Bari J.

Bijoux T-Shirt

The other night I was sitting around watching HGTV and this T-shirt idea popped into my head for no reason at all. I love how it turned out and best of all, it took just about 30 minutes to make.

You'll need:

1 t-shirt

a fat quarter of Bijoux Dream Catcher in Fuschia

a fat quarter of Applique Foundation

a glue stick

thread

sewing machine with Free Motion quilting

iron

 

How to:

1. Cut the motifs from your fat quarter.

2. Lay them out on your t-shirt, and glue in place with glue stick. Heat set with a hot iron.

3. Place applique foundation under the t-shirt on the inside for stability (you can pin it in place).

4. Being careful to keep your t-shirt flat and without stretching, free motion quilt the applique in place.

5. Pull the applique foundation from the inside of the shirt. You don't need to get in out from the stitching. This particular foundation is starch/paper based and it turns to a pulp when you get it wet. Eventually with washing it will be entirely gone. In the meantime, you won't even notice it's there. 

6. Repeat for each applique.

Double Mitered Borders Video

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!

 

 

Ornament Blog Hop

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!

 

14 Days of LillyBelle... Day 14. Fabric File Portfolio

14 Days of LillyBelle... Day 14. Fabric File Portfolio

Whew! Wiping the sweat from my brow. The last project is finally done. And 14 projects in 21 days? I'll call that a success. 

I hope you have enjoyed this series. I look forward to doing another (um... shorter) series when Splendor 1920 arrives in stores. Here is the 14th project. It was inspired by the loads of paper I picked up today for school registration. Happy Sewing!

You'll need:

1/2 yard of double sided fusible heavy Pellon

1/2 yard each of two contrasting fabrics

1/4 yard each of two constrasting fabrics for binding

 

Cutting:

1 each ON FOLD - 13" x 9 1/2" - 2 contrasting fabrics and pellon (opens to 13" x 19")

2 - 3" x WOF strips for binding on top and ties

1 - 3" x WOF strip for binding on sides

Step by Step:

1. Press each piece of fabric to opposite sides of the pellon. (wrong side faces the pellon)

2. Make binding and ties (see day 11 curtains for how to make binding except you won't need to attach pieces together for extra length as on the curtains).

3. For the ties, take one WOF piece of binding and cut it in half. Finish the ends by opening the folded binding on one short end. Fold the end in half wrong sides together and sew a 1/4" seam allowance along the short end. Turn the binding back so it is folded properly. Edge stitch the open side of the binding closed. Set aside.

4. With the "portfolio" open, sew binding onto each top edge (again, see curtains day 11 for binding instructions).

5. Sew the ties on. With the "portfolio" open, mark the middle of the top edge of each side of the folder. Place the raw short edge of the tie at the top of the folder at the mid point, just below where you've sewn on the binding. Along the short raw edge of the tie, sew the tie on using a scant 1/4" seam allowance. Flip the tie up, and sew it on (enclosing the raw edge) 1/4" above the fold. Repeat for the other tie.

6. Sew the side binding on. Cut two pieces of binding that are each 10 1/2". Fold the "portfolio" in half. Open the binding, and place it on top of the front of the folder along one raw edge. Leave an extra 1/2" at the top and an extra 1/2" at the bottom. Sew the binding through the two layers of the folder following the pressed fold as you did for the other pieces of binding. Flip the binding to the back, fold in the two raw edges at the top and the bottom, and press in place. Edge stitch the binding from the front as you did before.

 

14 Days of LillyBelle... Day 12. Tube Top.

14 Days of LillyBelle... Day 12. Tube Top.

 
This was probably the easiest and most fun project so far. I'm beyond excited because my teenager said she would actually WEAR something I made. I fashioned this after a tube top she got at Target, and let her pick the fabric. It was interesting to see what she picked (vintage fence in the cool sunrise palette)... and she said she would buy it if she saw it in a store, so I'm feeling like The Bomb Mom! 

Here's how I made this...

 You'll need:

3/4 yard fabric

2 yards of 5/8" elastic

Cutting:

This is for a small tube top...  Em is probably a size 0-3. It's such a baggy/loose piece, that the only real difference will be in length of the elastics and length at the hem.

