the set-up because it isn't. It just takes a few minutes to find the cheat-sheet and tools to get it set up correctly. Threading is a breeze!

My aunt sent me these fabrics a couple years ago and they've been sitting on a shelf for entirely too long. I went over to the Green Bag Lady's blog to refresh my memory on the free tote pattern and cut out four bags with these remnants. This was my Saturday morning project. So satisfying to use something up and have a finished tote ready for gifting. I'm trying to use more fabric I already own. I'm not sure I'm making any progress but I'm trying.

Then Green Bag Lady regularly gives away totes through random drawings. Follow her blog or the Green Bag Lady Facebook page. Great work keeping paper and plastic bags out of the landfill.

Tools and supplies (affiliate links):
Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle
Creative Grids 6.5" Square Ruler
Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Fiskars 8-inch scissors
Juki TL-2010Q

Sewing Machine Maintenance

Every year you should take your sewing machine in for service.

Why? Because even if you're great at keeping your machines clean and changing out the needle there are places you may not be able to get to. My local Sew & Vac offers a wonderful deal new sewing machines. They include 5 years of free maintenance. They also offer classes and help with your sewing projects. Everyone there is so nice and helpful.

I had them service three machines: Babylock Evolution (overlock), Pfaff Expression 2.0 (my everyday machine), and my Empress long arm quilter (Tin Lizzie). Only one of these was bought in their shop but they service all machines and that service is great. I was having terrible problems with the long arm quilter. I'm so glad I took it in. It needed a timing adjustment, which was the likely cause of all my troubles.

Happiness is a truck-load of serviced machines.

All You Need is LOVE!

If you've never played the card game Fluxx you should totally go and buy a copy.  The game is easy to play and fun.  Why do I bring this up?  Because one of the ways to win is with a card called "All You Need is Love."  (My mad Google Skills tell me this goal is available in Fluxx 2.0 and they are on version 5.0 so your mileage may vary.)  What does that have to do with what I made this week?  You'll have to follow along to find out.

Leasa over at Project Leasa challenged pretty much all of Instagram to sew from their stash in 2015.  She has started off with a great challenge for January.  Go get the details of the first challenge from her blog and meet me back here.  I'll wait.

The challenge was to use at least 75% of the materials for the project from your stash.  I will have to admit that I had 100% of these materials on-hand.  Batting, thread, fabric, everything!  Don't be proud of me.  This means I'm about two steps from being a hoarder.  Okay, a few more than two steps, but I have plenty of fabric.  This fabric has been around since some time in 2012 when I received it as part of the Fat Quarter Shop's charm pack club.  (Sadly, I canceled this subscription in December.)

The background fabric is leftover backing from my Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt.  Leasa shared this pattern from Robert Kaufman and I thought it would work out great for the fabrics I had on hand.  I modified the pattern for the size I wanted to make and the fabric I had on-hand.  Each of these little square finishes at 2" by 2".

I pressed my design boards into action to keep everything straight after I decided on the layout.  This charm pack had several repeats of some fabrics so it wasn't easy to keep the fabrics from being close to their mates.  I'm sure I could have agonized over fabric placement and made it much more pleasing but I have vowed that a finished quilt is much better than a perfect quilt that may never happen.

The piecing was really straightforward.  I changed the large background areas to use a solid piece of fabric instead of piecing 25 tiny squares for what is basically a solid block.

I had plenty of fabric left over after I had made the center so I decided that adding the little charms around the outside would really make this little quilt shine.  I put some of the leftover black squares in there to let the quilt breath a little.

Once I got it all pieced together I decided it needed something to fill in one of those large, empty, corner squares.  Something that echoed the design in meaning and color.  I used this design from Urban Threads Embroidery.  I love their designs.  If you ever want to buy me something and are just plain stumped, a gift certificate for Urban Threads would be great!

While the embroidery was stitching along I found a piece of batting leftover from a larger quilt and pieced it so it would be big enough for this project.  See how good I am at using up my stash?

The quilting on this one was something that kind of came to me once I got the top on the frame.  I used a combination of motifs to create a subtle background and a more pronounced stitching on the heart and the border.  This is the back of the quilt where you can make out the shape of the heart.

Top thread for the heart is Magnifico and the top thread for the background areas is So Fine!  Both threads are from Superior Threads.

I even quilted the letters of the embroidery design to make the rest of the design stand out.  I'm really pleased with how this turned out.  The embroidery threads are all Sulky with Bottom Line from Superior in the bobbin.

I had just enough of this coordinating print to make up the binding.  The selvage was almost too cute to cut.  (Guilty secret:  I don't really care how cute the selvage is.  I'm rarely in love with it and won't cut it off to save it.)

Since I planned on hanging this quilt in my dining room it had to have the right kind of hanger.  I used a leftover piece of the backing fabric to make a hanging sleeve for the top of the quilt.  (Sorry, this is the best picture of it.  If you need more detail you'll have to drop me a note.)

The label almost didn't make it onto the quilt.  I pressed down the top two edges of this label, hand stitched those two edges and then stitched it into the binding when I attached the binding to the back.  This is also how the hanging sleeve got attached.  I may attach more labels like this.

The binding was finished by machine on the front of the quilt.  There it is:  a little quilt called All You Need is LOVE!  Finished size:  30" by 30".

Have you joined the Sew My Stash 2015 crowd?  I'd love to hear about it.