by Sherri Sylvester | Feb 18, 2014
We had a great holiday yesterday. A few years ago they invented “Family Day” and decided to give us an extra day off in February – not complaining about that! Our family enjoyed a busy day at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Lots of fun to be had by all! The new project? Honestly,”Quilted Classroom Mat” is not the catchiest name. But my daughter uses it in her class for their daily Yoga-time, Snack-time, Reading-time and Story-time, we tried “The Quilted Y-S-R-S-time Mat” – not so good!
I bought a single bed size Vyssa Tulta quilted mattress pad from Ikea about 8 months ago because it was on sale for $5. I figured I would eventually find something I could sew with it. When my daughter’s teacher asked that everyone bring in a mat to use in class, I knew what it was for. It makes a perfect mat, thin enough to roll easily and thick enough to be comfortable.
Of course it was very important to my daughter that the mat to be made in some kind of rainbow-related fashion, so I pulled out my longer scraps and the only 3 purple fabrics available in my stash and thankfully they worked out well! I also happened to have about 1/2 a fat quarter of rainbow fabric to make the binding from, which apparently is very exciting also – remember, she’s in grade 1! She also picked the ladybug flannel for the back. I had this one stored in my fabric shelf waiting to make some pj’s. I think I picked it up at Fabricland for about $3 in the ends bin.
I used the quilt-as-you-go (QAYG) method to put together the quilt top. And a bias tape folded binding for the edges. I think it is quite possible that this might actually count as a quilt finish?? (Maybe? Yippee!?) And it used up large scraps of about 5 of my fabrics too – bonus! I really love QAYG, it’s quick and simple to understand. Since it turned out so cute I thought you might want to make one too? It would also make a quick cute little baby playmat!
You will need:
- 36″ x 18″ piece from a mattress pad or similar thickness
- 13 fabric strips – 3.25″x 20″
- 145″ (about 4 yards) of 1/2″ double fold bias tape
- backing fabric – aprox. 22″ x 40″ (I used flannel)
- strap fabric – 1 piece 6″x12″
- velcro
- your regular sewing supplies
Here we go:
Step 1: (a) Cut your mattress pad down to 36″x18″. Mine was crib size, so I still have lots left over to play with again sometime! (b) Trace a round object to create rounded corners on the mat and cut them out.
Step 2: Arrange your 13 fabric strips so you are happy with their placement on the mat. If you have a digital camera/phone around, take a photo so you remember the order they go in. Either way, stack them in order so that the left-most pieces are on the bottom of the stack. (You will notice I had 14 fabric strips in the photos. I found my measurements were off and I couldn’t fit the last strip on as I finished the mat. Don’t worry, I fixed up the measurements for this tutorial!)
Step 3: (a) Place your first fabric strip on the end of your mattress pad. Place the next strip on top, right sides together. Pin the inside edge. (b) Roll up the other end of the mattress pad and secure with clips or clothespins to make it easier to handle when sewing.
Step 4: (a) Stitch along the inside edge of your fabrics with a 1/4″ seam. (b) Open up your fabrics at the seam and smooth them down. (c) Place the next fabric strip on top of the one you just stitched, right sides together. Pin and then stitch the inner most edge with a 1/4″ seam.
Step 5: (a) Continue to place, pin and stitch each strip until you have sewn on all 13. (b) Baste the outside edges of the beginning and ending strips to the ends of the mattress pad.
Step 6: (a) Smooth out your backing fabric and place it right side down on a large flat surface. Place the quilted mattress pad in the centre, right side up. (b) Draw a line down the centre of each strip with a water soluble marker (blue in the photo). Pin the mattress pad securely to the backing fabric. I pinned down the centre of each strip. (This is where I wished I had bent safety pins instead of quilting pins – ouch!)
Step 7: Stitch down each marked line. I used my regular sewing foot with a slightly longer (basting-style) stitch. Be careful to avoid pins. Check that you have not created any tucks in the backing fabric.
