Hand Sewing Hexagons

Last week, I decided that I'm starting to like hand sewing. I previously had a serious phobia to sewing by hand, but lately I had to hand sew lots of leather handles and other things out of necessity. I'm starting to enjoy it. So I thought it was time to tackle something that I have been longing to do for a long time...hand sew some hexagons!

It's really not hard at all once you get started. There's a great 3-part tutorial at Jaybird Quilts if you're interested.

Anna Maria Horner Folksy Flannel. Image from Pink Castle Fabrics.

I am using a fat quarter set that I have of Anna Maria Horner's Folksy Flannel. These fabrics are absolutely lovely, but I had no idea what to make with them. I don't really care for the way that flannels get pilly when you wash them, so I knew that it had to be a project that I probably would not be washing (unless in an emergency, lol). I thought a pillow would be nice.

Although the plastic hexagon templates looked inviting, I wanted something that I could start with immediately, so I printed out 1.5" hexagon pieces from here.

And I used my Accuquilt Go! Baby to cut the middle-sized hexagons. They cut really quickly, and I was able to cut twice as many flannels through the die as I'm used to cutting with quilting cotton.

I put together a little travel box for my purse using all the supplies necessary for hand sewing the hexagons...small scissors, 2 needles (one for securing the paper to one edge of the hexagon temporarily, and the other for the actual hand sewing), thread, paper templates, and my cut fabric. Not that I have a huge amount of free time on my hands, but my kids go to class every Friday for an hour, so I figure I could get a dozen or so finished every week (no hurry on the pillow). :-)

Modern Quilting Magazine

The very first issue of a great quilting magazine has just come out! As you can tell by the quilt on the cover, Modern Quilting Magazine is all about modern fabrics and projects. If you're interested in signing up for a subscription to this UK magazine, you can go here and enter code S5IE4PYF for 10% off (for U.S. readers, there is an extra shipping charge for the subscription).


Unfortunately, I have not been able to get my little paws on this yet as it just arrived from the printer on Friday (this week? Maybe? I am keeping my fingers crossed!). However, I have it on good authority from Lynne of Lily's Quilts that there are several Amy Butler projects in the magazine.

I can tell you one project that I do know is in the magazine, and that is for my Conversation Bag sewing pattern! There is the spread of it in the magazine, and here is a self-shot photo of the bag before I shipped it off overseas:

Thank you so much to Kim and to Katy for testing my pattern! Katy has "engineer-edited" a few of my patterns...Katy I appreciate your brutal honesty, for telling me "eek! that doesn't make sense", and for putting up with an American Idiot (me! How many yards in a meter?). Katy is also hosting a block in the New York Beauty Quilt Along.

This was my first magazine-published project, and I was super excited to be asked! In case you're curious, most magazines have a submission page on their website, which usually includes their contact information, how to submit project ideas, and sometimes even particular projects they are looking for. If you have an interest in submitting a project idea for a magazine, I say go for it! Sometimes you can send a sketch, but if you are at all able to, I would definitely recommend sending a photo of a completed project if you can. Here is the submission page for several magazines from Interweave (and obviously you can e-mail Modern Quilting Magazine or any others).

Above is the project from Lynne of Lily's Quilts. What an amazing pillow, and that tree is the graphic from her blog, which I have envied for quite some time! I will definitely be making this...or maybe I can make a little forest of a wall hanging. ;-)

Tips for Sewing with Laminate Fabrics

I recently sewed with some laminated fabrics (Outside Oslo by Jessica Jones), and it was an experience! I am hardly an expert, but I wanted to share some of my observations about laminates in case you have some in your stash that you are thinking about sewing with.

Note: I'd definitely recommend experimenting on a small piece of your laminates first!

I used my laminated fabrics to sew some bags. At first, I felt very scared and frustrated by the idea (not to mention that they cost about 3 times what I normally spend on fabric, so I was terrified about making a big mistake). Before I began, I read these tips by Amy Butler and also from Kathy of Pink Chalk Fabrics.

Did you know that Lou Lou Thi Summer Totem in Tart is available as a laminate? Oo la la!

The first thing that I had to do was to cut out the pattern pieces for my bags. Since I wanted to fussy-cut the fabric, I wanted to make sure it was right sides facing me. However, I had a hard time deciding how I wanted to make the marks for the pieces. Usually I use my fabric marker, but the marker of course didn't take to the fabric. I used the tip of my scissors to lightly make a mark all around each pattern piece. The mark is barely visible (in case of error), but just enough for me to see and make the cuts.

