by Sherri Sylvester | Jun 29, 2014
I managed to only post twice last week – oops. I finished a quilt in 5 days though, so it was necessary! I’m so excited – you can see some peeks of it on Instagram if you’d like. It’s not a complex pattern, or huge, or even “all-over” machine quilted (I tied most of it), but it’s finished and I love it! It’s actually my second quilt finish in as many weeks. The first one is photographed and ready, I’m just waiting for a good time to post it.
Friday was the last day of school for us, so I’ve got summer in full swing now, including my 2 year Blogiversary that is coming up really soon! I’m planning some fun stuff to thank you all, so stay tuned…
As part of my next Warp & Weft Sewing Society post I have put together a little tutorial as part of a larger tutorial for the quilt coming at the end of this week. I needed a few black hexies for a very mysterious part of the quilt (hee hee, you’ll have to come back to see it!) and I thought I would make my life a little easier. Turns out you can make these things without basting them! Instead of thread and a needle – you just need some freezer paper and an iron.
Now I know that the hand-sewn element involved in basting these hexies allows you to baste in the car, or make them as a “take-along” project. So, if you are one of those people I have a solution for you too. Instead of using an iron to adhere your freezer paper, try bringing along your hair straightener! The Riley Blake Instagram account posted this last week – and it would work perfectly. You could even use one of those outlet plugins in the car and make them on the road!
You will need:
Here we go:
Step 1: Cut the freezer paper to a size that will fit into your printer. I used a letter size sheet – so 8 1/2″ x 11″. I put them into the paper tray shiny side up, so my printer would print onto the matte side. Check which way your printer works before inserting the sheets. Now print out your hexie template. You can use the one I’ve provided in the “You will need” list or another one in the size you’d like.
Step 2: Cut out your hexie templates. This is not super fun, but it was a lot quicker than I thought it would be. I’ve noticed that there are pre-cut freezer paper hexie templates for sale online – so you could try that too.
Step 3: Iron the templates onto the wrong side of your fabric, leaving at least 1″ of space between them. The space accounts for the 1/2″ seam allowance. Make sure the shiny side is DOWN, unless you want the paper to stick to your iron! The shiny side of the freezer paper is actually a thin plastic layer, so when you iron it, it temporarily sticks to your fabric. I use the heat setting on my iron that matches my fabric, in this case it was cotton. Iron just long enough to get the paper to stick.
Step 4: Cut out around your templates. Leave at least 1/2″ seam allowance around all edges of your hexies. This is the part that will get folded under and usually gets hand basted.
Step 5: Grab one freezer paper/fabric pair. Pull to remove the freezer paper and flip it over so the shiny side of the paper is facing up, centred on the wrong side of your cut fabric. Fold one edge of your hexie seam allowance over onto the freezer paper and iron it down. Easy peasy, it sticks to the plastic layer! Proceed around the hexie template folding and ironing each side down.
Step 6: When you are done, turn it over (paper side down) and give it a quick press with lots of steam on the right side, to secure the shape. (It might stick a little to your ironing board, but no harm done, just pull it off.) One hexie done! Repeat until you have enough to make your project.
When you want to stitch your project, just remove the freezer paper templates. Because the paper can be ironed multiple times, you may even be able to do this as you finish stitching them together. Anything to save cutting more templates, right?!
I feel that it is a little sad to be posting a tutorial with all of the hexies in black, they are so pretty when they are made in colour! Unfortunately, I needed black hexies, so that is what we get. Curious about the quilt much?! Here’s a little peek… I got to use Warp & Weft’s Charlie Harper Fat Quarter bundle. You’ll have to come back at the end of this week to check it out. I’m so excited to show it to you!
by Sherri Sylvester | Jun 17, 2014
Good Tuesday to you! After a long and drawn out technology war with my computer today, I finally get to introduce a new sponsor – Double Decker Fabric! I met Dorienne online when I interviewed her last year for my Canadian Online Fabric Store series. She has a giveaway and a discount code for you today, so stay tuned! Before we get to the giveaway, I thought it would be fun to pair some of Dorienne and my favorite tutorials with her fabric. I love finding out what other people’s favorite tutorials are. Sometimes I have seen them before, and sometimes (like with Dorienne’s today) I find a few new ones, and some new favorite bloggers too. I hope you enjoy the list!
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Tutorial: Snappy Manicure Wallet from noodlehead
+ Double Decker Fabric’s “Geekly Chic”
Use Dorienne’s extensive collection of Geekly Chic from Riley Blake Designs to make one (or several!) of these cute manicure wallets.
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Tutorial: Origami Bento Bag from Very Shannon
+ Double Decker Fabric’s “British Invasion”
British Invasion is the perfect trendy fabric to use for a fun summer bag. This tutorial is so quick and easy. Sew up a summer hostess gift in no time! |
| Tutorial: Plus Quilt from For the Love of George
+ Double Decker Fabric’s “Mixed Bag”
This Mixed Bag collection from Studio M for Moda is so colourful and looks great together, it would be perfect for an easy-to-make Plus Quilt! |
Tutorial: 5 Fat Quarters Scarf from Tea Rose Home
+ Double Decker Fabric’s “Textured Basics”
Use these textured basics to make a gorgeous bright scarf for summer. Perfect with those neutral colours that are so popular! |
| Tutorial: Fabric Beach Balls from the Purl Bee
+ Double Decker Fabric’s BarthloMeow’s Reef
BartholoMeow’s Reef from Moda fits perfectly into this summer’s nautical trends and would be so cute as a fun soft beach ball! |
Tutorial: Pinwheels in the Park from Sew Mama Sew
+ Double Decker Fabric’s “Storybook”
Add a few of Dorienne’s solids to this lovely Storybook fabric from Kate & Birdie for Moda and this tutorial would make the sweetest little boy’s quilt! |
Hooray for summer sewing, Dorienne has provided a discount for you that lasts until the end of June! Use the code “Summer15” to get 15% off your purchase from today until June 30, 2014. Head on over and stock up, I know you must have summer projects planned. (Or you could plan some now!)
