by Sherri Sylvester | Oct 15, 2015
I’m happy to share another tutorial with you today! And another baby tutorial with the most perfect baby fabric – Cuddle by Shannon Fabrics! Sew Sisters Quilt Shop has sponsored this tutorial and you can find the Play ‘n Snuggle Mini Blanket Tutorial on their blog.
This tutorial incorporates Dimpled and Solid Cuddle fabric – the softest fabric ever! I’ve got a fun idea I’m hoping to pull together for some simple kid Christmas gifts using it, and I think my husband would like one too. Perfect for Cuddle-ing. (See what I did there!) Sew up this beginner friendly afternoon project for your baby or someone else’s.
You can find the tutorial on the Sew Sisters blog – Play ‘n Snuggle Mini Blanket Tutorial!
+ Make sure you head over for your chance to win the Cuddle you need to make the blanket!
by Sherri Sylvester | Oct 1, 2015
Ever since I made four more Noodlehead Cargo Duffles at Christmas last year I’ve been wanting to make some for my girls. They would be perfect for overnight stays at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. And how cute would it be to go on vacation with some too! I’ve recently been looking for the pattern yardage information and it reminded me that I meant to post this yardage-saving information earlier this year. Oops.
Moving on! When planning to make my family their Cargo Duffles, I wanted to do it as cost effectively as possible. When all the pieces were laid out, I noticed that the Cargo Duffle pattern yardage can be reduced quite a bit if you are careful! Of course, if you like having extra fabric around, Anna’s suggestions are just fine – and leave you room for error. Always a good way to go!
If you are looking to save fabric and use up some smaller cuts, the cutting layouts below work great and save you an entire yard of fabric. I would recommend that you are VERY careful when using the Exterior Main cutting layout (see below). It fits absolutely perfectly into a 1/2 yard cut. This leaves no room for error, or pre-washing/shrinking even! Make sure that whoever cuts your yardage is precise – and that the print is on-grain or not obvious – so if it is not straight it won’t look wrong when you make the bag.
Note: These cutting layouts do not include measurements. These are available in the free Cargo Duffle Pattern by Anna from Noodlehead. All other measurements in the pattern should be used as they are noted in the original Cargo Duffle Pattern. These layouts do not include the binding and canvas, interfacing etc.
Hope it helps! Let me know if you have any questions. One day I’ll make some for my girls… (I hope!)
Have you made an Overnight-Style Bag before? What is your favorite one?
Other useful Cargo Duffle related posts I’ve written are here:
by Sherri Sylvester | Apr 28, 2015
I’m tired y’all! I had an amazing weekend at Creativ Festival – but I think the amount of time and energy I put into getting everything ready is now showing – I haven’t even unpacked or pre-washed any stash yet! I’m going to post a review of the weekend, but first I’ve got a quilt for you. (And, if you are expecting an email from me about the weekend I’ll hopefully get it out tomorrow!)
This is one of the projects I made in collaboration with my sponsor, Fabric Spark – for use at Creativ Festival. It’s a blanket/play mat made using the Wee Gallery collection from Dear Stella. I’d already fallen in love with the front “Dress Me” fabric when Daryl suggested making this quilt for the show. (I’ve got a yard stashed away from when Daryl first listed it!)
After I got the kit I was totally smitten with the backing fabric – Wild – Alphabet! Would you believe it’s even got a “N is for Narwhal” on there? (If you are looking for the “Dress Me” fabric, this little quilt did its job and now Fabric Spark is sold out of the “Dress Me” print. You can still get Wild – Alphabet here. *EDIT: Apparently Daryl is all sold out of the Alphabet as well.)
The quilt is made using the free “Dress Me Up!” Tutorial by Modern Handcraft on the Dear Stella blog. It’s such a cute idea! The only thing I changed is to use coloured thread for the quilting. In an effort to make it unisex, I used pink, blue, orange, yellow, gray and cream – generally matching the colours on the Alphabet backing – but lighter. I had a false start with a few quilted lines in bright pink and darkish blue that “showed up” too much for my liking.
Using wool felt for the character’s clothing is such a great idea. My oldest has already been designing clothes for them with the left-over felt. I’ve never used wool felt before, and I was so pleased with the quality and feel of the pieces provided in the kit. You can get wool felt from Fabric Spark as well – they have wonderful names like “Pea Soup”, “Vanilla Latte”, “Fresh Linen” and “Bluer than Blue”!
I learned a good lesson from this quilt as well – a quilt does not have to be hard, or even pieced! This whole-cloth quilt was so simple to make – and the end result is so cute! My favorite part is the coloured quilting. I didn’t even use any fancy quilting thread.
My new motto more often needs to be “Simplify Your Projects” and “Done is better than Perfect”!
Your Turn! What is your favorite sewing motto?
Disclaimer: I received this quilt kit at no cost in exchange for it’s use at the Fabric Spark booth during Creativ Festival. All of my opinions are my own and I won’t take on projects I don’t believe in. Thanks for reading!
by Sherri Sylvester | Jan 12, 2015
This is one of those projects – the ones you envision during a spark of inspired genius towards the end of the summer and say (to no one in particular) … “Hey, do you know what would be awesome? I should make 4 Cargo Duffles for my family for Christmas!” Then you email them right away and ask for their favorite fabrics, but it takes you until October to order the fabric, of course. After it arrives and is pre-washed (just in case), everything sits through sewn Halloween costumes, your oldest’s birthday party, your wedding anniversary weekend away, Christmas shopping… until finally – on the 12th of December – you finally realize that you are going to have to start!