I had read online that you could not use interfacing with laminated fabrics. I was able to fuse my laminate to 3 different types of Pellon interfacing (SF-101 fusible woven, fusible thermolam, and 520F fusible deco-shape). The interfacing will not really adhere well with a dry iron, so I used a small amount of steam, with my iron set at the cotton setting that I usually use. I put the laminate face down, the interfacing on top, and then my press cloth. I did lightly mist the press cloth. I repeatedly checked the interfacing, and as soon as it adhered, I stopped ironing immediately.

Sewing the laminate was a bit tricky. Perhaps if I had less of a thickness (because of the interfacing), a walking foot might have worked, but I could not get my tension right with the walking foot. I also tried putting painter's tape at the bottom of my regular presser foot, and the fabric would not pass through. Finally I just tried sewing with my regular presser foot as is. I did not have much trouble (besides it being a bit of a slow going). I also found that the heat from my hands stymied the fabric, so I kept my hands off the fabric as much as possible and lightly gave it guidance through the machine. I would recommend lengthening your stitch a small bit.

My final tip would be not to pin at all (unless you are going to pin in the seam allowance), and sew your fabric as little as possible. Maybe that sounds strange, so let me explain. Every stitch, even though you might be sewing straight as an arrow, will be incredibly visible in the laminated fabric. Areas that I normally topstitch (such as small outer flaps, in the case of the bag I was working on), I left alone. I did topstitch, but just things that I felt were absolutely necessary to the shape of the bag. I did purchase a denim needle to use, but my regular sewing machine needle ended up working just fine (even through all the interfacing. Thanks Angie for reminding me about the needles!).

Hopefully my observations will help someone thinking about working with laminates! It wasn't that bad, but I will say that I did breath a sigh of relief when I got back to regular quilt-weight cottons!

GIVEAWAY! And Paper Piecing Count Down!

This giveaway is now closed. The winner is #28 Quilty Conscience! Congratulations!

In honor of the New York Beauty Quilt Along starting next Monday, March 5th, why not celebrate with a great giveaway?! This giveaway will be open to all, not just those joining in (although we'd love it if you'd quilt along with us!!).

The fabric, which will be awarded to one lucky winner, is a fat quarter bundle of Tilly by Daisy Janie, pictured above. Tilly are 100% organic fabrics. They are so neat, and my favorite is definitely the orange print at the top!!

The giveaway is generously offered by a new Etsy shop called Lima Sews. Linh is the owner of Lima Sews, and she also has a blog to keep you up-to-date with special offers and other sewing news!

Here is what Linh had to share about her shop:
"Our focus is on smaller fabric producers and designers.  If it's organic, that's even better.  But really, it's all about what's pretty, so you might see items from Moda and Free Spirit too.  Over the next few weeks, we're expecting shipments from Art Gallery and Blend Fabrics to provide more selection.  Please feel free to contact us if you have any suggestions or requests for fabrics!"

Here is another fabric bundle that I adore from Lima Sews! This is the organic line of Commute prints from Birch Fabrics! So beautiful, and I love the bright color palette!

Please click the link below to enter the giveaway. Giveaway will end on Friday, March 2nd at 11pm CT!

Please Click Here to Enter the Giveaway!

GIVEAWAY! Pellon Embroidery Stabilizers

This giveaway is now closed. The winner was #272 stitcher! Congratulations!

Today's giveaway is a good one! One lucky winner will receive the Pellon prize pack pictured above! The pack includes all the embroidery stabilizer you could use:

Retail Value: over $90!!

1. Sol-U-Film Lite 12" x 9 yards
    This is a wash-away stabilizer. It's good for monogramming and decorative stitching.
2. Fuse-N-Tear 12" x 12 yards
    Iron-on tear-away stabilizer, great for applique and decorative stitching.
3. Stitch-N-Tear Lite 12" x 11 yards
    Tear-away stabilizer, good for buttonholes, applique, and edgework.
4. Stick-N-Year 12" x 6 yards
    This is a pressure-sensitive tear-away stabilizer, good for ribbon, cuffs, collars, knits, and doll clothes.
5. Soft-N-Stay 12" x 11 yards
    Cut away, light-weight stabilizer; great for organza, lycra, sweater knits, and netting.

Don't forget to visit Pellon Projects for free projects using Pellon products!

I have yet to try embroidery (although I really really want to; my project list is just humongous at the moment), so I checked with Rachael from Imagine Gnats to find the low-down on embroidery stabilizer. Not only will you find a blog on Racheal's site, but she has some beautiful free graphic downloads and embroidery patterns in her Etsy shop! Here is one of Rachael's embroidery patterns, which is just adorable!

