Wordless Wednesday

Collectin’

Pouches!

Today I decided to make a quick project to test out my new Janome 6260. After a quick survey of my supplies, I went with the Perfect Box Pouch by Indie House, since I was in dire need of a new makeup bag.

I wanted to use something fairly sturdy, which made me think of the Far Far Away II line — it’s such an amazing cotton/linen blend, perfect for bags. I altered the pattern a bit, because I had a rather long zipper and I needed a fairly large bag. The final project measures 12″ long x 4″ wide x 4″ deep; I chose to make it bigger so I can use it for a travel toiletry bag. I used Heather Ross’ Moon and Stars in Tangerine, and lined the bag with Kona Cotton in Coal. Take a look!:

After whipping this up, I wanted to make a smaller pouch to hold makeup brushes. I found a few examples, but no tutorials that fit exactly what I wanted — so I made one myself! This project is super simple, but I figured I’d put it out there for any sewing newbies to enjoy 🙂

–Unlined Zipper Pouch tutorial–

For this project, you’ll need:
-1 fat quarter of fabric
-1 8-inch-long coordinating zipper
-zipper foot
-coordinating thread
-iron
-seam ripper (just in case!)
-fabric marking pencil
-clear ruler
-rotary mat/cutter
-your handy dandy sewing machine

Step 1:

Cut out 2 9×9″ squares. I chose Sleeping Beauty in Dusk from Heather Ross’ newest line, Far Far Away II.

Step 2:

Finger press a crease roughly 1/2″ away from the fabric’s edge. Make sure the crease is at the “top” of the fabric, so that the design is upright. For this design, I wanted to make sure Sleeping Beauty wasn’t sleeping upside down. Iron the crease.

Step 3:

Grab your zipper and pin it carefully along the creased edge.

For this part of the project, you’ll want a zipper foot. If you have never used one before, they look like this:

and are made to allow you to sew your fabric as close as possible to the zipper, in order to make it nearly invisible (although this is *not* considered an invisible zipper)

Step 4:

Sew your zipper to your creased edge. It helps to move the zipper pull away from your sewing. I begin with the zipper closed, then open it completely about halfway through attaching the zipper. If you try to sew alongside the zipper pull, your seam will not be straight — you’ll end up with an odd little curve, so make sure you move that pull!

Now pin and sew the other piece of fabric as in steps 3 and 4:

This is what you will end up with after sewing in the zipper:

Step 5:

True up the sides and bottom of the pouch,

Switch back to the standard zigzag foot

…then pin and sew a tidy seam around each of the 3 sides. I used a 1/2″ seam, which gave me room to sew a second seam 1/8″ away, for extra sturdiness. Make sure your zipper is partially open for this step, in order to turn your pouch right side out!

Step 6:

Trim the bottom two corners to reduce bulk.

Step 7:

Press open your seams

Step 8: Turn right side out, and voila! You have a little zippered pouch!

Now go make one! They’re super quick — I think mine only took about 20 minutes from start to finish, including each step. Visit Indie House and check out her tutorial to make a boxy little pouch of your own!

Not perfect, but..

I’ve been doing a lot (a LOT) of hand piecing while saving up for a proper sewing machine. The list is as follows

1)The beginnings of a Little Folks voile pillow, which will be completed when I receive my new machine (it shipped today!). These are 1″ hexies:

2) a Little Folks hexagon quilt, which will likely reside in my living room, draped over the couch so it can be appreciated regularly (2″ hexies):

3) an Echino pillow, to match another project (more 1″ hexies)…

4) a patchwork quilt! The plan is for it to be queen sized. It’s made of 7″ squares, and it’s about 15%-20% done so far, entirely sewn by hand. It’s a mixture of Anna Maria Horner’s Good Folks, Etsuko Furuya’s Echino line, a bit of Heather Ross’ Far Far Away I (and who knows, maybe I’ll throw a bit of FFA2 in there, as well); also in the mix are lots of Kona solids (Raisin, Pomegranate, Daffodil, and Candy Green, to name a few)

I’m interrupting this post to point out how beautiful Austin can be:

…and lastly, two actual finished projects. A complete, albeit extremely imperfect, potholder (inspired, of course, by Ashley from FilmintheFridge, though hers are considerably neater):

