FairyFace Designs

{Sew} Get Started: Tote Bag Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 15:26:00 +0000

I'm very excited about the tutorial I have for you today! I'm so happy to welcome my lovely Canadian friend Leanne, who has done a fab tute for tote bags for you. Leanne has a great blog she can quilt, and makes the most amazing quilts. One of my absolute faves is this Shattered mini-quilt which has been featured in lots of places.

Leanne also has some great tutorials on her blog - including one on curved piecing for Drunkard's path blocks which she posted after I was having some difficulty with them. It made sewing them up a breeze, seriously, I never imagined there was such an easy way to do them!

When you're finished reading through this tute and planning out your tote bags - perfect for your shopping, or Mother's Day gifts, its coming up fast (here in Ireland anyway!) - you might also like to pop over to Gen X Quilters where I am guest posting today in First Quilts on the 1st.

So, let's get on with the tute, shall we? This is part of the {Sew} Get Started: Beginner Sewing Tutorials Series. Click on the button to go to the master page with links to past tutes and the schedule for the next few months.

My name is Leanne and my blog is called she can quilt. Thank you Sarah for inviting me to take part in the {Sew} Get Started series.

In this tutorial I am going to teach you to make a simple tote bag that is sturdy and easy to carry, but does not have to use up a lot of fabric or time. I am going to show you both an unlined and a lined version.

Unlined Tote Bag – special trick: French Seams

The problem with an unlined tote bag is that the seams are not strong and worse, you can see them and they fray in an annoying manner. The solution is to use French seams. For future reference, you can use these kinds of seams whenever your project includes an exposed seam that you want to be stronger and tidier.

Materials:

- 2 pieces of fabric which are 15” x 15” (or any size you like) for the front and back of the bag. The bag, using my measurements, will finish to be about 13” wide by 13.5” high. The seams use up about 1” on each side and the bottom and we turn under about 0.5” at the top of the bag.

- 2 pieces of fabric which are 6” wide x at least 22” long or the length that you would like the handles, keeping in mind that we will use up about 2” at each end of the handles attaching them to the bag.

Notes: Fabric: These bags can be made of almost any kind of fabric. For the unlined bags in the pictures, I used a cotton/linen blend fabric. You could also use 100% cotton, canvas, linen, corduroy, denim, etc. For the lined bag I used 100% cotton for the front and for the lining, but again you can use whatever fabrics you like. Do remember that light weight fabrics will not make a very strong bag, so consider you planned use as you make your fabric choices.

Backstitching: When making a tote bag it is best to back stitch at the beginning and end of every seam. To back stitch, you start sewing the seam for 3-5 stitches, stop, sew backwards over the same 3-5 stitches and then go forward again to finish your entire seam. At the end of the seam, you sew to the end, then sew backwards 3-5stitches. When you sew on top of the main stitch line you secure the seam from unraveling.

Let's get started (the explanation follows each photo):

1. Place the front and back pieces of the bag wrong sides together. Pay attention to the orientation of any pictures or designs on the fabrics so that you know which end is the bottom. Pin the wrong sides together, right sides facing out, across the bottom.

2. Sew a ¼” seam across the bottom edge.

3. Press open the seam. French seams are far nicer if you take the time to iron as you go.

4. Fold the pieces so that the right sides are together encasing the raw edges of your seam. Pin (You can see that I forgot to pin in my pictures but it is easier if you pin).

5. Sew a ½” seam along the bottom edge, with right sides together. You will encase your first seam. When you are done, open and press the seam.

6. Fold the edges that are at the top of the bag under ¼” and press. Fold under a second time about ¼ - ½“ and press.

7. Top stitch all the way across the folded edge close to the edge of the fold closest to the bag side. Take your time so that this folded part is well secured. Go back and stitch another line if you missed any parts or if you like the look of two stitch lines.

8. Arrange the front and back so that wrong sides are facing and the top edges line up nicely. Pin. Sew a ¼” seam along both sides.

9. Turn the bag so that the right sides are together. Use a pointy tool (or pencil, knitting needle, screwdriver, etc.) to ensure the corners are fully turned. Press and make sure that the bottom seam lays so that it is facing in the same direction at both ends. Pin the side seams.

10. Sew the side seams with a ½” seam. Catch the bottom seam in the side seams as shown. Don't let that picture confuse you, in it the top is on the right and the bottom on the left.

11. Turn the bag right side out and press. The bag part is finished.

12. Take the handle pieces and fold in half lengthwise with wrong sides together. Press the seam. Open the seam and fold one side so that the raw edge meets the pressed middle fold. Press and repeat on the other side. Then, keeping the folded sides in place, fold in half along the original fold. The result is that both raw edges are folded into the middle and the edges will be encased in the handle. The resulting handle will be about 1.5” wide.

Sew the handle together with a ¼” seam along the folded end, and then repeat on the other side. Sew two more stitching lines down the middle of the handle. Thicker handles which are well stitched do not bunch up in your hands and do not hurt your hands when the bag is heavy in the same way that thinner handles do. Instead, they keep their shapes when the bag is full and heavy, making it far more comfortable to use.

13. Fold up each of the four ends of the two handles about ½” and stitch. These will be hard to sew because it is so thick, and it is easier to start about ¼” from the edge.

14. Place the bag body on the table and measure 2” in from the edge and 1.5” down from the top. Place and pin the handle end here with the folded edge facing the bag front.

15. Place the bag front and pinned handle under your sewing needle, being careful not to catch the other side of the bag. You are going to sew a square and then an X to secure the handle on the bag. For the square, sew from the top edge toward the bag bottom,close to the handle edge, stopping about ¼” from the end of the handle. Place the needle down, lift the presser foot and pivot the bag and handle 90 degrees so you can sew along the next (bottom) edge of the handle. Again stop when you are ¼” from the edge, place the need down and pivot again. Sew up the handle edge toward the top of the bag. Stop ¼” from the end, needle down, pivot and sew across the top of the bag to where you started. You will have completed a square. Place the needle down.

16. To make the X, pivot the bag and handle so that you are now sewing to the opposite bottom corner of the handle and sew across. Stop at the corner, needle down. Pivot and sew another line along the bottom of the handle to the opposite corner. Stop at the corner, needle down. Pivot again to aim at the opposite top corner. Sew to it(back stitch) and cut the thread. You handle is secured.

17. Repeat the placement and sewing for the other end of the handle and for both ends of the second handle. Be careful to check that the handles are not twisted before you sew the second side down.

18. Press the bag, and head off for some shopping. You are all done!

Lined tote bag - provides options for decorative outer panels

The advantage of lining the bag is that then the front and back outside panels can be far more decorative. The raw seams that are created to make the outside panels will be encased by the lining so they will not unravel and cannot be seen.

I am going to give you the directions to make a simple patchwork outside. You can also make the bag front and back using any other kind of technique to decorate your bag. You could use a left over quilt block, embroider a picture, add an applique design or you could just use plain pieces of fabric. Since we are adding a lining, it is not necessary to use French seams because the lining will hide and protect the raw edges of any seams. The lining also adds strength to the bag.

Materials

- 18 charm squares which are 5" pre-cut squares of fabric, I've used some from Sherbet Pips, a line of fabric designed by Aneela Hoey, but you could use any fabrics or cut your own squares from fabric on hand. Or you can use two pieces of fabric that are 14” x 14” for the outside of the bag.

- 2 pieces of lining fabric that are 13.75” x 13.75” (I make the lining 1/4" to 1/2" smaller than the outer panels to avoid having excess lining which bunches up.)

- 2 pieces of fabric that are 6” x at least 22” (or longer)for the handles

As you will see, the bag assembly is different but the handle part is identical to the unlined bag.

1. Arrange the charm squares as you wish in a nine patch, which is three squares high and three squares wide.

2. Sew each row together using ¼” seams (remember to back stitch). Press the seams to one side for one row and the other side for the next row.

3. Pin one row to the one above it, nestling the seams so that they match up nicely. Sew the row and then repeat for the other row. Repeat for the other side of the bag. Press the seams and the entire front and back panels.

4. Place the right sides of the front and back of the bag together and sew down one side, across the bottom and back up the other side. Leave the top open.

5. Stitch the lining together, leaving a turning hole at the bottom – Stitch down one side and across about 1/3 of the bottom.Back stitch and cut your thread. Leave about 4” and start stitching again,back stitch, and then sew to the top of the lining. Clip the corners diagonally to reduce bulk but be careful not to cut your stitches. Turn the outside panels and the lining panels so that they are right sides facing out and press.

6. Turn the outside panels so that the right sides are facing each other and make sure that the lining panels are still right sides facing out. Place the lining panel inside the outside panels so that the right side of the lining panels are facing the right side of the bag panels.Match up the side seams and pin.

7. Stitch the lining and the outside panels together with a ¼” seam by starting at one spot and stitching all the way around until you meet the start of your stitching.

8. Turn the bag right side out by reaching into the hole in the lining bottom and pull the bag through it.

9. Press the bottom of the lining so that the raw edges at the hole are turned in about ¼” and then sew along the opening in the lining to close it.

10. Push the lining into the bag and then press the top edge. Top stitch around the top of the bag ¼” from the edge, and do a second line of top stitching if you like.The main part of the bag is finished.

11. Follow steps 12 – 18 set out above for making and attaching the handles. Your bag will then be finished and ready to use.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and that you will make plenty of tote bags. Once you have worked through these steps a time or two you will be able to make a tote bag in no time at all.

These bags are great to replace the plastic ones that the grocery store uses, to carry your shoes or books to school or work, for lunches, for shopping or anything that needs a bag. You can make these larger or smaller, and rectangular (good for a wine bottle or a yoga bag). If you are going to make a much larger bag that will be heavier when full, consider widening the handles to protect your hands. Also, if you want to be able to sling the bag over your shoulder, measure a favourite purse and use that length for your handles.

If you have any questions, please let me know and please add your completed tote bags to the {Sew} Get Started flickr grouphttp://www.flickr.com/groups/sewgetstarted/.

Thanks so much Leanne, what gorgeous bags! I definitely will be making some :-) Don't forget to pop back next week for Lindsay's tutorial on how to use freezer paper to make stencils.

Under Construction.....

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 18:36:00 +0000

So, I'm sorry I've been pretty absent here for the last week or so. Life is busy at the moment! Until today, I barely sewed a stitch for the last 10 days, having work home with me lots of nights. I hardly managed to get online most nights either so I'm very behind in everthing. Eeek! Hope I get to catch up a bit today and tomorrow.

The only thing I have been working on has been my big swap item for the For the Love of Solids Swap. I decided to make my partner a messenger bag, and am following loosely the pattern in Lisa Lam's The Bag Making Bible. I'm not making it a laptop bag, as I think I would really need to use home dec weight cotton for that, so I've tweaked some of the detail in it, and I've added a pieced front, back and flap.

It's almost a year since I last made a bag, and I forgot how much I love making them! There is a lot of prep work with interfacing etc, and that can be a bit tedious, but its nice to have a change from making quilts, and making something three dimensional is a different kind of challenge and lots of fun. This book was recommended to me by more than a few people and it really is great, with good explanations of lots of new techniques, to take you beyond basic bag making skills.

First, I made the flap for the front of the bag. I pieced some strips of coloured solids, in a variety of different lengths. The strips are 1" wide finished. I pieced these to 2" strips of Kona Ash, and then applied fusible fleece to the back. I quilted it in straight lines in the Ash, and then I decided to bind it in the same colour as the lining fabric for a bit of extra detail and I am very happy with how it turned out:

Next I made up the front, which will be underneath the flap, so not too much detail here:

And for the back, I stuck with the same theme but changed the layout a little, using 3 unfinished strips to give it some additional movement:

I sewed on the gusset then (seriously hate that word!) and I have the exterior of my bag done, yippee!!

I have the lining all interfaced with fusible fleece, and pockets inserted. One for a phone and the other for pens, wallets or keys. The colours aren't coming up too good in this but its a lovely shade of green and I've used aqua for one set of pockets and a brighter blue for the other.

All that remains is for me to sew up the lining pieces to make the interior, attach the outside flap to the exterior, sew the lining to the exterior and finish off with the strap and the magnetic buttons. I should be ready to post this by the end of the week :-)

I hope my partner likes it, I think if it all continues to go smoothly it will work out to be a nice swap item. I still have to think of my small item though!