Measure your wearer, just under the underarms around the top of the chest. Subtract 1 - 2". Cut elastic to that length, then cut in half.

Cut a second piece of elastic 1 to 2" bigger than the first piece. Cut it in half as well.

Measure the wearer from just above the chest, to the mid hip (or longer depending on how long you'd like the top to be), add 4 to 5". Cut a piece of fabric that is the measured length by the width of the fabric. Cut the fabric in half so you have a piece for the front and a piece for the back of the top.

Step by step:

1. Hem: Fold the top edge in 1/4" toward the wrong side, then an additional 1/4". Edge stitch along the inside folded edge.

2. Sew on the top elastic: Using a zig zag stitch, top stitch the elastic to the wrong side of the fabric, just below the top hem. The elastic is shorter than the fabric, so you'll be pulling as you sew to make the elastic stretch from one end of the fabric to the other. The trick here is to start very slowly. Take a couple stitches so the elastic is held in place, then as the fabric comes behind the foot, use one hand to guide the fabric from behind, and the other to stretch the elastic as you sew along. Repeat for the back of the top.

3. Sew the elastic at the bottom: Measure 3 1/2" from the bottom raw edge, and draw a line across on the wrong side of the fabric (I used a heat erasable pen... you can use chalk or another erasable method... even a press line will work). Use your guideline to sew the second piece of elastic on. Repeat for the back of the top.

4. Place the two pieces of fabric, right sides together and use a 1/2" seam allowance to sew each side together. Zig zag stitch or serge to finish the seam. Turn and press.

5. Hem the bottom edge as you did the top.

 

14 Days of LillyBelle.. Day 11. It's Curtains for Lara!

14 Days of LillyBelle.. Day 11. It's Curtains for Lara!

My sister just moved into a new home, and she desperately needed curtains. The sliding glass door she has is over 9 feet long, and the former occupants, had an 8 foot rod on the window and some seriously frightening curtain panels that didn't fit. On top of that, her toddler and 1 year old pulled the whole deal down the other day. Lucky for Lara, I'm in the midst of my self-imposed challenge and needed a good project. So off I went on my curtain making adventure.

Now, some of you know, that I have made a huge amount of curtains in the past. So, frankly, I was a little cocky going into this. This is actually the second set of curtains created yesterday. I had originally planned using white fabric where the yellow is. I had about 8 yards of white corduroy left, and I wanted to use it up. I cut everything very carefully, and set the leftover fabric aside. HOWEVER, when I went to put the corduroy panel on the second curtain, I grabbed the leftover fabric unknowingly. And it was 1/4 of the width. It was the end of the day, and I was exhausted, not to mention hungry... I didn't notice. Until we hung it on the window and which point I dissolved into a angry/weepy mess. Low blood sugar + exhaustion = really unhappy Bari.

I had wanted to photograph and get this post up last night. Instead, I spent the remainder of the night (until 12:30PM) remaking the curtains entirely... I had cut into the properly cut piece for another part of the curtain, and didn't have any left to be able to just fix the error. 

All of that said, in the end, I like the second set better.

Lara didn't want lining because she wanted the sun to shine through a bit, so I decided to bind the curtains instead of hem the sides and bottom:

By doing this, I think it gave the back a bit of a more fininshed look. Plus, it really frames the whole thing nicely.

A basic how to on curtains:

Cutting:

WIDTH:

Lara's window was 112" the entire way across. I made two panels and each is 110" wide finished (nearly the entire width) in order to make them ruffly. i.e. = equation for each panel is 1/2 the window x 2.

Note: I actually used 3 pieces of fabric for each panel width... when you decide on width, take seam allowances between panels into account. 

HEIGHT:

Here's what you need to take into account:

1. Rod pocket. I made a 3" rod pocket plus I finished the top of the rod pocket with a top top stitch that took up 1/4" inch. There for I added 6 1/2" for the rod pocket.

2. Hem. If I was going to do a hem, I'd add 1/2" to the bottom.

3. Height of brackets. Your brackets will be hung above the window. Buy your brackets first and measure them. Then decide where they will hang. Add the amount to the total height of your panels.

equation for panel length:

Window Height

+ (rod width x 2) + 1/2" for top stitching at top of curtain

+ 1/2" for hem (If you are doing one. I didn't because I used binding.)