…and a Little Folks fabric rosette, sewn to a bobby pin so that I can 1) feel a bit retro and 2) force everyone around me to appreciate Little Folks, and bring a bit more fabric appreciation into the world 🙂

I realized last week in a few conversations with coworkers that I *never* discuss sewing at work. It doesn’t really relate at all to what I do, and I work mostly with men (not that men don’t sew, but these men don’t). I had a few people ask me recently “so what are your hobbies?” and they seemed genuinely surprised when I told them I spend each weekend sewing. It made me laugh a bit, because most people (myself included, before a year or two ago) seem completely unaware of the modern quilting movement. I also noticed that I address the issue in a self-deprecating way, for some reason — my response to the hobby question is usually something along the lines of “I like to sew and quilt…yes, I’m an old woman stuck in a 24-year-old’s body, apparently, haha” which I really need to stop doing. I’m proud of myself for learning how to create useful objects that could quite possibly become treasured items. What’s wrong with making something that is both useful and beautiful? Nothing at all! That’s my new goal: to address those who ask in an informative, non-self-deprecating way.

Do you ever find yourself dismissing sewing and quilting, even though you love it?
-K

Progress!

Today, I took a break from Ezra’s quilt to work on another that’s been in progress since June. Well, that’s when I bought the fabric, anyway…I wanted to use Heather Ross’ Mendocino line in a way that would show off the fabric but also be bright and fun. It was originally supposed to be a bento box quilt, but I’ve discovered the handkerchief style and now I can’t decide!

Which layout do you prefer?

Bento Box:

Handkerchief:

Let me know in the comments!

-K

Achievement

Remember when I said I wanted to make hexagons?

Scratch that off the list.

Also, fabric giveaways!:
–A Plus Quilt Shop is giving away three gorgeous charm packs
–The Fabric Shopper is giving away an organic fat quarter set that I absolutely adore — so pretty and airy!
–Our Cozy Nest is giving away supplies to make her newest Moda Bake Shop creations, a ribbon blanket and a ribbon block. They’re absolutely adorable, so make sure to get a comment in before it ends Sunday at midnight. The two charm packs she’s giving away are highly coveted and so beautiful!

Goals of all sorts

I am one of those people who’s always got ideas ideas ideas floating about my noggin. Yesterday, for example, I was looking for oil for my sewing machine and walked out with new fabric. Oops! I am finally beginning to realize that without a list of things I need I am nearly hopeless, unless I’ve got hours to wander about and remember everything.

In that spirit, I’ve decided to make a list of quilting and sewing techniques I’d like to try/various things I’d like to make.

(from comfortstitching)
1. Hexagons. They’re so cute, and everyone is using them lately. I’m liking them as decoration on simple items like moleskines, or just as an accent to a quilt, like Ashley at Film in the Fridge has done.

2. Circles. They seem like they’d be difficult to sew, but they look so nice!

(from A Commonplace Life)

3. Wonky log cabin style blocks. All the excess trimmed fabric can be made into hexagons! (Can you tell I despair over throwing away any scrap, no matter how small? And that I love hexagons?)

(for sale here)

4. I have a sudden urge to make a potholder today. I might just do that right now!

(for sale here)

There are many more goals of mine with quilting, but I’ll stick to these for now. Don’t want to get too ahead of myself!

-K

Raku

Today I had a Raku* moment in Joann fabrics.

Usually I don’t wander into fabric stores. I’ve had bad luck with certain chains carrying groan-inducing fabrics (like those my boyfriend, Tripp, chose for a quilt I have yet to make him). You know the ones. Covered in garish prints, not a single designer bolt in sight.

I know, I know. I sound like a freaking snob. It’s just that I don’t really want to use fabrics that don’t meet my cute (kawaii) standard. I’m super picky. Not to mention that I do most (all) of my fabric shopping online, where I know folks have heard of Heather Ross and Amy Butler and their ilk.

Anywho, I was wandering amongst the bolts, thinking about purchasing some muslin or a plain white cotton for background fabric when I was met with a beautiful sight:

Alexander Henry!

Needless to say, I bought some. Half a yard of the Juicy Lemons and just under a yard of the Apples&Pears — it was technically a remnant, so I got it for half price! Wahoo!