And I promise I will do my best to reply to emails and catch up on my blog reading this week, I feel like I have been AWOL for far too long!

{Sew} Get Started: Notebook Cover Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:30:00 +0000

It's Thursday again and I have another great tutorial for you! This week I'm thrilled to have one of my great friends Cindy sharing a tutorial with you for a covered notebook. Cindy is another Irish based blogger, who I have had the great privilege of meeting in real life as well as chatting to all the time online. She and I have recently started the Modern Quilt Guild of Ireland which is recruiting members at the moment and a really exciting project. She's also one of our brilliant swap mamas in Mouthy Stitches - and just look at this gorgeous pouch she made for her secret partner (I so hope its me!)

So, if you've never visited Fluffy Sheep Quilting, get over there and say hi to her!

This tutorial is part of the {Sew} Get Started: Beginner Sewing Tutorials series. To see a full list of the tutorials and links to previous projects, click on the link to go to the master page.

Sarah, thank you so much for the chance to be creative with you and your readers today! For those of you I have not yet met, I am Cindy. I usually blog over at Fluffy Sheep Quilting, but am happy to come over to chat with Sarah at any chance she will give me :)

Today we will make a notebook together. Who would not want one of these cuties to brighten their day at home or at work? Well, I would! Come on....let's get stitching!

Let's start with measuring our notebook. You want to take two measurements. The first is from the top to the bottom, the second goes across the front, over the binding and across the back so you are measuring nearly all the way around the notebook except for the opening. I am using a normal old A5 notebook, so mine measures 8 1/4 inches tall from top to bottom of the page and 11 3/4 inches around. The front and back covers are 5 3/4 inches across plus the 1/4 inch binding thickness bringing me to 11 3/4 inches (5 3/4 + 5 3/4 + 1/4 inch thick).

Now, take your measurements and add 1 inch to the height (so my 8 1/4 inches becomes 9 1/4 inches) and 1 1/4 inches to the entire splayed cover width (so my 11 3/4 inches becomes 13 inches).

Let's cut some fabric!

Front cover: My front cover was made from the Echino car print with the red dotty fabric at the top of the cutting mat. You can easily use one solid piece of fabric cut at 13 by 9 1/4 inches, but I wanted something a little more interesting. Here I used one strip of car fabric cut 8 by 13 inches. I then cut that in half making two pieces 4 by 13 inches. I cut one strip of dotty red at 2 1/2 by 13 inches. In the end, you will need to create a cover that measures 13 by 9 1/4 in any way that makes you happy.

Lining: I used a solid orange lining cut to 13 by 9 1/4 inches.

Pockets: You will need two pieces of fabric that match your height (9 1/4 inches for me) by 8 inches enabling it to go easily onto the notebook, without letting the cover slip out each time you open/close it.

Bonus bits: If you want to add in a ribbon place holder, you will need one piece of ribbon about an inch longer than your book is tall. Mine is 10 inches long to fit my book height of 8 1/4 inches. I also have one yellow button and a second piece of ribbon that is also 10 inches long.

Let's get to sewing, shall we?

Take your pocket fabric and fold it in half so that your 8 inch width becomes 4 inches. That makes mine now 4 by 9 1/4 inches tall. Press with a very hot iron, just pressing down and not wiggling the iron about. Repeat for the second piece of pocket fabric.

Now stitch along the folded edge of the fabric to hold the fold. Repeat for both pocket pieces. I stitched about 1/8 inch from the fold, but you could do a 1/4 inch if you are more comfortable. The idea is just to hold the folded edge together. Set them aside for a short while.

If you are using a solid piece of fabric for the front cover, you can skip the next few steps in creating a pieced front cover. If you are piecing a front cover, take the top piece of your front cover fabric and the center piece of your front cover. You will need to pay attention if you have a directional fabric (i.e. I want my car wheels to always face down on the front of the notebook) to get the orientation correct. Put the two pieces of fabric right sides together aligning their bottom edges. Pin, pin, pin to be sure they stay in place.

Align the bottom edge of your two fabrics to the 1/4 inch mark on your sewing machine. Stitch them together removing pins as you stitch along.

Press your new seam flat. I chose to press it toward the center strip, but it really does not matter which direction you choose.

Does your front cover look like this? Great!

Now take the bottom strip of your front cover fabric and align it with the center strip so that the right sides are together. Again, my print is directional so I had to think ahead a bit and flip it upside down. Can you see the cars with their wheels in the air? Alight the future top of your cover fabric with the bottom of your center strip. Pin, pin, pin. Again sew a 1/4 inch seam holding them together.

Press your new seam flat. Again, I pressed mine down, but it really does not matter which direction you choose.

Flip over your front cover. Does it look like this? Check to be sure you have something with the correct measurements. I did check and mine was exactly 9 1/4 by 13 inches. Whew!

If you are choosing to add a button closure, place a button on the right hand side of the cover, at the center point (4 1/2 inches up from the bottom in my case) and 2 inches in from the edge. Sew it into place by hand or with your machine.

If you are adding a ribbon book mark, find the center of your piece of fabric and place a ribbon along the top edge. In my case, this was at 6 1/2 inches in from the right or left. If you are adding a button closure, place a ribbon on the left half way between the top and bottom, again at 4 1/2 inches up from the bottom on my cover.

Pin your ribbons into place. Can you see that little green-headed pin there?

Now you will layer your pieces. It is very important to get everything in the right order, so take this part with care.

Place your cover face up on the cutting board. Place your pockets on the left and right, aligning the edges. The folded, stitched side of your pocket should be facing the middle of the cover and the two "flapping" edges aligned with the outer edge of the cover.

Pin, pin, pin. I used five pins per cover: one in each corner of the pocket and one along the outer edge to ensure the cover fabric and the pocket remain aligned.

Now add your lining fabric to the sandwich. You want the right side of the lining fabric to be facing down, or toward the right side of the cover fabric. Pin. On the bottom of the notebook cover, I placed two pins about 3 inches apart from one another. These are reminders to myself to start/stop stitching at these points.

You see, the bottom of the notebook cover needs to remain opened while the other three sides are stitched together. You need to leave a 3 inch gap to flip the entire thing inside out.

I started stitching along the bottom of the cover on the pin to the left. It's a green headed pin if you can see that in the photo.

So start on the left hand side of your three inch gap with the lining fabric up. Stitch 3-5 stitches, back stitch, then stitch forward again. We are using a 1/4 inch seam.

When you get to the first corner, stop 1/4 inch from the edge with your needle down.

Put up your presser foot (keeping the needle down!)...

turn your fabric so it is again aligned with your 1/4 inch mark on your machine. Put the presser foot back down....

and keep sewing. Repeat this for the other three corners until you come back to the bottom edge of your cover. Stop sewing at the pin marking the right hand side of your 3 inch gap. Back stitch to secure the seam and pull the cover out from under your machine, cutting the treads.

Remove the pins from your lining fabric. Flip your pouch inside out through your 3 inch gap. Be careful! Remember you have pins inside holding the pockets and ribbons in place. Remove them as you find them.

Make sure you get your fingers in there and push out the corners fully. Otherwise they will not look crisp in the final cover.

Is it starting to look like a notebook cover? Does it look anything like this?

Press your edges flat. Be sure you fold under the edges of the 3 inch gap so they lay flat with the rest of the cover.

Now is a good time to test your notebook cover. Go on and slide the front and back cover of your notebook into your cover pockets. Does it fit? It is snug? If it fits nicely and you are happy with it, you can just pin the the 3 inch gap closed (photo below) and hand stitch it into place to finish off the cover. If you still have a little space where your notebook wriggles around, you might top stitch the notebook cover to add a little decoration AND have it fit a bit better. Let's give that a try...

Pin the gap closed. I used two pins (shocker there) to hod it into place securely.

Stitch about 1/8 inch from the edge. You wouldn't want a much larger seam allowance here as this will start to make your notebook cover a bit too small to fit your notebook. Turn the corners as we did earlier in the tutorial.

Finally! You are nearly finished! Fit the front and back cover of your notebook into the pockets of your notebook cover. Be sure to pull out your bookmark ribbon so that it does not get stuck between the cover and the notebook.

And there you have it! A finished little notebook cover. Oh, it makes me so happy. I made a second in a different colorway just to give you a little inspiration of how you might have fun combining different fabrics.

With my love of Fluffy Sheep, how could I resist a notebook cover like this one?

I had a look at the following tutorials before creating my own. You might want to have a peek at them too as each gives a different twist to the notebook cover.

I wish you all the best of luck making your own notebook covers. They are very straight forward and pack a big reward once you are finished, so give one a try. If you have any questions, hop over to my blog and leave a comment or email me at fluffysheepquilting(at)gmail(dot)com. Thank you all for stitching with me today. I had a fabulous time creating with you!

A huge thank you to Cindy for that fab tute. I really love the covers and this would make a great little gift, or just something lovely for yourself to brighten up your desk at work. I'm thinking a scrappy version would look amazing! If you make a notebook cover, please show us over at the Flickr group. And don't forget to pop back next week for Leanne's tute on making a tote bag.

{Sew} Get Started: Applique Cushion Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000

It's Thursday again, and time for another tutorial in the {Sew} Get Started series! Today I am delighted to welcome another fellow Irish quilter to guest post with a great tutorial for an applique cushion/pillow cover. Karen is super talented and has been featured on Moda Bake Shop, Riley Blake's Cutting Corners College and lots more. If you haven't visited her before, you should definitely go say hi over on her blog and check out some of her gorgeous projects like this fab mug rug:

This tutorial is part of the {Sew} Get Started: Beginner Sewing Tutorials series. For a full list of the tutorials and links to past ones, click on the link to go to the master page!

Hi, my name is Karen, I usually blog at Lisnaweary Quilts,but today I am delighted to be part of Sarah's 'Sew get Started' series.I live in Northern Ireland, and am totally obsessed with sewing, patchwork and quilting! Normally I work with cotton fabrics, but I do like to mess around with other fabrics too!

Here's a tutorial for a cushion cover you can make from scraps of curtain fabrics.

The back has an envelope opening, so no zips to worry about!

Materials:

You will need approx 1 metre/yard of fabric for the cover, various scraps of fabric for the applique, coordinating thread and a 20" cushion filler.

Instructions

1. Cut out a piece of fabric for the front of the cushion 20 1/2" x 20 1/2".

2. Pick out some co-ordinating scraps of fabrics - I got my hands on some end of line fabric sample books, which give a great variety of colours and textures!

3. Cut out fabrics according to the measurements outlined below.

4. Start arranging your fabrics on the cushion front, I followed the layout detailed above. But you may want to move your fabrics about in a different arrangement. When you're happy pin them in place.

5. Next find some coordinating threads. I like to use Invisafil by Wonderfil threads. It nearly disappears into the fabric and is not noticeable at all. It's great when you don't want an outline of thread on applique work.

6. Using the coordinating thread and a zig zag stitch, sew the pieces of fabric to the cushion front. Start by sewing on the pieces which lie underneath others.

7. Sew carefully along the edge, keeping the zig zag stitch on top of the applique piece.

8. Pin on the final pieces and sew in place.

9. Cut out two pieces of fabric for the back of the cushion 20 1/2" x 14 1/2".

10. Turn over one of the long edges twice. Pin and stitch in place. Repeat for other back piece.

11. Place the cushion front right side up.

12. Place one of the back pieces on top, right sides together, with the turned in edge to the middle of the cushion.

13. Place the second back piece on top, again with the right side towards the right side of the cushion.

14. Pin and sew in place.

15. Turn the cushion right side out.

16. Insert a 20" cushion filler.

There you have a comfy cushion, made using scraps and remnants!

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and get a chance to make a patchy cushion of your own!

Thanks so much Karen for the great tutorial and if you make one please add to the Flickr group! Don't forget to pop back next week for Cindy's notebook cover.

X and + Zip Pouch finish

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:58:00 +0000

Today I finished off the X and + zip pouch I have been working on for my partner in Mouthy Stitches.

I used a hot pink zip in the pack as a feature, and inserted a lined zipped pocket into the outside of the pouch. I love how the zip looks against the linen and the green lining fabric.

I also added a strip pieced from squares of fabric used on the front, and hand quilted along either side with perle cotton.

