Bari J.

Splendor 1920 Video!

Now that I'm spoiled and all by Art Gallery Fabrics (they have the best team in the world), I've been waiting with baited breath for the Splendor 1920 video to be released. And I'm not in the slightest disappointed! Without further adieu... Splendor 1920 is in stores NOW!

 

Double Mitered Borders Video How To...    

The Tea Delights print from Splendor 1920 whispers to me... "please make me into a table cloth"... She's not sly about it either. She's loud. She wants to be put on a table. Napkins, tea towels, table clothes, runners, place mats... She's screaming at me. 

As you know I've obliged with napkins... and I also caved and made a table cloth. I was going to hem it, but I'm thinking I'd like a heavy table cloth, so it's going to get quilted. I'm thinking a flannel back... maybe no batting at all so it hangs nicely without being too thick. I don't want it to look like I threw a quilt on the table. So, the jury is out on that.

However, the point of this post is to show you how to add double (or any multiple) mitered borders to a quilt. Like I did with this table cloth. It's really easy as you'll see in this video. The hardest part is figuring out how long to make your borders. 

Once you've got them cut, sew them together and just treat them as one border.

The formula is in the video, but I thought I'd put it in writing here as well.

Decide how wide your borders will be first. Then figure out how wide they will be once sewn together.

To figure out how long each piece should be use this formula:

(finished width of border) x 2  +  (unfinished WIDTH of quilt) + 1" = length of border for quilt width side

Do the same for the unfinished LENGTH of the quilt...

(finished width of border) x 2  + (unfinished LENGTH of quilt) = 1" = length of border for quilt length side

And, here's the video explaining the whole process... Happy sewing!

 

 

Aurifil Ornament Blog Hop!

Today's my day! Here's a simple ornament using just back stitch, french knots and blanket stitch! 

Click here to download my ornament...  Download BariJ_AurifilOrnament

Instructions for assembling the ornament can be found here.

Be sure to hop over to Rosebud's Cottage  and Sarah Fielke to see what they have for you too! Happy sewing!

 

How to use your Rolled Hem Presser FootAs you may know, when I made the ruffle duvet (tutorial coming, I promise), I made about 3000" of hem. There was not a good way to do this by hand, so I decided to learn how to use that rolled hem foot that came with my machine. I read the instructions and practiced on a couple pieces, but the first couple inches were so difficult to feed, they were coming out totally wonky.

But being that I have friends who totally know their sewing stuff, I decided to text the one I just knew would have an answer... Heather from Fiberosity. She edited the McKenzie coat pattern for me, and knows sewing patterns and machines inside out and upside down. And of course she had an answer... not only that, she made a quick video on her phone and texted it to me.

In getting ready for the holidays I decided to make some napkins. The Tea Delights print from Splendor 1920 (in stores now) is screaming to be napkins, placemats, tea towels, runners and table cloths. So, I cut 16 that I planned on making double sided...Like I did in that LillyBelle tutorial ... here. 

I finished all of four of them before I realized I was not up for all that pressing and messing around with miters. Not enough time for starters.

They're cute, right? But more work than I bargained for.

In the end, I cut what would have been backs to the same size as the front and now I have 32 napkins cut which I will simply hem the edges of. Some will go to mom and some to my sister in law who is the hostess for this Thanksgiving. This is a super easy project to do. And napkins always make a great hostess gift... these you can pull off in a matter of a hour!

My napkins are cut at 18 1/2" and finish at 18". 

Here's a quick video I made to show you how to get those hems done lick-ity split with your rolled hem foot.

 

Update 11.28.2012:

Many of you have asked how to hem a second side... like for napkins...  And, yes, it can be difficult. I fiddled with this for some time and this is what I have come up with:

Usually, when I do a hem without a hem foot, I like the corners mitered in order to avoid the very issue we are having with the second side here... bulk. I suggest doing the same when you are using the rolled hem foot.

So, before you get started sewing, fold each corner over 1/4" toward the wrong side of the fabric at a 90 degree angle as pictured below. Use a touch of lapel stick or glue stick to hold it in place. Just pressing it won't work. Without the glue I was finding that the fabric rolled about and got twisted. Just the tiniest dab will keep the fabric in place.

When you finish the first side, don't trim the thread. Just leave the tail and use it for the next side rather than sewing in the inch as you did on the first side. This will again save on unnecessary bulk. Now turn and repeat for the second side as you did the first. While this method did take some practice to get correct, simply turning in those corners and glueing in place really did help quite a bit. The proof is in the pudding below...

I hope this helps. If anyone else has any additional suggestions, let me know. 

Fun was had by all... and then... sleep.

Hi there. Long time no see. I feel like I'm "just" back from quilt market, when really, it's been more than a week. The truth is, I'm only now recovering from it. I totally did myself in this time.  As fun and exciting as the process is, it is exhausting and stressful too. I was pretty hard on myself getting ready, and didn't get much sleep. I was inevitable... I got sick. And it was of my own doing because I wouldn't relax. Thank goodness for my friend Jona who did much of the job of driving home while I spent much of the time whining. I slept for two days when I got back.

At any rate, you don't want to hear all the poo poo about how tired I am... it was really very fun and super exciting to see how people reacted to the new fabric and patterns... And I met tons of wonderful people.

You may have seen much of this already if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook... but I did manage to take a few pictures of the booth with my good camera as opposed to the phone. So here goes...

Yes, I did drag a bed to quilt market... but if you sat on it you'd have ended up on the floor... air mattresses did the trick. No box spring.

Here's a closer look a the ruffle duvet cover ... yes. there will be a tutorial. But be forewarned, this is not a complicated project... but it's a dosey. I think it's like 12 yards of fabric. I estimated about 3000" of hem and ruffling to do. Yikes. However, IMHO, totally worth it in the end. 

I'm a stitckler for always having flowers in my booth... funny story. This time I forgot to order in advance. I hopped in a cab and asked them to take me to the nearest one on the map in my phone... Yeah, ummm... that was a UPS store. The real store was on the other side of town. WHY they put the address of the UPS store on their website, I'll never know. They actually posted store hours. Long story short? The driver took me to another shop which was actually closed for wedding prep, but the really really nice lady opened the door for me anyways (crying works, people) and sold me two bouquets AND had her delivery guy take me back to the convention center. Greenworks in Houston if you are interested.

Here is what I ended up putting the cross stitch into... I think it gives the pillow some oomph. 

And here is another view of the pillows... dresden is a classic 1920s pattern. It had to be done.

That's all the photo editing I've gotten through for now. My intent is to to go through each project in the booth over the next couple months and show ya' how I did it. Hold me to that, k?

Happy stitching!