Last, but certainly not least, you can try your hand at winning some fun fabric today! Dorienne is giving away a bundle of Mixed Bag by Studio M for Moda. When I saw this collection I thought, “Oh my, I have to have some of those origami animals… and the houndstooth… and the dots… and I’ll need some of those red speech bubbles!” (Hee Hee, I know what I’m going to be spending my 15% off on!) pic of mixed bag bundle This contest is open to Canada and the US, and will remain open from today until midnight on Monday, June 23, 2014. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter – and if you don’t have Facebook to sign in with, just use your name and email address!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
by Sherri Sylvester | Jun 5, 2014
I’m excited to introduce a new shop to you today! Boho Fabric Trim hails from Dallas, Texas where they sell the most lovely ikat and gorgeous hand printed fabric in their Etsy shop. They have just recently begun sponsoring Thread Riding Hood, so you can find their link right on the side bar!
I got to hear a bit about how this shop came about and it’s inspiring! Mili (the owner) and her mother Maya work together to curate and create the collection both locally and internationally.
“Our shop began as an idea to get mother & daughter closer together — a creative journey where my mother and I could connect and deepen our bond through something creative, productive and have memories that would last more than a lifetime. Hopefully, this will be our legacy.” ~ Mili
The more I find out about the shop, the more I know these ladies are not just selling fabric. They are hand crafting textiles as fabric artists. The thought of the time spent handloom weaving, block printing and hand screen printing. Goodness, they even do things I have to look up in Wikipedia – kantha, kalamkari, pintaks (which I can’t even find!). They add beading and more!
Modern Boho Phoenix |
Ikat Mango Yellow |
Silk Ikat Red Orange |
When Mili contacted me a few months ago I immediately fell in love with so many of her fabrics! The photos in this post were so hard to choose. The style and the ikat goodness are very much what I am looking for right now. They are perfect for throw pillows, re-upholstering that favorite chair that you’ve had for years, or use it to finish off your windows with the most perfect curtains! Maybe even a Camber Dress or Top for yourself?
Mili has let me know that the Boho Fabric Trimshop is offering special introductory discounts – just for you. You’ve always wanted to sew with a piece of hand crafted art – now you can! (Honestly, even if it is a special birthday gift to yourself.) If not for pillows or curtains, these can be stretched onto frames and used as artwork for your home. That would look amazing!
Hand Woven Ikat Blue Chevron |
Modern Boho Empire |
Hand Woven Ikat Charcoal Grey |
Head on over to Boho Fabric Trim and check out what she has in stock. You will not be disappointed! I’ll let Mili have the last word: “My ‘Kufri Life’ can be described as having these elements in my life – creativity, connecting with family and making new friends and exploring this great big world… I have always had a serious case of the wanderlust! It’s been amazing connecting with my mother through this new adventure… I can’t wait to see where we land next!”
by Sherri Sylvester | May 16, 2014
Happy Friday, I hope you have a great weekend planned. We have Monday off for Victoria Day and an extra day to relax is never a bad thing!
Today I’m sharing a quilty something. I’m so excited that my foray into quilting is progressing along nicely. I’m happy to actually have made something substantial – with straight line quilting and a binding and everything! I know that may not seem that amazing to all of you quilters out there – but to me it’s one step closer to actually making a real live actual quilt – the kind you can cozy up with.
I have been stalking Blueberry Patch Cathy’s Wonky Star Table Runner tutorial ever since I saw Cynthia Frenette’s version of it last year. So my plan was to make one for my mom this year some time and Mother’s Day seemed like the best option. I took her out to the local Hobby Lobby for some fabric selecting when we were visiting her in December for Christmas. She loved these green, yellow and red (mostly) batiks and they match with her kitchen colours really well. The natural background she picked is perfect for this table runner. It was pretty fun since she had no idea what I was going to make from it!
I don’t usually work with batiks, but I like how they tend to look “one colour” and more quilty-modern with a solid background I think? The wonky stars are really simple to put together. There’s one in the centre of the 6×6 fabric tray as well. Once I had all the pieces sewn my youngest even had fun helping arrange them. She loves green so maybe that is why they are mostly in the centre area?!
This table runner was made starting with 4.5″ squares. Cathy made hers with 4″ squares – which in hindsight may have been easier. There is not a lot of room for a “full star” block when you use only 3 squares across. I found arranging the “split” star pieces had to be done carefully so the colours still balanced. The quilting was fun too – though I wish I had some Aurafil or other “better” thread to work with. The regular Gütermann I use just doesn’t have the same look. The whole thing is self bound. I made the backing bigger and folded it over to the front and machine-stitched it. It works well, but the quilting has to stop exactly on the edges of the runner or it will show on top of the binding.
There’s a super-cute zakka label on the back. I found them at the Creativ Festival! I will have a review of it (and my stash!) coming next week, I think. I just washed up all of my new fabrics yesterday – doesn’t a wash-tub full of new fabric just make you super-happy?! And then folding it all up into little mini-bolts for my shelf is my favorite. I even cut up some of them yesterday for new Bohemian Babydoll dresses for the kids. Seriously can’t say enough good about this dress/top pattern – it is really quick (with no closures to sew!) and my girls love it. I’ve got fabric for 4 of them on my cutting table right now.
Do you quilt? What do you think of batiks? I’m curious, since it seems everyone generally chooses modern or traditional fabric and then there are batiks…? Since I’m not quilting a lot yet I’m not sure how that works.
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 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.