The lining is some Amy Butler fabric I have in my stash a long time, and it was just right for this project, adding a bit of zing to the inside of the pouch.

I boxed the ends to give a flat bottom, and this pouch at approx 9" x 9.5" is perfect for holding handsewing supplies, a little hoop etc, it is nice and roomy.

Despite all the things I love about it, I was disappointed with how my main zip turned out. I worked really hard to try and get the zip ends perfect, but with the fusible fleece and the extra layer for the pocket, it was really bulky and practically impossible to sew through (I broke a needle and bent another before trying a size 16!!). I ripped it back and redid it 4 times trying to get the zip ends just right but it wasn't to be, so I just finished it off. They look all squishy, not nice and neat and crisp like they should be.

The question really is now whether its good enough to send off to a partner. I hate sending something not right. And yet there is lots to love about this pouch, and I never really notice the zip ends on a pouch when it is something I have in use. I'm torn really. If I don't send it, I have plenty I can use it for here so its not wasted. But its a shame to do everything right up to the very end and feel like you fell at the last hurdle. What do you think? Honest opinions please!!

P.S. If you're here for the Modern Mini Blog Hop, you'll find my mini quilt here

A discovery....

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Over the weekend I have been doing a lot of thinking about the swaps that I'm currently in, Mouthy Stitches and For the Love of Solids (2). Oh - and not forgetting Doll Quilt Swap 12. (But the posting date for that is not till April so its not my main focus at the moment.) The main thing occupying my mind at the moment is zip pouches and solids. There are actually a lot of people taking part in both these great swaps, and keeping up with the progress pics is a full time job in itself! But it is very interesting being in both swaps at the same time, as ideas in one are informing my thoughts for the other and vice versa.

I have been playing around with ideas for a good while now for my partner in Mouthy Stitches. I was super lucky with the partner my swap mama assigned me, she is very talented and also really lovely and I SO want to make something she will love. I've been stalking her on Flickr and her blog and lots of ideas have been flitting through my head.

First up I did a mock up using a rainbow theme and natural linen. (please forgive the crappy indoor photo). This was kind of based on some of her mosaic ideas. I have to say that while I like this myself, it turned out a bit more blocky and with less movement than the idea I had in my head. I haven't done anything else with this as I'm waiting for some more perle cotton to arrive to hand quilt it.

Then, I was browsing in the FTLOS group and saw a great mini quilt based on the Japanese x and + block. And I decided to try it out using some of these fabrics, using this tute :

And I just love how it turned out. I had seen these blocks on blogs, but never really was that into them. Until I made this. Swoooooon. I love it! I totally understand the attraction and this is definitely on my list of blocks to make a quilt from. Total discovery for me!!!

I thought about hand quilting this - I'm still thinking about that. Some of that perle cotton that is currently in the post should be the perfect green for this block. But, being me, I was too impatient, and I dug around in my thread bag, finding a variegated red and pink thread and decided to see how that worked.

I used fusible fleece for the first time that I got from Gone to Earth. I love the low loft but I think I kinda messed up when applying it, using an iron that was too hot and too much steam, as it wasn't as smooth as I anticipated when I was quilting it. Next time I will pay attention to the instructions!

However, luckily, it didn't reflect on the front and I am pretty happy with how the outline quilting turned out. Not perfect, but it makes me smile, and I hope it might make my partner smile too. I added some extra linen sashing around the block so that I can give the pouch a flat bottom without hiding some of the block on the bottom of the pouch.

I know this block is quite pink - and that some people are allergic to pink! But I love bright pinks, and I think that paired with the green here, it works nicely and is fresh and pretty. But we'll see what my partner thinks. I have plenty of time to run up something else if she doesn't like either of these options.

On to FTLOS and I have been doing a LOT of thinking about this one. I don't think my partner wants a mini quilt, and I am strongly tempted to do a bag for her. The question in my mind is tote bag or messenger bag? I found a few great tutes for messenger bags recently when looking for myself, and it just struck me today that I could do one for her too. But I'm not sure if the quilting cotton would be strong enough for the exterior. Do you think it would be? I could interface it and use fusible fleece to give it structure? Do you think it would work? Because I actually have a good plan for this and think it would look really great. But I don't want to do all that work and for it to be too lightweight at the end.

Opinions on both swap ideas gratefully received!

Saturday sewing results...a Ruby quilt top

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 12:38:00 +0000

I spent all day yesterday finishing off my Ruby quilt top.

I. AM. IN. LOVE. Seriously, I absolutely love how this is looking. I used Oh, Fransson!'s Crazy 9 patch lattice pattern, sizing it up to make this a lap quilt. It's measuring about 58" x 73". I LOVE the blocks and I LOVE the fabric. Even Himself loves this one, and didn't complain once when holding it up for the pictures. Record!

I pieced most of the blocks one Tuesday evening and sang Ruby Tuesday to myself throughout (narrowly avoiding shattered window panes for our house and our neighbours' houses too) and the name just stuck in my head. I used a layer cake of Ruby, plus 3 large scraps of Bliss to bring it up to 45 10" squares, and the blocks work out at 8.5" (before piecing).

I have some Klona Ash grey ordered for the back from Pippablue in Galway (my new favourite fabric line, brilliant value and extra wide...love) and have 2 leftover crazy blocks to piece into it. It should arrive tomorrow and I am looking forward to getting it done (assuming I don't succumb to a threatening chest infection....I am so sick of being constantly sick this winter. I blame the air conditioning in my office).

In the middle of all that piecing yesterday, myself and my little lady did a bit of practice sewing. Keeping her finger away from the needle was harder than anticipated. Particularly when she thought her Fireman Sam gloves offered magic protection and stuck her finger right under there. Eek! So I managed to persuade her to go off and play by promising her a purse of her own:

Perfect for storing moshi monsters and fairies.

Cute owls on one side, cats on the other. Possibly not my best piece of sewing ever, but I am the best mammy in the world ever at the moment!

Hope you're having a lovely weekend :-)

Linking up to {Sew} Modern Monday and Manic Monday.

{Sew} Get Started: Pram Blanket Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:30:00 +0000

Today's {Sew} Get Started tutorial is for a cute pram blanket. Having covered some basic sewing skills in the first 3 tutes, today is about making a larger patchwork item, practising your sewing accuracy, and learning how to sew binding. I make these blankets quite often as baby gifts for my friends, and I am often then asked to make them for their friends. They make a lovely baby gift, something a little bit different and special.

This tutorial is part of the {Sew} Get Started: Beginner Sewing Tutorials series. For a full list of tutorials in the series and links to past tutes, click on the link to go to the master page.

Please read all the way through before starting. A 1/4" seam is used throughout.

Requirements:

4-5 coordinating Fat Quarters + some large fabric scraps - enough fabric for 20 x 7.5" squares.

29" x 36" Minky or Fleece for the back. I used Minky for this one. I buy my Minky fabric here - it is extra wide, so I get 2 blankets from 1 yard of minky if I cut in half lengthwise ( but a half yard will not do 1 blanket because it will be cut horizontally rather than lengthwise).
Approx 3.75 yards ready made bias binding, or 1/4 yard of fabric to make your own binding.

Making the Blanket Top:

Wash and dry your fabrics and minky/fleece before starting. Press your cotton fabric before cutting.

First, cut at least 20 7.5" squares of fabric. You should not cut more than 4 squares of any one fabric. I usually cut 4 squares of 3 different fabrics, then 2-3 of a couple more, and throw in one or 2 individual pieces. I often cut 22-23 squares to give me options when laying out but that's not necessary if you don't want to.

To cut 7.5" squares, you can use the markings on your cutting mat if you only have a standard cutting ruler which is 6.5" wide. If you have a second ruler, measure 1" in from this with the 2nd ruler, and butt your 6.5" one up against it as in the photo to give you an accurate measurement.

Once you have your fabric squares cut, take yourself off to a clean floor space, or a design wall if you have one, and play around with your fabric until you are happy with the layout. You need 5 rows consisting of 4 squares each:

Once you are happy, take a quick picture on your phone or camera for reference in case you get fabric mixed up. This can also be helpful when trying different layout options. I find I see things on the camera that I don't when looking at it, for some reason!

Next, stack and organise your fabric ready for sewing. I have a simple system - I stack each row from left to right, and then I pin each stack. I put the pin in with the point facing to the top of the square, so I know what way they should be sewn. I number my rows with a postit on each pinned stack to keep the order straight. It might seem like a pain, but it saves a lot of work and potential confusion in the long run and I think its time spent well. I do this for every single quilt I make.

Now, the fun part, you're ready to start sewing! First, sew the pieces of each row together using a 1/4" seam. Try to keep your seam allowance really accurate here, because it will make matching up your points much easier.

Press your seams, pressing in one direction on the first row, the opposite direction on the next row and so on for each row:

You now need to piece your rows together. Start with the top two. Match and pin each of the seams first. Because you pressed the seams in opposite directions they should "lock" together nicely.

Once that is done, pin the rest of the seam and sew. If your points are a little out you may have to "ease" the fabric a little when sewing, i.e. stretch one of the fabrics a bit and manipulate the other to get them to sit right.

After sewing the seam, check your points to make sure they match. This can be challenging when you are starting out, but it is worth trying to get them really matching because it will give your blanket a much more finished look.

I regularly rip back seams and redo them to get the points matching as well as I can. If you are happy with them, continue by piecing the next row onto the 2nd and so on until the end. Make sure you are piecing them in the right order, and that the rows are not upside down, which is easily done!

Yay! You're finished your blanket top. Press your seams on the rows - I usually just press the seams to one side on each row but you could press them open if you like.

Next, lay your blanket top on the fleece or minky backing, wrong sides together. It is really important here to make sure your nap is running in the right direction. I like mine to be downwards. (Info here about nap if you need it).

Minky and fleece are stretchy fabrics to work with so take your time, smooth it out but don't stretch if you can avoid. You will be pinning your binding, but until you do, you might want to pin the top loosely to the backing to keep it all stable and nice. You will need to trim the minky/fleece back to match the quilt top size. Do this on a flat surface keeping them as flat as possible when cutting. Minky sheds a lot when you cut it, so be prepared to sweep up when you are done!

Next, prepare your binding. You can use shop bought bias binding for a project like this if you don't want to make your own. I often do this to save time, and for a small project like this, there is not much difference in cost to buying a quarter yard of fabric. The bias binding I use comes in a small roll, but you can also buy it by the yard/metre off a big roll. This binding is 20mm/3/4" binding, which refers to the width of the binding with the 2 raw edges folded in.

You just need to fold it in 2 and iron a crease down the middle for the whole length before starting.

To make your own binding, cut some 2.5" strips of fabric - depending on the width of the fabric you're using and if you are using a fat quarter or a quarter yard - you need enough to make about 140" of binding. Sew the strips together along the short edges to give you one big long strip, then press a crease along the length of the strips wrong sides together. This type of binding is called double fold binding. (Sorry, I am using different binding photos here because I only did one blanket, but I hope you get the idea!)

Leaving a tail of 5-6", start pinning the binding to the raw edge of the blanket somewhere in the middle of one of the sides.

If you are making your own, match the raw edges of the binding to the raw edge of the blanket:

If you are using the bias binding, you need to fold out one of the raw edges and match it to the raw edge of the blanket:

Pin all the way down to the corner. Don't forget to pin frequently to stop the minky stretching on you as you sew. To make your mitred corners, do as follows. Fold the binding back at right angles to itself, with the edge matching the edge of the bottom of the blanket like this:

Then, fold it back on itself again, matching the edges again:

This should leave you with a little fold of fabric running diagonally against the corner of the blanket if you have it done right:

Leave pinned for the moment. Continue to pin all the way around, doing the same at each corner. If you hit a seam in the binding fabric on a corner, its best to unpin and move the binding a little and repin as seams will not sit properly on a corner with all the folding of fabric. A pain, but essential!

When you get back to where you started, open the binding out fully, butt the two ends of fabric up against each other and fold back and pin like this:

Either press the folds with an iron, or finger press, but make sure you have a clear crease in both fabrics. Then unpin back a little on either side to give you room, and put the two creases right sides together and sew a seam along the crease, joining the binding fabric, and trim the ends. Your binding should sit down nice and flat on your fabric now.