+ bracket height

If you are going to bind instead of hem here's the equation for amount of binding needed:

1 side of curtain x 2 + width of the bottom/width of fabric = number of 3" strips needed

Step by step:

Binding (note: you'll be binding the sides and the bottom, not the top)

1. Attach the 3" strips together by mitering.

    To miter...

            a. Place strips in a backward "L" shape, right sides together:

            b. Sew a 45 degree angle seam from corner to corner.

            c. Trim off excess fabric in seam... here's what the miter looks like:

2. Press the binding in half lengthwise and press.

3. Open up and fold each edge into the middle and press.

4. Fold in half lengthwise again and press.

5. Open up the binding, align with the top right hand corner of your curtain, right sides together, raw edges matching. Sew along the first fold line.

6. When you get 1/2" from the corner, pivot and sew a 45 degree angle to the corner. Cut thread and take out from under foot. 

7. To miter the corner. urn the fabric to the right...

... then back over itself to the left. Continue sewing along the raw edge.

8. Miter the other corner in the same manner, and sew to the top left of the curtain.

9. Once the binding is on the front, flip it over to the back, fold the raw edge in toward the wrong side of the binding and press in place on the back of the curtain. You can even use a little glue stick to hold it in place.

10. Top stitch the binding on from the front side (see the photo of the fininshed binding near the top of this post.

ROD POCKET:

1. Measure 3 1/4" from the top of the curtain and mark.

2. Fold the fabric down toward the wrong side 1/4" (so there was no raw edge), and then another 3" (where you just marked) for the rod pocket. Pin in place.

3. Edge stitch along the fold on the wrong side of the fabric to close the rod pocket.

4. At the very top of the fold, top stitched 1/4" away from the edge for a finished look on the top.

Voila! You are finished.

14 days of LillyBelle. Day 10... Drawstring Gift Bag.

14 days of LillyBelle. Day 10... Drawstring Gift Bag

Off to a cocktail party in a few hours... bringing the coasters I made earlier this week along with some wine. Today I made a LillyBelle gift bag to bring it in.

I think I'll make a bunch of these to have on had as the holidays approach. They are super easy for a lot of impact. Plus, of course, you can make them in any size... great for shoe bags, lingerie bags etc etc... just re-size.

Here's how I made this one...

Supplies Needed:

Fat Quarter of fabric

1/4 yard contrast fabric

Safety pin

Serger (optional)

Cutting:

Main fabric: 16 1/4" x 14"

Contrast fabric: 4" x WOF

Step by Step:

1. Serge or zig zag stitch all four raw edges of the main fabric.

2. Fold the two 16 1/4" sides and 1 - 14" side in 1/4" toward the wrong side of the fabric. These will be the side seam and the bottom of the bag. Do not fold in the top edge.

3. Edge stitch along the inside edge of the 1/4" folded fabric to hem.

4. Mark 2 1/4" down from the top of the fabric.

5. Fold the top edge toward the wrong side of the fabric along the 2 1/4" mark.

6. Using a 1/4" seam allowance, sew along the top folded edge.

7. Edge stitch along the serged/zig zagged edge. You've just created the casing for your drawstring.

8. Fold the fabric in half lengthwise so the side seams meet, right sides together.

9. Sew the side seam and bottom edge using a 1/4" seam allowance.

10. Turn and press.

Make the drawstring:

1. Fold the fabric in half lengthwise, right sides together and press.

2. Fold each short raw end in toward the long folded edge at a 45 degree angle creating a pointed end. 

3. Sew the raw edge and angle closed leaving a 4" -5" opening to turn. Turn and press.

4. Edge stitch the seam edge, closing the opening to finish.

5. Place a safety pin on one end of the drawstring and draw through the casing.

4. Turn the 

14 Days of LillyBelle... Day 9. Zakka Embroidery Organizer Wall Pockets

14 Days of LillyBelle... Day 9. Zakka Embroidery Organizer Wall Pockets

Today's project is a nifty little wall organizer for your embroidery supplies...

Here's how you make it...

Download pocket pattern pieces:  Download Zakkapockets

Supplies needed:

2 - 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" pieces of fabric

Scraps in varying contrasting fabrics sized larger than 8".