This is what Rachael had to say about Pellon embroidery stabilizers:

"My first real project with hand embroidery was when I started using it for the faces of rag dolls. The only real hand stitching I had done before was cross-stitch with my grandma, which I found to have been completely different... especially when I decided to try to hand embroider faces on upcycled cotton t-shirts. Pellon Tear-Away stabilizer was a life saver, and remains the only way I can hope to accurately embroider on stretchy and somewhat unpredictable fabrics."

So there you go! If you are a seasoned embroiderer, please enter to win some great prizes! If you are like me and have grand plans to embroider someday soon, please enter as well! You have until Friday, February 24 at 11pm CT! Good luck!

Please Click Here to Enter the Giveaway!

New York Beauty Quilt Along - Fabric Choices

Even though the New York Beauty Quilt Along doesn't begin for another 2 weeks, I think I've nailed down my fabric choices already. I got a package on Friday from Fabric.com with some pretty Kona solids. I used to buy Kona mixed with other quilting solids from Joann's, but I have noticed that after a few washes, the Joann's solids start to get pilly, so unless I am making something that I don't plan on washing, I probably will only buy Kona from now on.

I based my Kona solid choices after the colorway of the fabric above, which is Amy Butler Gothic Rose Burgundy, probably my favorite fabric of all time. I tweaked the colors on the selvage slightly, but I think I'm happy with what I ended up with. Maybe my colors are a little all over the place, but I'm hoping once they are paper pieced, they'll pull together.

For my background fabric, I chose the above text print, which is Moda Hometown by Sweetwater, Town Square in Mist. I think it'll give the blocks a really cool edge.

So, with 2 weeks left until the quilt along, you can certainly still join in! For more information, click on the button on my right side-bar, or even grab a button for your own blog! If you've decided on your own fabrics, post them to the Flickr Group!

Tutorial: Planetary Mini Quilt

Thank you so much to Jennifer from Ellison Lane Quilts for having me guest post on her blog! This post is part of the Modern Mini Challenge! Jennifer has really organized an outstanding event, with lots of guest posts to show you some inspiration mini quilts. If you have made a mini quilt for the challenge, don't forget to go back to her blog on March 5th to enter! There are some *phenomenal* prizes to be had!!

I really enjoyed making this mini quilt. The background fabric is Alexander Henry Light Bright in black (which I have had for over 5 years and was super-excited to finally use), and the Kona solids are turquoise, chartreuse, and purple. While I was piecing the blocks, I thought maybe the background might be a bit overpowering for the solids, but as I finished, I was really happy with the choice. This mini will go up as a wall hanging.

I was also able to use Aurifil Threads for the first time. I received some Aurifil Threads in the fall right before we moved, but I still have 3 sewing boxes packed up, so I'm not sure where my threads are. My friend Kim, because she knows everything that I need, sent me some thread colors that I needed, including pink and this blue wool Aurifil thread that I used to quilt my mini. The Aurifil threads are just so smooth...the blue was a perfect color match, and the wool was so nice and thick. Just love it. Must get more Aurifil!!

Today's tutorial for the Planetary Mini Quilt can be made using an Accuquilt GO! fabric cutting machine, or the templates attached here.

Printable Instructions and Pattern Pieces

ALL SEAMS WILL BE SEWN USING A 1/4" SEAM ALLOWANCE.

PLEASE READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE BEGINNING.

Finished size: 28" x 28"

SUPPLIES


- 1-1/4 yards background fabric
- 1/3 yard each of 3 different main fabrics
- 1/4 yard Pellon #725 Wonder Under
- 1 yard fabric for backing
- 1 yard quilt batting (I used Pellon #TP971F Fusible Thermolam Plus)
- coordinating thread


STEP 1 ~ CUT OUT YOUR FABRICS

1a. Cut your background fabric into 8 strips along the width of the fabric, with each strip measuring 4.5". Cut the strips again into 4.5" x 4.5" squares. You will need 64 squares.


1b. Cut the remainder of the background fabric into 1 strip along the width of the fabric, measuring 4.5". Cut the strip again into 4.5" x 4.5" squares (keep these separate from Step 1a.). You will need 8 squares.


1c. Cut each of your main fabrics into strips along the width of the fabric, with each strip measuring 3.5". Cut 3 strips each fabric. You will need 22 squares of each of the 3 fabrics.


1d. Cut your Pellon Wonder Under into 4.5" strips, then again into 4.5" x 4.5" squares. You will need 64 squares.

