by Sherri Sylvester | Apr 11, 2017
I am overwhelmed by the amazing comments and emails in response to my last post! Thank you, thank you! It reminds me just how much I am not in my own sewing bubble, and how the DIY community is so lovely and supports it’s people so well. I already feel more energized and excited to begin this new way of thinking and writing along with you.
In the works over the past month or so I’ve written instructions for a Bunny Quilt Block! Cute, cute for Easter, or any spring project. But of course, my mind also thinks it would be perfect to use in a baby quilt – if I only had the patience (#notaquilter) and someone with a baby that needed a quilt!
So I’m popping in today with the block instructions for you. Plus, to let you know I’ll be posting about how I quilted it (on my Janome embroidery machine!) and also with a quick tutorial on how to turn any 12″ block into an 18″ throw pillow. **Update: Find out How to Quilt on an Embroidery Machine.**
by Sherri Sylvester | Feb 13, 2017
You can never have too many zipper pouches! What does this have to do with a blanket stitch, you ask? Well, you could add a cute applique to your latest zipper pouch! (See what I did there?! #fullcircle)
I made this cute pouch as a good excuse to be creative and use a cute applique heart I made a few months ago. One of my latest Craftsy Sewing blog posts is a tutorial on how to sew a Blanket Stitch and use it three ways. Way number two was to use it to finish the edges of an applique – resulting in this ultra-cute heart – if I do say so myself!
Figuring that it would need to be made into something sooner or later, Valentine’s Day presented itself and I pulled out some stashed fabric to play with. The bunting fabric is perfect and I love it! It’s Kelly Panacci’s Tree Party line for Riley Blake fabrics and there was just enough left over from making my kids’ Cargo Duffles.
Did you see the tiny Heather Ross strawberry on the pouch’s bum? My kids think is hilarious, and I think it’s pretty funny too! But maybe it’s just the happy vibes from “making a cute pouch with no plan in mind” talking. *grin*
Check out the Blanket Stitch tutorial. You might be surprised, I didn’t know it could be so versatile – and despite my prior feelings, I’m slowly learning hand-sewing is relaxing. Give it a try!
I hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!
by Sherri Sylvester | Dec 21, 2016
It does not feel ready to be almost-Christmas over here – and it’s not for any lack of snow – we’ve got piles outside! Thing is, our kids are still in school and will be right up until Friday. Crazy – they get out for holidays this year on Christmas Eve’s Eve.
So, I’m right on time with my teacher gifts – even though it’s so close to Christmas and they went to school with the kids this morning.
I try to get the girls involved in choosing fabrics and making cards for their teachers, plus we’ve made a tradition of giving something simple to each of them, along with a World Vision gift. I always have a hard time choosing something useful to sew (ie. something they would love to actually use!) – so a few years ago we decided to supply textbooks to kids in the teachers’ names.
We already sponsor two World Vision kids, so it is something we believe in. Plus, the girls have a connection to it and think the gift is pretty cool too! (This isn’t a sponsored post – just something we like to do!)
The awesome Japanese Girls fabric by Alexander Henry came from a Fat Quarter Swap with my friend Rachelle who writes That’s Sew Venice. I’ve been hoarding it for a year now and hope it’s perfect for my oldest’s teacher! Speaking of my oldest – she also insisted her cat-loving teacher would want the cat faces fabric for the lining. Let’s hope she’s right!
My youngest chose a less bright palette with my favorite plaid scraps and the navy owls I used to line this jacket. Of course, it is in her favorite colour, not her teacher’s. (Which I tried and failed to find out.) Again with hoping that she loves it!
Leather and Rivet Zipper Pull Mini DIY ~ a no-sew project!
The zipper pulls were a fun inspiration I thought up a month ago and finally got to use! These are “no sew” zipper pulls and are made the same way as my “Change a Zipper Pull” tutorial – except they are way more awesome because they are leather. And they have rivets to hold them together!
All you need to do is cut up a tiny 1/2″ by about 3″ piece of leather (or vinyl). Fold it over a large jump ring and attach it with a rivet. Take the original zipper pull off as per the tutorial – then use a smaller jump ring to stick the whole thing together. They look super professional if I can say so myself!
What is your favorite teacher gift?
by Sherri Sylvester | Dec 16, 2016
I have a general lack of Christmas pillows, so I’ve been trying to make one each year to add to my collection.
This pillow was designed to be super simple. Two square sides, some quilting, and an invisible zipper closure + pompoms for some fun! My husband isn’t sold on them (yet?), but the kids and I think pompoms are definitely the way to go.
