Quilt Basting Tutorial, with bonus batting piecing instructions

Here are instructions for how to baste a quilt in preparation for machine quilting. You could baste it like this for hand quilting or tying as well.

Here's what you need:
quilt top
batting
backing fabric
wide tape
curved safety pins
Kwik Klip pin closing tool

I didn't have a piece of batting the right size for this quilt so you also get to see how to piece together batting.



Step 1: Spread and smooth out your backing fabric on a carpeted floor. The backing should be about 4-5 inches wider and longer than the quilt top. I used flannel for this quilt backing, but sometimes I use regular woven fabrics too. If there is a right side of the backing fabric, it needs to face the floor. You can iron it too, but it's not necessary unless your fabric is super wrinkly. Use wide tape to tape it down. You don't want the backing fabric to be stretched tight, just flat and smooth. I usually use packing tape but haven't been able to find it, so I used duct tape this time.



Step 2: Spread your batting out on top of your backing fabric. I had to use 2 small pieces; I overlapped them by about 4 inches.



Step 3: Cut on an imaginary wavy line through both thicknesses of batting.



Step 4: Remove the small cut pieces of batting and match up the curved edges of the batting pieces. They should butt up to each other but not overlap.



Step 5: Next you'll hand sew the batting pieces together. Here you can see how I did it because I used black thread. You should use thread that matches the batting though. It's ok to use pretty big stitches. The quilting will hold this together fine in the end.



This photo shows the batting seamed together. I removed the black stitches and sewed the entire seam with light colored thread.



Step 6: Spread the quilt top on top of the batting. Iron it first if it's really wrinkled. Smooth it out nice and flat.



Step 7: Using curved safety pins (these should be available at your local quilt shop), start in the middle of the quilt and pin all 3 layers together. I put pins about every 4-5 inches. Make sure you don't pin the quilt to the carpet. I use the Kwik Klip pin basting tool for closing my pins. You can use your fingers but they can get pretty sore after closing lots and lots of pins.



Step 8: Cut off the excess batting and backing, making sure to leave a couple inches beyond the edge of the quilt top. Then, remove the tape (give it to your kids so they can make a tape ball) and you're ready to quilt. Unless you pinned your quilt to the carpet. In that case, just fix the places where you did that and then you'll be done.

I hope this is helpful! As always, let me know if there are any questions or clarifications needed.

Smart Habit Saturday

I have been thinking about doing this all week since I found out about the Lazy Organizer blog. I'm a bit intimidated. I started out early in August decluttering because I wanted to, a little bit each day, and I did it for 5-6 days in a row and then I got a cold. I didn't think it would be too bad, but it got bad. Then I got better for almost a week and got another cold. So my decluttering fell by the wayside but I've been reading some of the archives over at that blog and I really like the idea of setting goals in such a public way. And I have a couple of good habits, at least, and I know that once something is a habit it isn't hard to do. (I've made my bed nearly every day for about 12 years. It started because of mice.)

Sooo... I guess... I'm going to say my habit is moving all the dirty laundry down to the basement every day. I have another one too but I'll save it for next week. I fuss about all the stairs in my house but if I make it a habit, it's not really that big of a deal to go down as many as 28 stairs and get the dirty clothes where they need to be. Wish me luck!

Open Source Sewing

Ooh oh oh! I just listened to the latest episode of CraftyPod and I'm getting a little excited about it! It's all about the siteBurdaStyle which is a site where you can download patterns and make clothing for yourself, or to sell. I'm probably going to make the Emily shirt... recycled, I think. I'll have to get over to Goodwill sometime next week and find a couple men's shirts. I had seen the recycled tutorial for this Emily shirt before, I think it was linked from Craftzine.com. But I didn't really know about BurdaStyle before this. I just registered and will be poking around here a bit in the next few days. Go check it out!

Beginning Sewing

Based on some of the search terms and comments here, I'm thinking about doing a series of beginning sewing tutorials. I will probably start with a basic simple quilt top tutorial and a "how to make a t-shirt" tutorial. Both of those things are very easy and make great beginner projects.

my next project

I'm feeling mostly better from 2 colds in a row and I'm going to finish up that scrappy log cabin quilt. I'm going to make a free-motion machine quilting tutorial while I work on it.

look what I just made!

