6 posts tagged “sewing”

I attended my cousin's baby shower this weekend.  I was excited only because I could FINALLY make a small craft thing for a BABY instead of something extremely time consuming for large adult people.

Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts [LAST-MIN PATCHWORK + QUILTED G]

Joelle(Author) ; Williams, Anna(Photographer) Hoverson

My cousin is a rather picky girl.  She likes her designer labels so I decided to make a baby quilt/blanket using Lilly Pulitzer fabric.  The idea is adapted from the Joelle Hoverson book, "Last-minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts." 

She has this big person quilt in there called "Just sweet enough" with this geometric square/rectangle quilt top.  I decided to shrink everything down to baby size and instead of using fabric with a color gradient, I used two contrasting prints called "White King Crab" and "Belle of Lillyville."  One is a powder blue/lavender/sea green color palette print on white and the other is a mix of pinks with white outlines.  I set the colorful squares in a bright white muslin.

The top sheet has 4 inch border of muslin surrounding alternating 3 inch strips of either plain white muslin or chained pieces of bright Lilly fabric with varying sizes of white muslin.  I was going for a "square polka dot-like" effect.  I pressed the seams open instead of to the side.  You can see the seams through the white muslin, but I actually kind of like the effect it makes.  The seams almost look like mini borders or outlines.  It highlights the colorful squares.  After quilting, this effect was mostly lost due to the diffusing color of the white batting and the blocking affect of the pale yellow fleece fabric that I used for the back of the quilt.

Top sheet of baby quilt

Washing, ironing and cutting the fabric took one night (Wednesday).  The next night I plotted out the basic design, figuring out how to make all the varying length pieces fit together so that they all add up to the same length AND look cool (surprisingly difficult).  Then I chained together all the strips and made the top sheet (Thursday).  The day after that (Friday, aka. crunch time) I cut the batting, yellow fleece and white muslin border pieces to make the back of the quilt and made the double-fold binding out of more Lilly fabric.  Before adding the binding I quilted each colorful square.  I was only going to do a spattering of quilted squares, but after doing a few, I realized it looked stupid so I did them all, like the psycho OCD masochistic person that I am.

Fluffy Baby Quilt

I hand-stitched Aug 2009 using dark brown embroidery floss into the fleece backing to commemorate.  I used yellow fleece because I wanted something more gender neutral.  The fabrics are pretty girly, especially the pink flowers, but I didn't want to it make too pink because I hate that gender pandering shizzit that goes on during these "baby shower" type deals.  I mean, boys don't always have to get sports stuff and girls don't have to get everything in pink.  Like Joelle says in the book, I wanted it too be sweet, but not too sickenenly sweet.

lo-def embroidery

I really wanted to make the back fleecy because I thought that would be so great for a baby--a nice snuggly warm blanket.  The extra layer of high loft batting I used in between made it really fluffy and soft and poofy.  That baby will never be cold!

Finished product: (sorry about the blur)

Double fold binding

The double fold binding was super easy.  I cheated and I didn't hand stitch the back with a blind stitch.  This is mostly because I had to stay up pretty late Friday night to get the blanket done in time for Saturday morning.  I couldn't be bothered.  I just machined stitched the binding closed.  This was my shoddiest work, but it was late and I needed to sleep to drive to the baby shower!

All in all, I think it came out super cute.  So cute that I kind of want to make an adult sized one for me.  I'm glad I stitched all the squares and I liked how to alternating binding colors turned out.  I also really liked how puffy the quilting came out.  I actually really like when quilts do that and sometimes it is hard to get that look when you machine quilt. 

My cousin liked it, and her friends at the party (whom I didn't know personally) liked it so much that they joked that my cousin would have to learn how to quilt in time for when they get pregnant and are planning their baby shower.

I was really excited to FINALLY know a baby so that I can make and give away these cute small projects.  It probably took me a little over 14 hours total from start to finish (washing, ironing, cutting, planning, etc).  The quilt in the book is listed under the "8-12 hour projects" and I think I could have done that if I followed the pattern exactly and didn't try to adapt it and change it for a baby size. 

Baby sized projects are so satisfying because you can do them quickly and they are so cute.  But I don't really know very many babies so if I made baby sized stuff I wouldn't know what to do with it all.  I guess I could just cross that line and start making tiny baby stuff for my cats, but I don't know if I want to wear that heavy mantle of a truly psychotic crazy cat lady.  There's plenty of time for that to develop at its own pace without help from me.

I don't know why this has suddenly become a crafts blog, but it's better than me complaining about my PhD!  So here are more crafts.

Some zippered pouches specifically made to hold peanut butter and jelly sandwiches:

Green Elephants

And some zippered pouches for another June birthday:

August Fields Pouches

I am annoyed that there is some pulling at the edge of those pouches.  I think I should have used a ball tipped needle instead of a sharp needle.  The ball tipped will push the fabric aside instead of ripping right into it and causing yucky pulling, letting the white backing show through.  The fabric has quite a sheen to it.  I should have known!  Oh well.

