Notes from the Patch

Tutorial Tuesday #45 - Fussy Little Bibs

A few weeks ago I was checking out some new to me blogs and stumbled upon Nana Company and this post. (Go check it out, I'll wait).

Is Amy not THE most creative person ever? I love her style, her attention to minute detail and I especially love her use of tiny Japanese prints and those clever little fabric patches. I so wanted to copy her.

Like so many of you, my problem is that I get these big ideas and have absolutely no time. So I wanted a project that could be completed in a day. The one thing I've learned about myself after all these years is that my projects had better be quick because I know next week I'll be off on another creative tangent and the stack of fabric I took home this week will be buried and forgotten under next weeks new ideas.

Enter these bibs. 

Sadly I have no one to make bibs for anymore, but these just happen to be the perfect vehicle for fussy little ruffles, pintucks and Amy's fabulous made from fabric, patches. Oh, and most importantly, they're fast.

Sunday ended up to be just about perfect - a windy, drizzly day, the smell of soup simmering on the stove and me in my PJ's ruffling, pintucking and patching up a storm. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if it never had to end.

Here's what I came up with:

 

If they look like fun to you and you'd like the basic instructions you can find them here in three parts - Download Little Bits 1, Download Little Bits 2, and Download Little Bits 3.

Thank you Amy for the inspiration!

Encourage one another,

 

 

Tutorial Tuesday #44 - Easter Baskets

Last month as I was working on these

I got to thinking about Easter and what cute little baskets I could make using the same technique.

So Sunday I stayed in my PJ's almost the entire day, listening to the rain and catching up on past episodes of The Real Housewives from where ever while I made these.

Cute inexpensive Easter baskets for boys

and girls

plain

or foofed-up a bit.

I tried several sizes but ended up liking the smaller ones best. Not so big that you have to break the bank filling them - just a little something to say I was thinking of you, Happy Easter.

You can go here for the general instructions since they are made just like the valentine hearts. The only real difference was that I cut a strip of fabric covered Peltex for the handle and attached it with a brad from my scrap booking stuff. You could also machine sew it, hand sew it on with a button, or hot glue it. For this smaller basket I used the following dimensions.

The handle ended up measuring 12" long by 1" wide. Any size works so play around with some different sizes if you'd like. You'll want to increase the length and width of the handle a bit for larger baskets.

I think these would be sweet as favors for an Easter brunch, fun for coworkers or for a special friend or neighbor. You can adjust the size to fit what you want to put inside.

Have fun with these. I'd love to hear what you come up with! 

Encourage one another,

 

Tutorial Tuesday #43 - Valentine Pockets

What would my life be without Peltex?  I know I promised to stop with the Peltex projects but I have just one. more. idea. then I'm done. I promise.

It's just that I got to thinking about these little pockets that could hold candy, cards, gift cards, diamonds. Whatever. And thought since next week is Valentine's Day and these take just minutes to make...well what the hay, I'd just go for it.

So I ironed fabric to each side of a piece of Peltex,

then traced two heart shapes and

cut them out just inside the line.

Next I sealed the edges

with Mod Podge so they wouldn't fray and let them dry.

I think what is so fun about these is that they can be as plain or fancy as you'd like.

You can sew on bits of trim or add lots of embellishments.

But I digress.  

With wrong sides together,

 start sewing at the heart's widest point about 1/8" from the edge

and stop on the opposite side.

This creates a little pocket just big enough for a few treats.

Here's how I made the handle:

From 22 gauge wire, I wrapped about 27" around a wooden spoon handle or pencil kind of loosely

you'll want it to look something like this (hopefully your cutting mat looks nothing like this).

Then, just above the the start and stopping points of your stitches, poke a little hole with an awl, large needle or seam ripper

and thread the ends of your wire handle through the holes.

Roll the ends to create a little knot in the end of the wire so it won't slip out.

Give it a squeeze to keep the wire where you want it.

That's it! Just leave them plain and fill with goodies

or goop them up with lots of googa.

Here's a couple without the wire handle. I think they make cute table favors.

 So quick and fun to do.

Encourage one another,

Tutorial Tuesday #42 Gift Wrapped Pillow

 

Just hours after I posted last weeks tutorial I got the idea for this pillow. So instead of letting a perfectly good idea go to waste here is

Gift Tags Part Two

Today I give you the (poorly written) instructions for my little pieced pillow. You may want to go here for the instructions for making the tags.