I decided to make some scrappy quilts and use up some of my quilting fabric stash. I have a lot of fabrics in there that I don't really love any more, so I'm going to make some charity quilts. I don't know exactly what organization they will go to yet, or even how long it will be until I finish them, but it felt good to get this part done:



I cut 6.5" squares when I could, and the fabric that was not big enough for squares, I cut into rectangles that were 6.5" on 2 sides so I could still use them in the rows between the squares. Something happened with my planned/random look while I was sewing the rows together and I don't think it looks quite right between rows 3 and 4 but, oh well, it'll do.

Sometimes it's really satisfying to make up a quick project that hasn't been planned out for weeks or months.

what to do next...

I could show a couple pictures here, I've finished up a skirt and dress for the older sisters to the new baby next door. But I need to figure out what I'm going to work on next as well. I'm going to be quilting my friend's baby quilt and also the scrappy log cabin one I started a while back. Maybe I need to get busy with basting them so they'll be ready.

I'm also making up some trick-or-treat tote bags for my etsy shop. I've finished one and have fabric to make a few more.

Some other things on my list of future projects:

navy linen skirt for me
knit wrap Ottobre top for me
applique dinosaur tees for my boys
baby quilt for my new nephew
sling for my SIL
hemming (ugh) those cute Old Navy pants I got a while back. I'm going to prewash them a couple times first so they get as shrunken as possible before I hem them. I've hemmed pants before and then had them shrink too short after laundering and I hate that.

Serger Rolled Hem Tips

More than once, I have been ready to do a rolled hem on my serger and then I couldn't find the book. It took me a while, and some time spent reading library books about sergers so I could better understand what's going on with that machine, but I figured out how to adjust from regular seams to the rolled hem settings. Here's a picture of my serger (a trusty Brother 1034D), ready to sew a pretty rolled hem:
And here are the steps, with handy explanations:
1. Remove the left needle. (I left the cone on but the needle is out, for now.)
2. Remove the stitch finger. On my machine there is a lever to press in order to remove the stitch finger.
3. Adjust the dials on the side for rolled hem stitch width (really narrow) and length (really short). The dials have "R" markings for the rolled hem setting.
4. Adjust your thread tensions. This is the thing that I had a big a ha moment about. The rolled hem is going to be rolled down to the underside of your fabric.

You want the upper looper thread to be looser, so it can be pulled down slightly to the underside of this hem stitch. Smaller numbers=looser tension (this one took a while to sink in for me). So if I'm normally on about a 6 for the upper looper tension, I change it to a 4 or 5.

Now you want your lower looper thread to be tighter, so it will pull the upper looper thread down to the underside of the hem stitch. Adjust the dial to a higher number. I adjusted it up to between 7 and 8 from the normal 6.

Finally, your right needle tension needs to be loosened. And I didn't change mine very much. The handbook says to put it at 4 but I've had success with it a bit tighter.

Now you can try this out on a swatch before you actually start on the garment you're hemming. If it doesn't look right, adjust one thread tension at a time and see if you can get it. Hope this helps!

Oh yeah--I also took a photo of the correct stitch finger storage position since I can't ever remember the way it goes in:

Where I've been.

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

And, I haven't been out of the US, ever.

What brings me joy?

Jessica over at kerflop is having a contest. Here's my entry:

What brings me joy?

Blessed time alone. Especially time in the morning, although I'm still working on executing this one more reliably. Even better, and even more rare, time alone in the morning after exercising.

Connected, peaceful time with my children and husband.

Chatting on the phone for a couple hours, or 10 minutes, with my best friend.

Making progress in my life. I'm running, I'm blogging about something useful and interesting (well I think so at least), my husband and I are making progress on our money communication and our debt reduction plan. I'm doing the grocery shopping and having fun being frugal (see thegrocerygame.com for more info). Before I got this nasty cold I was making progress on daily decluttering and better home maintenance. (I'll be back on that one right away, I promise.)

Finishing projects brings me joy.

Wisely managing my time and commitments brings me joy. Another thing that I'm working on.

