by Sherri Sylvester | Jul 13, 2014
I love a good quiet book page with some movement and a fun learning opportunity! This abacus (of sorts) is not terribly accurate, but you can count each string’s beads and move them up and down as you do. I made the first version of this with actual beads, (which you can substitute if you want of course) but I’m so paranoid of someone’s child choking on a bead, that I’ve devised a way to (hopefully) make it safer by using scraps of vinyl or leather.
I’ve also omitted the numbering, since I was not satisfied with the quality and “professionalism” of my 80’s-esque puffy paint art on the beaded version! I think it also promotes parent/child interaction by creating an opportunity to play with the child and count the beads out loud. Wow – look at me, I sound like some sort of educational parenting expert now… so totally not the case in real life!
the “original” quiet book abacus page
I’m posting the materials and tutorial for this today because I’m on vacation this coming week – hooray! I’ve also got some secret plans for the week… so there won’t be room to post the proper Quiet Book post. What is it you ask? Come back Monday to find out! (Hint… it has something to do with the fact that my blog started 2 years ago on the 12th of July!)
How about making that Abacus page… just to stay busy so the curiosity doesn’t drive you crazy! (If you are just starting find all the information you need on this Sew-Along page.)
You will need:
- Background Fabric: 1 piece quilting cotton exactly 9″x9″ square
- Page Interfacing: 1 piece exactly 9″x9″ square, medium weight fusible interfacing (you will have this from your Week 1 shopping list)
- Top & Bottom of Abacus: 2 pieces of fabric, 2.5″ high by 7″ wide
- Abacus Strings: 5 pieces of 6″ long, 1/4″ wide, 100% polyester ribbon
- “Beads”: 3 small leather or vinyl scraps in different colours (approximately 2 3/4″ x 3″ each)
- Ribbon: 3 1/2″ long for the side tab
- Small Safety Pin
- Glue Stick
- Leather needle (if using)
Before we begin/Important Notes:
- When you are sewing this book it is good to remember that some of the edges will be covered after the book is completed and sewn together. 1/2″ on the top edge of your page and 3/4″ on each side edge will not show in the final project.
- Remember to use your iron liberally when you are sewing this book. It is going to be a work of art when you are done! Since it is thick and some of the pages will not be iron-able once you are finished with them it is advisable to take all of the care you can to remove wrinkles so they are not accidentally permanent in your final book.
Here’s how to make it:
- Interface the 9″ square background fabric with the 9″ square interfacing as per the manufacturer’s directions. (My background fabric is “Quote This” in Cherry from Double Decker Fabrics.)
- To cut your vinyl/leather into 30 rectangles, you first need to cut 2 pieces 1.25″ x 3″ high from each of your 3 coloured scraps.
- Place the cut vinyl/leather wrong sides together with their matching colours and glue a very thin (1/4″ max) line along each edge to hold them together.
- Once the glue has set, mark each pair every 1/2″, as in the photo below. Use a pencil for this, so the marks can be removed later. There will be a space at the end that will not measure 1/2″ – this is extra.
- Stitch down each edge of your leather/vinyl with a 3/8″ seam. ** It is important to treat each 1/2″ mark like it is the beginning or end of a seam. Back stitch at the beginning and before you reach the end of each 1/2″ mark. We will be cutting on the marks to make these beads, so you want your stitching to be strong and reinforced so the beads stay together. If you are having trouble stitching the vinyl or leather because it is tacky – try this trick.
- Cut each leather/vinyl rectangle 1/8″ away from your stitches on each side. This will create a 3/4″ wide rectangle.
- Cut each long rectangle along your 1/2″ marks to make your beads.
- Fold the ends of your fabric in 1/2″ and use a glue stick to hold them in place.
- Fold the fabric in half lengthwise and press, unfold and fold each side into the centre. You can use a glue stick to hold this in place, or just press it extra well with lots of steam.