Step 8: (a) Make/Unwrap your bias tape. (b) Pin the bias tape around the edge of your mat. Begin and end in a straight section and leave a 3″ tail on each end. Note: Let 1/8″ of your bias tape hang over the edge of the mat when you are pinning. This will help everything to fit when you finish the edge.
Step 9: (a) Stitch the bias tape on by sewing along the fold line closest to the edge of the mat. (b) Begin and end 3″ apart, leaving the extra bias tape at each end. (c) Match the bias tape ends neatly as per this Sew Essential tutorial – but do not fold/stitch it over the edge of the mat just yet.
Step 10: I followed this Cluck Cluck Sew tutorial to attach my bias tape. This mat, however, has rounded corners and needs a bias cut binding so it is a bit different. (a) Fold the bias tape all around the edge of the mat and pin as per Allison’s directions. I pinned horizontally and vertically to the fabric edge depending on where I was pinning. (b) Stitch around the binding as she instructs, ignoring the directions for the mitered corners.
Step 11: (a) Fold/Iron under 1/4″ on the short ends of each strap piece. Hold it down with pins or a glue stick. (b) Fold the piece lengthwise in half and then fold the edges into the centre. (c) Fold the entire strap in half again along the centre line. (d) Stitch around all edges of the strap close to the edge.
Step 12: (a) Cut the strap in half so you have two equal lengths. (b) Attach 2 pieces of Velcro 2″ long on each end side-by side. I like to make an X to hold it in place better. One strap will have 2 pieces of hook-side Velcro, the other will have 2 pieces of soft-side Velcro. (c) Stitch the soft-side Velcro strap along the first quilting seam. Leave 1/2″ of the strap on the side closest to the end of the mat, as per the photo. (d) Fold the strap over itself (hiding the raw end) and stitch it to the mat. Again, an X shape will secure it well.
Step 13: (a) Attach the hook-side Velcro strap to the soft side. Roll the mat up so you can mark the placement of the strap. (b) Roll the strap around the rolled mat to find where it needs to be attached. Pin as per the photo – marking edges and 1/2″ up from the end of the strap.
Step 14: (a) Unroll the mat and place the hook-side Velcro strap within your pinned markings. The end should be 1/2″ past the pin marking the end placement. (b) Stitch the end of the strap with a 1/2″ seam. (c) Fold the strap back on itself (hiding the raw end) and stitch it to the mat using an X shape.
All finished! Go and get your yoga (or reading, or story, or snack) on!
I hope your favorite little person likes their new mat! You can share your projects on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #alongforthreadride, or post them on the Thread Riding Hood Facebook page. And, of course, if you have any questions please be sure to contact me on any of the above or email sherri@threadridinghood.com. I’d love to hear from you! (And, as usual – this tutorial is for personal use only! Thanks.)
by Sherri Sylvester | Feb 13, 2014
Here we are – the first official Quiet Book Sew-Along post. How excited are you?! This post has a lot of beginning information, but I promise we will be sewing in no time. Besides, choosing fabrics isn’t bad ever, right?!
Today we are going to get ready by making sure you have thought through your fabric choices. You will need a bit of time to collect yardage for the page backgrounds and cover, and also pick up some interfacing and binding for the pages. I’ve included helpful information on what to buy for each of these below. I would also recommend not cutting any of your fabrics until you need them. However, you can pre-wash them, it’s important that a kid-friendly book be washable!
There are lots of helpful hints in this post – but since is information heavy I have give you the shopping list for week 1 first. Just click, print it and go. Remember, just like a pattern, all of this information is important so be sure to read over it so you don’t miss anything!
PAGE BACKGROUNDS:
You have two choices for the page background fabrics. The starting size of each page is 9″ x 9″. I would recommend using a quilting cotton weight fabric for them. Since we are building more fabric onto each page they can be hard to finish and bind if they are too thick. Here are your two options:
Page Background Yardage:
- Scrappy Look: If you take a look at my book, you will see that none of the background pages use the same fabric. I love the scrappy look and I also love using pieces from my stash that are too small for other projects. 6 of the pages for this book are based on a scrappy look anyhow and wouldn’t use a coordinating fabric background. You can buy or use your scraps for the page background fabrics as we get to them, some have specific colours.