A good day at church, where nobody says anything off-the-wall or crazy, where a good, peaceful, spiritual feeling exists through all meetings, that brings me joy.

And since it's that time of year in my and my husband's extended families, new babies in the family bring me joy.

little serger trick

I sew both knits and wovens on my serger, and I change needles when I switch from one to the other (universals for wovens, ballpoint for knits). I don't discard my needles all that often; I do when it's obviously needed but sometimes I'll have only sewn a couple t-shirts and then be ready to switch over to wovens. I used to just keep the needles in one of those cases they come in, but I came up with something recently that I think is pretty clever. My serger tools (screwdriver for needles, big tweezers for threading, thingies to hold the thread in place when I'm not using cones) are in a little ziplock on my sewing table, and in that bag I keep a square of folded over knit fabric, and a square of folded over woven fabric. When I take my knit needles out of the machine, I put them in the square of knit fabric and then put that back in the bag. And when I'm set up to sew knits, I store the woven needles in the little woven scrap.

As an added bonus, when I take a break from sewing and can't remember what kind of needles are in the serger, now that I have this little trick I can just look at which scrap has needles in it and then I'll know which needles are in the serger.

ugh

I have a bit of a cold and haven't sewn for a few days. I did finish up two more cloth grocery bags on Friday, and yesterday I helped my son and his neighbor friend, who just got back from a summer away, sew up some pillows. The friend made a 4-patch front panel and my boy just made his out of baseball fabric.

I'm not even sure exactly what I want to make next. I should work on baby quilts. My nephew was born a week ago and I am still not even sure what I'm going to do for his quilt. I have some ideas though, I think it will be a lot different from what I normally make. And I have the scrappy log cabin quilt to continue working on as well. I guess I'll be making a trip to the fabric store this week. Maybe the quilt shop too.

I also have a dress cut out for the neighbor girl who's turning 2, and thinking about making a skirt for her 3-year-old sister. I might size down the pattern I want for her since it starts at 104 and she's probably a 98 or 92.

shirts for Webkinz

I have been making shirts for Webkinz. It's fun and funny. It makes me laugh that I've made 6 tiny shirts for stuffed dogs and pandas. My son made a crown for one of his friend's webkinz dog today. I sewed the rubies on it but he did the rest.

Sewing for your family: getting started

As early as 5th grade, I was sewing a fair amount of my own clothes. My mom helped me, and she and I made clothing for my siblings too. I continued sewing during high school and a very little bit during college. I started quilting the year I got married, and made quilts and diapers for my older son. And a few clothing items but I tell you, the big 3 patterns I used were pretty much awful, as a rule. I made this woven, collared shirt for him, using an old light blue check shirt of my husband's. A cute recycled project, you'd think. No. The collar on that pattern was gigantic, out of proportion, and the shirt never looked right. Other projects I made for him using big 3 patterns were much too big even though I made them in the same size he wore in store bought clothing. Trying to sew clothing for him was pretty disappointing.

When my second child was born I came across a sewing forum on a parenting website and discovered that there are some great online sewing resources available these days. I found better patterns, great fabric sources, and sewing communities chock full of information and support. And now, I sew a lot more, I enjoy it more, and I make cute, stylish clothes for my kids that actually fit. And, it's a bit more challenging, but I'm also having more and more success making clothing for myself.

So, here are some of my favorite sewing and fabric related websites:
Sewing Mamas is pretty much my online sewing home. Sewing Mamas has several active sewing forums, and loads of contests, swaps, and free patterns and tutorials. It's a great site with a good mix of beginner and experienced sewing moms.

PatternReview.com is an amazing site with probably thousands of user reviews of sewing machines, sergers, and just about any pattern you can find. I do still sew from big 3 patterns occasionally, but when I do, instead of going straight to the fabric store and flipping through the big book to find something, I look online at mccall.com for the McCall's, Butterick, and Vogue catalogues or simplicity.com for Simplicity and New Look patterns. I write down the pattern numbers I like and then can go on over to patternreview.com to check for reviews. Patterreview.com also has reviews of patterns from tons of independent pattern companies.