1 - 1/2 yard fusible fleece

1/4 yard for binding

 

Cutting:

For front and back cut 1 each 12 1/2" x 12 1/2"

Cut pockets as indicated on pattern sheet

1 - 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" fusible fleece

 

Step by step:

Edit: In hindsight... had this not been a project a day challenge, I may have thought to quilt the piece first, THEN put the pockets on... I would highly recommend that. So, instead of making and attaching the pockets, first fuse the fleece to the wrong side of the front panel, baste the backing on, and quilt as you wish. I think I'm going to take the pockets off of this one, do straight line quilting, then put the pockets back on. You can sew the pockets on through the 3 layers. Bind when it's all finished.

Pocket 1 (ruler/pen):

1. Fold your piece of fabric in half with the right sides together (the fold is 3 1/2" across).

2. Using a 1/4" seam allowance, sew the long sides together and leave the bottom open.

3. Trim the corners, turn and press.

4. Edge stitch along the top 3 1/2" fold.

5. Place the pocket with the raw edge toward the top onto the fabric panel. The left hand corner should be 2 1/4" from the left side of the fabric and 5 3/4" from the bottom of the fabric panel. See below for placement.

6. Stitch onto the panel using a scant 1/4" seam allowance.

7. Flip the pocket up, press and sew a 1/4" seam allowance at the bottom of the pocket, enclosing the raw edge. Then top/edge stitch the sides in place. 

 

Pockets 2a/b: 

1. Follow steps 1 through 4 above, except use the 5 1/2" width as the fold.

2. Place the smaller pocket in front of the larger pocket with the raw edges aligned.

3. Place the pockets with the raw edge toward the top onto the fabric panel. The smaller pocket should be facing the right side of the fabric panel (i.e. down). The right hand corner should be 1 1/4" from the right side of the fabric and 6 1/4" from the bottom of the fabric panel. See below for placement.

Pocket 3 (rounded hoop pocket):

1. Fold the pocket in half along the fold you cut on with the right sides together.

2. Using a 1/4" seam allowance, sew the two sides together. Leave a 2" to 3" opening in the bottom to turn (I usually baste through my openings and then open them up to turn... this way I have a stitch line to make it easier to turn the fabric in later).

3. Turn and press.

4. Edge stitch along the fold.

5. Center the pocket below pocket 1, about 1 1/4" from the bottom of the fabric, and edge stitch in place.

Pocket 4 (scissors):

1. Place the two pieces right side together and sew together using a 1/4" seam allowance and leaving an opening in the top.

2. Turn and press.

3. Center the pocket below pocket 2, about 1 1/4" from the bottom and edge stitch in place.

Tabs:

For top tabs, I created extra binding.

1. Cut off 2 - 4" pieces, folded the edges in 1/4" then fold in half. Edge stitch along the open edge.

2. Mark 2" from each side of the top center for tab placement. Align the raw edges of the tabs on the back side of your organizer, and as you sew your binding onto the front of your piece, sew the tabs in with it.

3. When you flip the binding over the top to the back and hand stitch, flip the tabs up and stitch them in place as well.

 

 

14 Days of LillyBelle... Day 8. Doggie Bed.

14 Days of LillyBelle... Day 8. Doggie Bed.

This is Izzy. On her new bed. We had to bribe her with lots of cookies to sit still. Also, I photoshopped out her drool off the dog bed...

Several weeks ago I went to great lengths getting foam for dog beds at the local big box sewing store. Let's suffice to say, thanks to a coupon ta do, I made two stops back there for the same item only to have a coupon argument at the cutting table when I finally did get the foam. Sheesh.

But I digress... for weeks now, I've had two ugly pieces of foam sitting around, and I hadn't gotten around to sewing covers for them. Lucky me. I commited to sewing with LillyBelle every day for 14 days... so now I had an excuse. I HAD to make the dog beds. And at least I did get one done today. I did this one with the zipper in the side... It's hidden under fabric flaps, and this is my favorite way of doing zipper on pillows of any sort.

How to make your own doggie bed...