I’ve been stashing the materials for this in a project bag since before last Christmas. Which (of course) is when I planned to make it. As usual – the number of ideas “to sew” were bigger than the time there is to actually sew them. Sound familiar?!
This year I decided to buy all of my gifts, save a few simple zippy pouches for the babysitter and our teachers. I am so much more relaxed, and (thanks to online shopping) we only need to find a couple more things! I really miss planning homemade ideas and sharing them. But to be honest – it’s pretty stressful since I am a procrastinator and never (ever) start early enough. (Plus, there are always birthdays to make up for it!)
I’m also happy to be part of Janome Canada’s series “12 Days of Best Loved Accessories“ and this pillow fits perfectly into my favorite! I have LOVED the AcuFeed Flex (dual feed) system on the Skyline machines I’ve been loaned.
The dual feed system works like a walking/even foot – but the top feed dogs are connected directly to the machine – so it’s more accurate. Since I’ve been using it I’ve haven’t had any bunching or shifting on my quilted projects – and they worked great when sewing the matching the plaid pattern on the seams of my new pajama pants.
The Skyline S9 (and some other Janome machines) include more than one width of the foot – so I have a narrow and a wide foot available to me. Plus a 1/4″ quilting foot, open toe foot and a zipper foot! Great for making sure everything moves along evenly!
I spray basted these layers together and quilted them in a grid pattern with creme thread. I marked a few lines and then used the quilting guide bar to keep them “even”. I prefer a slightly wonky look to my quick projects since I generally can’t keep the lines perfectly straight anyhow! After that, it was simple to trim the pillow into a square, add the pompom trim and zipper and done.
Hmmm… as I’m writing this I just realized there’s a gold shirt in a project bag that is due to be upcycled into a pillow as well… maybe next year?!
Are you hand-making your Christmas gifts?
Fabric: Riley Blake Designs “Lost & Found Christmas” by My Mind’s Eye, from Country Clothesline (out of stock)
by Sherri Sylvester | Dec 2, 2016
It feels good to finish a long-term project, right?! That’s how I feel about these Cargo Duffles. I’ve been wanting to make my daughter’s their own overnight bags since I made the first one for myself. That was three years ago now, photographed the day after our ice storm in 2013. Now all that’s left is to sew up a matching 1-hour Dopp kit, of course!
I always feel projects like this are hard to photograph enough to show you all the details, so I’ve included a huge photo-bomb for you today. I’m so pleased with how these turned out, hope you like them too!
Earlier this year, Kelly Panacci sent me a fat quarter bundle of the Tree Party fabric she designed for Riley Black Fabrics. It’s just right for my girls’ bags and split out fairly evenly into a “blue” and a “pink” project since those are the current favorites around here. I have to confess, my oldest’s pink and red duffle is my favorite – though I LOVE the brown faux leather on the blue one too. Kelly was kind to include a few of her Happy Flappers prints as well – they match perfectly! I love all of the tiny details she puts into each design.
My dilemma of what-to-do-with-a-fat-quarter-bundle-when-I’m-“not-a-quilter” was quickly remedied when I realized 90% of the pieces in cargo duffle fit into the 21″ width of the pieces! Next dilemma, how do I arrange the fabrics so they don’t look too crazy together? They all match in colour of course, but print-upon-print can be a bit jumbled if you’re not careful! This was a bit of an epic process involving charts, layouts and lots of photographs.
Now that they are finished? I love the scrappy, coziness that resulted from mixing all the prints together. Plus, the “bunting” fabric I used for the binding on the blue bag is my absolute favorite! (I’d love to use it for a quilt sometime.) To add to the artisan-handmade effect, I used some stitches on my loaned Janome S9. These X’s on the pocket sides and the blanket stitch along the accent piece add so much. Taking time to carefully add a few extras always makes a big difference!
Anyhow, I’m getting off track… Back to the bag construction!
Since I’ve made 5 Cargo Duffle bags before (these were the 6th and 7th!), I didn’t plan to find anything new to do for them. I love following tried-and-true patterns. Once I’ve made them before, it’s easy to make more, so satisfying and less stressful – because I don’t have anything new to learn! All that to say – Yay, I’ve found a new zipper hack!
You can find links to all of my Cargo Duffle bag (and backpack!) posts and tutorials at the bottom of this post. If you look, you’ll find out how to change a double-zipper into a two-way zipper that closes in the middle, perfect for bag making. I’ve always been a bit disappointed in the colour selection for the double-zips at my local fabric store – so I was thrilled to find out I could use a regular one-pull zipper for this. (And honestly, not sure why I didn’t think of it before?)