I've also used the machine reviews at patternreview.com to help pick out a couple of my machines and will probably go there again when I'm ready to upgrade to a better machine (soon, I hope!).

Ottobre Design is my favorite pattern source these days. They have the best patterns for sewing for boys, and of course, lots of great girl patterns too. There are 4 children's issues and 2 women's issues published each year. The patterns are printed on removable sheets in the middle of the magazine and you have to trace them in the desired size and add seam allowances. It's a little more work (and money) than a pattern you can get a JoAnn's for $1.50 on sale but it's worth it. You can subscribe directly through the Ottobre site or through the Wooly Thread. Individual back issues can also be purchased through the Wooly Thread or SewZanne's Fabrics.

Which brings me to fabric websites. SewZanne's has a great selection of fabrics (especially knits), patterns, and notions. They also have very fast shipping times and good customer service.

Fabric.com is a great fabric source that has frequent sales and usually has reasonable prices. Fabric.com has a wide variety of fabrics including home dec, quilting fabric, and apparel fabric.

I have also purchased fabric occasionally from Trim Fabric and FabricLine, and Wazoodle and been happy with the results. There are also many, many other online fabric shops.

Finally, I wanted to add that you should still be on the mailing lists for your local JoAnn's and/or Hancocks, watch the sales, and use the coupons that come in your mailers. I try not to shop in either store without a coupon, and I buy most of my thread, sewing machine needles, and notions at these stores.

So, there you have it! Check out these sites and have fun sewing!

Baby Clothes

I just finished these up. The t-shirt pattern is from Ottobre Design issue 5/2006 only I made it short sleeved and just a shirt, not a onesie. Pants are from New Conceptions Baby Essentials. My favorite baby pants pattern, so simple.

Two of these sets are going to my nephew in Arizona. He's 3 days old now. The stripe shirt/red pants set is for one of my church friends.

I also found... 2 UFO baby outfit sets that I will finish up for another church friend who's having a winter baby. And some finished baby pants. I had a shirt started to go with those but don't know where it is.

New church bag.

bag front
Originally uploaded by vickivictoria

My first flickr blog post. Wow. I just finished up this bag, well almost. It's going to be my church tote bag, and it's a huge improvement over what I've been using. I'm hoping the handle will hold up ok. I used 2 layers of maybe a medium craft weight interfacing.

I know I've mentioned this bag here before but I'll just say again that I used Renee Plains' Foldover Bag pattern. I like it! I made the pocket patches frayed instead of, well, not, and I think it's cute that way.

I don't know how to have flickr show more than one photo so if you want to see the back of the bag, click the picture to go to my flickr page.

Next up: baby clothes. My sister-in-law had her baby on Monday. I have a church friend having a baby this month too. I've got some things partially cut out; I need to finish that up and rethread my machines and get busy!

Podcasts

I just got my first mp3 player (it's a Creative Zen Nano Plus and I got it dirt cheap from buy.com) at the end of last year and while I ripped a bunch of music CDs to listen to on it, I started listening to podcasts and that's what I mostly use it for now. I listen to podcasts while doing dishes, folding clothes, doing other cleaning jobs, or sewing. I like podcasts. And I wanted to share some of my favorites with you here.

Oh yeah, if you don't know what a podcast is, it is just like a talk-radio show, only it is on the computer available to be downloaded and listened to on your portable player whenever you want. Or you can usually listen online, as long as your computer has speakers. There are podcasts out there on all kinds of topics, and they are almost always free (I haven't encountered any that you have to pay for at least).

Podcasts I listen to:

Material Mama
Material Mama is a fashion and craft sewing podcast and it was my first podcast. Episodes are usually around 30 minutes and are informative on many topics related to sewing clothing.

Creative Mom Podcast
This show is usually an hour and there is a new episode each week. Amy talks a lot about sketching, drawing, painting, with occasional sewing and knitting content. Each episode showcases great music and, usually, books for kids or grownups. Other neat things about the CMP: thematic prompts, recipes, a monthly ATC exchange, a flickr group where CMP listeners can share photos of their creative work. I really enjoyed the CMP issue that featured journals (episode 7, I think?).