Supplies:

1 yard of 5" x 24 1/2" foam

1 1/2 yards of main fabric

3/4 yard of contrast fabric

24" upholstery zipper

2 yards fusible fleece (optional)

 

Cutting:

Main fabric, fusible fleece  – 2 each- 37" x 25 1/2" pieces

Contrast fabric, fusible fleece – 2 each - 3 1/2" x 37" pieces, 1 each - 6" x 37" piece, 2 each - 6" x 25 1/2" pieces

 

Step by Step:

Install zipper in the side:

1. Place the two 3 1/2" x 37" pieces right sides together. 

2. Using a 1/2" seam allowance, BASTE the two pieces together along a long raw edge.

3. Press the seam open and place your zipper on top of the wrong side of the seam, right side of zipper down, centered on top of the seam.

4. Pin the zipper in place alternating the direction from which you put the pin in (see above).

5. From the right side of the basted panel, and with your zipper foot on, top stitch along the side of the seam about 1/4" away from the zipper. The trick here is to feel with your fingers as you sew down next to the seam, and reach under the fabric pulling pins out of the way as you go.

Zipper tip: you'll want to pull the zipper pull open as you start so it's away from the presser foot, then when you get to it, put the presser foot in the up position and wiggle the pull up again past it.

6. Sew back up the other side of the seam, again keeping 1/4" away from the zipper.

7. Use a seam ripper to open the basted seam exposing your zipper.

Note: if you have cut your zipper to length, you'll want to do a tight zig zag stitch in place to work as a tab at the bottom of the zipper so that you can't open the zipper past it (see below).

Sew the contrast fabric sides to the main fabric panels:

Note: For all of the seams, start and stop at the 1/2" point. You might want to mark 1/2" from the ends on all of the pieces.

1. Place the zipper panel on top of one of the large panels (main fabric) along a long side, right sides together. Using a 1/2" seam allowance, and starting/stopping 1/2" inch from each end, sew the two pieces together.

2. Sew the other three contrast pieces of fabric on in the same manner.

4. Repeat for the other side of the dog bed.

5. Starting and stopping at the 1/2" points, and using a 1/2" seam allowance, sew the four corners together... NOTE: Before you sew the last corner, open the zipper so you can  turn through it.

6. Serge or zig zag stitch all seams, turn and press.

7. Slip on the piece of foam (read: wrangle onto the piece of foam)

8. Force your dog to pose on her new bed for a photo.

9. Post to Facebook and tell all your friends you made a dog bed all by yourself.

 

14 Days of LillyBelle... Day 7. Sweet Dreams Sleep Mask.

14 Days of LillyBelle... Day 7. Sweet Dreams Sleep Mask.

For some time now, I've taken to sleeping with a sleep mask, and I sleep much better when I do. It's a really pretty picture... me jumping into bed, putting the ritual lotion and sweat socks on, wearing my bite guard and then pulling a mask over my face. It's cute, I'm sure. Aherm. . . Well, at least now I'll be a little cuter, you'll have to agree. Last night the elastic on my old sleep mask busted, so I this became today's project. It makes a great gift too! 

Download the pattern here:

Download Sleepmask

 

14 Days of LillyBelle... Day 6. String Block quilted coasters.

14 Days of LillyBelle... Day 6. String Block quilted coasters.

I have a party to go to later this week. So, I thought I'd make a hostess gift today. At this point, I have a ton of scraps, so I thought a string block would be perfect. Together, four coasters make one string block and I think they look fantastic on a coffee table layed out like this... Make a whole bunch and you can mix and match. 

Here's how you make them...

You will need:

a fat quarter of muslin

a fat quarter of batting or fusible fleece (I used the fleece)

Scraps

A fat quarter for the back of the coasters

Coordinating Thread (I used four Aurifil colors from the Pat Bravo Quilter's Heart box set: 2132, 2420, 5006 and 2311)

 

Cut:

4 each backing, batting/fusible fleece and muslin at 4 1/2" x 4 1/2"

Cut strips of varying sizes at least 7" long

 

Assemble:

1. Lay a strip, right side up on top of a muslin square on the diagonal.

2. Lay a second strip on top of the first piece raw edges matching and right sides together.

3. Sew a 1/4" seam along the raw edge.

4. Flip the top piece over and press in place.

5. Continue piecing in this manner until the entire square is covered.

6. Turn your finished square over on top of your cutting mat so you can see the muslin, and use your rotary cutter and ruler to trim to the size of the square.