Writing these instructions reminds me of the time we were selected by American Patchwork and Quilting as one of their top ten quilt stores. Part of being in the magazine was to design and make an original quilt. I slaved for weeks over the drawings, pattern and  fabric selection. But when it came time to write the instructions I just threw up my hands and boxed the whole daggedgum thing up and sent it off. Bless their hearts. They wrote the most fabulous, clear instructions for me. I am forever grateful!

Anyway... 

...from a twelve inch square of fabric

measure over 3 1/2" from the left and down 3 1/2". Cut. Cut. (What did I ever do before computers and these cool little arrows? Oh, yeah I had someone else do my dirty work for me. I almost forgot).

Cut two strips 2 1/2" x 14" for contrasting "ribbon".

Attach 5/8" ric rac to each side of one of the ribbon strips using your machine's quarter inch foot. Notice the edge of the foot is traveling along the edge of the fabric and the stitch is right down the middle of the ric rac. It's all so easy when you put your good tools to work.

Attach the strip to the small 3 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece by putting right sides together and raw edges even. You will want to sew with the strip on top so you can see to sew just to the left of the seam that attached the ric rac. That little stitch is you friendly guide. Just follow along all the way to the bottom of the pillow piece and you'll be just fine. Cut off the left over ribbon strip and save it. You'll need it to join those two top pieces in just a minute. Press seams toward the ribbon.

Sew the 8 1/2" square to the other edge of the strip (bottom part of photo below). Then join the 3 1/2" square to the 8 1/2" strip with the remaining leftover piece (top part of photo below). Heck, just look at the pictures!

Trim both pieces with your rotary cutter so everything is nice and square and neat..

Sew ric rac to both sides of second strip.

Join top to bottom sections by sewing the two sections to the 14" strip. Same drill. You'll follow right along the stitch that attached the ric rac.Trim and press seams in, toward the ribbon.

Finish your little pillow as you normally would.* You can add a ruffle if you want or cording. I just hot glued the tag on, but you could sew it if you'd like or maybe use velcro.

I think these would be fun for birthday gifts, or graduations. Put a babies birth date and weight on the tag, a wedding date, get well wishes. The possibilities are endless.

Gosh, you could just say hello...

or goodbye...

Encourage one another,

* What's that? You'd like to take a pillow finishing class? The uber talented Annette will be teaching a pillow finishing class at Strawberry Patches next month. Check the newsletter or call the store for details. Your pillows will thank you!

Tutorial Tuesday #41 - Valentine Tags

I swear sometimes my projects seem to take on a life of their own. I start out with one idea in mind and before I know it, I've taken a sharp turn and ended up somewhere totally unexpected. So was the case with this little project. I thought I'd make stuffed hearts using some really cool ribbon that I'd saved and somewhere along the way got an idea for fabric tags instead.

I love tags. You know those paper ones with the brown reinforcements and string ties that you get in the stationary stores? Love those. So I thought it would be fun to make some out of fabric but make them big enough that they could double as little Valentine cards. Just something that a friend could hang in her sewing room or over her desk. A lasting momento of friendship.

I must say here that this is a pretty lame tutorial. Just really a bunch of photos for hopefully some inspiration. What you decorate your tags with will totally depend on what's in your stash boxes, bags and bins.

Here's what I did:

I started with Peltex Double Sided Fusible Stabilizer and ironed fabric to each side. Peltex was the perfect choice for this project because it's thick and firm enough to support my embellishments. You can even sew through it if you want. It was the first time I'd ever worked with Peltex and loved how easy it was.

 I traced my tag shapes onto the fused fabric and cut them out.

Because some of the fabric I used was a loose weave I thought I would seal the edges so they wouldn't ravel so I painted on Mod Podge Matt around the cut edges. 

Then I just rubber stamped a message or design on the front of my little tags and decorated them with some flowers and odds and ends I had laying around. I mostly just hot glued everything down. Each tag took just a few minutes to make although deciding what to do took awhile, but that's the part I love the most - getting out all my treasures, sifting through boxes of buttons and ribbon, trying to find that perfect thing.

I've had these little decorative drawer pulls forever and never knew what to do with them. What I thought I wanted was a big eyelet but didn't have any so the drawer pulls seemed perfect.

I just poked a little hole through the Peltex and screwed the knob onto the tag.

 

 

Here's one with an eyelet after a quick trip to Michaels. Bill helped me drill a hole through the Peltex big enough for the large eyelet.

I antiqued the edges by blotting the edges with a rubber stamp ink pad.

 

If you'd like to make your own you can go here for the tag pattern.

Encourage one another,

 

Tutorial Tuesday #40 - Curly Ribbon Hair Bows

 

A few weeks ago I had the honor of photographing Amanda's baby and one of the headbands we used for her shoot was this curly ribbon bow.

