by Sherri Sylvester | Jan 13, 2014
I’m posting a project that I’ve been working on since November! My monthly sewing group (the Material Girls) decided to join me in making tea towels with our kids’ artwork on them. We all used them as Christmas gifts for aunts and grandmothers – and of course I kept a set for me! I think I saw this idea a few years ago – when Spoonflower was just a baby – oh how fast they have grown up! I’ve been meaning to try it, but never remembered until the last minute. If you haven’t heard of Spoonflower you can learn more in my DIY Canvas Art tutorial post.
Working with Spoonflower is pretty simple. You scan in your drawing, colour-correct it, re-size it and upload it to your Spoonflower Studio. There are lots of tutorials on how to do this, so I’m not going to go into all the details here. And that is why I have named this a “mini” tutorial and not a full one! When you are printing these, get them made in linen-cotton canvas. When you recieve them they will be a bit stiff. But I used this to my advantage when hemming them and then washed them up. They are much softer and I am assured that they will become nicer with each wash.
I thought it would be helpful to include the template for sizing (below) that I used when I was working everything out. 1 yard of linen-cotton canvas is 54″ wide (selvage to selvage) and 36″ high. This will fit 4 good sized tea towels – as you can see below. Each tea towel is 27″ x 18″ un-hemmed. I put a 3/4″ border on each of my tea towels (like Emma has done here) so it is easy to cut the tea towels apart and also easy to hem them, because you have the line already there. If you want to add the border, reference the smaller size, and make your visible area 25.5″ x 16.5″. When the tea towel front is designed you can add the coloured border to make the final tea towel 27″ x 18″. The other nice thing about Spoonflower is that you can order only one fat quarter tea towel or multiple yards with 4 towels on each.
Christmas tea towel gifts are great – but what about Valentines’ gifts, Birthdays, Anniversaries… and having the kids involved makes it a lot of fun. They were so proud that their artwork was important enough to be printed and given to everyone! I am not sure my tea towels will ever dry a dish. I am far too sentimental and don’t want them to get ruined. Though, if they do get stained (because I think the kids would love for me to use them), I can always order more!
by Sherri Sylvester | Jan 11, 2014
Before I get into a long and drawn out explanation of where I have been lately (besides not blogging!) I’ll get on with this post or I’ll be here all night! I’ve been planning and I’m going to start rolling out some great new things for 2014, hold tight!
Two weeks ago our survey asked “Where do you sew?” Turns out we have a very fortunate readership because over 90% of you have your own permanent sewing space. Over 50% of you even get to sew in your very own sewing room! I must say I am jealous of you folks. I am not complaining, because I get the larger portion of a room I share with my husband’s office, but I do really have to try to keep it tidy – which is completely against my nature! Any organizing junkies out there have any tips on how to do that more efficiently? I’d love to know!
This week I’m asking a new question that my mom suggested. It made me think – what if you have questions you’d like to ask too? Maybe you have a sewing related blog and you’d like to have some new visitors? I want to promote some sewing community around here and… (drum roll please! Exciting thing coming up!) I want to hear from you! In return I would love to post your name and where you live (city, province, state…) along with your question, if chosen, on a Saturday post. If you blog, I will also post a link and photo for one of your posts and to your blog in general. All you do is send an email to sherri@threadridinghood.com that includes your sewing related multiple choice question. Please include the question and 3 to 5 multiple choice answers. You can also send me your name and location, and blog info including which post you’d like me to link up to! Please, if you do not blog – don’t hesitate to enter a question. I’d love to hear from you as well, and I will post a photo of one of your recent projects if you want to send it to me with your email.
What does this do for you? We all get to know some new bloggers and see some new projects. I love seeing things others have sewn – that’s one of the reasons we all love to read blogs! So… what are you waiting for?! Email away – after you answer this week’s survey of course! Hee Hee!
This week’s question is… What kind of pincushion do you use? Interestingly, it comes with some background! My mom happened to take apart her old tomato shaped pin cushion and found 18 sewing needles inside! If you are anything like me, those are in short supply – for some reason I am always losing mine. Maybe that’s where they are? Too bad I am so sentimental I can’t tear mine open – it’s been with me for awhile! If you do decide to see what’s in yours it would be fun if you’d comment and let us know what you found. Does yours have more than 18 needles?! And – in the interest of fairness, here is one of my mom’s projects – check out the quilt she hand-quilted in this post!
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by Sherri Sylvester | Jan 8, 2014
I’m excited to let you know that I’m over on Fabric Spot guest posting a kid’s infinity scarf tutorial! These are so cute and my 3 year old loves that she can put it on herself. I also talk about the amazing organic knit Karen provided for the scarf. Check it out!
by Sherri Sylvester | Jan 3, 2014
I’m excited to share how far gone my foray into quilting EVERYTHING is with you today. I made my sister a few things for Christmas and got a tad excited about free motion quilting along the way. This is my new favorite thing and I have about 17 projects lined up to use it in when I get home from my vacation. Not to get ahead of myself or anything!