7. Fuse the fleece to the wrong side of each of your finished squares.

8. Place the backing and front of the square right sides together and sew around three sides.

9. For the fourth side, baste the seam. 

10. Trim the corners.

11. Press all seams open.

12. With a seam ripper, open a small portion of the basted edge. (note: I had you close it and open it so that you would have a nice line to turn the edge under.) 

13. Turn the coaster through the opening.

14. Press the open edge in 1/4" toward the wrong side.

15. Edge stitch around the four sides of the coaster closing the open side.

16. Quilt as desired. I simply quilted straight lines 1/4" apart until I got to the center... That way, I didn't have to lift the needle or cut thread. i.e.: It was fast.

Happy sewing!

14 Days of LillyBelle... Day 5. Fabric Collage Embellished Skirt

14 Days of LillyBelle... Day 5. Fabric Collage Embellished Skirt   

You probably already know this... I love fabric collage. I think it works on just about anything. I've done wall hangings, pillows, embellished sweaters, quilt edges, jeans and lots more. For this project, I embellished a jean skirt. If you were at quilt market you might have seen me wearing it. I actually did this in the hotel room the night before the show opened.

This is super easy to do. If you don't have experience with free motion quilting, this is also an easy way to get started practicing because it's just so forgiving. If your stitches appear too long or short, just go over them again. You are simply going to doodle. Watch me do it in the video below.

For this project you'll need about 20 or so raw edged fabric motifs. Mine are from LillyBelle in the both colorways. I used Aurifil 4651 which is a variegated thread for the quilting. And you'll need a sewng machine that has free motion quilting capability (feed dogs can go down and a quilting foot). You'll also need a piece of muslin to go underneath your motifs where they will hang off the edge. Quilting gloves are optional, but really help you grip the fabric to move it.

1. Lay the muslin on top of your jean skirt where you will be putting the motifs. It can hang off the bottom edge.

2. Lay out your motifs in a manner that is pleasing to you. Make sure that if it is going of the edge, they are on top of the muslin which you will use as a base.

3. Pin all motifs in place or use a washable glue stick to hold them down. You don't want them flapping about as you are quilting.

4. Free motion quilt/doodle them all into place.

5. Cut off the excess muslin up to the edges of the motifs.

6. Zig zag stitch the raw edges along the bottom with a tight stitch. You could go around the edge three times making each round a shorter stitch to mimic a satin stitch or you could also serge the edges.

7. Wash the skirt to give the pieces a frayed
look.

Here's a short video in which I show you how to free motion quilt for fabric collage. Happy stitching!

 

 

14 Days of LillyBelle... Day 4. Paper Pieced Lily Mug Rug.

 14 Days of LillyBelle

Day 4.

Paper pieced Lily Mug Rug.

Apparently my boss (me) is a tyrant. First she told me that we could just do simple easy projects that would take an hour to develop. And then she told me I was just being lazy, and that I had to step it up a bit... "give people something interesting", she said. So yesterday she decided a little paper piecing project was in order. Nevermind, we don't do that very often around here so we had to brush up our paper piecing skills in order to do it... SHE decided it wouldn't be a problem. Hrrmmppff... she didn't have to execute her evil plan. Oh, wait. Yes she did. And SO, she (I) stayed up past midnight because apparently she can't resist throwing out challenges and I apparently take the bait every time... I can't resist a challenge. Yeah, that's right. Just TRY to tell me I can't do something. Sigh.

Now all that said, and despite the challenge I had in developing this pattern... it is really quite easy to actually make! My loss, your gain, you see. Ok, plus also my gain... I love how it turned out and I might officially be addicted to paper piecing. Too fun.

For this project you will need some scraps, batting and backing that is 10 x 13 plus 1/4 yard for binding. I used LillyBelle in both colorways...  to show you how nicely the colorways can be mixed and matched, don't ya' know. For piecing and quilting I used Aurifil threads from Pat Bravo's set, Quilting Heart. The blue is 4182, and I used it on the dark pieces. The pink is 2420 and I used it on the lighter pieces plus the bobbing for the quilting.

The mug rug finishes at 8 x 10 1/2" Print it out by using the link below...