It reminded me that I used to make these all of the time and even taught classes on them. You know, back in the olden days.

So I thought I'd show you how. 

Curly Ribbon Bows are unbelievably simple to make and almost fool proof.

Here's what you'll need:

1/4" grosgrain or satin ribbon. I just buy the inexpensive kind by the roll at the craft store. You can mix and match and these are a great way to use up left over ribbon too.

1/4" wooden dowels. I got these at Michael's, ten to the package and precut in twelve inch lengths. You can also purchase the longer dowels from the lumber store and cut them in lengths that fit into your oven. (Yup, you'll be bak'n these puppies).

Hair barretts. These are 2 1/2" long

and I've taken them apart to make attaching the ribbon easier. Just be sure to pay attention how they came apart so you'll know how to put them back together. (Ask me how I know that this is important).

26 gauge wire, also available from the craft store. I use wire to "sew" the ribbon to the barrett since it's strong and easy to use. You will need about 20" of wire for each barrett.

You'll also need binder clips or clothes pins to secure the ribbon to the dowels.

Here's how I make them:

Secure the ribbon to one end of the dowel using a binder clip or clothes pin and wrap the ribbon side by side - not over lapping - until you get to the other end of the dowel. Cut the ribbon from the roll and secure. It takes about nine twelve inch dowels worth of ribbon for one bow.

Place wrapped dowels on cookie sheet and bake in preheated oven at 325 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let them cool completely. The ribbon curls from the heat. There is nothing applied to the ribbon other than heat to make them hold the curl. Think of the dowels as mini curling irons.

Remove the clips and carefully remove the cooled ribbon from the dowels.

Trim the funky ends by cutting the ribbon at angles

then cut into four inch lengths at angles.

Begin by sewing the 20" piece of 26 gauge wire through the two holes at the latch end of the barrett.

 

Be sure to keep the wire away from the closure part of the barrett and end with the wire on top of the barrett.

Working from the top side of the barrett on the end that you have connected the wire, bundle three 4" pieces of ribbon by stacking them on top of one another and attaching them to the barrett by wrapping them with the wire at the center of each bundle.

Wrap the bundle to the barrett and then wrap again, wrap another bundle to the barrett, then wrap again. One wrap attaches the ribbons to the barrett and one wrap just secures the previous bundle. Pull the wire tight after each wrap.

It takes about nine bundles of three stacked ribbons to cover the top of the barrett.

When you reach the other end of the barrett sew the wire into the hole at the end. Knot to secure and cut away excess wire.

Even out the ribbons (you can slide the wire a bit at this point). Notice all of the ribbon is on the top of the barrett.

With a hot glue gun, glue a small piece of ribbon to cover the wire on the under side so it looks all neat and tidy.

Replace the hinge and tension clip.

The bows can be attached to headbands or clipped directly into the hair - if she's lucky enough to have any.

Encourage one another, 

Here's another idea.

The same technique but with with strips of tulle mixed in with the curly ribbon.

It looks like a marshmallow cloud doesn't it?

Tutorial Tuesday # 39 - 'HO HO HO' Holiday Bunting

 

I am so happy to introduce you all to Candice, of Made With Love. She has been following along here for quite sometime now and during a little chat on a recent trip to Bakersfield she graciously offered to help me out with my Tutorial Tuesday posts. So without further ado...please welcome Candice to the Patch!

Hello, I am Candice, of Made With Love, and I am so excited to be here today, sharing my 'HO HO HO' Holiday Bunting with you!!!  With Christmas just around the corner (eeks!), the 'HO HO HO' bunting will prove to be a great gift and/or addition to your hoilday decor.  Let's get started!

 Materials:

• Fabric for Pendants: 3/4 yard
• Fabric for Background Circles: Assortment of coordinating fabrics; 1/8 yard of each fabric.
• Fabric for Letters: 1/4 yard
• Fabric for Holly Berries: Assortment (3 prints) of red fabrics; 1/8 yard of each fabric.
• Fabric for Holly Leaves: Assortment (3 prints) of green fabrics for leaves;  1/8 yard of each fabric.
• 2.5 yards of Jumbo (1.5") Ric Rac
• Heat n' Bond Lite
• Fray Check
• Glue Gun

 Instructions:

1.  From the Pendant fabric, cut twelve Pendants, using this template (Download Triangle).  If using directional fabric, cut the width of the fabric in half (at 22") and cut the fabric into 8.5" wide x 22" long strips.  Stack two strips, with right sides facing up, align the print, and cut two Pendants at a time.