CraftyPod
CraftyPod comes out twice a month and is usually about 20 minutes long. Sometimes there are interviews with craft people, sometimes a show will be about a specific technique or craft. The CraftyPod site also has regular blog updates.

CraftSanity is a craft interview show that usually goes well over an hour. The host, Jennifer Ackerman-Heywood, does an aftershow after the main interview that is usually about her life. She is an excellent interviewer and I think her shows are very interesting.

Cast On is a great knitting podcast. And I don't even knit that much. You've gotta listen to this one.

Quilting Stash
Quilting Stash's Annie Smith has interviews and interesting discussion of the quilting world. Recently Annie had a 2-part interview with Susan Branch; there's a great story of how Susan met the Beatles when she was a teenager included in that interview.

Alex Anderson's Quilt Connection
Alex Anderson's podcast is usually around 20 minutes and has interesting information about her quilting life now, including her work on her internet Quilt Show, as well as interviews and discussion on various quilting topics.

I'm planning on finding out about more sewing podcasts but for the most part I usually listen to new episodes of all of these podcasts.

Attached Elastic Waistband Tutorial

This tutorial explains how to do an attached waistband with enclosed elastic. I use this technique on shorts and jeans for my boys.


Step 1. Sew the waistband piece into a circle, press seam open. Sew the elastic into a circle. I overlap the elastic 1/4" and zigzag, making sure to backstitch. You will have to determine how much elastic to use based on how much recovery it has and the kind of fabric you're using. I use pretty firm elastic so I just cut the elastic the length of my child's waist measurement. If your elastic has less recovery you will need to use less.


Step 2. Turn the pants right side out and pin the waistband piece inside the pants, with the waistband piece's right side facing the pants wrong side. For some reason my waistband pieces don't always fit quite right, I had to unpin it and sew it a bit smaller before it was the right size on this pair of pants.


Step 3. Sew the waistband to the pants. I tried to keep this seam at about 1/4"-3/8".



Step 4. Fold the waistband piece up and press. Press the seam allowances towards the waistband.



Step 5. I don't know if my picture shows this well enough but I'll try to explain. For this step you will be topstitching the waistband down on the right side of the pants, so change to topstitching thread. (I use a different machine to topstitch, my more heavy duty, older machine.)

Turn the pants wrong side out. Place the elastic on the waistband and fold the waistband down over the elastic. Fold the edge of the waistband under about 1/4" (you can press this first, it might be helpful, but I usually don't.) Make sure the folded waistband edge is past the edge of the elastic and start sewing. You will need to make the folds and adjust the position of the pants as you sew. Take your time.



Step 6. Just keep going. As you sew you will need to pull the fabric from the back around to the front, since you will be sewing the circle. Another thing that will help is to adjust the fabric and elastic so the waistband is starting to get gathered.




Step 7. When you get to the last 1/3 or 1/4 of this seam, you will need to use both hands to stretch the elastic (within the waistband casing) while you sew. You can adjust the waistband and then stretch and sew a bit, and then adjust again and sew again.




Finished! You can shrink the elastic down a with some steam from your iron. It will also likely shrink down a bit after being washed and dried. I don't sew through the elastic or do anything else to make sure it won't twist in the waistband, but I haven't had any problems with it twisting in denim fabric.

Please let me know if you have questions or if something isn't clear.

posting when frustrated

I should have waited to write about those jeans. They are always a big project for me, and I don't have the perfect machine(s) for doing topstitching and hemming well. I'm usually frustrated right after and I sure was when I finished up this pair of jeans. But now I'm happy that they're done, I really like how the photos look, and I know they they will look even better after getting a bit distressed in the wash. And finally, my child will grow and they will look really cool on him eventually. I'm going to make some easier projects for the next little while.

Finished!

Big sigh of relief. What a project. These are from Ottobre Design 1/2007, made in size 116 with 128 length. (Way too long.) I realized once again my dislike of pocket flaps. I had D try these on and they are absolutely huge on him. And I already know this fabric won't shrink much. Oh well, at least he will grow. I will wash and dry them a couple times right away to break them in a bit.



I had a bit of an issue on the back pocket velcro. The back pockets themselves, too. The directions for the pleat detail weren't very clear but I figured it out. Also, I hemmed the pocket tops first, then realized I should sew those pleats and then hem after that.