And finally, something for ME.  I really like this fabric--maybe because I was born in the year of the Rooster?  And...I have a French name?  It's by Alexander Henry and it's called "Le Coq de Granville."  I don't really care for the other fabrics in the Granville line, but I really like this one.  There's also a version in a family of reds, which I have but I don't like as much as the blues.

Roosters!

I know the lighting isn't that great, and them more I use my little Canon point and shoot, the more I want a SLR, but I thought it came out pretty well.  I decided to line it again (like the one I made for Irene's birthday) and this time it was MUCH easier and less of a pain in the ass.  I figured out some more efficient ways to sew things and it made it more of a pain-free process so I think I see more lined box bags in the future.  They are so useful!  I made this one to hold my earrings/limited jewelry.  This way it makes it easy for me to cart them around.

I like the tiny tag I made for the side opposite the zipper pull.  Some how, the stitching came out just right so that it is practically flush with the top stitching on either side of the zipper.  I love when stuff like that works out.

In other news, a plant that a friend gave me to take care of suddenly became INFESTED with tiny tiny thingies.

Creepy

Happy Birthday, Irene!  Here is your new HUGE zippered tote bag! 

My friend Irene's birthday is today and here is the birthday craft that I made for her, like a little tote elf.  Thank you Amy Butler for making your gorgeous "August Fields" prints.  I HEART this print.  It's difficult to tell in the photo, but the fabric is beautiful, and has a pretty little sheen to it and it is home decor weight canvas.

Huge!

Those fabric lined straps??  Hells yes they are.  WHOA NELLY were they annoying and painstaking.  There was a lot of ripping out and starting over, but I was able to pull through by basting the edges of the cotton webbing together, and then making a 1 inch bias tape from the fabric, and then sewing that onto the webbing.  It was a lot of work, but I love the results.  I have to admit, each time I make a bag, it's that much better.  This time I learned lots of new things.  Number one, how to make an internal zipper pouch:

Basically, I followed the link, but I think there is a better way to do it, somehow incorporating the zipper between the liner and the pocket itself but this worked for now.  I like how the pattern of the pouch is hidden on the inside.  What a nice surprise when you unzip!

Lots of pockets, which I lined with the outside fabric, and also positioned it so that the top of the pockets would have a sneak peak, almost like piping.  The pockets were stitched with RAINBOW thread.  It was really fun to use.  Because, duh, rainbows are fun:

Pockets!

And I like how I was able to match the top so that the pattern of the fabric is continuous with the zipper.  I didn't start to do this on purpose when I cut the fabric, but when I realized I could orient them that way, I was pretty excited.  Look at that INTENSE zipper!  Bad ass durability.

Matchy

Why are all these pictures date stamped?  Because I used my mom's camera because mine was out of battery power.  Also, I am WAY too lazy to get rid of them.  Let's focus on the crafts, and not the quality of the pictures, people.

I also tried my hand at making a lined box bag.  It was a little bit of a debacle because I ended up sewing the bag SHUT without anyway of turning it inside out, but then I figured it out, ripped a hole, flipped the entire thing inside out and blind-stitched the bottom.  It came out okay!  I kind of wish I made the bag fatter because I think it would be cuter like that, but this works:

I added a little hem-tape tab to the back so that there's something to hold onto when you zip it closed.  There's also a small handle on the other side.

All in all, a really good learning experience and great practice sewing.

I'm off to my first ever DUCKPIN BOWLING.

This week was Championship week on ESPN (we have cable now!!).  Awesome sports on TV = lots of crafting.  I made this bag to give as a birthday present for a friend.

Remember this awesome fabric?

Modern Flora Collection

My first bag

There are some parts that really aren't that great.  The first being that I put fusible on the fabric to give it more shape, but I totally messed up on ironing one piece and it got all wrinkly and weird.  The second is that the binding around the edge is really uneven, but my patience was wearing out and I wanted to get it done so that I could give it to her today.

I made the straps long so that you can sling it over your body, which I find to be convenient.  My friend doesn't really like shoulder bags so I figured this way, she is more likely to use it if she can sling it over her head.  I also reinforced the webbing with invisible thread, which is good, and will allow more heavy use.  I put LOTS of pockets all around the perimeter of the inside of the bag.  As well as a key clasp because I am always searching for my keys and I also love pockets.  I have a lot of hair clips and chapstick.  I WILL MAKE WHAT I LIKE.

Yes, I am going backwards, but I forgot to take pictures after I made it.  Using the same Modern Flora collection fabric, I attempted "Potholder Making: 101" which turned out pretty cute:

Front

My mom just happened to have this 6x6 inch piece of special batting/insulation that is specifically for pot holders.  I'll have to look into how to get more.  It would be nice to have a set, with multiple large and small holders. 

Polka dot bias tape

Back

You can see crafty v1.0 here.  A little while ago I purchased some awesome fabric from an awesome online fabric store:

Modern Flora Collection

Project number 3 is a circular needle case using this how-to guide as a reference.

Circular Needlecase

Elastic detail

Yay for craftiness!  (AND organization...)