The hard work is done now! Your're ready to sew the binding on. Start close to the joining point and (backstitching at the start to secure) sew slowly and carefully down the seam securing the 3 layers together. I use a quarter inch seam here.

Make sure the minky is the bottom layer, it will sew better and you will be able to see what you're doing with the binding. If you have a walking foot, this is the time to use it, it will help control the fabric feed but its not necessary so don't worry if you don't have one.

Sew down to 1/4" from the bottom of your blanket and backstitch to secure. Make sure you don't catch the little fold for the mitred corner, you should stop just shy of that.

Trim your threads. Then flip the fold of fabric over and pivot your blanket. Backstitch to secure and starting 1/4" in from the edge, sew the binding on the bottom edge. Again make sure to avoid catching the fold.

Continue like this all the way around until you're back where you started and backstitch to secure! Almost there now. You can handstitch the binding onto the back if you want, or, if you have thread that is a good match for the colour, you can machine stitch it. Use the method described here for handstitching it. To machine stitch, fold the other half of the binding around to the back of the blanket and stitch using a 1/4" seam again:

I am used to working with minky so I didn't bother pinning this part, but you can do so if you want.

When you get to the corner, lift up and look at the other side, pulling the binding fabric around to the back. Follow the fabric - it should settle into a nice neat corner on the front. At the back, fold it like this first:

and then fold the second side back over to give you a nice neat corner:

It should look the same front and back. Continue like this to the starting point and backstitch to secure. Now, all you need to do is take a hand sewing needle and sew in your threads.

Ta Dah! You're done! One lovely pram/buggy blanket!

Colourful on the front and soft and snuggly on the back

The finished size of the blanket is 35.5" x 28.5". I usually give the blanket a wash before handing it over to the recipient. I also always advise that these blankets are used as pram/buggy blankets and not for cots/cribs or night time use, as the fleece and minky are not breathable fabrics.

I hope you enjoyed making this! If you do, I would love to see it over in the Flickr group :-)

Don't forget to pop back next week for Karen's scrappy cushion/pillow tute.

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Crayon Box Modern Mini Quilt

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:03:00 +0000

I'm really excited to be taking part in Jennifer's Modern Mini blog hop! So much inspiration to be found out there :-)

When I heard about it, my mind started ticking over and lots of ideas started to flow. I love making mini quilts, I particularly love them for trying out new techniques. Most of my mini quilts have been for this purpose, and because they are so small and manageable, this is really achievable! If you want to have a look at other mini quilts I've made, pop into my Finished Quilts page, where they have a little section all of their own down the bottom!

I'm (still) in love with fabric rainbows, and Kona coal so at the weekend when I was having a little bit of fun with my sewing machine, I decided to play around with an idea I've had for a little while. I didn't really have a plan for how I was going to make it - as with many of my mini quilts, it just evolved. This was a very straightforward make, and if you want to do something similar, I have outlined the basic steps below. It's primarily improv piecing, so you can structure it how you like!

First, I cut 2" strips of 8 colours of varying lengths. They ranged from 12" to 20". Then I cut the same of Kona Coal. I pieced each coloured strip to a strip of coal.

Next, I cut some wider strips of Coal - between 3-6" wide. First, I pieced the pink strip to a wide Coal strip and pressed my seam. Then I placed the red strip right sides together at a V-shaped angle across the wide coal strip. The top of the strip was at the outer edge of the wide Coal strip, and the bottom of the red strip met the bottom of the pink strip at an angle. I pieced together, using the edge of the red strip as my seam guide. I cut the excess fabric away from the seam and pressed. Next, I turned the excess fabric I had trimmed (which came away as a V shaped strip also) upside down so that I could place against the red to make the next V shaped gap. I continued this way across the colours, varying the angles, varying the length of the coloured strips, till I got to the end. I added some coal around the edges to square it up, then straight lined quilted in approx 1/4" lines radiating out from the corner in the Coal. I love how the quilting makes the coloured strips really pop out!

I bound in Coal as well to keep the focus on the colours. Once I stood back to take a picture, I realised what it reminded me of - a bundle of crayons! Perfect for hanging on my playroom wall :-)

It measures 23" square and I just love it! I hope you do too. Thanks so much to Jennifer for inviting me to take part in this blog hop - I can't wait to visit the rest of the participating blogs. Now, the big question is - should I enter this mini in the contest? Or should I try and work out another idea that is rattling around in my head? I suppose it all depends on how much time I get at it :-)

In case you missed the original post - pop over to Jennifer to find out the rest of the info and links for the blogs participating!

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Modern Quilt Guild of Ireland: Launching!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:06:00 +0000

After a lot of discussion in the last few months, myself and Cindy have launched the Modern Quilt Guild of Ireland!

You can't imagine how excited I am about this! Since I started quilting last January, having a modern quilt guild in Ireland is something I aspired to and thought about. While there are 2 very active organisations already in existence - the Irish Patchwork Society, and the Quilter's Guild of Ireland (of which I am a member) - I absolutely loved the thought of a community of quilters dedicated to the modern aesthetic and interested in having some fun with it.

We have set up a dedicated blog, a Flickr group and Facebook page, and I would just love if you came over and joined us. If you are based in Ireland and you are interested in modern quilting, please come and take part. We have an introductory post here with a registration form and information about modern quilting here, if you are not sure what we are talking about!

One of the things I love most about modern quilting is how it is accessible to both the experienced or the novice quilter. I also love the bold use of colour, modern fabrics, the clean lines, the simplicity. I love how you can make a stunning quilt from lots of negative space, with a few pops of colour. I love how it draws on traditional patchwork, but modifies and interprets it for a modern look. I love how it throws the rules out the window for one quilt, and yet draws on and embellishes those rules for another.

So you might have guessed by now...I just love modern quilting! Do you love it too? Want to have some fun? Want to try and set up local meetings with like-minded folk? Please, please, join us!

Modern Mini Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:08:00 +0000

Have you seen the Modern Mini Challenge that my friend Jennifer launched this week over at Ellison Lane Quilts?

There'll be lots of creative inspiration, and a fantastic competition to enter too!

Have you made a mini quilt before? They are great projects to try out new techniques, or to make a complex pattern that you don't want to make a full quilt with. I love how quick and fun they are - and how versatile!

I have a few mini quilts hanging in my house, including my Floating Away mini below, and I have some hanging in other people's houses too at this stage!

This project represents everything I love about mini quilts - it was my first attempt at free motion quilting something other than a tiny practice piece, and also my first time doing free style applique, and it was one of those pieces that I figured out as I went along. It hangs on the wall over my stairs and makes me smile every day!

The Modern Mini Challenge is a 5 week series that kicks off with some seriously inspiring work from some super talented bloggers. I even get a little feature in there!

Here's the deal:

2/6/12 - 2/19/12

Weeks 1 & 2 - Inspiration Weeks - Modern Mini Challenge Blog Hop

Bloggers share their modern minis and kick-start your creativity. Get inspired, get creative, get those ideas flowing!

2/20/12 - 3/4/12

Weeks 3 & 4 - Sew. Sew. Sew!

Work on those minis and create your Modern Mini Challenge piece.

3/5/12 - 3/9/12

Week 5: Enter the Contest!

Link up your Modern Mini Challenge piece at Ellison Lane Quilts. Voting begins that week and winners are announced on March 9th!

There are 5 fabulous prizes generously sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop, including 2 Fat Quarter bundles of the full line of the gorgeous Flea Market Fancy reprint by Denyse Schmidt. Swooooon. I so want to win one of those, so I don't know why I am encouraging you all to enter too!!! There will also be some super generous gift certificates for Fat Quarter Shop.

Exciting, right? I can't wait! All the fun starts next week with the Modern Mini Challenge Blog Hop and this amazing line-up:

2/6: Stitchery Dickory Dock

2/7: Fairy Face Designs (yes, me!!) & Amy's Creative Side

2/8: Lily's Quilts

2/9: Patchwork Notes

2/10: Don't Call Me Betsy & Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle

2/11: Sukie, Don't You Know Who I Am?

2/12: Freshly Pieced

2/13: From the Blue Chair & Poppy Makes

2/14: Needles, Pins & Baking Tins

2/15: Mon Petit Lyons & Felicity Quilts

2/16: LR Stitched & Random Thoughts Do or Di

2/17: Life's Rich Pattern & Twin Fibers

2/18: Cut to Pieces & Sew Sweetness

2/19: Swim Bike Quilt

Pop over to Jennifer to see the full details of how to enter the contest and the prizes. And see you back here next Tuesday!

Sew Get Started: Simple Baby Burp Cloths Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Welcome back everyone, I hope you had fun making some napkins last week! This week I am delighted to welcome a fellow member of the Sew Irish group, Irina, who has written a great tute on simple baby burp cloths. Irina is multi talented; she quilts, sews, knits and bakes ..not to mention being a busy mum! Pop over and say hello on her blog el petit taller, and check out her lovely projects. This gorgeous basket is one of my faves and I am determined to try and make one similar to use as a peg basket before the summer:

So, are you keen to get started? Do you have a new baby arriving into your or a friend's life soon? These will make perfect little gifts and are a really fun make.

This tutorial is part of the {Sew} Get Started: Beginner Sewing Tutorials series.

BURP CLOTHS

Hello! My name is Irina and I like sewing, knitting, crafting, cooking, blogging... the list goes on! I am originally from Barcelona but I have been living in the west coast of Ireland for about 10 years. I work as a social carer and I am the proud mama of the most beautiful wee girl, Hana, and a little boy who is going to show up in May.

I was very happy and excited when Sarah asked me if I wanted to share a tutorial for this series. This is the first time I'm a guest contributing with a tutorial! so here I am with a very easy and quick little project: Baby burp cloths.

There are hundreds of tutorials for burp cloths out there, but I felt the need of having something small and practical that would even fit in the small pocket of my bag. These are the size of a wash cloth (about 10"x11") and they were really useful to me (of course I would still use the huge muslin cloths... but these tiny fellas were a hit!)

You can always make them in any size you need. Here I show you how:

materials

washed and ironed wash cloths

(I used these from IKEA)

100% cotton fabric

(I used Riley Blake's Happier - Bugs White, Bugs Blue, Birds White and Alenxander Henry's Goo Goo Gear)

coordinating thread

Cut the binding off the wash cloths and press

Cut a piece of the same size of the cotton fabric
Place it right side facing down and pin

Stitch all around leaving a seam of 1/2", making sure you leave a gap of about 4"

Remember to back-stitch at the beginning and end of your stitching

Cut the corners so it will lay nice and flat when you turn it inside out

Turn the cloth inside out through the gap making sure the edges are pointing out (I used a pencil)and press

If you are using labels, now it is the time to insert one between the opening. Arrange the opening seam inwards following the stitching

Topstitch all around, making sure you close the opening and your label is sewn in. You can use a normal straight stitch or try a zig-zag:

They make great little gifts

and you can make a good pile in no time.

When you get more experienced,

you could add some appliqué or ric-rac all around...

I'd love to see your creations

so pop over to El Petit Taller

and leave your link!

HAPPY SEWING!

Thanks so much to Irina for that great tutorial. Don't forget to pop up photos of any you make in the Flickr group, and I'm looking forward to seeing you back here next Thursday for a Baby Pram Blanket tutorial.

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WIP Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:44:00 +0000

I can't believe its Wednesday already, the days are just flying by! Here's what I've been up to this week.

Completed:

My Fresh Pinwheels baby boy quilt. I was really happy with this one, and a little bit sad to let it go!

In Progress:

I have a couple of projects in progress this week. One is my Ruby quilt. I am making this using Oh Franssons! Crazy 9 patch lattice pattern, but sizing it up a bit. This quilt is made in multiples of 9, and I had 42 pieces in the layer cake. I really need the 45 blocks to make it the size I want and was cursing myself until I remembers some large scraps I had leftover from my Bliss cushions. I dug out 3 and cut to 10" squares and they work perfectly with the palette of the Ruby.

I love making these blocks and am flying through them, I have 36 out of the 45 done - 27 of them last night in my own version of Ruby Tuesday :-) and will get the rest finished today. I love how they are all different, and I love the movement in them. Even darling hubbie who was doubting the requirement for another sofa quilt in the living room is now converted! I'm hoping to get the quilt top assembled this week and need to order some more batting before I can then move it on.