Also, I’m actually making progress on my Mendocino quilt. First, a pillow top I made to practice my piecing and quilting. I have an inkling I’ll look at this later with a fond “I can’t believe I thought that was decent looking” feeling.

Here are the blocks I’ve been working on…

I’ve promised myself I’d make a block a day. As you can see, I have 3 done so far, but I have all the other blocks planned out so I’ve only got to stitch them together and I’ll be set. Check out this lovely stack just waiting to be sewn!

-K

*Raku is Japanese term used in ceramics — it means something along the lines of “pleasure” and “enjoyment”. Today’s word is brought to you by my college ceramics professor.

The chaos!

Oy vey! I haven’t posted in almost two months, due to various travel (to Nathan and Jennifer’s lovely wedding) and a furiously packed work schedule…and now Tripp and I are in the midst of packing for…our move to Austin! We decided to move about a month ago, and yesterday was my last day at work. So now we’ve just got to get boxes filled and our truck packed up. We leave Saturday.

I have only sewn one square for my log cabin/bento box quilt:

It was inspired by Ashley’s Modified Bento Box quilt over at Film in the Fridge…but the problem is, it’s so beautiful that I don’t really want to cut it down to quarters. I think I’ll leave it whole and keep my second quilt top simple. Anyway, I do have all the pieces cut, so it’s just a matter of breaking out my sewing machine and having a free day, which should be fairly easy early next week, after we’re all moved in/unpacked.

Lately I’ve begun a new adventure — luckily it also involves stitches, but it’s more portable.
I found another source of inspiration at Tickled Pink Knits! I busted out my yarn collection (which I all too often ignore) and have begun to knit a cowl for myself out of a lovely (and ridiculously soft) brown bamboo yarn.

Hopefully it turns out well — I do hate ripping out stitches, especially when they are so hard-earned as they are in knitting!

So far, so good!

-K

Mendocino happiness + a local treasure

Mendocino arrived on Saturday, Tripp brought it to work when he picked me up — I was really that excited! I checked the mail box every day after ordering it, hoping that by some miracle it would get here the next day…not likely with the USPS, but hey, a girl can hope 😉 (I didn’t have to wait too long –it got here in just 3 days! Yay, Pickled Pear Lane!)

Here it is in all it’s double-gauzy glory. I am actually really surprised at how incredibly soft it is…I can’t wait to quilt with it!

Super soft double gauze. Mmm.

I am letting Mendocino chill for a while until I find or create a quilt pattern I really love. I am very inspired by everything over at Film in the Fridge, and I especially love what she did with Heather Ross’ Far Far Away collection — it’s so simple and gorgeous. I think the Mendocino line, like Far Far Away, is pretty enough on its own, and I don’t really need an elaborate pattern to dress them up. Seems like a charm quilt is in order!

Last night I was itching to sew but I don’t have my walking foot yet, so I decided to tackle a little project from Made by Rae — the Buttercup bag. As capable as I generally am at sewing, bags seem to be my downfall. Am I just bad at following patterns? Nah, I just get ahead of myself too often and want to alter things on a pattern I am unfamiliar with. I tried to make the pattern 1″ bigger all ’round, and ended up with a miserable failure…Oops!

Purse "finished" -- sorta

I did perfect my pleats, though:

Sewing pleats -- not as difficult as imagined!

Today I finally got a chance to head over to The Rabbit’s Lair, which I’ve heard about from several local quilters who’ve come into my coffee shop lately. It was like I was dreaming! All these beautiful fabrics in person, that I could actually touch and look over carefully. It was magical. Maybe next time I won’t be so entranced (and so rushed!) and I’ll have a chance to take a few photos (if they’ll allow it — the lady that was there was really sweet, though, so I can’t imagine anyone saying no). Anyway, I picked up an Aviary by 3 Sisters Charm Pack. It’s gorgeous. Here be my spoils:

Aviary Collection.

Pinked edges = no raveling = happy me.

I also ordered 4 yards of Kona Cotton from Pink Chalk Fabrics — two yards each of Cyan (backing for my future Mendocino quilt) and plain ol’ white, which I have a feeling will become sashing.

Kona Cotton by Robert Kaufman in Cyan

Kona Cotton by Robert Kaufman in White

So excited to figure out a pattern for this Aviary Charm Pack! Time for some research!

xoxo

K