1e. Either using an Accuquilt 3.5" Drunkard's Path die or the printable pattern pieces, cut your fabric according to the following:
- Fabric from Step 1c.: Use your pie-shaped die or Pattern Piece B, to cut Main Pieces.           - Fabric from Step 1a.: Use the large-shaped die or Pattern Piece A, to cut Large Background Pieces.     
- Fabric from Step 1b and 1d.: Use Pattern Piece C (if you have an Accuquilt, you will still use Pattern Piece C), to cut Small Background Pieces. You will be able to cut 2 from each




STEP 2 ~ PIECE THE CURVED BLOCKS

2a. Take 1 Large Background Piece and 1 Main Piece. Sew them right sides together. To do this, pin the start, finish, and end of the small curved piece. Also place 2 additional pins, as shown in the picture (I used 5 pins total).


2b. Sew along the curved edge. Be sure to ease and smooth the fabrics as you sew, to avoid puckers or bunching.

2c. Press the seam toward the background fabric.


2d. Repeat Steps 2a. through 2c. to assemble 64 units.




STEP 3 ~ ASSEMBLE THE BLOCKS

3a. Sew together same-fabric blocks in groups of 2. For example, I sewed my purple block to another purple block, etc. Make sure to line up the seams. Repeat until all the blocks have been joined in pairs.


3b. Fuse your Pellon Wonder Under pieces to the wrong side of each fabric piece C, following manufacturer instructions.


3c. Choose 16 of your joined blocks. I divided mine up between my 3 main fabrics. Take 1 of these blocks, and center your fabric piece C in the middle of the main fabric; raw edges should be even. Remove the paper backing from the Wonder Under and fuse.

3d. Stitch your fabric C down to the block using a tight zig-zag or a blanket stitch. Repeat for all 16 joined blocks.


3e. Now lay out your blocks. You will match 1 applique unit with 1 solid unit, to create 4-square units. There will be 4 rows across and 4 columns down.




STEP 4 ~ QUILT AND BIND

4a. Quilt your mini using coordinating thread. I quilted 1/2" away from each of the curved edges.


Since my mini quilt will be a wall hanging, I used a beautiful blue Aurifil Thread.


4b. Bind.


Congratulations, you're finished!! 

Thanks for following along! Don't forget to check my tutorial page for other free sewing patterns, including several bags! You can also join my Flickr Group for help with any of my projects!

New York Beauty Quilt Along

I'm very excited to announce the New York Beauty Quilt Along! This quilt along is all about paper piecing. If you've never done paper piecing before, it might sound a little bit scary, but trust me, you can do it! The quilt along will feature step-by-step photos and instructions for each block by some very talented quilters, to give you the confidence to get off and running!

New York Beauty block from Kati of From the Blue Chair

We will be working with 10 New York Beauty blocks, and you can get a preview of the blocks here. Each block instruction makes one 8" x 8" block (as shown in the graphics); you can either assemble 4 of the same block to make one large 15.5" x 15.5" block (as pictured above), or you can mix and match to make something beautiful!

Here are the approximate fabric requirements if you are planning on making all ten 8" x 8" blocks:

- 10 fat eighths for main fabrics (or 5 fat quarters or scrap fabric)
- 1-1/2 yards background fabric

<center><a href="http://www.sewsweetness.com/2012/02/new-york-beauty-quilt-along.html" target="_blank"><img alt="Sew Sweetness" src="http://i869.photobucket.com/albums/ab257/bluemerleboutique/newyorkbeautybutton.jpg"/></a></center>

And here is the schedule for the block tutorials:

March 5 - Kim from My Go-Go Life {Week 1 Block 0}
March 12 - Sara from Sew Sweetness {Week 2 Block 5}
March 19 - Megan from Canoe Ridge Creations (Week 3 Block 1}
March 26 - Kati from From the Blue Chair {Week 4 Block 8}
April 2 - Jeni from In Color Order {Week 5 Block 7}
April 9 - Amy from Sukie Don't You Know Who I Am? {Week 6 Block 6}
April 16 - Katy from The Littlest Thistle {Week 7 Block 3}
April 23 - Lee from Freshly Pieced {Week 8 Block 4}
April 30 - Amy from amylouwho {Week 9 Block 2}
May 7 - Lindsay from Lindsay Sews {Week 10 Block 9}

If you are thinking about participating, please join the Flickr Group!
We'll be sharing fabric choices and help along the way!

So...are you game?! Grab a button and we'll see you on March 5th for the first block of the series!!