2.  Adhere Heat n' Bond Lite to the back of the Background Circle fabric, and cut six 3" diameter Background Circles (three red and three green circles), using this template (Download Circle).

3.  Adhere Heat n' Bond Lite to the back of the Letter fabric, and cut three H's and three O's.  I printed out an H and O in AR Christy font, with an outline effect, at 250 font size.  I cut the Letters out of the paper, and traced the letters, backwards, onto the Heat n' Bond.

4.  Place the Background Circles in the middle of the pendants, 2.25" from the top of the Pendant.  Peel off the Heat n' Bond and iron in place.

5.  Using an appliqué method of choice, stitch around the Background Circles.  (I used a zig zag stitch around each circle).

6.  With right sides together (one plain flag, and one flag with appliquéd circle) stitch together, using a 1/4" seam allowance, along the two long (10.75") sides of the Pendant.  Trim the point (left point in photo below is trimmed, right is not), turn right side out, and press.

7.  Place the Letter in the middle of the Background Circle.  Peel off the Heat n' Bond and iron in place.  Appliqué the Letters if desired.

8.  Zig zag along the top of the Pendant, preventing the pendant from fraying.

9.  Using an 1/8" seam allowance, top stitch along the two long (10.75") sides of the Pendant.

10.  Prepare the Ric Rac by neatly cutting both ends, and applying Fray Check.  When dry, fold over the end 1/2" and sew vertically.

11.  Fold the Ric Rac in half and mark the middle point with a straight pin.  With the Fray Checked ends facing up, lay out the Pendants (right side facing down), spacing the Pendants 1.5" a part.  Pin the pendants at the Ric Rac dips (see photo below). 

Sew down the middle of the Ric Rac, the length of the Pendants.

Once attached to the Ric Rac, the back side of the Pendant should look similar to this.

12.  For the Holly Berries, rip one 3/4" wide by width of fabric piece from each of the Holly Berry red fabrics.  Once ripped, cut each strip into three 11" pieces.  Fold the piece in half.

With the ripped edge down, begin to roll, making sure to keep it nice and tight.

Once the center is nice and tight, begin to twist and fold the fabric away from the center.  The more twists and folds, the more intricate your Holly Berry will be!

When approaching the end of the fabric strip, fold over the end and secure with a straight pin.

13.  Once all of the Holly Berries are rolled, one by one remove the straight pin and replace with a small dot of hot glue under the folded flap.  Gather three Holly Berries and glue together.  Make sure that the folded flap of each Holly Berry is centered towards the middle, resulting in a nice and neat Berry cluster.

14.  Using three coordinating green fabrics, with wrong sides together, stitch Holly Leaves onto the fabric.  Not sure what Holly Leaves look like, take a look at these (http://tinyurl.com/5tbtn46) for inspiration.  I sketched the first couple of Leaves onto the fabric with a water soluble marker, and then proceeded to sew the Leaves without sketching.  Leaves come in all shapes and sizes, so have fun!

15. Once the Leaves are stitched, cut around the Leaves, leaving a 1/16" of an inch or so outline.

16.  Once all of the Holly Leaves are cut, arrange as desired on the O's, and with a hot glue gun, glue the bottom leaf to the Pendant and the top leaf to the bottom leaf.

17.  Proceed to glue the Berry clusters (step #13) on top of the leaves.

18. That's it. You're done. Hang and enjoy!

Thank you Candice for your clear instructions and great photos of this fun project. These basic instructions could be used for birthday banners, Halloween or any special occasion. Just switch up the letters and fabric to customize your banner.

Candice selected Countdown to Christmas by Sweetwater  from our website for the banner here.

Encourage one another,

Tutorial Tuesday #38 - Pumpkin Hats and Apple Heads

Click here for leaf pattern

I've been spending a lot of time lately looking for photography props.

My manager, Amanda is just days away from having her baby and we've been throwing around ideas for a newborn photography session.

While going through adorable photos like these on Etsy

 

I realized that if we were going to use cute hat props I'd need to purchase them since I don't knit or crochet...

...until I came across this one.

It got me thinking about the inexpensive crocheted hats we sell here at Strawberry Patches

and I wondered if I could transform them into pumpkins and apples.

So I pulled out a scrap of wool felt and got to work.

I cut a piece 2" x 5" for the stem.

Then applied a bit of glue stick to hold it temporarily while I rolled it nice and tight.

 With matching thread I stitched the edge to hold everything in place.