I am planning on piecing the back of the Skittles quilt and basting it this week too. I have an Egyptian cotton sheet for the back, and I have a big panel of Saffron Craig fabric that I am planning to piece into the middle of it. The colours are similar to the front and I think it will be a nice feature on the back.

Then, the plan is to machine quilt along the block outlines, stitching in the ditch, and hand quilt the rest of the quilt, around each of the print fabric pieces. Its promising to be super cold this weekend here, so this is the perfect project to have on the sofa in front of the fire.

I am also making progress in my ideas for my partners in the For the Love of Solids Swap and the Mouthy Stitches swap. I have this lovely rainbow of solids for my FTLOS partner and am watching the response coming in on Flickr to see what she thinks!

And I have this option for my Mouthy Stitches partner, which I think will work, although I also have another idea in mind for her, so must do a pull for that too and see which she prefers.

Starting Out:

I am starting another quilt this week too - nothing like having lots to do. This is the long awaited quilt for my son D. D is mad about trains so I have a nice train print to feature heavily for him. We went through my fabric boxes last night and this is what we picked:

Nice, right? But he also picked these:

Now, they just don't go with the rest. He loves purple. He loves the letters. How am I going to do this. I'm thinking I will put them on the back. What do you think? It is his quilt, for him, but I won't be able to make it if I hate what I'm working with, I never can get projects finished if I don't love them.

Any advice?

I also signed up to the Doll Quilt Swap 12 - my first time doing this swap, there are some great guidelines there to challenge your creativity and I am looking forward to it.

I'm linking up to the talented ladies over at WIP Wednesday. See you there!

Pattern Giveaway Winner

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:47:00 +0000

Thanks everyone for entering my giveawy for Kat's lovely pouch patterns. The lucky winner is:

who is:

Debbie, I will email you with your patterns!

EDITED TO UPDATE on 2nd February.

When I contacted Debbie, it turned out that she had won a copy of the patterns on another giveaway before I contacted her, and she asked me to redraw as she wanted someone else to have them. I have done this and the new winner is

who is:

And I have contacted her by email! Congrats :-)

First Quilt Finish of 2012 - at last!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:43:00 +0000

At last, finally, I have a quilt finish this year. It feels like a long time. It has been a long time! I finished up the last quilt of 2011 on Christmas week - more than 5 weeks, eek!

But I think it was worth the wait and I hope you do too :-)

This is a quilt for a baby boy born last week. I was asked to make it in yellow, white and blue, and while this combo of colours is quite traditional, I really loved working with it (much more than I anticipated.) The lemons and yellows are so cheerful and happy and absolutely lovely to have peeping out at me every time I looked at my sewing stack in the kitchen on these gloomy days. And the blues, well, what can I say, you know I love my aquas. Interestingly when I went to my stash for blues, there are very few true blues there, most of them are in the aqua/turquoise/teal family, but I think that is ok, and it keeps this quilt very fresh.

The pinwheel blocks are approx 7.5" finished size. I am really happy with the point matching on this one. When making my HSTs I took my time, gave myself an extra 1/8" while cutting and piecing so that I could trim them to a perfect size, and you can see it in the blocks. It was so much easier to piece the top than other HST quilts I have done because it was so much more accurate. HSTs are a LOT of work, but I always think they are worth it in the end. The quilt measures 39" x 47" finished.

I love the movement in the quilt and pieced my blocks so as to give a slight optical illusion to the pinwheels spinning.

I also, for the first time on a full size quilt, handfinished the binding. I wasn't convinced I was going to love it but I got friendly with my thimble, stitched away in front of the tv a couple of nights, and I *might* be a convert. I went with a slightly wider binding than I normally do and I must admit I like it more than I thought I would.

The backing is a cream fabric with a tiny blue and yellow floral print and works great with the front.

I quilted this one with a meandering stipple and a few loops. It was so much fun to quilt because the size is so manageable, compared to the big quilts I did at the back end of last year. I used Aurifil white thread on the front and cream on the back. Now that its been washed and dried, the quilting has sunk into it nicely and its beautifully crinkly!

This one is wrapped and ready to post off in the morning and I hope baby will love it!

I'm linking up to {Sew} Modern Monday, Manic Monday and Fabric Tuesday with this one!

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{Sew} Get Started: Easy Napkin Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Today I am really excited to introduce you to my great friend Jennifer of Ellison Lane Quilts. Jennifer and I bonded over quilts and sewing chat via email last year, and we went on to jointly host the Across the Sea Quiltalong last Autumn. If you've never visited Jennifer's blog, you should pop over and take some time to have a look around. She has beautiful quilts to inspire you, not to mention a collection of great tutorials. This fabulous Starflower quilt is one of my faves, and she has a great tute if you want to make it yourself (which I do!):

So, on to the main event. Jennifer has done a great tutorial for super easy table napkins for your home. This is part of the {Sew} Get Started: Beginner Sewing Tutorials series. Full list of tutorials and links can be found by clicking the link below.

I love this tute and am definitely going to make some of these myself. They are a perfect beginner project, simple to make and yet packing a great punch in terms of impact. Just wait till your guests start asking where you bought them and you get that little glow...the one you get when you tell someone "I made it myself" and you watch their reaction. Happy sewing everyone!

I'm really excited and honored to be here at Fairy Face Designs today sharing a super easy and quick napkin tutorial with you. These are a great beginner project that look great and add a lovely decorative touch to your table. If you can sew a straight stitch, you can do this!

Let's get started!

First things first- wash and press your fabric.

Materials needed:

1 yard of fabric = 4 napkins

rotary cutter

long quilting ruler

cutting mat

coordinating thread

sewing machine

pins

scissors

iron

Please read through all directions before getting started!

1. Since you washed your fabric first, you will need to fold your fabric in half matching the selvages. Press with your iron, along the fold. Next, fold your fabric in half from the side so that the fold remains at the top and the selvages at the bottom. Line up your fabric on your cutting mat and using your rotary cutter and trim to remove the selvages.

Now, unfold your fabric so you have your 1 yard of fabric flat on your cutting mat. Keeping your edges together, line up your fabric with the 0 on the mat and using your ruler, cut your fabric at the 15" mark and again at the 30" mark. You should now have two pieces, each 15" wide and approximately 20-21" tall.

Next, turn your fabric so the fold is on your right and lined up with lines on your cutting mat.

Trim your fabric to 15" x 19." Repeat. You should now have 4 pieces.

OK, that was the hardest part!

2. Now, take your fabric to your ironing board and fold down each side of the fabric 1/4" and press into place. (Don't iron back and forth- just lift and press.)

Work your way around all 4 sides of the napkin then repeat.

Fold that 1/4" hem over once again to have a nice finished edge, and press all the way around the napkin. It helps to use some starch!

Insert a pin in the corner to hold in place. (Take those out when you sew.)

3. Now, it's time to sew! Place your fabric face down and start stitching at a corner. Backstitch a few stitches to anchor your thread then keeping a 1/4" seam allowance, sew along each side of the napkin.

The 1/4" seam is important because you want to catch enough of the corners to keep them turned in and tight.

Once you get to a corner, leave your needle down, lift the presser foot, and pivot your fabric. Put your presser foot down once more and continue sewing along that side.

Continue until you reach where you started, backstitching once again to anchor your stitch. Cut your threads and you are done!

Options:

stitch another line beside the one you just sewed to create a double topstitch
use a zigzag stitch instead of a straight stitch for a decorative touch

See, easy, right?!

I hope you enjoy making something beautiful for your home. Grab your favorite fabric and get started! You can do it!

Feel free to email me with any questions. You can find many more of my tutorials, including the double sided placemats, here.

Thanks Sarah for hosting me!

xo,

Jennifer

Thanks so much Jennifer - don't forget everyone if you make napkins from this tute to upload them in the {Sew} Get Started Flickr group. Next week Irina will be sharing another great, easy tutorial for making baby burp clothes - a fab gift for a new mum, or a nice addition to your own baby supplies, so check back then!

Pattern Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:43:00 +0000

Yippee, it's giveaway time again! Today's giveaway is very kindly sponsored by my bloggy friend Kat, who has a fab blog Mumma's Time to Create which you should definitely go and have a little look around. Kat makes all kinds of beautiful things, and besides blogging about them, she also has a shop, where she sells handmade items, including some amazingly pretty toddler dresses. Check out her shop to see more - you won't be sorry! She has recently launched another arm of her business “Flutter from.Kat” to now include some sewing patterns, and is giving away her first two patterns here today. You should definitely keep an eye on her shop as she will be adding more patterns in the coming weeks.

I made this lovely zippy pouch before Christmas from the above pattern and found it super easy to follow. I was really happy with how it turned out and it was very well received by my friend!

This is a pattern I will definitely be using again :-)

I also can't wait to try the other pattern I am giving away today - for this insanely cute patchwork purse.

Isn't it gorgeous?

So, you want to win a copy of these patterns, right? The winner will get both patterns! I'm giving you 3 chances to enter :-)

1. Leave a comment telling me what fabrics/colours you would use to make up the zippy pouch.

2. Pop over to Kat's blog and follow using GFC or Reader, and leave me a comment to tell me (or tell me if you already follow her).

3. Like Flutter from.Kat's Facebook page

You don't have to be a follower of mine to enter, but, of course I would love it if you did and I think that I will have plenty to keep you interested here over the next few months ;-)

And it goes without saying that if you are not lucky enough to win, you can always pop over and buy a copy of the patterns, which at $5 AUS won't break the bank! Just click on the pics above to bring you to Kat's site.

I will leave the giveaway open until Sunday evening 9pm (Irish time). Please make sure you leave your email address in your comment in the following format fairyfacedesigns (at) gmail (dot) com.

If I cannot get in touch with the winner, I will redraw. PDF patterns will be emailed to the winner following the draw. Everyone is welcome to enter!

Winter Stitching - The Mid-Winter Check In!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:06:00 +0000

So. It's almost the end of January and its time to do a little review of how you've been getting on in your Winter Stitching lists. I hope its been going well for you? I'm starting to feel slightly alarmed at how over-ambitious I was back in October.....and ready to ditch some of the projects mid-term.

On a side note, before we start, I'm sorry its been pretty quiet around here of late, apart from the {Sew} Get Started tutorials. You haven't seen much else new from me since Christmas :-( That's because, in the main, I have been sick. Sick over Christmas, recovered a little for a couple of weeks or so I thought, and now sick again with a horrible dizzy type thing that means that I am very limited in what I can do, anything requiring focus and concentration is a big problem for me. I am really hoping that by the end of this week I will be back to normal. But enough moaning! On to the fun!

So, here's my update:

1. Finish the quilt for my friend A's baby girl E. Done! And very pleased I was with it too :-)

2. Quilt for my son D. No - still not done :-(

3. Yellow and white baby quilt. This turned into my lemon and blue pinwheels and is currently stalled mid-piecing until I am better. Should be done this month.

4. Christmas Table Runner Swap. Ooh, done and in style too - I loved this runner and it even got a prize in Celebrate Colour for November, winning me a FQ bundle of Echo!

5. Finish my Skittles quilt. Still haven't gotten to this one either.I do have a plan for the backing though, so its just finding time to do it.

6. Finish my Tumbling Blocks baby quilt and sell it! Not yet, but hopefully before the end of Feb.

7. Take part in the 2nd round of the Solids Swap. Yippee! I am signed up and have my partner and am busy planning :-)

8. Make a quilt for my lovely hubbie who insisted I put that in my list! Nope....he is still waiting...

9. Finish the curtains for our bedroom. Not finished, but there is progress! Curtains are all hemmed and I am onto the lining now. This one will get done, and sooner rather than later.

10. Make a quilt using the Ruby layer cake I just bought to go on the 2nd sofa in the living room. This is in planning :-)

11. Finish the cardi I am knitting for myself - not finished, but progress has been made. Need to get back to this!

12. Finish the scarf I'm knitting since last year... Guess? No!

13. Crochet a granny square blanket . Not a hope, I am officially taking this off the list!

14. Make another skirt for myself. Hmm. Another one I am taking off the list until later in the year. It is summery fabric anyways!