I didn't figure out how the (back) pocket and flap velcro were going to match up before sewing. And I ended up having to unpick the pocket velcro... it was already after the pockets were sewn on the pants and I didn't want to undo that topstitching so I handsewed the pocket velcro on after the flaps were in place.

working on jeans

I am making some Ottobre jeans for my big boy and they are tedious. I do not much like making pocket flaps. I just broke a serger needle going over a thick seam. I am looking forward to making something easier next. I need to find a pattern for jeans that have front pockets, back pockets with no flaps, and that's all.

Scrap Catcher

My son made this Lego scrap catcher for me. It holds the scraps and threads from my serger. I think it's really clever and cool.

T-shirt Bound Neckline Tutorial

How to sew a double-folded binding on the neckline of a t-shirt.

The length of the binding piece will vary depending on your fabric. This was a very stretchy rib knit and I used a binding piece a bit less than 2/3 the length of the neck opening in the shirt. For less stretchy fabrics you might want to use closer to ¾ the length of the neck opening. The binding piece used here was 1 5/8” wide—it is the pattern piece from the women’s t-shirt pattern in Ottobre Design 2/2007.



Step 1: Sew the binding piece into a circle, and use pins to mark it into equal fourths.



Step 2: Your shirt front, back, and sleeves should be already sewn together (but don’t sew the underarm/side seam yet). Turn the shirt right side out. Use pins to mark the neckline of the shirt into equal fourths. This shirt has some gathers in the center of the front neckline and there are also pins holding the gathering threads tight in the front. The center front pin is a bit hard to see here but it is there.



Step 3: Finger press the binding seam open, and pin the binding’s RIGHT side to the WRONG side of the shirt. With your shirt right side out, pin the binding to the inside of the shirt neckline. It will probably not seem right, in fact, I did it wrong on this shirt and then had to do some reverse sewing. Double check so you don’t have to unpick!



Step 4: Sew the binding to the shirt, stretching the binding piece and making sure the 2 edges line up as you sew. I used a scant ¼” seam allowance here.



Step 5: Next, fold the raw edge of the binding over about ¼”, then fold again, making sure the fold covers your first seamline. Sew binding down close to the fold edge. Going slowly will help.



Finished! If the neckline seems to be stretched out a bit, you can steam it with the iron to shrink it down.

Yes, you can save money sewing!

Something I hear a lot when talking with people about sewing... is "I used to sew a lot but I don't now because it doesn't really save me money." I'm here to tell you that it really is possible to save money sewing clothing for your family!

A few things I do that help me save money sewing for my kids and self:

I buy much of my fabric online, and I use coupons and shop the sales at the local fabric chain stores. I buy almost all my knit fabrics online because any knit fabrics available locally are usually too expensive or not the fabric content I want.

I keep some fabric on hand, and although I don't have a huge stash, right now I'm glad to have several colors of denim that I can use to make shorts or jeans for my boys when they need them.

I sew my children's pajamas. I make them flannel sleep pants in the winter, and light cotton woven shorts in the summer. They wear store-bought or made-by-me undershirts with their sleep bottoms. I like doing pajamas because they are just about the easiest project out there, so it's kind of instant gratification. I love having a finished project after about 20 minutes of sewing. Another reason I like sewing pajama bottoms is that I love all the fun prints that are readily available in flannels and cotton wovens. I definitely spend less to make these pajamas than I would and have in the past when I have bought pajamas for my kids.

All that said, saving money is not the main reason I sew for my kids. I sew because I enjoy it, I sew because I like the challenge of trying a new pattern or technique (or the challenge of fitting patterns for myself, which is the biggest challenge of all), and I sew because I feel like I put a little bit of my energy and love into the things I make for my boys. I also like the feeling of accomplishment, and of having made something cool looking and useful, that I have when I finish a garment and then again when I see my kids wearing it.

100 Things (that I have sewn)

I decided to try a different take on the 100 things thing. So... here goes.

