Category Archives: Gifts

June 28, 2012 · 5:53 PM

Zakka Style project #13 – Patchwork Pot Holder

Finished front

Finished Back

This week’s project from the Zakka Style sew along is a patchwork potholder. Kim from Retro Mama designed these potholders for the book. She has also updated the instructions for putting on the binding which can be found here. This was a pretty quick and easy project to put together. The great thing about these is that they are large and thick enough to make a nice trivet for the table as well as protecting your hands from a hot dish.

I started the project by making a strip set. I had some strips that were already sewn together. Adding a strip of linen to those gave the potholder the look I wanted. After all, linen is the fun element of the Zakka Style projects!

Strips sewn, layered with Insul-Brite, batting, and backing and then trimmed into an 8 ” circle.

I layered 10″ squares of the strip set, a piece of Insul-Brite, a piece of cotton batting and then a piece of linen for the backing. A walking foot made quilting these together very easy. Once they were together I cut an 8 inch circle.

Bound edge of partial circles

2 partial circles were cut out of linen and 2 out of a cotton print (which ended up unseen on the inside). The flat edge was bound and then these were placed onto the back of the round piece and basted around the edge. Now it was ready for the binding. I have avoided binding in linen on other Zakka projects due to the fraying of the fabric. However, since this binding HAD to be cut on the bias, fraying would not be a problem so I went ahead and used it.

Binding turned to the back. Ready for hand stitching.

Unfortunately, I didn’t read the updated binding instructions and just overlapped and sewed the edge of the binding which did not give as clean a finish as doing it the other way would have. I look forward to trying it again and perfecting the binding.

I’m happy with how this turned out and will be making some more for gifts. Any sort of quilted design could be put on the front and it would be fun to try some different things to make a useful and pretty gift.

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Filed under Gifts, Tutorials, Zakka Style sew along

Tagged as gift, quilted pot holder, zakka, zakka style

June 25, 2012 · 8:08 PM

Exercise in “value”

I’ve been meeting with a group of quilters once a month as we go through Joen Wolfrom’s book Adventures in Design. This month’s chapter was on value and the exercise at the end of the chapter that I chose to do was to:

A. Create a design that moves the value from light in the central area to dark in the outer perimeter.

B. Create a design that moves the value from dark in the central area to light at the outer perimeter. The following is what I came up with. (Disclaimer: I have had a terrible time photographing the pink. Sorry!)

Value exercise

This fabric was dyed by me during a workshop a couple summers ago. I had 5 different values of the same pink which I cut into 2 inch squares and then pieced together to make these backgrounds. I didn’t want to make absolute “bull’s eyes” so I mixed the square pieces up somewhat. The background was pretty heavily but easily quilted. I then fused the little birds and the green “thing” they are standing on to the background and did a free motion straight stitch with black thread to the edges. The eyes are little black seed beads. I really like the look of this. I guess it looks sort of cartoonish.

Close up of bird

I wanted to make them into something useful so guess what I chose to do with them? Well, not EVERYONE I know has a notebook cover yet, so. . . .

Finished notebook covers.

Linking up to Quilt Story’s Fabric Tuesday.

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Filed under Notebook covers

Tagged as appliquéd bird, color value, dyed fabric, embroidered bird, free motion embroidery, Joen Wolfrom, notebook cover

June 11, 2012 · 9:02 PM

Zakka Style project #11 – The Zakka Pouch

The book Zakka Syle has a pouch pattern called the Orchard Path Tweed Pouch by Amanda Jennings. I can’t call mine a tweed pouch because I opted to sew it using linen and ultra suede.

Zakka pouch

I’m really happy with how it turned out except that I was hoping it would fit my Kindle and it does not.

Kindle doesn’t quite fit.

If I had done the zipper differently, it probably would have fit. I followed the suggestions of this week’s Zakka Sew Along host(ess) Elizabeth from Don’t call me Betsy. She suggested following this zippered pouch tutorial from Kelbysews. I love the way that it went together and the finished look of the zipper.

Zipper detail

This neat technique made the zippered opening a bit smaller. I also cut my zipper smaller than I should have which caused me to sew the pouch with a 1/2 inch seam allowance instead of a 1/4 inch. These two things made just enough difference that my Kindle would not fit in there. I may try again because this made up pretty quickly and would be even quicker after having already done one. Using ultra suede on the bottom corners and the hexies (?hexes) meant that I didn’t have to do any turning under.

Pattern pieces – note the difference?

The book has you enlarge the pouch pattern 200%. The corner pattern and the hexagons are printed real size. I found that the corner pattern did not exactly match my enlarged pouch corners. They were just a slightly different shape and size. I opted to cut off a corner of my pouch pattern and use that to cut the ultra suede. This way they were perfect!

Zakka pouch

Good luck to everyone who is sewing this project this week as part of the Zakka Style Sew Along. It’s a great one!

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Filed under Gifts, Zakka Style sew along

Tagged as Fabric pouch, zakka, Zakka sew along, zakka style

June 11, 2012 · 11:52 AM

Gift Notebook Cover

Front of closed notebook

I wanted to make a gift for the woman who cuts my hair. She is a young and busy mother who I always enjoy seeing and who always makes me look good – or at least as good as what she has to work with can get! This notebook is very similar to the notebook I made for my college roommate.

Back of outside

These notebooks have a handy pen holder on the outside, a business card pocket on the inside front and a larger pocket on the inside back.

Open notebook – front

Open notebook – back

I did some free motion quilting practice on the notebook I made for myself and I use it all the time.