15. Write some tutorials for my blog! Yes! Some done, more to do!

16. Crochet a wrap for myself - Another one I'm taking off the list for the moment!

17. Make an engagement gift for my good friend R - Yes :-) Another table runner!

18. Quilt for another friend A in the New Year. Still not ready for this one yet

19. Make a quilt using my Little Apples FE bundle - I signed up for Sarah's Stained QAL for this fabric, I think it will work great!

20. Continue following along Cindy's Free Motion Friday and improving my FMQ skills. Alas, despite doing a few weeks of this, the last few escaped me. But it was fun and I want to come back to it in the future.

21. Keep up with Sew Bee Blissful and figure out what I want to do for my month as Queen Bee in February. Ooh, well, Sew Bee Blissful has been great fun and I am pretty sure now what I'm doing - packages will be going out later this week, all going well.

22. Make some long overdue handbags for some friends. Eh....no, sorry girls!

I did add a few things.

My {Sew} Get Started tutorials series. I didn't put this in the original list because even though it was in planning, I wanted it to be a big announcement. You can't imagine how happy I am to have gotten this off the ground.

The Matryoshka Quilt - I totally forgot to include this one on my list when I was writing it, despite having the whole thing planned out. In the end, it was one of my fave quilts of 2011.

The Christmas Quilt - this was an impulse make, but I'm so glad I made it. The kids snuggled under it every morning over Christmas watching cartoons.

I wrote a tute for the Christmas Stockings block for the 12 Days of Christmas Sampler QAL.

I finally finished the embroidery piece I've had hanging around for months and it is going in our hall!

As always, I have a couple more things to add before the end of the Winter Stitching:

Pay It Forward - I got 3 volunteers to be recipients for my handmade gifts. I *might* get these done before the end of March, so I'm putting them in here, although its not guaranteed.

Mouthy Stitches - I joined up, and as of the weekend, I have a great partner and am stalking her right now. She might even be reading this, who knows?

Pattern writing. I am really starting to get to grips with my EQ7 and am hoping to get some new patterns written and out there. I would love to get one published, or to sell one. Anyone interested in pattern testing if I was to go that route? Shoot me an email if you are. It's not going to be immediately, but hopefully soon enough.

So, that's my update. Actually, at first I thought it was a lot of "not dones" in this list, but as I went down through it I am really happy with everything that I have done! It's great seeing what I've achieved in a few months, particularly in a week like this one where I am getting nothing done at all!

I can't wait to see what you have done. The linky will be open for a couple of weeks (up to Feb 5th) for your updates, so go write up your post and then come back and link up. If you didn't link up for the first round or missed the linky date, you can still join in the fun! Anyone who is in this round or the opening linky, and posts in the final linky at the end of March will be in with a chance to win a little giveaway. Last time round it was a charm pack and a handmade goodie - most likely something similar this time.

So, get linking!

{Sew} Get Started: Simple Pincushion & Needlebook Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:00:00 +0000

It's great to finally kick off the practical tutorials today! If you are learning to sew, a pretty pincushion and needlebook are a nice project to make. Small, simple and at the end of it, you have something beautiful and practical that you will use every time you sew. I have lots of pincushions and love them all! One for my sewing basket, one for handsewing, one for my little sewing travel kit, and some more...well, just because! Those horrible little plastic jars with spongy tops that you can buy for storing your pins have nothing on a beautiful pincushion you made yourself.

This tutorial is part of the {Sew} Get Started: Beginner Sewing Tutorials series. For the full list of tutorials, click here.

So lets get started sewing!!

Requirements:
Pincushion
4 coordinating scraps of fabric for the front, and a complimentary one for the back.
1 pretty medium size button.
Small length of embroidery thread (if you need to go buy, you are looking for a skein of embroidery thread)
Some toy stuffing for the centre. (You will get this in craft stores.)

Needlebook
Some coordintaing scraps of felt - 2 x 9" squares should be enough. (Wool mix felt if you can get it)
Assorted buttons to embellish the front, including one for the closure
Matching thread

Please note:

All seams are 1/4". Please read all the way through before starting. I have included very detailed instructions for beginners, with a lot of photos. More experienced peeps will not need all the detail :-)

Making the Pincushion

Press your fabric scraps, then cut 4 pieces for the front measuring 2.5" x 2.5" each. (If you want to use a 1/2" seam allowance instead of a 1/4" one, cut your pieces 3" x 3".) If you need help with cutting your fabric, I have information here about how to cut accurately.

Cut your fabric for the bottom piece 4.5" square. (If you cut your top pieces 3" x 3", then cut the bottom piece 5" square.)

Decide how you want to lay them out.

Place your top 2 pieces right sides together and sew, using a 1/4" seam allowance. For pieces this small, you don't really need to pin but do so if you wish for best accuracy. I just sew over my pins, I have only ever broken a needle once, but remove them if you want as you get to them. Remember to backstitch at the beginning and end of your seam, as the top of this seam will be an outside edge.

Repeat with the bottom two pieces.

Now you need to press your seams. You can press them open but it is quicker and easier to press one of the seams to one side and the other to the opposite side, and they will fit together nicely when you are sewing together.

Place your top two squares on the bottom two, right sides together, matching the seams exactly. Place a pin on either side of the point where the seam points match, as close as possible to the line of stitching, about 1/8" on either side.

Pin the rest of the seam, close to either end, then sew, remembering to backstitch to tie off at the beginning and end. Press your seam - you can press to one side, I pressed open just because I liked how flat it got the seam.

If your points don't meet up precisely, don't worry about it as the button will cover this.

Take your bottom piece of fabric, and place it right side together with your pieced top, and pin. Then, starting about 1.5" from a corner, and backstitching at the start, sew a seam all the way around the outside edge. At each corner, put your needle down, lift your presser foot and pivot the fabric to change direction.

Then just put your presser foot back down and continue sewing. Stop about 2" from your starting point and backstitch to secure.

Using your scissors, very carefully trim the excess fabric from each corner. Be careful not to clip your stitches, don't go too close! This will reduce the bulk of the fabric to give you nice crisp corners.

Now, reach into the gap in your seam and turn your pincushion right way out, pulling the fabric out through the gap. It might be a little bit fiddly but you will get it out!

When you have it turned right way out, it will look like this:

Take an old knitting needle, chop stick or the closed point of your scissors and very gently push out your corners till they sit correctly. Don't push too hard, you don't want to tear the fabric, and if they don't push out totally, don't worry about it. This is fun, remember!

Now, take your toy stuffing. It comes in tufts like this:

Tearing it into smallish pieces, stuff into the pincushion until it is full and firm. You don't want it to be bursting at the seams, just a nice amount so it will hold your pins securely. It will probably take more than you think. If you want, you could put a little rice in the bottom of the pincushion to give it some weight too but it's not essential.

Once it is full, you need to handsew the closure. This is very easy, so don't panic!

Firstly, turn under your seam allowance - mine usually sits pretty ok without any help. Use a pin or two to match and hold your seams in place.

Thread a needle with some thread matching your fabric and tie a knot in the end. Then insert it into the interior of the seam, somewhere the knot won't be seen, and bring up at the beginning of the gap. Take a small stitch through the crease in the seam, then take a very small stitch in the opposite seam, picking up only a few threads.

Repeat all the way along until you get to the end, then make a few stitches in the same place to secure, push your needle in the same place and bring out an inch or so away. Clip the thread where it comes through the fabric and stretch out your fabric to make the thread disappear into the pincushion. (See picture below for the back of the pincushion to see what I mean) See, easy peasy! Don't worry if its not terribly neat, mine are never totally perfect and once you have the rest finished off you will never notice.

Last thing to do is to add the decorative detail.

Cut a length from your embroidery thread and split the thread in 2. (Embroidery thread is usually made up of 6 threads twisted together, you want 3). Thread your needle with it and tie a knot in the end, and clip the thread quite close to the knot but not right on top of it.

Insert your needle through the centre point of your seams and bring out in the centre of the other side. Bring it all the way back around the front, following one of your seam lines, and push your needle back in and out through the same points again.

Pull it a little bit taut so it separates the quarters of the cushion, and is sitting nicely on your seam line. Repeat the process, changing the direction of the thread each time until you have the 4 seams done.

The back should look like this:

After you have done the last seam and your needle comes out the back, push it back in through the centre point at the back and up through the centre point of the front, and thread the button onto it.

Sew the button in place by a few stitches up and down through the centre to secure. When you are done, take a stitch or two to secure at the back, then hide your thread in the same way as you did for the seam.

And, TA-DAH! you're done! Isn't it pretty? Stick some pins in it, and admire :-)

Making the Needlebook

Cut 3 complimentary pieces of felt measuring 7.5" x 4", 6" x 3", 5.75" x 2.75". Felt is a lovely fabric to work with as the edges don't fray.

Take your three pieces of felt and line up, centering the smaller pieces inside the larger piece.

Once you are happy with the arrangment, take a ruler and mark a crease in the centre of the pieces. I did this with the closed point of my scissors.

Using a matching thread, sew a seam down the centre, securing the "pages" of the needlebook, remembering to tie off your ends at the beginning and end. Start and finish about 1/2" in from the top and bottom of the outside page.

Round off the corners of your outside edge with your scissors. I just eyeballed it and cut.

You need to cut your buttonhole on the front of the needlebook next. (You could skip this step if you wanted as a closure is not really necessary.) You just need to snip a small cut with a sharp scissors, 2" from the top and bottom and at least 1/2" in from the edge. The cut should be just large enough to accommodate the button you will use. Felt doesn't fray and once you are reasonably gentle opening and closing, the buttonhole will not tear but don't cut too close to the edge of your needlebook.

Next, take some of your small scraps of felt and cut some circles in them - I cut 3, but if you want to play with the design a little, do. I used basic household things to trace my circles before cutting - an egg cup, a spool end, a coin etc. The biggest circle just under 2" diameter. I cut around the inside of the marked line so as not to have any marks on the felt.

Now, taking your buttons and your felt pieces, decide how you want to lay out your embellishments on the front. I piled my 3 circles of felt on top of each other with a button to finish. You could use more or less circles, whatever you like. You could also use a different shape if you preferred - like hearts for example. Be creative and go with what you like! Here is one of the layouts I considered.

Once you are happy with the layout of your buttons, handsew in place using matching threads.Clip your thread ends neatly on the other side. You don't need a lot of stitches to secure these buttons as they are not going to be used. Remember to also sew your button for the closure on the inside of the back cover of the needlebook, matching where you cut your buttonhole.

For the circles decoration, I stitched all the circles in place through the button initially. I then got some complimentary embroidery thread and sewed a simple running stitch around the edges. If you do this, just keep your stitches and gaps small and let your eye guide you. Take your time! A running stitch like this looks very pretty and though you will notice if your stitches aren't exactly even when you are doing it (as you are concentrating on it), once it is done and you are looking at the finished thing, you won't notice small differences in stitch length etc, they will disappear into the general loveliness!

And....you're done!! Go find your handsewing needles and put them inside it, and admire.

I hope you enjoyed making these simple projects and that the instructions are all clear. If you have any questions, just leave me a comment below or post it up in the Flickr discussion group. If you make a pincushion or needlebook from this tute, please post a picture in the Flickr group, I would love to see them :-)

Next Thursday, Jennifer will be guest posting with her tutorial on simple table napkins so don't forget to pop back then.

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Welcome The Sewing Directory!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:00:00 +0000

I'm really thrilled to introduce you to my very first sponsor, The Sewing Directory run by the lovely Fiona Pullen.

I'm sure that lots of you are familiar with this great site - if not, you should definitely pop over and explore it.

Fiona launched The Sewing Directory at The Sewing For Pleasure show in March 2010. The idea for the site came about when she was trying to promote her mum's sewing business online and realised that although there were craft directories and general business directories there was nothing dedicated purely to sewing. Also, someone looking for a sewing supplier or local sewing class can take a long time trawling through search engines, so she decided to bring it all together into one place.

Although the original plan was purely for a directory it quickly evolved into a more rounded site with projects, how to guides, inteverviews, competitions, sewing news, offers, sales and workshop listings too. To get the most from the site it's best to follow it on Facebook and Twitter for extra news, offers and links which aren't on the site.

The Sewing Directory is also running the Sewing Blogger Awards at the moment, with nominations closing on 31st January. If you haven't already voted for your favourite sewing blog (hint, hint!), click on the link above to go register your entry.