- Cohesive Look: If you like a more cohesive look it would be fun to order enough fabric now to cover all of the page backgrounds. Eight of the 12 pages can use the same background fabric. There are 6 pages that won’t need it due to their construction. You will need to buy 3/4 of a yard of fabric for the page backgrounds.
COVER FABRIC:
Once you have decided on a scrappy or cohesive look you need to choose a cover fabric. You have two options for the cover:
- Cohesive Look: Cover matches the pages. Buy 1 yard of 44″ wide fabric. This is enough fabric for your pages & cover (see diagram below).
- Scrappy Look: Cover is different. Buy 1/2 yard of 44″ wide fabric. Note: You can still choose to match only your pages as per the “pages only cohesive look” above.
Both yardage recommendations are below and in the shopping list. The cover is 11″ high by 21″ wide. You need 2 pieces, one each for the inside and outside of the book. I found it helpful to buy this at the beginning because I think it influenced my colour decisions as I went. Even though my book is scrappy, I tended towards a more colourful look because the outside fabric was black and white. This gives you quite a bit of extra fabric to play with later! (Hooray for stashing!)
Cover Fabric Yardage:
Option 1 – Pages & Cover are the same.
Option 2 – Cover Only (Scrappy Look)
INTERFACING:
You will also need a few “boring” things like interfacing and binding. To be honest, I don’t remember if I used heavyweight or medium weight interfacing in my book. However, I am recommending that you use a medium fusible interfacing for this Sew Along because that is what it feels like I used. Also, I think I only interfaced every other page, so one of each pair of pages that are sewn together has interfacing. This time around though I think I am going to interface both – it will make the pages a bit stiffer, which would be nice. This is what I have included on your shopping list.
Interfacing Yardage:
- You will need 3 yards of 20″ wide medium-weight fusible interfacing.
BINDING:
As far as the binding. I used what I had last time and stitched half of the pages with white 1/2″ double-fold binding and half of them with black grosgrain ribbon folded in half. This time around I want them all to match, so I am going to recommend the 1/2″ double-fold binding. You don’t need the binding until the end of October, but again, if you like to have everything planned out you can buy it now and I will remind you again later! You can also choose to make your own binding, and if you do it does not have to be cut on the bias, which will make it a bit easier to sew.
Binding Yardage:
- You will need 3 yards of 1/2″ double-fold bias tape exactly to bind all of the pages. Buy 1/2 yard extra if you want to be safe.
So – which are you choosing to make – A Scrappy or a Cohesive look? What colour are you using for your binding? I’ve got to decide on my cover fabric this week too. Since I’m trying to make a unisex book it’ll be a more interesting challenge!
by Sherri Sylvester | Feb 11, 2014
Yet another Valentine’s project? Maybe… or maybe not?! You could also use this easy bag as a gift bag, or fancy it up and make your little lady a dress-up purse. I made this bag with Valentine’s in mind, but the idea came from my Halloween post in October when I promised to make a tutorial for these bags. It was part of my daughter’s Izzy costume.
I made this with the simplest construction in mind. Of course if you have some experience sewing, you can sort out how to add a lining, outside pocket – or something else I haven’t thought of yet! You could really have a lot of fun embellishing them – perfect for party favours even. (And thank goodness they are fast and simple to make!)
You will need:
- 2 pieces quilting cotton outer fabric 9″ x 12″ (or your desired size)
- 2 pieces contrasting fabric 1 1/2″ x width of your outer fabric (for the drawstring casing)
- 1 piece contrasting cotton for applique
- 1 piece Steam-A-Seam or similar fusible web (size of applique)
- 2 pieces 1/4″-3/8″ wide ribbon for drawstrings – length: outer fabric width x 2 + 8″ each
- scissors, pins, glue stick, water soluble fabric pen, normal sewing gear
Here we go:
Step 1: (a) Fold the right side edges of your contrasting casing fabric into the center and iron them. Do this with both pieces. (b) Fold each end of your casing fabric in 1/2″ to the wrong side. Pin or use a glue stick to hold the ends down. Set casings aside.
