Stop staring and start sewing!

My review of the Burnside Bibs Pattern - Two Bib Thumbs Up!

A couple of years ago I received a Burnside Bibs pattern at a sewing party and I've been wanting to dig into it since then. I finally had the time, fabric, and hankering to get it done and I absolutely love it! So comfortable without being sloppy looking. 

The pattern is from Sew House 7 and comes with a really nice instruction booklet.

I traced the pattern out (don't cut your patterns out please!) in my size and got to work cutting.

I chose to do view #1 which has darts in the back. Since that tightens the waist it requires a side zipper. I love installing invisible zippers and this one went perfectly.

The fabric is 100% linen in the Nine Iron color, midweight (5.3 oz).

Now you see it....

 

Now you don't!

Instead of pins I glue basted things like the pockets and belt loops in place. I find it holds everything in the right position until I get it sewn into place (then washes out with the first washing!)

I'm so proud of my invisible zipper!

You can tie it in the back as well. I like it in the front for now.

So comfy!

Darts in back (barely visible).

I think this is a really smart pattern! It has great illustrations and lots of helpful hints along the way. I saw a cute hack on instagram where she turned it into shorts so I'm thinking that might be my next version since it will be perfect for Arizona. Two big thumbs up for the Burnside Bibs Pattern!

Another awesome book from Abigail Butler! Sew Home in The Kitchen

I'm so thrilled my friend Abigail Butler (formerly Abigail Long) asked me to be a part of the blog tour for her new book Sew Home in The Kitchen. In 2014 she wrote her first book Modern Prairie Sewing and I had the honor of being part of her blog hop then too! Her new book is just as loaded with useful, cute projects and I had a very hard time picking one. So I picked two!

I finally decided to make some things I need right now...new potholders and a skillet handle cover (so clever!).  I picked some cute fabrics from Maureen Cracknell's brand new Homebody fabric collection (again another hard decision picking from all the beautiful fabrics), grabbed some batting and Insul-Fleece, and started cutting...

I made my own bias tape but you don't have to! The instructions call for pre-made bias tape so you can grab some of that at the store and you are good to go (saves a lot of time too). I'm really in love with my new goodies! I have seriously burned my hand on that skillet more than once and I'm thrilled to have a solution that is this cute and takes up very little space in my oven mitt drawer.

I highly recommend this book! It is a great resource and I know I'll use it for years to come. If you need a house warming gift, wedding or shower gift, or a gift for any occasion really, Sew Home in The Kitchen is loaded with cute, practical ideas that don't take a lot of fabric or time. I made two of the projects but there are 16 more and they are all things people will use. So there is a lot of value in this beautiful book and frankly, it's just cute to look through.

I couldn't help but use a different fabric on each side of my potholders and then I realized they would be adorable if you quilted them too (I didn't but I will next time!). There is so much room for creativity in all of these smart projects.

Jump over to Abigail's shop and use the coupon code: TOUR1 for 50% (yes, you read that correctly!!) off everything in her shop. It's a wonderful shop filled with the best fabrics out there. This book is a true joy and I already have my next project planned (a casserole dish carrier!). Great work (again) Abigail!

The Ogden Cami by True Bias - a perfect pattern that goes the distance

I have a mad crush on this camisole pattern for awhile now and I'm just getting started. The Ogden Cami from True Bias is a wonderful, uncomplicated pattern and I'm finding it to be very versatile. It's only 10.00 and I downloaded the pdf, printed my pattern, and got sewing right away (I just store all the instructions and pieces in a large zip lock bag). I've made it with the narrow straps it comes with (you'll want a good turning tool) and a slightly wider strap just to give it more substance at the top. I lengthened it into a dress with side slits (so comfortable and breezy), and I've tried a few different types of fabric. So far I haven't made anything I don't like. I wear them all! The only real drawback for me was finding a good strapless bra but I lucked out and found a great one at Target for only 15.00 so I'm set.

My latest version is this black and white gingham fabric (from Walmart!) with slightly widened straps and I absolutely love it.

It's a fun cotton fabric with a bit of a crinkle to it and I think it will be great for casual wear and to dress up a fancier outfit too. I'm going to get a denim jacket this fall because I think it will look terrific with this top.

I love white jeans but this top is going to look great with any color pants and accessories. It's a winner!

I tried it with Bari J.'s gorgeous Budquette rayon fabric and the process was a little trickier (rayon is so "wiggly") but the results are fantastic and oh so comfortable.

One thing that really helped is to use spray starch on the straps before sewing (seriously, it was great and kept the fabric in line). I added about an inch to the length because I didn't want it to look too boxy. This one is so pretty and perfect for our weather here in Arizona.