The Sewing Directory are also keen sponsors of many sewing blogs, now including mine! So please do pop over to visit them, you won't be sorry :-)

I now have a limited number of sponsorship slots available. If you are interested in sponsoring FairyFace Designs, please contact me at fairyfacedesigns (at) gmail (dot) com

Zippy love!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:49:00 +0000

I was feeling in need of a little instant gratification today after spending a lot of time trimming HSTs for the Fresh Pinwheels quilt. I have 112 squares to trim. That's a lot of trimming! I did all the yellow ones...so 56 done, 56 to go. I cut the original squares slightly bigger than recommended to make up for any wonky seams and so I could trim them back to a perfect 4.5" square and am so glad I did, they are all so accurate now when I have them trimmed.

After those 56 squares, I felt in need of a little pick-me-up, After being ~~press-ganged~~ persuaded by Hadley to join the Zippy pouch round of the new Mouthy Stitches group I thought a little practice would be in order.

Plus, everything is in a jumble in my sewing basket and I wanted some pouches for storing zips, elastic and stuff like that to stop it all getting mixed up.

I didn't want to do anything too complicated and wanted to practise my zip ends, as I am never totally happy with how they turn out. So off I went to the stash box and picked two nice not-typically-me fabrics for the exteriors. No patchwork, no piecing, just fabric and interfacing.

The first was this apple fabric which I really like but haven't managed to make anything with yet. This was a smallish one, about 6.5" x 4.75". I used lovely yellow Hideaway fabric on the inside and for the tabs. Perfect for my zips.

The second was this lovely Tanya Whelan fabric. Again, one I have in the stash because it was on sale and it was pretty, but never found a real use for it. I can't tell you how much I LOVE this pouch made up. The fabric makes me think of water, I don't know why! It is longer at 9.5" x 4.75", perfect for a pencil case. Although my scissors and rotary cutter seem to have found their way into it! Its lined with some 1001 Peeps orange, same as the tabs.

I was really pleased with my tabbed ends. They work out very nicely. I used Kelly's tutorial which I have used before for doing them and I really like the neatness of the ends.

Not quite as happy with the interior lining seams, so maybe I will need to do some more practice! All in all, a very productive afternoon. Hope your weekend was good!

I am hoping that this week, after getting the majority of the introductory tutorials for {Sew} Get Started written and posted, I can get back to reading and commenting on blogs - I have been so busy behind the scenes with all the writing, I just haven't had time. I feel like I missed so much this past few weeks and miss all my lovely bloggy mates :-( So, hopefully this is the week I get back visiting my fave blogs again.

I'm liking up to {Sew} Modern Monday and Manic Monday - pop over there and visit some of the talented ladies who also link up!

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{Sew} Get Started: Sewing Basics Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:07:00 +0000

Today's tutorial is about basic skills for sewing. This is part of the {Sew} Get Started: Beginner Sewing Tutorials series.

Cutting Fabric

There are lots of online tutorials about how to cut fabric correctly, many of which go into a large amount of detail, but to get you started I want to keep this straightforward. You should always press your fabric properly to give an even, flat surface before cutting. Cuts made on wrinkly, creased fabric will not be accurate. Be careful when pressing not to iron with steam on, as you would with clothes, as this will distort your fabric and selvedges, athough sometimes I have to press carefully with a shot of steam to get the stubborn creases out.

Scissors

The simplest way to cut your fabric is to pin a pattern piece to the wrong side, or mark directly onto the wrong side, and cut with a scissors. Remember to work along your grain lines, as explained in Thursday's tute. To mark a pattern, just use a water soluble pen or tailors chalk and follow your template or use a ruler.

You can then make an easy, accurate cut along the line. Sometimes, I cut roughly around the pattern piece/template first, then I cut it accurately, particularly if I'm working with a large piece of fabric, or a small template piece. To pin a pattern piece to the fabric and cut around it, there are a few things to be aware of. One is placing your paper template to match the grain lines. I was taught to do this by marking a line in the middle of the paper and placing it on the fabric. Then measuring the distance to the edge of the selvedge and pinning at one end of the line.

Then move your measuring tape up and do the same at the top of the line, making any adjustments necessary.

Pin your paper template at regular intervals to the fabric, then cut using a scissors.

Keep your non-cutting hand flat on the template close to the edge to keep your fabric as flat as possible when cutting - this gives greatest accuracy. But mind your fingers!

Rotary Cutter

Using a rotary cutter and ruler are an easy way to cut regular shapes like squares and rectangles and very accurate. I cut almost everything with a rotary cutter now, it is easy and speedy but buying a self-healing cutting mat, ruler and cutter is a little more expensive than a scissors. If you discover that you love sewing and you intend continuing and making lots of projects, particularly quilts, its definitely worth the extra money. I bought my cutting board locally but have been told they can be found cheaply on Ebay, so its worth checking around for good value.

First, you need to cut your fabric on the grain, close to the selvedge for a straight edge - I usually line up the ruler with the selvedge edge to give me a 3/4" width, then I cut.

To cut, place your hand on the ruler and hold steady - your hand should not be flat, but raised with your fingers spread to give you maximum stablility as you cut. Roll your rotary blade carefully along the ruler edge to the correct point. Then, line up your rule with the fresh cut edge to give you the correct measurements and cut. Line up your cut edges with the ruler lines to give you accurate angles and lines.

As I mentioned previously, safety is very important for cutting and particularly for rotary cutting. The exposed blade is extremly sharp and it is all too easy to cut yourself. Make sure, when you are cutting, that your fingers remain on the ruler and don't hang over the edge, in the path of the blade. This might sound basic, but I know experienced quilters who have done this! Work slowly and carefully - too fast and its easy to make mistakes. As I said previously, you should ensure that you put the blade guard back on (mine just slides up to engage, its very simple) as soon as your cut is made so that you don't leave the blade exposed, which is an accident waiting to happen. This is particularly important if you are working with kiddies around.

Machine Sewing

I hope you had a little fun playing round with your machine after Thursday's tute. Once you have it threaded, sewing is easy. Place your fabric right sides together and pin if necessary. I don't pin small pieces of fabric when sewing as I find that quilting cottons tend to stay together for as long as needed. For beginners, if you are working with fabric that is a little slippy or stretchy - e.g. fleece or minky, it is worthwhile taking the time to baste/tack your seams and then remove the pins for sewing. The basting stitches will hold your seams more securely than pins will and not having to think about the pins helps when you are concentrating on the fabric! It is time consuming, but worth it for a nice finish. (I will expain more about basting further down.)

Once you have your fabric preparered, raise your needle and presser foot and place the point you want to start sewing at in under your presser foot. Lower the foot and the needle and press your foot pedal to start sewing.

The pressure needed on your foot pedal will depend on your machine - you will get to know it. A really important thing to remember if you are a newbie sewist is that your machine will pull the fabric through at the correct pace - you do not need to help the machine by pushing it under the presser foot. All you need to do is hold it lightly to support it and direct it to get your seam allowance right. Pushing/feeding it will not help your machine - the opposite in fact! If you are working with a big piece of fabric, support the weight of the fabric as it feeds into the machine to avoid a drag on the needle.

To "tie off" your stitches, use your reverse button to take one back stitch, then take a stitch forward and then back and forward once more. This will seal your line of stitching from unravelling. You should tie off your stitches at the beginning and end of a row, but for patchwork piecing it is not necessary to tie off stitches when you are sewing the patches together ("piecing"). I only tie off the stitching rows which run to the edge of the quilt top (or equivalent). This is because all the patches are sewn together in rows and columns, thus sealing in the ends of each row of stitching. But the edges of quilt tops will be subject to being moved around, lifted and manipulated, so it is easy for the stitches to unravel at the edges if not tied off.

Seam allowances are an important part of accurate sewing. The seam allowance is the distance between the edge of the fabric and your stitching line. Seam allowance is really important - if it is not accurate to the pattern, your quilt/garment/project will not come out at the right size. For quilting, a seam allowance of 1/4" is most common. It is a narrow seam allowance, and I use a special 1//4" foot (you can see it in the picture above) to sew it accurately. For a beginner, I would suggest that you practice sewing a straight line with an accurate seam allowance of half an inch and get used to what you are doing. Your machine will have markings on the stitch plate (or you can mark it yourself) to follow. Once you have gotten used to this, try the 1/4" allowance - its not hard, just take it slow and be as accurate as you can be. Gwen has a great post here about seam allowance and how to adjust your seam allowance on your machine - I highly recommend you read it to understand the subject.

There are a small number of stitches which are the most frequently used:

Straight stitch - used for most sewing on cotton and non stretch fabrics. A stitch length of 2 or 2.5 is a good length for most projects, mine is set as standard to 2.5 when working with cotton, you will need to adjust it depending on the fabric you're working with.

Zig Zag stitch - used to seal the edges of applique, as a decorative stitch, and often used in the seams of garments/cushions/pillows to stop them fraying when going through the wash. I also use zig zag stitches to sew small pieces of batting together to make larger pieces. Zig zags can be done with different widths and lengths - a small, tight zig zag stitch is known as a satin stitch

Basting Stitch - Also known as tacking, this is basically a very long straight stitch and is used to hold fabrics together before sewing them properly. It can be used instead of pinning. I usually increase my stitch length to 6 to baste. You can also hand baste, taking large stitches. It is a good technique for beginners to use to hold your work together more accurately than pinning, particularly if working with stretchy fabrics. It will give more stability and accuracy when you are sewing the proper seam. To baste by hand or machine, use some pins to hold together your work, then insert the basting stitches. Then remove the pins and adjust your stitch length and sew your seam properly. You can then pull out the basting stitches.

Decorative Stitches - Most machines have some decorative stitch functions - the number depends on the machine. My last machine had 3 or 4, my current machine has loads! They can be simple or complex. This wavy line is one of my favourite decorative stitches and is nice for adding detail to garments and quilts.

Buttonhole & Hemming - I didn't show the button hole or hemming stitch functions here, but many machines have a range of different stitches for doing these jobs. Your manual will tell you more. Buttonholes are simpler than you might think and a little bit of practice will see you right.

Hand Sewing

There are lots of different hand stitches and embroidery stitches you could use. The ones I use most often if handsewing are the running stitch, slip stitch and back stitch, and for hand embroidery the chain stitch and the stem stitch.

Running stitch is a simple stitch done by pushing your needle in and out of the fabric along the line you want to sew. It is useful for basting/tacking, for hand quilting, if you want to gather fabric etc.

Back stitch is more like a machine stitch in terms of it strength and security, and can be used in place of machine stitching for sewing seams etc.

Other stitches that you may use for sewing up openings are a whip stitch and a slip stitch.

There are lots of vides on YouTube showing how to handsew various stitches. Lots are devoted to one particular stitch. This one gives a good overview of lots of stitches (including some you may never use!) - so go and have a search around any time you need to do a particular stitch.

Glossary:

I think I have covered a lot of the basic terms, but some additional ones you might see are:

Applique - where a design or motif is cut out and sewn to another piece of fabric for decorative effect.

Embellish - to add decorative detail to a piece of sewing, e.g. with decorative stitches, buttons, applique etc

Feed Dog - the teeth under the stitch plate on your sewing machine which pull your fabric through.

Free Motion - sewing with the feed dogs lowered and no regulation of stitch length. Used as a quilting technique or in applique to outline the cutout piece.

Stash - usually refers to your lovely collection of fabric!

Top Stitch - A line of stitching close to the edge of your finished project to secure it further, or for decorative purposes. It is usually added after your turn your project right side out, and can be a straight or decorative stitch.

This is the last of the introductory tutorials. I hope they were useful for the complete beginners out there! Next Thursday, we will start the practical tutes (yippee!) with a tutorial for this simple pincushion and needlebook.

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{Sew} Get Started: Sewing Basics Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Tools and Materials

Today's post is all about getting familar with your tools and materials! If you know what you're doing with your machine and fabrics etc, you can skip this one, but if you are a complete beginner and just bought your first sewing machine, I hope that you will find it useful. This post is part of the {Sew} Get Started series.

Sewing Machine

I recommend that you spend a little bit of time this week getting familiar with your machine. It won't bite!