Download Paperpiecedlily

 

Challenging myself ... 14 days of LillyBelle.

Challenging myself... 14 Days of LillyBelle

day one.

A note for myself so I can later confirm that I was right about my sanity... Dear Bari, sometimes you do stuff that's crazy just to prove you could do it. I don't know who you are proving this to. It may just be that you have issues. I am certain that all said and done, you will agree with me that this is one of those things. I'm telling you this now so that I can tell you, "I told you so!" later... and because I love you. I know you'd do the same for me. XO, Bari

Aherm... Now that that's out of the way...

For the next 14 days I have challenged myself to make and post a project from LillyBelle each day. Today I made this braided runner. I'll have you know that my sanity may have been in question this morning when I thought it was going to be a full size quilt and that I was going to quilt it myself before the day was over... I came to my senses at about 9am. You can rest assured I will send it to someone else for quilting too.

Makes a runner for a 6' table

Materials Needed:

In this runner I used the 10 prints from LillyBelle's Cool Sunrise Colorway.... it was nice how they divide up evenly with 5 light and 5 dark fabrics. You can get a pre-cut roll of LillyBelle strips here. It comes with two strips for each of the 20 pieces in LillyBelle... you will need three... so if you are going this route, then get two packs. You will have both colorways to use in other projects.

Otherwise... here's what you'll need...

1/4 yard each of 5 light fabrics

1/4 yard each of 5 dark fabrics

Rotary Cutter

Quilting ruler 

OR

Optional: Creative Grids 45 degree Trapezoid Strip ruler

Coordinating Thread (I used Aurifil 5006 from Pat Bravo's new set)

 

Cutting:

Cut all of the fabric into 2 1/2" x Width of Fabric strips

Subcut 6" pieces in pairs of dark and light, right sides facing (for a braided quilt you need mirrored images). Cut one end of each pair at a 45 degree angle. (see the diagram below)

If you are using the Creative Grids ruler, cutting instructions for using it are included with the ruler. But basically, it is a trapezoid template. You can watch a video here.

Piecing:

Join one and one dark trapezoid together and press. Then add anotehr light trapezod to the light size of this section. Press. Then add a dark trapezoid to the dark side of the section. Your row is finished when you have 35 pairs.

Create 2 addtional rows. Piece the rows together carefully matching the points. Trim the ends making sure your corners are trued up.

Quilt and bind as you wish.

 

June Aurifil Designer of the Month: My friend, Pam Kitty Morning!

June Aurifil Designer of the Month: My friend, Pam Kitty Morning!

I am lucky to call Pam my friend. I wish you all could meet her in person because you'd love her. She's one of the good ones, you know? Plus also? I love everything she does. This month, Pam is the Aurifil designer of the month, and she's designed an adorable block for you. Click here for the down low on the free project.

BTW, here's the Aurifil Designer of the Month group at Quilt Market... more about that on Pat Sloan's blog!

Yup. Yours truly right there in the middle.

 

First Bari J. how-to video... Fabric Collage How To!

First Bari J. how-to video... Fabric Collage How-to plus a free collage pattern at Gen Q!

I can't tell you the number of times I've been asked for a how-to video on fabric collage. This technique, which I use for many of my sewing patterns and in Inspired to Sew, is among my favorites. It involves free motion quilting raw edged fabric motifs to create a lovely shabby design. Here are a couple extra helpful hints: A question I get asked a lot is "do you turn your edges under?". The answer is no. Another question I get is "should I glue the motifs down?". The answer to this is also no. First off, it tends to gunk up the needle. Second, when you use glue or iron on materials such as fusible web the collage doesn't get the frayed edge and scrunchy look we are going for. Enjoy the video and let me know if you have any questions!

 

For a brand new, FREE, project that uses fabric collage head to today's post on Gen Q. I've created a zipper wristlet pattern that will get you started. For other fun projects, please see my book, Inspired to Sew, as well as my sewing patterns which you can find here. Kitchen Art is among my most popular patterns.

Free Project and Kit Giveaway at Sew4Home

Free Project and Kit Giveaway at Sew4Home

I was away when this project made it's appearance on Sew4Home so I'm sorta' late to the party, but if you make your way over there, you can still download it and comment to win a kit. Good luck!