- Prepare your abacus strings by melting each end of the ribbon over a flame. (I know you will be… but please be careful!) The melting will only work if your ribbon is 100% synthetic fibres. ** If it does not fully melt, it is not appropriate for use in a quiet book because the strings could fray over time (even when stitched) and come out, leaving the beads to be chewed on and potentially becoming a choking hazard.
- Use a glue stick or pins to adhere one side of one of the folded fabric strip to the background fabric, 2″ down from the top. Adhere the other one to the bottom centre, 2″ up from the bottom. Make sure there is a 4″ gap between the strips. Leave the strips open so we can place the ribbons between the folds.
- Line up the strings so they are equally spaced along one of the fabric strips. I used a glue stick to hold them in place. The ribbons are long on purpose to make them more secure. Place the excess ribbon inside the folds of the fabric strip. Make sure the bottoms of the strings are inside the bottom folded fabric strip as well, but do not pin or glue them in yet.
- Pin/Glue the top fabric strip shut. Stitch around the edge of the fabric, catching the ribbons. Also stitch through the centre 2 or 3 times to reinforce your stitching and make sure the ribbons never come out. **Please, again, be careful when using beads and small objects around children. I cannot be held responsible if anything happens… and I want to be extra certain that this page is safe!**
- Place the beads on your strings. I have separated them out to make the numbers 1 through 5. A skewer helps to get the ribbon through the bead.
- Insert the bottom edge of each ribbon into the fabric strip and follow steps 11 and 12 again to close up the bottom of the abacus.
- Fold the 3 1/2″ matching ribbon tab in half and use the small safety pin to attach it to your page so it does not get lost.
All done! And we are half way through our Quiet Book pages! 6 down, 6 to go… Thanks for sewing along! Please check the
Sew-Along page for a list of all the tutorials + ways you can share your book. As usual, please let me know if you have any questions: email sherri@threadridinghood.com or leave a comment.
** As usual: This tutorial is for personal or charitable use only. Please do not sell items made with the Quiet Book Sew Along posts. If you wish to sell these please contact sherri@threadridinghood.com for information on how to purchase a license. Thank you!
by Sherri Sylvester | Jul 9, 2014
I thought it would be fun to post all of my June #madeforkidsmonth photos in one post. I really enjoyed seeing what my kids decided to wear each day and we managed to post something 14 times – though a few were twice in one day. Since many of them link back to tutorials and posts I’ve written, the captions are linked to their corresponding posts.
I hope you enjoy a sneak peek into my not-so-polished photos via Instagram!
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Day 2 – unBlogged Voile Shirred Sundress |
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Day 9: unBlogged Lab coat from Men’s Small tee |
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Day 29: Grandma-made Smocked Dress |
by Sherri Sylvester | Jul 7, 2014
Here is the tutorial to go along with the materials listing and description for the Telephone Quiet Book Page. (If you are just starting find all the information you need on this Sew-Along page.)
Before you begin, get the items you will need for the telephone page from the materials post.
You Will Need: (in addition to the materials list)
Before we begin/Important Notes:
- Print out the pattern piece pdf on letter size (8.5″ x 11″) or A4 paper. Important: Do not select “fit to page” when printing, make sure you print at the original size. Once you have printed the pages, measure the 1″ test square to ensure the pattern is the correct size.
- Print out the dial pad number printable. It is set to print in a 4″x6″ page, so it is easily printable on a larger sheet. Be sure to follow the directions for flipping or not-flipping the image before you print it. Also, be sure to print only the colour of dial pad that you want. I have included white, blue, pink and yellow. You can easily do this by only printing the page with the colour you’d like to use.
- When you are sewing this book it is good to remember that some of the edges will be covered after the book is completed and sewn together. 1/2″ on the top edge of your page and 3/4″ on each side edge will not show in the final project.
- Remember to use your iron liberally when you are sewing this book. It is going to be a work of art when you are done! Since it is thick and some of the pages will not be iron-able once you are finished with them it is advisable to take all of the care you can to remove wrinkles so they are not accidentally permanent in your final book.