Step 2: (a) Fold both outer fabric pieces in half wrong sides together so the side edges are touching. Use a round object to trace a rounded corner onto your fabric. (b) Cut along your rounded line with all pieces folded together. This will make sure they are all the same when you are finished.
Step 3: (a) Turn and iron the top edges of your outer fabric pieces down 1/4″ and then 1/4″ again. (b) Stitch across the bottom edge of the folded fabric to hem the top of your bag.
Step 4: (a) Measure 1 1/2″ down from the top edge of each outer piece of fabric and pin your casings in place. Make sure they are centered side-to-side. (b) Stitch close to each casing edge. Do not stitch over the ends!
Step 5: (a) Cut out your applique shape with fusible web on the back and iron your applique on the front outer fabric. (b) Use a small zig-zag to stitch around the edge of your applique.
Step 6: (a) Place the two outer pieces of fabric right sides together and pin. (b) Stitch around the un-hemmed edges (sides and bottom) with a 1/4″ seam. (c) Trim the seam allowance with pinking shears or zig-zag stitch the seam allowance to neaten the edges.
Step 7: (a) Turn the bag right side out. Thread one ribbon through the front casing, then around the bag and through the back casing. I like to use a safety pin to do this more easily. (b) Tie your ends in a knot. (c) Thread the second ribbon through the front and then back casing, but this time make sure to start on the side without the ends from the first ribbon. (d) Tie these new ends in a knot. When you pull on the ribbons the drawstrings will close the top of the bag. If they don’t, check the photos and try re-threading the ribbons through your casings.
Finished! Fill ‘er up with yummy treats, a nice gift, or some spare change for your little lady’s new purse.
As always, I’d love to see your handiwork! You can share your projects on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #alongforthreadride, or post them on the Thread Riding Hood Facebook page. And, of course, if you have any questions please be sure to contact me on any of the above or email sherri@threadridinghood.com. I’d love to hear from you! (And, as usual – this tutorial is for personal use only! Thanks.)
by Sherri Sylvester | Feb 8, 2014
I’ve had these shirts in my head for a while and so I thought I would share a rare Saturday tutorial with you so you have time to make it before Valentine’s if you want! (If you are looking for Sewing Survey Saturday we’ll be back again next week with last week’s results.) I wanted these to be wearable year round, but still have a little bit of a Heart Day vibe. Of course, who can resist the bunting, and it was a lot of fun finding fun fabric scraps to fussy cut. I love that the twill ribbon creates a “faux yoke” on the shirt front.
Thankfully the tees came out like I’d hoped and they are really quick to make. I think I spent about 1/2 hour on each shirt. My oldest even pronounced it the best shirt I have ever made for her. Even though I only appliqued a store-bought one. A little effort on my part = a happy daughter. It’s a win, win situation! And, if you wanted, this would look super-cute on a baby bib or a onesie too – a quick shower gift maybe?
Of all of the things to be proud of I think I am most happy that I actually used my cross-stitching skills from 15 (or more) years ago! I had to remember how to separate the embroidery floss to put some hand-stitching around the appliqued heart. I love how it looks. It’s those little touches that make the piece special. Please tell me you are proud to have a secret past with cross-stitching in it too!?
Wanna make one?
You will need:
- store bought (or homemade) shirt
- twill/ribbon the width of the shirt + 10″ for the bow
- 3 fabric scraps for the bunting (roughly 3″x3″ each)
- 1 fabric scrap for the tiny heart (roughly 1.5″x1.5″ each)
- Steam-A-Seam or other fusible web product
- school glue stick
- ballpoint needle for your sewing machine
- Hand embroidery needle
- Embroidery floss to compliment/contrast the heart
- iron, sewing machine, scissors, pins
Here we go:
Step 1: Find some super-cute fabric and fussy cut it out to make the triangles. My triangles are 2 1/2″ on each side and 2″ across the top. Free-hand cut a heart. It helps to fold your fabric in half and cut half a heart, so each side is the same when you unfold it. My heart is just over 1″ x 1″.