I made this one a couple of years ago and it's a nice midweight linen. It's a perfect grab and go top because it looks good (and feels good) with everything. I get my linens at Fabrics-Store and they've never let me down (plus they have great sales so get on their mailing list).

This linen dress might be my favorite dress. It's a midweight linen so it's light enough to not be dragging downward but heavy enough to get by without a slip. I widened the straps a bit but still wear a strapless bra with it.

I got this great bohemian fabric in Portland at Bolt without a project in mind. It turned out to be great for the Ogden Cami.

And check out this glorious border print! It's Roads to Flowerhouse (in my store Fabritopia now!) by Bari J. and I've gotten more compliments on this top than all the others. And it only took one yard of fabric because I laid the pattern pieces out at the border edges and it was perfect. I used a different fabric for the facing so I didn't have to cut into any more of this beautiful print.

I've got a few more ideas for this great pattern and my closet is filling up with all these great colors and fabrics. I'm even going to make a few out of some very wispy lightweight solid linen to wear under my sheer blouses. This pattern goes the distance!

 

A blog is still a blog even when there's no one bloggin' there...

So.....what's up? I've been busy. Busy with kids. Busy with marriage. Busy with sewing. And busy with teaching (sewing!). What are you busy doing?

I've been quiet on my blog I know. When I started in 2007, blogging was such a great way to share and it felt personal and friendly and fun. I think social media has sucked up all the oxygen (and the friendliness and fun) in the internet and kind of made me want my privacy again. So maybe it will feel good to hang out here again, instead of over there.

I've been working on a lot of fun new projects and re-working some old ones. I've got some great new ideas for a new direction and I'd sure love some input and encouragement from people who love to sew (or people who want to love to sew but need some help getting started, raise your hand if that's you!). 

So here's a little ongoing project I've been working on....my husband's slightly moth eaten Pendleton shirt. He probably bought it when we lived in Portland but in Arizona it didn't get much wear and he was ready to throw it in the "out" pile. Not so quick there buddy!

He totally blew our Valentine's Day tradition of ignoring Valentine's Day and showed up with a gift. Argh, dude. So I scrambled up a plan and cut a sleeve off of that old shirt and bought him a bouquet of his favorite pilot pens. Add a zipper, lining, and faux leather tassel and I actually knocked his socks off. Whew!

Then he ordered a Hobonichi Planner for work and asked for a cover. Nailed it! He loves it and his coworkers are jealous so he's happy. And I still have bunch of his plaid shirt left! 

I have a lot more to share and some fun things going on here. And I'm sending out my first newsletter soon so be sure to join my mailing list!

 

A new direction and my first youtube video tutorial!

Hello! Sorry for the terribly long absence! I've been very very busy with something new and amazing and here is one small portion I can share right now. But first, an updated picture of me (remember when I started growing out my grey hair?). I'm still here!

 

I've missed you all and will be back with lots of fun stories about my new adventure. But be sure to watch this, leave a comment if you want, and download the full pdf pattern (link under video) if you want to try this project.

 

Here's the Patchwork Coffee Cup Cozy pdf pattern just for my blog readers! 

 

Oh! And join me on facebook at Make Sewing Studio!

Make a quick heart pillow for your valentine (and other stuff too!)

It's nearly February and I've been sewing my heart out on everything! My neighbor has a darling pillow on her porch chair with a wacky heart appliquéd to it so I totally stole that idea and made one for myself. I love it! It was fast, simple, cute, and I'm sharing it with you. I got the ticking fabric at Jo-Ann but you can also find it at Walmart (at a much better price!).

I chose 18 x 18 inch pillows and used my invisible zipper method and everything turned out great. I cut each pillow square 18.5 x 18.5 before sewing it together. Here's the other one I made. If you make one of these don't feel obligated to chose traditional Valentine's Day colors. Just pick what makes you happy! This orange heart (DS Quilts fabric from Jo-Ann) makes me happy. If you want to make a pillow with an envelope closure (envelope pillow tutorial here) just make sure your pillow is nearly ready to sew together before you center the heart design, then applique it in place and finish your pillow.

 I used the smaller template for a cute dish towel to add a little Valentine festivity to my kitchen.  

And the smaller template was perfect for a new table square to brighten up my dining room. 

Here's how you can make them too. Download and cut the template(s) (pdfs below for you) in the heart shape you want to use...

Download large and small heart template pdf pictured below (58.2K)

Just cut the shape out and place on your fabric fold.

Download wacky heart template pdf pictured below (50.9K)

Just cut the pieces out and tape together so the arrows meet each other.

Chose your fabric and fold it if you're using the regular heart shape. Place your template on the fold and cute out the heart shape. Open your heart shape and press it to get the crease out. With the wacky heart shape just cut it, tape it together, and trace around it before cutting.