Here We Go:
by Sherri Sylvester | Jul 5, 2014
Here is the tutorial for the Getting Antsy Picnic Quilt! I went over the background for this quilt in the previous quilt background post, so I’ll just jump right into the tutorial here. I used the Charlie Harper Fat Quarter Bundle from Warp & Weft as the base and inspiration for the quilt.
A word of warning about this tutorial. It is simplified and assumes that you know some basics about quilting and have made a quilt before. If you have any questions please feel free to email me – sherri@threadridinghood.com and I’ll do my best to help you out.
You will need:
- 1 set of 7 Charlie Harper fat quarters (from Warp & Weft here)
- 6 solid coloured fat quarters
- 3/4 yard/metre border (cut to 2 3/4″ strips)
- 1/2 yard/metre binding (cut to 2 1/2″ strips)
- 4 yards/metres non-directional backing
- 1/8″ black ribbon (100% polyester)
- 1/4″ black ribbon (100% polyester)
- scraps of black quilting cotton (fits within 1 fat quarter)
- quilt batting to fit – aprox. 75″x75″
If you would like to colour in your layout instead of laying it out you can click here to print out the quilt template and use it to plan your quilt. I laid out my fabrics with the “cool” colours on the top left and the “warm” colours on the bottom right and worked my way to the centre with each.
Here we go…
- Cut each of your 13 fat quarter into 3 rectangles 5.75″ high x 19.75″ high each. You should have 39 rectangles in total.
- Make 9 black hexies. If you’d like you can use my no-baste hexie tutorial. In the tutorial post there is also a template for creating the hexies in the proper size. They should be 3.5″ from point to point and 3″ high.
- Lay out your rectangles in the order you want them. You will need 3 columns with 12 rectangles each. You will have 3 rectangles left over. Lay out your ants as well so you can make sure to position them where the background is not as busy. This way they will show up better when you stitch them on. (As you can see I was going to mark a “trail” for the ants in ribbon and changed my mind at the end.)
- Stitch each column together in the order you placed the rectangles.
- Press each seam open.
- Pin the columns together at each seam and stitch them together. Press your seams open.
- Piece the border strips together to make one strip aprox. 250″ long.
- Stitch the border to the top and bottom of the quilt first.
- Trim the strip to 90 degrees at each corner as you go. Stitch the border to the left and right side once the top and bottom are sewn and trimmed. Press all of your seams open.
- Piece your backing together. I used the 3 extra rectangles + a few small scraps of my favorite prints and a solid red square. I cut my backing fabric in half and pieced one half on each side of the scrappy stripe. Then I trimmed off enough height from the top piece of backing fabric to allow the stripe to be approximately 1/3 of the way down the back. (see a photo in the last post)
- Lay your backing right side down on the floor or table, place your batting on top of the backing. Add your quilt top right side up to create your quilt sandwich. Make sure to align the stipe on the backing and the stripes on the quilt top so they match up with where you will be quilting/tying your quilt. Baste/Spray/Pin to hold everything together.
- Remove the paper hexie template from each hexie and pin them in place where the ants will go. This marks the quilt, so you can avoid tying it where the ants are attached. The body of the ant is made by matching two straight hexie sides. The head is made by matching the point on one hexie with the centre straight edge of another. (Please ignore the ribbon “trail” under the bottom ant.)
- Tie your quilt at the corner of each rectangle and twice in-between along the lines. I used painter’s tape and my quilting ruler to keep track of where I was tying.
- Machine quilt the border. I stitched my lines about 1/2″ apart.
- Cut 6 legs from 1/4″ ribbon per ant. The front legs are 2 1/2″ long and the back legs are 3″ long. Also cut 2 antennae from 1/8″ ribbon per ant. These are also 2 1/2″ long. Use a flame to *carefully* melt both ends of each leg or antennae. This will prevent them from fraying.
- Pin the ribbon legs and antennae to your hexies as indicated in the photo. About 1/2″ of one end of each ribbon will be underneath the hexie. Pin along the edges of the hexie to keep it in place as well.
- Stitch each ant to the quilt. Sew along the centre of each ribbon and around the edge of each hexie. Repeat until all three ants have been stitched on.