Step 2: Cut your fusible web to match the triangle shapes and heart shape. Use the extra 10″ of ribbon (you likely won’t need all of it) to make a bow. Lay everything out the way you want on the shirt front with the fusible web underneath the triangles and heart. The twill ribbon along the top of the triangles should overhang the sleeve seams by 1/2″ on each side. Make sure everything looks the way you’d like it to when you are finished. TIP: My bunting is off to the left – not centred on the shirt. It looks a bit more artistic, and the bow visually centres it when you are finished.
Step 3: Remove the ribbon and bow. Iron the triangles and heart onto your shirt as per your fusible web directions. I used a press cloth to avoid getting stray glue on my iron.
Step 4: Use a small zig-zag to stitch around your bunting triangles. Don’t stitch the heart, we will do that later.
Step 5: (a) Use a glue stick to fold the edges of your long twill ribbon 1/2 under on each end. Pin/Glue the ribbon onto your shirt, making sure the ends meet up with the edges of the sleeve seams. (b) Stitch around the twill ribbon. I used a straight stitch and sewed as close to all 4 edges (sides and ends) as I could.
Step 6: Separate out 3 strands of embroidery floss and run some small hand-stitches around the heart. Begin and end at the back of the shirt and tie them together with a triple-knot when you are done.
Step 7: Use a bar-tack or a straight stitch on both sides of the centre of your bow to secure it to the shirt and ensure it does not come untied.
All finished – Send it over to a tiny fashion-ista or give it to your little Valentine.
As always, I’d love to see your handiwork! You can share your projects on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #alongforthreadride, or post them on the Thread Riding Hood Facebook page. And, of course, if you have any questions please be sure to contact me on all of the above or email sherri@threadridinghood.com. I’d love to hear from you!
by Sherri Sylvester | Feb 7, 2014
*Edit* Find all the Quiet Book Sew-Along Tutorials in the final post => Quiet Book Sew-Along Overview
(cue trumpet fanfare!) As the title says, we have quite a few people signed up so we can start our Quiet Book Sew-Along! I’m so excited to be doing this together! Aside from the fact that I will have another book “under my belt”, I’m mostly excited to be able to sew it with you!
If you are not sewing along don’t dismay, I’ve got you covered! These page tutorials and patterns are not only great for a quiet book – they can be used to make toddler pillows, t-shirt appliques and stuffies. Not to mention useful projects like a “learn to tie a shoe” toy for an older child. There are so many other options, I’m excited to see what you can come up with!
Still not convinced? I’ll be posting my usual assortment of tutorials and posts, so you can ignore the quiet book and pretend it’s not happening!
Since I like to plan things out, here are a few answers to questions you might have. It helps me to sort out the logistical side, and you will know where we are headed.
When will we finish the book?
- Just in time for Christmas!
- Each page, plus the page finishing/binding and the cover will take 2 or 3 weeks to complete. Since we have 40 weeks from now until the beginning of December and I’ve calculated using up 35 of those weeks to make our books. This will allow for anomalies and a break for me every once in a while – remember – No Stress!
What can I expect?
- Every week (except those random unassigned 5) I will post either a material list, cutting instructions and/or a tutorial for making the page or finishing the book. Sometimes the cutting and making will be in the same week, but the material list will always be given 1 week ahead of time so you can get your fabrics ready.
- I will try to post Sew-Along installments either on Wednesdays or Thursdays. I’m not going to promise, but I’ll definitely do my best!
- There are a few pages that require specific items – the puzzle page uses number fabric, the telephone uses an iron-on transfer, the road page uses road fabric. I am sorting this out but it may mean that I find a way to sell kits for these specific pages. Let me know if you have ideas on how to best do this.
How can I keep track of the posts?