The very first thing I am going to say to you is to go and find your manual. Read it. Use it. Keep it to hand. Refer to it often. If you have a manual on DVD, all the better. Put it on and watch it - I had one for my previous machine and it was brilliant, with videos to show you how to do all the basic sewing techniques. It was a mine of information. Keep it safe, and take it out and look at it when you are learning a new technique. Sewing machine manuals contain lots of vital information about how your machine is set up, along with trouble shooting tips, and you should keep it carefully.

The next thing I want you to do, before you start sewing and trying out stitches etc is to take a note of your tension settting - the one that came preset on it from the factory.Your manual will show you where to find your tension dial. Most will be set between 4-6 I would imagine. Make a note of it somewhere - on the inside cover of your manual preferrably. That way, you always have it (for the days you are messing around and can't figure out what it should be set to!) No. 1 rule coming up - don't touch your tension! Your preset tension will be right for almost all the projects you will need to do. The only time I ever change my is for free motion quilting, and then only rarely. So leave it alone until you really know what you are doing!

Ok - every sewing machine is different but all will have roughly the same structure, so I'm going to give you a quick tour of mine. My sewing machine is a Pfaff Expression 2.0. I have owned it for just over a year and absolutely love it. It is a digital machine with lots of extra features on it and a nice long throat which helps when quilting. However, my first machine was a cheap machine from Lidl (a discount grocery store, for the non-Europeans!) which cost me €70 and worked absolutely fine for the 2 years prior to that and was certainly a good buy for a beginner. The only problem about buying a machine like that is that you can't get spare parts, and when it packs it in, its really not worth replacing. It is worth going to a sewing machine shop and getting advice when buying a machine. Buying a good 2nd hand machine from a reputable dealer is a great way of accessing a machine with a better spec than you could normally afford.

You can see in the photo above the main parts of my sewing machine. What you can't see in the photo is the wheel on the right hand side which you can turn manually to move your presser foot up and down. Your manual will show you the different parts of your machine.

The next thing to get familiar with is the different presser feet. Most machines will come with a range of presser feet. How many depends on your make and model. But most will include a standard presser foot, a zipper foot and a buttonhole foot at a minimum. If your machine has decorative stitches, it may come with extra feet for these stitches. You can usually buy additional presser feet for your machine and if you are going to be doing a lot of quilting, a 1/4" foot is really, really useful. It is important to use the correct foot for the type of stitching you are doing. I have broken more needles than I care to remember forgetting to switch out my 1/4" foot for the standard foot before starting to do a zig zag stitch!

You also should check what's in your accessory tray. You will usually find a seam ripper, anything needed to maintain the machine, needles and other essential bits. If you have a free arm machine, your accessory tray will slide off, leaving a narrower arm which is useful if you are sewing tubular items such as sleeves etc.

The first thing you need to do is to thread your machine and to wind a bobbin. Every machine is threaded differently so unfortunately I can't show you how to thread your machine. But your manual will show you how. If you have trouble figuring out the manual instructions, pop over to YouTube and do a search for threading a sewing machine, using your machine make and model and you should be able to find a video. The most important thing to remember is that your presser foot should be up when you are threading, otherwise it will not thread correctly. Once you have your bobbin wound, and your machine threaded, pop your bobbin in its case and thread it through as per your manual, put back on the cover and you are ready to sew. My bobbin is a "drop in" bobbin - i.e. you just drop the bobbin in the case which is visible in the stitch plate. Bobbins can also be side loading, as my previous machine was.

Your stitch plate will usually have markings in different widths on it. These are for seam allowances and are really useful. You can also add your own seam allowance markings - a quick google search will show you how.

Now, you are ready to start having a little fun. You will be able to set your stitch type, length etc using the buttons on your machine, so go try them out with some doubled up scraps of fabric. I cut up my hubbie's old cotton work shirts and use them for practising stitches on rather than wasting my precious fabric! More about starting to use your machine in Saturday's tute.

If you have problems with stitching, particularly if you get a "birds nest" on the bottom, the first thing to do is to rethread, making sure your presser foot is up. Problems with the stitches on the bottom of the fabric are usually related to the top thread. Other basic troubleshooting would be to redo your bobbin, and to change your needle. Your manual will also have some advice.

Finally, it is important to take care of your sewing machine. You will find some little brushes in your accessory tray to clean out the fluff from your bobbin case etc and your manual will tell you what you need to do to keep it maintained - so do make sure you keep it well looked after, to prevent problems arising. And don't forget to get your machine serviced when it is needed!

Fabric

There are hundreds of different types of fabric out there. For craft sewing and a small bit of garment making, there is probably a reasonably limited range of the type of fabrics you will work with. Here are the main ones I use:

Most of what I use is quilting weight cotton. I often use lighter weight cottons for binding quilts. Home decor weight fabric is great for cushions/pillows and bags and totes too. As you can see in the photo below, home dec weight is a little bit heavier weight than quilting cotton.

Quilting cottons come in printed or plain fabrics known as solids:

A few important things to know about fabrics:

When working with most fabrics, you need to know where the "grain" is. Simply put, this is the line that runs parallel or at right angles to the edge of your fabric - as your fabric consists of threads running lengthways which are woven with threads running crossways. It is usually called straight grain, or straight-of-grain. Fabric has a lengthwise and crosswise grain. It is important to try and cut on the grain as fabric behaves much better when cut properly! This is particularly important for garment making but is also relevant to quilting.

The bound edge of fabric is called the selvedge and is usually woven tighter than the fabric itself. It is important that you cut the selvedge off fabric before using it as it has different properties and sews and shrinks differently to the rest of the fabric.

I have marked the selvedge and grain lines in the photo below. If you have already cut the selvedge and don't know where your grain is, the easiest way to find it is to look at the threads and try to see where you think it is. Make a little cut and try to tear the fabric - if it tears easily in a straight line, that is your grain. Also if you can pull a thread in the fabric, it will usually show you accurately where your grain is.

Fabric also has a "bias". True bias is line running at 45 degrees to the grain line. Fabric has huge stretch on the bias, so it can be difficult to work with. This is by comparison to the stretch on the grain, which is minimal.

Some fabrics, such as fleece, minky, velvet and cord have a "nap". This refers to the direction of the pile. Depending on the direction, the fabric can look different - for example, the colour can look deeper. In the photo below you can see the differnce in shading depending on the direction of the nap. If you are using fabrics with a nap, you need to be careful that pieces are cut so that the nap is running correctly in the finished product. Patterns may specify the nap, but if not do be aware of it when you are cutting.

Lastly - fabric needs to be stored and cared for properly. You should fold fabric carefully and store out of direct light and away from strong smells. There are lots of different storage systems out there you can use. I like to use big decorative cardboard boxes - the ones that come as flat pack and assemble with buttons or hat boxes. I also use baskets, and these are stacked on my shelves.

I store fabric by quantity - so, yardage in one box, fat quarters/big scraps in baskets, and small scraps in smaller baskets. I keep batting, fleece and minky separately, and I have another box for precuts like layer cakes and charm packs.

The question as to whether or not to prewash is a subject of a lot of opinion and there are arguments for and against. For me, the main reason for prewashing is to eliminate colour bleeding. I generally don't prewash designer quilting cottons - like Moda, Kona, Riley Blake etc etc - as I find their colours don't run, although I sometimes do wash deep pinks and reds and blues when I am using them with white, just for peace of mind. But I do prewash cheaper fabrics as I have found some of those carried by my local fabric shop are inclined to run. I also wash fabrics if I am concerned about them shrinking, and fabrics do shrink at different rates, so if I have a mixture of fabrics I will often pre-wash. The other reason a lot of people like to prewash is to remove the chemicals they are treated with by manufacturers. These chemicals give the fabric a nice crisp feel and help repel moths etc. I am just too lazy to be too bothered about the chemicals but it can be a concern for people with allergies. What you do is a personal choice, but whatever you do, don't try to prewash charm packs - they will come out of the washing machine a complete mess and I suspect the same thing would happen with a layer cake.

Interfacing, Fusible Web, Batting and more....

Some other products you will use with your fabric include interfacing, batting/wadding, fusible web and stabilisers.

Interfacing is used to provide shape and stiffness to fabrics and comes in a variety of weights. It comes as fusible (iron on) or sew in. I mostly use fusible interfacing, and much prefer woven interfacing which is softer. Your local fabric store will generally be able to advise you as to what type of interfacing to use for the project you are working on, or the tutorial/pattern will tell you what to get. There is great information on interfacing over in this U-Handbag article if you want to find out more.

Fusible web is used for applique. There are lots of brands - I use one called Bondaweb as it is the best one available to me here in the local shops. It is papery on one side and rough on the other. More about fusible web in later tutorials!

Stabilizer is used to...well, stabilize your fabrics when you are doing something like machine embroidery. Otherwise your machine might chew up your fabric! The stablizer I get here - Vlieseline Stickvlies - can also be used as freezer paper, I recently discovered.

As with all the products, you can get lots of types of quilt batting. I like to use a cotton batting with a low loft, i.e. it is a thin batting. The brand I use is called Warm and White, but there are lots of different types out there and you need to find what works for you by trialling whatever is available to you. You can get wool and wool mix battings also.

You can also get polyester batting which tends to be cheaper. It comes in different lofts and is very useful for things like playmats etc.

The cotton batting is on the left of the photo, and the polyester on the right - you can see the difference.

Iron

You will need an iron and an ironing board for any sewing you are doing. Most sewing involves pressing - i.e. putting the iron down and letting the weight and heat do the work - rather than ironing, which can distort your fabric. Lee did a great post on this issue here which is worth reading.

I also bought a cheapie Tesco Value €5 iron for applying applique and interfacing, as the fusible stuff will stick to your iron if you are not really accurate and its easy to ruin your good iron with it.

Cutting Tools

Your scissors and/or rotary cutter will get a lot of use, so take care of them and never ever use for paper which will blunt them quicker than you can imagine. Rotary cutters, in particular, are very easy to mishandle so it is really important to be aware of safety when you are using them. The most important rule is to put the guard back on the blade every time you put it down, so you never reach for it without thinking and give yourself a serious cut.

A rotary cutter is not necessary for cutting but it does make cutting hugely easier and is a good investment. A small quilting ruler is also an invaluable tool for making sure that your pieces are cut and measured properly, you have proper angles etc.

That's all for now folks....pop back Saturday for the 2nd part which is about getting sewing, stitches, how to cut your fabric, a glossary of sewing terms etc. Then we will be ready to kick off with our first project next week!

As always, pop any questions up in the Flickr group, in the comments or email me directly!

Fresh quilt start!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:25:00 +0000

It feels like there has been a lot of writing and organising going on here the last few weeks, and not so much sewing! I was determined to change that this week and took myself to my stash to pull fabrics for a new quilt. Then, last night and this morning I got cutting and did a little piecing. Oh, there is nothing nicer than a fresh rotary blade in your cutter and miles of lovely fabric to cut!!!

This is a baby boy's quilt. The person I am making it for wants blue, yellow and white. I love the combination of colours - so fresh and gorgeous! I had to order a number of yellow fabrics as I'm not strong on these in my stash, but I had lots of blues. With the limited colours, I wanted to have lots of interest in shades, prints and values and I think I assembled a nice mix in the end!

Then I trialled a couple of blocks. Pinwheels, I just love them. So simple, so classic but just lovely with the right fabrics because there is so much movement in them.

Do you hear that satisfied sigh? That's me, all ready to get chain piecing tonight when the kids are gone to bed! Now, time to go off and do what I've been avoiding all day: tidy up, put away the shopping, spend some quality time with the kids and supervise the homework (that doesn't fall in the quality time category....maybe I will leave that job to Himself when he gets in from work!).

Hope you're having a good day! I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.

Scrapy Pack Giveaway Winners

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah @ FairyFace Designs) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:02:00 +0000

Wow, what a brilliant response to the launch of {Sew} Get Started! I am flattered and delighted in equal measure and hope everyone enjoys!

I did the draw this morning for the scrap pack winners and they are:

Who is Millie:

The second winner is:

who is Paskiaq:

Congratulations to both of you, I will be in touch with you via email to get your addresses. The third winner over on the Facebook competition was Emma Corcoran. I will get those packs in the post before the end of the week so you have them for next Thursday's tutorial!

Thanks for entering everyone, and pop back tomorrow for the 1st tutorial on Sewing Basics!