I’m sure you have had this happen to you before?! Thankfully I finished them up in time to mail out on December 23rd. A little late – but finished. And my family loves them and they have already been put to good use. So now I can share them with you! (I got most of these fabrics from my sponsor Fabric Spark, a linked list of fabrics is located at the bottom of this post. The others were from my stash or from Warp & Weft, which has recently closed.)
These bags were so much simpler to make this time around! I still love my first Cargo Duffle – in fact it is one of my most favorite projects. As usual, making something the second (or 5th time around) you know what you are doing already. I got to use my zipper tutorial again – the one that explains how to change a double zipper so the sliders meet in the centre, instead of finishing at the ends. I had forgotten how simple it was to do!
To make my life a little easier, I substituted a large zippered pocket instead of the pattern’s two cargo pockets (tutorial coming soon). It is my own design and all of the edges are finished inside. The zipper creates a fully closed pocket – so I feel more confident filling it! I also used strapping instead of sewing the handles – which made me a little sad, since the handles look amazing sewn – but speed and time was of the essence!
I’ve also been asked to post the measurements for the Cargo Duffle Backpacks I made in 2013, so that will be coming soon as well. They use the same construction as the duffle bag, but with different measurements. The girls still use them a lot and the Ann Kelle fabric is just so cute! I recently made new serged-edge Beach Robes for the girls using the Ann Kelle Girlfriends mermaid fabric – perfect! You can see them here on Instagram.
I hope you are having a great start to your week and I’ll see you again soon!
Fabrics: (top to bottom, see photo below)
- Parson Gray – Empire Felucca, Indelible -Spirodraft, Kona Cotton (likely Charcoal)
- Lotta Jansdotter – Blomster (out of stock, similar here), Kona Cotton (stashed mystery colour), Essex Yarn-Dyed Linen/Cotton – Black
- Ghastly Forest – Mist, Essex Yarn-Dyed Linen/Cotton -Flax, Stashed Black Denim
- Tula Pink – Foxtrot Shade, Tula Pink – Moonshine Swarm Fern, Stashed Black Denim
- Bias Tape: Parson Gray – Empire Fishnet, Ghastly Bramble – Tea Stain, Stashed Red
by Sherri Sylvester | Dec 19, 2014
A few years ago my daughter’s school sent home a letter asking for donations to local charities instead of teacher gifts, and it got me thinking. I always have a hard time choosing fabrics and sewing for teachers. I’m never sure if they will use what I’ve made, or even if they will like it. So this year we did things a little differently. Still, with some sewing – because I HAVE to sew them something!
We gave each teacher a fabric envelope filled with a painted salt-dough ornament, a handmade card and a certificate saying we bought a World Vision gift in their name. The fabric envelopes are part of my Fabric Gift Bag Pattern, and I modified them by adding a button and leaving off the strap closure. The girls picked the fabric from my stash of fat quarters and I sewed them up yesterday – as per my “regular” last-minute rule!
The girls were already painting ornaments to give as gifts at the retirement home where we will be singing carols this year. So we made a few extras for their teachers as well. And they worked hard to make some cards for their teachers after school yesterday. My oldest is in French Immersion and I’m so amazed at how quickly she picked up another language! She made a card in each language – one for each teacher.
The World Vision gift we chose to give will donate books and literacy support to kids in need. It made me tear up when I bought it – but maybe it’s just a product of multiple late nights I’ve stayed up sewing? My kids love stories and reading. To think that we have a (small) part in helping other children to have that ability as well – it’s a great feeling! I printed each graphic straight from the e-card. Easy Peasy (and thankfully fast!)
Now we are almost ready for the holidays, I’ve just got to tackle the gift wrapping!
- Reader Feedback: What is your favorite go-to appreciation gift?
by Sherri Sylvester | Dec 4, 2014
This is it. Your perfect Christmas gift. (or Birthday, or Any-excuse-will-do-day!) I cannot tell you how excited I am to be a part of this amazing fabric subscription program put together by my sponsor, Fabric Spark.
They have teamed up with some amazing bloggers to offer a specially-curated fat quarter bundle every month! I don’t know about you… but I get a tad giddy at the thought of owning something one of my favorite bloggers has chosen. It’s like a little celebrity-crush and I get to own something they have put their mark on. Now… as I write this I realize that it sounds a little stuck-up, and please forgive me for it, because while I was writing I forgot that I am of those bloggers! Eeeek! It makes me so thankful for all of you who are reading this. Thank you so, so much for following along!
I am thrilled to be included in this amazing group. I’ve been following Maureen Cracknell Handmade – one of my most favorite blogs ever – and Very Shannon – Go Canada! – around the web for quite a few years now. Daryl (Fabric Spark’s owner) has recently introduced me to Fresh Lemons, Blue Elephant Stitches (also Canadian!), Modern Sewciety (amazing podcasts!) and the Tattooed Quilter. Each month, starting in January 2015, you will receive a bundle of 12 fat quarters, specially chosen by one of these great bloggers.
You can sign up for the Monthly Sparks monthly fabric subscription program here.
The winners of the Thread Riding Hood kits from Fabric Spark are posted as well! The giveaway was for three kits – one TRH Reusable Lunch Bag Pattern kit and two TRH Fabric Gift Bag Pattern Kits. I was excited to be able to email the winners earlier today. And even more excited to receive their lovely emails back – best part of my job! Congratulations to Anita, Jackie & Michele! I hope you enjoy using the kits (and please send photos when you are done?!).
Have a lovely Friday and a great weekend everyone!