Front

Back

I hope that Heather likes hers. I’m getting my hair cut tomorrow (and dyed – yikes! Wish me luck.)

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Filed under Gifts, Notebook covers, Uncategorized

Tagged as free motion quilting, gift, notebook cover, personalized

May 21, 2012 · 11:59 AM

Personalized Fabric Notebook Cover

My roommate from college visited me from out of town last night. Her birthday is tomorrow and I wanted to make her a gift. Here is what I made for her:

Finished notebook cover with pen pocket

I was inspired by this pouch that Lynne had at the DC Modern Quilt Guild meeting on Saturday. She was given this as a swap item. Pretty great, don’t you think?

Personalized pouch – front

Personalized pouch – back

Fabric notebook covers are my “go to” item if I need a quick gift. I made a ton of them for Christmas gifts this past year. My quilt guild, Needlechasers of Chevy Chase, has made many of these to sell in our boutique at our next quilt show and that is how I first learned to make them. It is an original design by Candy Glendening as featured in “Quilting Arts Gifts” Holiday 2011/2012 magazine. You can figure the measurements to fit any notebook. I like to use a hard covered spiral notebook that I can buy at Staples for about $2.00.

Hardcover spiral notebook 9 1/2 x 6 inches

To personalize this gift, I put Karen’s name into a blank word document and played with some different fonts until I found one that I liked. I then added the little “flourish” to each letter because I liked that kind of look on Lynne’s pouch.

Font is Bradley Hand ITC – embellished as shown

I freehand copied it with washable blue pen onto my piece of linen fabric.

The embroidery was done with 3 strands of DMC floss and an outline stitch.

Embroidery of name done.

I added some lazy daisy flowers in green with pink french knot centers and then sewed some fabrics around it in sort of a log cabin style. On the back I did a little bit more patchwork and hand stitching. I also did some top stitching with my sewing machine in pink as an easy accent (around the linen square on the back and “KAREN” on the front.)

Outside of notebook cover.
Ready to be sewn to inside.

The inside of this notebook cover has flaps to insert the notebook into. On the inside of the front flap is a little business card holder which I stamped a little design on. The inside of the back flap has a (green) pocket.

Inside – ready for final sewing

Once the inside and outside pieces are all complete, the right sides are put together and stitched all around except for an opening in which to turn it. The final step is edge stitching all around the edge to close the opening and finish it off nicely.

Finished Notebook cover – open to show front and back

Karen loved it! And I loved having her visit. Happy Birthday tomorrow!

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Tagged as Fabric notebook cover, gift, notebook cover, quilted gift

April 19, 2012 · 11:40 PM

Studio Gatz – handcrafted gifts and more!

Check out Studio Gatz. My daughter, Sandy, just opened this online store and it has some wonderful handcrafted items including cards, pillows, glassware and dishtowels. She is also mixing in some vintage items. If you need a special gift, this is the perfect place to look.

Studio Gatz – Vintage Finds & Classic Designs

I was the pillow maker this past week. These pillows are made out of linen or other textured fabrics. I covered the cording and added it to the edges (I was told the pillows HAD to have this). Most have a hidden zipper in the back with a decorative fabric strip doing the hiding. Sandy wasn’t sure she would like the look of this but we both loved it once I did the first one.

Linen Hexagon Pillow – Front

Linen Hexagon Pillow – Back

I used this tutorial from Sew Mama Sew to insert the zipper. It made the zipper a breeze and so beautiful. I think the back looks just as good as the front. Don’t you?

Back of pillow – hidden zipper

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Filed under Family, Pillows, Uncategorized

Tagged as linen, pillows, Studio Gatz, zipper

April 18, 2012 · 12:21 AM

Zakka Style Project 3: Zakka Pincushion

This is week 3 of the Zakka Style Sew Along. This week’s project is a pretty straight forward pincushion. Here is the example from the book:

Here is the pincushion I made:

Zakka Pincushion front

Zakka Pincushion back

I made the following changes from the directions in the book:

1. Size – mine is a bit smaller.

2. I used sand instead of polyester fiberfill inside. I like the feel of sand and supposedly it keeps your pins sharp! This did make attaching the buttons on the front and back to one another kind of funky because the “fill” does not stay in one place.

3. I free motion stitched a design on fabric rather than stamping.

It’s cute but not as cute as the chicken pincushions I made a few weeks ago!

Cluck! Cluck!

Don’t you agree?

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Tagged as pincushion, zakka pincusion, zakka style sew along

April 12, 2012 · 3:34 PM

Chicken Pincushions

Aren’t these the cutest pincushions ever? I bought the pattern years ago at Quilted Threads in Henniker, NH. At the time I thought it would be a great gift for my sister who has chickens on her “farm”.

I hadn’t made one up until a week ago. Once I made one, I couldn’t stop! I kept wondering how another one in a different fabric would look! The pattern is called Little Banty Chick Pincushion. It is by Susa Glen at the ArtFabric Studio. Notice how these have “painted fingernails!” (Actually just a red bead at the end of all the yellow beads).

I filled these with sand but I’m going to try walnut shells (thanks Anne!) in the next one I make. They are ground up and have the same texture as sand but not quite as fine. It seems as though there will be less chance of it “leaking” out of the seems – although this has not been a problem with the sand. There is a little bit of polyfil stuffing in the head as no matter how tight I fill them, the head always ends up empty.

They sew up very quickly. You catch the beak and the tail into the few body seams. They are filled with sand before the beads are added to make the feet, comb and wattle. I had a lot of fun making them and can’t wait to make some more!

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Tagged as chicken pincushion, Little Banty Chick Pincushion, pincushion