Reader Tutorial: Cathedral Window Pouch

Welcome to Reader Tutorial week here at Sew Sweetness! Each day this week will feature a wonderful step-by-step sewing tutorial from one of my readers. Today's guest post is from June at JuneBug's World! She always has tons of great projects going on, so stop over and say hi!


Hello Everybody! I'm so happy to be guesting over here at Sara's lovely site, and I hope you'll all enjoy my Cathedral Window Zip Pouch tutorial. It's very fun to make, and even more fun to use. You may have first seen this zip pouch as a finalist on the Stitched in Color Celebrate Color event last fall. It's a great pouch to use up some scraps, and to try your hand at various techniques like fussy cutting, cathedral windows, and pintucks. If you like this project and are interested in more with my style, visit me over at Junebug's World! I'd be happy to have you there :)

Cathedral Window Pouch Tutorial
Yields: one 9 x 5" zip pouch

Materials:
1 - cathedral window block, as per the Spotted Stone tutorial
2 - 8x7" main linen (includes allowances for around cathedral window)
1 - 5x12" accent linen (for pintuck side)
2 - 9.5 x 5.5" canvas or home dec fabric (for interfacing)
2 - 9.5 x 5.5" lining fabric
1 - 10" or longer zipper
thread


You'll start by making this cathedral window - go over to the Spotted Stone blog for a wonderful tutorial on it. I like to pull scraps from my stash and find a good print to fussy cut an image from.



Next, cut one main linen piece into sections... 2 - 2x8" strips, then 2 - 3x4" pieces.


Trim cathedral window 1/4" from the points of the window, creating a (approx) 3.5" square window.

Piece together the linen strips around the trimmed cathedral window.


Right sides together. Sew the short sides first. Press. Trim.

Sew on the longer top and bottom edges, press, and trim the right edge to make it straight. Set aside.

Next up is the pintuck side of the pouch.

Take the whole piece of accent linen, and iron it about 1" in, along the long side of the fabric.


Sew down the ironed side very very close to the edge (use your presser foot as a guide, and sew about 1/8" from the edge)

Add a few more pintucks... you can either iron each time, or do free-form pintucks folding and using the previous tuck as a guideline.

Iron down all the pintucks so that they all fold down toward the same direction.
Cut the pintuck strip in half the short way so you end up with 2 pieces roughly 4" x 6".

With right sides facing, sew the pintuck piece to the cathedral window piece. Repeat for the back linen piece and the other pintuck piece.

Place the two pieces (the front and the back of the pouch) wrong sides facing together, and trim both pieces together to 9.5" x 5.5".


Now you'll add sew-in interfacing to stiffen up the pouch. I used canvas, you can use any type of stiffer material that you like. Canvas, home dec, interfacing, fusible fleece, old jeans... it all works.

Place the interfacing against the wrong side of your pretty pouch outer.


Sew along side of the cathedral window, close to the edge, esentially framing the cathedral window with a stitch line on all 4 sides.

Sew another line where the accent linen meets the main linen window.

It should look like this from the back:

Repeat for the back portion of the pouch (sew interfacing to the linen in the same pattern as above).

You should now have two thick pouch "outer" pieces and two pouch lining pieces, and one zipper.

Next we'll sew in the zipper. Place an outer face up (right side up), center the zipper across the top edge (zipper should be face down), and then place the pouch lining face down on top of the zipper, lining up all the top edges.

Your zipper sandwich should look like this:


Using your zipper foot, sew the sandwich together like this:

Flip right sides out, and press the outer and lining. Topstitch along the outer edge of the pouch very close to the zipper.


Repeat for the other side of the zipper (back side of pouch). You should now have something that looks like a butterfly:

For the next step, sewing your pouch edges together, make sure you unzip the zipper halfway so that you will be able to turn it right side out after sewing.


Flip outers right side together and linings right side together, like this:

Pinch the zipper edges towards the lining, like this:
Then sew around the whole pouch, using a 3/8" seam, leaving a 2-3" opening in the bottom center of the lining.


There's your opening in the lining... flip the whole contraption inside out via that hole (and the opening left in your zipper by having unzipped it halfway). Now you'll have a pouch with a lining sticking out of it. Sew the lining shut with a very small seam allowance.
Push the lining into the pouch, taking care to shove it all the way down into the corners. Zip it shut, press with a steam iron on both sides to give it the final touch.

For another reference on sewing a lined pouch together, go to my source... Noodlehead!

And you're done! Enjoy your new zakka style pouch, or give it to your favorite school age kid as a pencil pouch. Or use it as a makeup pouch. Or a travel zip pouch. The possibilities are endless, and super cute.