Smudge your glue stick all around the edges and a little in the middle. Work fast because it dries quickly.

Heat set in place but running your hot iron over the heart.

 Use a zig zag stitch and a fun thread color to zig zag all around the edges making sure your stitch is centered so you enclose the edges with each stitch.

 There you go! You can make these for yourself and they also make great gift and boutique ideas.

I'm really in love with all these hearts and will probably whip up a few more before I get tired of them. Then I guess I'll be on to shamrocks, right?

Let me know if you try it and what you think!!  Have a great week and keep on sewing!

Related articles

Make a pillow cover with an invisible zipper (no pins needed!)

In a Snap pillow covers (another tutorial!)

A tea towel tutorial

Make a self binding table square...or napkin...or anything

 This is a really fun and easy project and if you love perfectly mitered corners then you will adore this tutorial for a self binding table square. I love mine!

 You can use this concept for a table square, table runner, napkins, anything that's square or rectangular. I'm making a medium sized table square to go under my cake stands and once I'm done it will be 21" x 21". A good way to figure out your finished size is to add the dimension of the smaller one to the dimension to the bigger one then divide by two and subtract the seam allowance.  18 + 26 = 44 (both heights added) then 44 ÷ 2 = 22 (divide by 2) then 22 - 1 = 21 (subtract total of all seam allowances). I hope that makes sense.

 To get started you'll need to mark sewing lines on all of your pieces. I'm using disappearing ink which will wash off with just a dab of water when I'm done.  I use these disappearing ink pens all the time so if you haven't tried them grabbed your 50% off coupon and treat yourself to a wonderful new sewing tool. If you're using a pencil make sure you don't get your mark beyond the 1/4" seams allowance where it will end up showing when you've finished.

The center piece (with the bird on it)  is 8" smaller than the big piece (the bottom and binding) so divide 8 in half and mark the big piece 4" from each corner edge.

 Then on the wrong side of the center piece make a mark 1/4" from each corner.

 Now, work with two opposite sides and pin your center fabric so it's between the marks on the larger binding fabric (just scrunch up the larger piece of fabric underneath until your sides reach each other). Starting on the small corner dot, stitch across each side starting and stopping at the dots (don't stitch all the way to the ends). Use a 1/4" seam allowance. Be sure to backstitch as you start and stop.

 Here's a closeup of what it will look like. You can see the fabric is right up next to the blue line underneath and I've stopped stitching at the blue corner dot.

 

Now you're going to sew the other two sides. You'll need to "scrunch" the larger fabric piece underneath and pin the un-sewn sides of the center fabric to the un-sewn sides of the larger binding fabric (make sure the fabric is between your markings like you did on the previous step. You can see a closeup of a corner below. Be sure to move the underneath fabric out of the way so it doesn't get caught in your stitches.

 

Stitch from dot to dot (be sure to backstitch again) but leave a 3" opening along one side for turning your fabric right side out.

 

Here is a closeup showing how the stitches meet at the dot but don't go past it.

 

Your larger fabric will be big and loose like this.

 

Now fold a corner so the raw edges meet up together and place a ruler along the fold. Draw a straight line from the fold to the dot where your previous seams met (a drew a dot on the outer fabric to make it obvious). Do this on all four corners. Don't draw all the way to the raw edge because you won't be sewing to the raw edge, you'll sew between the dot and the folded edge.

 Sew between the dot and the edge (remember to backstitch).

 Cut away the extra fabric.

 Now press the center fabric's seam allowance toward the larger fabric. This will make the next step so much easier and cleaner.

 Here's a close up of the un-sewn opening after it's pressed.

Now reach in and, starting with the corners, pull the fabric through the opening.

 Here's the opening after you've turned it inside out. The previous pressing step made the binding fabric nicely folded on that edge and ready to stitch shut.

 Press your table square and make sure that opening fold is just the way you want it so it blends in with the rest of the binding seam. Top stitch around the binding, pivoting at the corner seams where it's nicely mitered. Now nobody will ever be able to tell where that opening was.

 Here's a picture of the stitches underneath.

 Now press your table square smartly and place it somewhere you can enjoy every time you walk by it.

 

Pretty!

These make great gifts, especially for newlyweds or house warming gift giving.  You can use this method to make a cute set of napkins (make the big square 19 x19 and the small square 15 x 15 for a nice sized napkin), or a table runner for a baby's dresser. The ideas are endless!

Modern Prairie Sewing (a blog hop!)

It's my turn!  I'm so happy Abi Long from The Modern Prairie Girl (and Marie Madeline Study) asked me if I'd be part of the blog hop as she introduces her new book Modern Prairie Sewing (published by those great folks at C&T Publishing).  I wasn't sure what I was signing up for since I hadn't even seen the book but boy, was I thrilled when it arrived!  It's loaded with great projects.  Seven different bags, eight beautiful garments, and a bunch of darling housewares.