- I will be adding a page link on my blog called “Sew-Along”. This will contain a list of each post as it is added + other some other information. I will also have a button for the Sew-Along available, should you want to add it to your blog.
How do I share my amazing book with the world?
- This is up to you (feedback please!) – I am not sure if you would rather have a link-up party on each post – so you can link up progress photos/blog posts as you finish each step OR if you would rather have a Flicker group that you can contribute to. Please let me know and we’ll proceed as per the majority.** UPDATE: We have a Sew-Along Flickr group – come share your photos!
- Post progress photos on Facebook!
- Post progress photos on Twitter or Instagram! Hashtag your Sew-Along posts with #quietbooksewalong and/or #alongforthreadride
- Blog about it! I will be providing a button that you can post on your blog if you’d like. And of course I would appreciate any links back to this Sew-Along (but they are by no means mandatory).
Any more questions?! Let me know. Hooray for next week’s start with the first official post!
by Sherri Sylvester | Jan 30, 2014
Here is the last set of quiet book pages PLUS a very important question at the bottom of this post! (Here is the Quiet Book Construction post and the Quiet Book – Pages 1-6 post if you’re looking for it.)
The 7th page is the Tired Teddy Bear page! This is the wonkiest teddy bear I have made yet! He is crooked and I (still) can’t embroider properly, but this page gets the second most use in our house. For some reason it is awesome as a toddler to put teddy to bed and pull him out again (poor teddy!). I used a small piece of sweater knit to make him cozy, and the quilt ends up being 1″ squares, which is tolerable in a page this small. Teddy’s pillow is a scrap piece of fun fur. He really is cozy in there. Except for the jingle bell in his stomach – that’s really gotta feel a bit uncomfortable!
I love rainbows. And every good kid’s book needs to explain colours – so this page is one of my favorites. I basically found scraps of each colour and stitched them together. The lettering is made with a fabric pen. My favorite part are the wiggly-eye buttons I found somewhere. I stitched them on like crazy and thankfully they didn’t get chewed on!
This car page was almost the death of this project. I didn’t have a piece of this fabric large enough, so I stitched some smaller scraps together. Really… and it really looks like a road still… I know, I’m crazy. And I actually switched thread colours as needed – amazing! It took a while and if I remember right the project was at a stand-still for weeks while I didn’t allow myself to sew anything else until it was done. The unfold-able page also has a zippered pocket so the Square, Circle and Triangle cars don’t go missing. Shapes are important for learning, but are very impractical as a model for cars! They are made out of 2 layers of leather scraps I had around, and lots of patience and slow sewing.
The door/house page was the first one I made. I wanted it as scrappy-looking as possible and it is one of my favorites. For some reason, no matter how many of these books I make, The door knob snap always ends up on the wrong part of the inside fabric. I really should have put the elephant in a different spot, and that will always bug me!
Kids like peek-a-boo and this page is included in countless other quiet books I looked at for inspiration. I made the mitten extra large so it would be easy to put on. The photo can actually be changed because I left an extra-long (kid-proof!) flap on the top of the clear pocket. It folds down behind the photo.
The last page has an abacus of sorts. Only with different amounts of beads on each string. I stitched the life out of this page ensuring that it would be safe for my 1-year-old baby. I think I glued the ends of the strings, then stitched on the rick-rack, then double-stitched… you get the picture. I made these numbers in puffy paint. In hind-sight, I am never going to use puffy paint again – it looks kind of tacky. But it works, and it reminds me of the 1980’s/90’s? – when I was “cool” and wore shirts I made myself, with puffy paint!
So, there you have it – the whole book! What do you think? Are you interested in sewing 1 or 5 of them?
I am curious to know if you would like to make one as part of a Quiet Book Sew Along. We could fit in 12 pages + a cover by the end of November (ie: before Christmas!) if we sewed 1 page every 3 weeks. I would post one part of the tutorial each week, allowing for material collection, sewing and finishing. Interested? Leave a comment, and if there is enough interest we’ll do it – so please let me know!