D-I-Y Double-Zipper Hack!
- Buy a regular (one-direction) zipper in the size you need.
- Buy a matching second one-direction zipper in the shortest size possible – to save $$! (Or a different colour to mix-it-up!)
- Remove the zipper pull from the small second zipper and toss out the zipper tape sides.
- Feed the zipper pull onto the first zipper following the “Change a Double-Zip to meet in the Center” tutorial
- Done, so easy!
These bags were made with the
free pattern Anna from Noodlehead wrote for Robert Kaufman. It’s my go-to pattern for overnight bags so far, as with most things Anna designs! I did get a bit creative with my own Cargo Duffle, and then the ones I made my family for Christmas, so I added a lot of the same things to these as well.
- Corrugated plastic base: It feeds into the bottom of the bag and helps it to hold its shape. I cut up an old Ikea plastic bin I’ve been saving for 3 years – just for these! It fits into a piece of fabric I added to the base gusset before sewing the sides together.
- Zippered inside pocket: The construction of these bags makes it really easy to add pockets to the inside. Sized to the bag sides, they are basted in and then the edges are covered with bias tape after the bag construction. I pleated the pocket at the bottom so it holds more – perfect for keeping socks and underwear tidy.
- Coloured (non-inset) lining: I made these bags a bit more colourful inside by adding a layer of Kona Cotton (from my Sew Sister’s club subscription) before I quilted the different pieces.
- Business Card Slot: Of course my kids don’t have business cards! But they can for sure write their last name and a phone number to slip into the clear slot. It’s attached to the zipper pocket on the inside and if these bags ever get lost I hope they come back to us because of it!
- Non-Cargo Zippered Outside Pocket: Of course, this defeats the purpose of calling these “Cargo” Duffles – but I find the zippered pocket more practical – and less fiddly – to sew on. The original cargo pockets are amazing, but snaps and I haven’t gotten along well in the past! Plus, things don’t fall out of zippered pockets as easily. (Here’s the tutorial for these zippered pockets.)
- Zipper Tabs: I forgot to add fabric ends to the zipper before I installed it, so I added some tabs to cover the extra zipper tape.
I love working with Canadian Fabric Designers and want to let you know about Kelly’s latest designs for Riley Blake Fabrics – Road Trip! It’s gorgeous and inspired by their vintage trailer and trips to Ontario provincial parks over the past few years. Would you believe Kelly and her husband Mario sold their 28-year house in 2015, packed up and moved into a vacation condo! You can read more about her inspiration on the Kelly Panacci Inc. blog.
A little birdie told me she thinks you’ll find some Road Trip around here soon! What would you make with Kelly’s new fabric?
Other Cargo Duffle posts you might like:
by Sherri Sylvester | Aug 25, 2016
This blog post is brought to you today by the letters “L” and “B” and by the number 2! Kudos to everyone who remembers where that reference is from. Ah, the days of childhood!
When I worked with my sponsor Fabric Spark to make my daughter’s isogram mini-quilt earlier this year, I wanted to make sure I used up the other letters in the alphabet panel. Enter two quick and easy projects with the letters “L” and “B”. Fabric Spark is sold out of this Tamara Kate panel – but has the Joie de Vivre – Joyeax Alphabet from Bari J in stock – it’s just as pretty!
First, I sewed up a quick quilted pillow for my daughter’s friend as a birthday gift. I really, really loved making this pillow. Using up scraps and piecing them log-cabin-style made a quick and easy finish. (My husband had just bought me the perfect tulip bouquet for the photo shoot – super extra bonus points for him!) I always love the quilting, it’s just so satisfying – and always looks amazing. I even dug out my rusty free-motion skills to make a few loops as well. The automatic settings on my Janome Skyline S7 are really helpful – they set everything up for you!
The second project I made was a monogrammed hand towel for my mom’s birthday this July – though she may never use it for fear of dirt! Their last name begins with “B”. I used a simple hand-towel, turned under the edges of the fabric and stitched the letter on. If I had more time I would have loved to embroider some texture into the block. But since I was finishing it the morning we were leaving to take it to her – I wasn’t able to! #procraftinators #unite!
Since I think I have an “M” and a “P” in my alpha-stash (it’s a thing!) I am excited to make my kids some monogrammed pillows too. We are playing “musical rooms” in our house this summer. Moving the sewing room to the (much larger) basement space (yay!) so the kids will each have their own space. We’ve got a “Red Riding Hood” room on tap for the little one and a “pink/teal-blue/yellow” design up for the oldest. Kids are fun and I can’t wait to see how their rooms turn out!