That's Abi on the far left side (I love these girls!).

It was hard to choose which project to make but I really wanted something I would use again and again and so I picked the KittyJo bag.  I really loved the use of a variety of fabrics and it looked like a good sized bag.  Plus the pleat in the center of the bag adds a touch of spunk. Here's the picture from the book.  You can see why it caught my eye.

For my KittyJo bag I used home dec fabric because I wanted it to be sort of heavy and durable enough to hold my gym clothes, or groceries, or packages for the post office (basically to haul anything anywhere).  I'm so happy with the result!  Isn't this great?  Look at how big it is!

I can put so much stuff in here.

 

I included the huge pocket in mine and stitched down the middle so I have room for my phone, reading glasses, Kindle, all sorts of stuff!  I even added the extra Michele's D-Ring (but I only had an O ring so I used it).  I sewed mine in the center over the pockets because it will be a great place to hang my gym membership bar code fob.

I had a lot of fun making this bag.  It's a pretty quick project and not overwhelming so if you get the itch to make something this will do the trick without taking up your whole weekend.  All of the projects in the book are like that and this book is perfect for beginners as well as more experienced seamsters.

That was a lot of fun and I can highly, highly recommend this book!  I know I'm going to go to it every time I need an idea for a hand crafted gift or a spruce up for my own home or wardrobe.

Here is a list of the other bloggers on the hop, so you can be inspired by more fun sewing projects. 

Jenny at Sew Pretty Dresses August 20th
Pam at Pam Kitty Morning August 21st
Melissa at 100 Billion Stars August 23
Caroline at Sew Caroline August 25
Melissa at Lilac Lane August 26
April at April Rhodes August 27
Abiah at Marie-Madeline Studio August 28

On August 29th be sure to hop on over to The Modern Prairie Girl blog for an chance to win a signed copy of Modern Prairie Sewing ! 

A shout out to Fran's Sewing Circle!

I was thrilled when my friend Allison (over here at Within A Quarter Inch) let me know her local quilt shop had been having a contest with my book!  At Fran's Sewing Circle (in Wilmington, North Carolina at 5751 Oleander Dr., Unit 5, if you are lucky enough to live nearby) the employees made their choice of a skirt from the book (17 skirts to chose from, plus maternity!) and then held a contest where the customers guessed which employee made each skirt.  Such a cute idea, especially in a place where customers and employees become friends (it's like Cheers but with fabric instead of beer).

Here is a view of all the skirts hanging together (I love the clothes line idea too).

 Here is a close-up.  I'm so thrilled to see they took the leap to try different things.  Look at how great these look!

 More!  Such cute fabrics and you can never go wrong with a solid black skirt (ever).  It's a wardrobe staple.

 And more!  Seriously, these are so darling and the work looks impeccable.  

 

Such a great idea for a store (or for a sewing circle).  A huge thank you to the folks at Fran's Sewing Circle for including my book in their fun!  If you have a shop and have made any projects from my book please let me know ([email protected])!  I'd love to let people know!

My dog has fleece

I found a sweet little pattern for a dog coat on the Compulsive Craftiness blog here.  Sarah worked up a great pattern for her little dog and was kind enough to share it.  Our little Cupcake is a chiweenie (chihuahua/dachshund) and she shivers all fall/winter/spring.  Not in a shaking, nervous chihuahua way but in a cold way.  Problem solved.  I downloaded the pdf, taped it together (super simple and great instructions), and went shopping.  I got two 1/2 yard cuts of fleece for the outside and another 1/2 yard cut for the lining on both of them (the green dotted fabric).  With the 40% sale I spent under 10.00 for everything!

 

Here she is doing a loooong (dachshund remember?) stretch in her blue owl coat.  This fabric is minky-ish and fluffed up my nose a bit but it was worth the sneezing.  She used to squirm out of her store bought coats but since she loves fleece she's actually started running to us when we hold them up to dress her.

 

Here's her strawberry coat (or Strawberry Cupcake coat as Joey has dubbed it).  She likes this one too. Sarah's pattern was made for a dog in the 10 pound range so it's perfect for us but with just a bit of sewing savvy you could adjust it up for a bigger dog.  Each coat went together in under 1/2 hour once I had everything cut and ready to go (I already had the velcro in my stash too).

 

And I had enough fabric left to make a pillow for her.  She used to sit on this skuzzy old pillow form I had and it was kind of embarrassing.  This is the same pillow form, but with a styling new cover we can all be proud of.

 

That was a fun little project and I feel like such a good doggie grandma (Cupcake is actually my daughter's dog) for making these.  Thanks for the pattern Sarah!