This whole set is made using scraps from a 1/2 metre of Early Bird (Cosmo Cricket for Andover Fabrics) that I bought at least 3 years ago. Unfortunately I can’t locate any more for sale – likely since it came out in 2010. I’ve been gifting handmade things to my sister using this for a few years now. My favorite part of the fabric says “If we were meant to pop out of bed we’d all sleep in toasters.” SO TRUE!
The whole project started with the tea cozy. It is something my sister said she could use a few years ago. I cannot say enough good about the tea cozy pattern by Teje that I located on Craftsy. It is a free download – a great size, and the little hanging tea bag makes it perfect! I love that there is a ton of room for little quilty details too. I straight line quilted the front of the cozy, and cheater quilted the centre of it along the fabric lines. The back got some of my loops (as first seen in the Cargo Duffle Backpack!). These are so much fun to do and I don’t mind in the least that they are uneven, it adds to the artsy creativeness! I would love to quilt a whole quilt with these… but I may need a new machine with more throat space first.
Next up – the oven mitt. The pattern for this is from my One Yard Wonders book. It is a simple project with lots of room for quilting! The only thing I was not fond of was turning it. Because the insulated batting adds so much thickness it is amazingly difficult to turn right side out once it is sewn. I would also have lined it if I was making it again, since the pattern doesn’t include one. I got to use some of my organic Tsuru on this one, mixed in with the Early Bird and some other scrappy stashed bits. I love using things up!
Last up – the trivet. I used some insulated batting on this one as well. It is paper pieced with the same fabrics using the Teacup 1 pattern from Piece by Number. I think I made it backwards – I would have liked the handle to be on the right…. ooops. Anyhow – it reminded me how much I love this tiny quilty work. I’m really going to have to get on with a real quilt before I drive you all crazy! The trivet is self-bound using the same technique as the herringbone hot pad I made a while ago.
On the quilty theme – I was able to photograph all of these on a quilt that my mom made and hand-quilted. I think she finished it in the last 2 years? It’s gorgeous and I think might be mine some day. (Yippee!) Here’s a shot of it without all of my projects in the way. What patience – I am in awe of her dedication to the whole thing – it’s queen sized! And did I mention it was HAND-quilted?!
We are having so much fun on vacation here, I don’t know if you’ll hear from me again until next week when we get home. Though I have one thing I want to make before I leave – we’ll see if it happens! Follow along on Instagram if you want to see what we’re up to before then.
by Sherri Sylvester | Dec 31, 2013
I hope you’re not tired of hearing how amazing the Noodlehead Cargo Duffle is because I have one more project inspired by it to share with you today. Well, actually two projects really – matchy backpacks made for my girls with some amazing Ann Kelle fabric! The whole project came about because I really wanted to make the girls some backpacks to use on our plane trip from Toronto to South Texas. I didn’t want to drag along my oldest’s school bag and my youngest has a Made by Rae Toddler Backpack that was not as large as I wanted for this trip. That said, I’m not sure those are really great reasons for making these – but I deemed it a necessity anyhow! And, despite what likely was not-so-good judgement I stayed up until all hours until the last day finishing bits and pieces of them in between family holiday get-togethers.
* Edited (2015-03-04): I’ve posted a mini tutorial on how to make these backpacks! *
The pattern is based on the free Cargo Duffle pattern that Anna from Noodlehead has available on the Robert Kaufmann site. I made these taller than wide and re-did almost all of the measurements. They now have handles, straps, one pocket instead of two and a few other things inside. I also substituted elastic loops and buttons for the snaps because they are easier for my girls to use. I think it turned out just as cute as the snaps – much nicer than the single button I’m used to using.
The girls picked the Ann Kelle “Girl Friends” (in Bright) fabric themselves. Despite me having laid out my Tula Pink Acacia and Rashida Coleman-Hale Koi for them to choose from! Of course, since they both chose the same 1/2 metre of fabric I had to be extra creative cutting everything out. I used up every scrap of that fabric, the last 5″x6″ piece is behind the address card slots on the inside of each bag!
Speaking of the inside. I added a hanging loop so they can hang their sunglasses cases, and two water bottle pockets to the inside of each. I thought that outer water bottle pockets could be tricky to work with when we stashed their bags under the seats on the plane. I also added a mesh pocket so their friends (ie – teddy, buggy and zebra) would have a safe ride. I randomly already had some dollar store zippered mesh wash bags that were exactly the right size, so I cut the backs off of them and stitched them to the inside-back of the backpack. No zipper installation needed!
I think the only thing I’m not so happy with are the handles. I think I made them a bit too wide, but I didn’t have the time to re-do them – especially since the super-cute crowns from the selvage edge were already securely attached! I was happy though, to remember to use my Riley Blake chevrons and dots again. The green and yellow work well for the inside lining of the bags and make everything a bit more fun!
I have to say it was super satisfying flying around with all of these handmade bags! This pattern turns out so well and is really durably made. I’m in a huge debt to Anna for having taught me how to quilt these pieces together and I can see using this technique in a ton of other projects. Besides, it’s really fun to add a little bit of loopy free motion quilting to something and this project is full of possibilities!
I’ve got a few more Christmas projects to share this week, now that they have been given and received. I am curious – have you done a lot of free motion quilting? What is your favorite design to quilt?