From a five inch square of felt I cut out the leaves (pattern included above)

then cut a 1/2 inch X in the center as indicated on the pattern

for the stem to be inserted through.

Working from the underneath side I stitched the leaves to the stem.

Next I clipped between each leaf almost up to the stem.

Then I gathered each leaf before stitching them down to the hat.

 Next I centered the leaves and stem and hand sewed them in place.

 

For the apple I used just two leaves and added a little crocheted flower (also available at Strawberry Patches).

I think these would be fun for toddlers to wear to the pumpkin patch or apple picking. Our hats come in two sizes 0-12 months and 1-4T. They are just $6.50 each and come in lots of different colors.

Okay Amanda. We've got the hats, now the rest is up to you.

Encourage one another,

Tutorial Tuesday #37 - Tee shirt dresses

For a PDF on this project click here to Download Tutorial Tuesday

Somehow I feel the need to apologize for all of the recent posts on fancy bows and embellished little dresses. Although Strawberry Patches is first and foremost a quilt store we love all kinds of fabric crafting. It has always been my philosophy that it really doesn't matter what we make as long as we do something creative every day.

You know what they say:

Some of you have asked for instructions for the little tee shirt dress I showed you here last week. (I'm happy to say that we got in some bigger shirts today in lots of fabulous colors).

It's one of those projects that you can whip up in a few hours and it's a great excuse to play with all kinds of fabric combinations and embellishment techniques.

Here's what you'll need:

A tee shirt to fit your little princess (These measurements should fit a child up to 3T).

1/4 yard of fabric for main body of skirt

1/4 yard of fabric for ruffle

1/2 yard fabric for contrasting bias bands

woolly nylon serger thread - optional

embellishments of your choice

matching thread and general sewing notions

Here's what you do:

Put the shirt on your princess and mark where you want the skirt to attach.

Carefully take the shirt off and measure and mark the cutting line. Add 1/4" and cut the tee shirt. (for my size 6 -12 months tee shirt I measured 6 3/4" down from the arm hole and cut).

 

Cutting the strips:

main body: one strip 6 1/2" x 44" 

ruffle: two strips 3 3/4" x 44"

bias hem band: enough 1 3/4" bias strips to equal 88" long

accent band: 1 3/4" x 44"

Sew the two ruffle strips, right sides together, so they measure 3 3/4" by 88".

Sew enough bias strips together, right sides together, to measure 13/4" by 88" to form hem band.

Press the bias strip in half lengthwise with right side out.

Lay bias strip (hem band) on WRONG SIDE of ruffle fabric, raw edges together, and sew with 1/4" seam.

Press seam up and

fold hemming band up onto right side of ruffle fabric. Press.

Top stitch in place using your edge stitch foot and needle position to the left.

The blade of the edge stitch foot will follow along the folded edge of the band and with the needle to the left, will create a straight even stitch.

Gather the top of the ruffle.

I'm using a ruffler here but you can use the gathering method  shown below if you'd like.

I just like the even pleat type ruffles it makes.

Your ruffle should be gathered two times fullness - 88" will become 44".

Sew the accent band to the bottom of the main fabric, raw edges even then attach ruffle.

 

Serge or overcast the seam with your sewing machine to finish the edge of your seam.

Working from the right side and using your edge stitch foot, move your needle position to the right and top stitch with matching thread.

The photo below shows the hem band and how it finishes the hem. The accent band is between the main body fabric and the ruffle. At this point the skirt is in one long strip which makes attaching the ruffle and top stitching so much easier than working with a tube.

Now it's time to sew the ends together to make the strip into a circle.

With right sides together sew the skirt into a tube, matching  hemming band and accent band edges. Serge or zig zag seam to finish.

Gather top of skirt by zig zagging over a heavy thread. This is a way cool trick if you haven't tried it.

By putting the thread you are zig zagging over on top of the foot it will keep you from sewing it into the skirt. The idea is to create a casing for the thread to slip through.

Pull the heavy thread until the top of the main body is the diameter of the bottom of the shirt. With the skirt seam in the center of the back, pin right sides together with raw edges even. Serge or sew to connect.

Turn right sides out, label

embellish

and twirl!

Encourage one another,

A special thank you to Beverly for helping me to develop this pattern and for being my sewing double.

 

 

 

Tutorial Tuesday - #35 Pleated Flowers

 

Here's another video from Maya Road this time showing us how to make those cute little flowers using their pleated satin trim. We stock all six colors and I love the way they look with a bit of bling in  the center. They are quick and easy to make and add that finishing touch to any project.

Here's the video:

 

               

  Encourage one another,