- Sew the binding strips together to make one long strip aprox. 300″ long. Bind your quilt using your favorite method. I use the cluck cluck sew tutorial to machine stitch my bindings.
All finished and ready for picnicing. Go take some photos and show it off! And of course, I’d love to see your creations. You can share your projects on Twitter and Instagram @sherrisylvester with the hashtag #alongforthreadride or #threadridinghood, or post them on the Thread Riding Hood Facebook page. (As usual, this tutorial is for personal/charitable use only – thanks!)
** Please note: This is a sponsored post and some of the fabric was provided to me at no cost by Warp & Weft. However, as always, all opinions are my own and I will never promote something to you that I do not love myself. **
by Sherri Sylvester | Jul 4, 2014
I do not know the last time I felt this excited to show you a project! I’m so proud of this quilt and I love how it turned out. I love the photo shoot, and I love the fabric… it has been an all around amazing journey! When I first saw the Charlie Harper collection I knew I wanted to use it for something, so when Esmari from Warp & Weft gave me a chance to use it for a Sewing Society post I was thrilled! I’m going to post a simple tutorial for this quilt separately today, since the post is getting quite long and photo heavy! So here is the background on it… (**Update: the tutorial for the quilt is posted here.)
I love Charlie Harper’s art, and the outdoor nature of them was perfect for something picnic-related. I tried to come up with something other than a picnic quilt, but in the end I failed to think of something I would rather make – and I’m so glad I didn’t! I wanted the quilt to look modern, but typical, all the way down to it being hand-tied. My quilt is neither difficult or complex or even many pieces – is is, however, my 2nd “real” quilt finish and I’m quite enjoying my foray into the world of HST’s and OBW’s.
I figured, since I was not likely inventing a super-complicated quilt for a tutorial the first go around, that I would add in some fun applique. I am so IN LOVE with my ants! Ants and picnics just go together – and I am super-excited to have created my family’s picnic quilt for many years to come. I have made many clothing projects, for my kids and for myself… and for my husband… nothing compares to the feeling I got finishing this quilt. The sense of heirloom and keeping someone dry and/or warm with it. The happiness, many picnics and fun memories I want to create around our future adventures with the quilt.
I used the fat quarter Charlie Harper bundle from Warp & Weft plus some of my randomly stashed solids and solid red, binding and backing from my local big-box fabric store. I would have been more adventurous on the backing – but it’s going to mostly be on the ground, so a dark wobbly stripe it was plus a little piecing with a bit of extra fabric.
The binding is the most perfect wobbly criss-cross fabric and I took some inspiration from the striped bindings I’ve seen from some of the other Sewing Society members lately. I’m super happy with it and the fact that it looks hand-drawn is just a further nod to the Charlie Harper artwork.
I decided that machine quilting the whole quilt was a bit adventurous, so I tied it with embroidery floss instead. Much “safer” and faster! I did want to make sure it had some machine quilting, though, since I love how it looks – so I stitched straight-ish lines around the border. I figured out later that I think I would have been fine to quilt the whole thing, since it probably would have folded up small enough to fit in my machine. Ah well – next time! The quilt finishes at around 70″ square. Lots of room to fit our family of four.
I also toyed with the idea of making the backing waterproof. In the end I decided that I wanted it to be available to use as a quilt, not just for sitting on. I’ve had too many picnics growing up where the cold weather caused one or more of us to huddle under the picnic quilt for warmth. A waterproof quilt would not be cuddly! I think instead I will carry an inexpensive vinyl tablecloth around to put underneath the quilt, if it is needed, to keep us (and the quilt) dry.
I’m off to finish writing and posting the tutorial before cleaning my house for tonight’s sewcial. I love my monthly get-togethers, even if I don’t get much done for all of the sewing-talk!
What do you think? I’d love to hear about your quilting adventures. Have you made a favorite picnic quilt?
** Please note: This is a sponsored post and some of the fabric was provided to me at no cost by Warp & Weft. However, as always, all opinions are my own and I will never promote something to you that I do not love myself. **