1. A small bear, when I was 6.
2. A navy and white polka dot skirt with a ruffle for 4-H, age 9.
3. A light blue floral dress with elastic in the neck, waist, and sleeves, for my 2nd year of 4-H.
4. Light blue dressy pants and vest with coordinating button-up shirt, age 11. Again for 4-H. Sadly, the fit was poor and I quite disliked this outfit. I learned to do a collar at this time.
5. Boatneck t-shirts for myself and my sisters, around age 10-11.
6. Culottes, I made a yellow pair and a white pair. Still age 10-11.
7. Loads of cloth diapers. My mom used the flat style and her sewing machine had a foot that could do a very narrow rolled hem. I remember hemming a whole bunch of these when I was 9.
8. Barbie clothes. I remember pink taffeta capri pants and dresses with a fitted bodice and puffy sleeves and gathered skirt.
9. A green and white print skirt. Age 15 or so. Gathered skirt on a flat waistband.
10. Navy blue shorts out of a kind of crinkly twill. Age 15.
11. Pink wool dress, for the National Make It Yourself With Wool Contest in 10th grade. Don't you love the princess lines, and the lace collar? I sewed the zipper in that baby by hand.

12. My ugly quilt. Made in 8th grade out of a rainbow of double-knit polyester. My grandma helped me make it, and I love it.
13. Pillowcase in 8th grade sewing class.
14. "Jam shorts" (remember those?) in 8th grade sewing class.
15. Oversized turquoise sweatshirt with pockets in 8th grade sewing class.
16. Floral skirt out of chintz. High school.
17. Shorts made from quilters' cottons. High school.
18. Mock-neck shirt with long sleeves, made from white french terry or something like that. High school.
19. Blue and pink puppy. Jr. high.
20. White teddy bear. High school.
21. Straight leg jeans, age 10.
22. Green taffeta and white lace dress, junior year. (Made from this pattern.
23. Laura Ashley pattern light green and white dress, senior year.
24. Dresses for my mom and her sister for my uncle's wedding, senior year. Pink.
25. My wedding dress. age 23.
26. My friend A's wedding dress.
27. A huge, heavy jeans quilt.
28. Flannel pj pants made with chicken print fabric.
29. Khakis for my oldest son when he was about 2, made from recycled husband's pants.
30. Navy sweatshirt knit pants for ds1 when he was 6 months old.
31. Red, white, and blue quilt for ds1.
32. "Cold blanket" for ds1.
33. Quilt for my niece S.
34. Quilt for my niece C.
35. Diapers for ds1, lots of them.
36. Linen maternity pants when pregnant with ds2.
37. Prepatch maternity skirt when pregnant with ds2.
38. Baby quilt for ds2.

39. Big quilt for ds1.
40. Fleece pants for ds2, when he was a baby.
41. Romper for ds2 for his baby blessing. Light blue and light green homespun plaid. Really cute.
42. Overlap t-shirts for ds2 for his first winter. NCBE pattern.
43. Knotted hats for ds2, his first winter. (overlap shirts, fleece pants, and knotty hats from this pattern.)
44. Eared hat for ds2, his first winter.
45. Flannel pants, purple and green plaid, back in college.
46. A tiny outfit, in 1/4 scale, for my flat pattern design class in college. Pleated yoked skirt and blouse with a sailor collar and long sleeves.
47. Snowboarder Ottobre hats for my boys, 2005.
48. Pointy hats for my boys, 2006.
49. Kitchen curtains in our first house.
50. A quilty birthday calendar made for my mom's 50th birthday party. I don't have any photos of it!
51. A witch quilt for Halloween.
52. A red, white, and blue flag and star quilt wall hanging.
53. Recycled jeans frayed edge rag quilt with yellow and turquoise flannel backing.
54. A turtle wall hanging quilt.
55. Yellow print flying geese quilt, queen size.
56. Baby quilt for nephew B.
57. Baby quilt for niece C.
58. My second make it with wool outfit, a dark teal slim skirt and a cropped, cream colored jacket. (Oh man there is a big story about the night of that competition).
59. Baby quilt for nephew C.
60. Finger puppets with ds and friends, 2006.
61. Purple corduroy library bag.
62. Purple corduroy long skirt for me.
63. Purple corduroy jean jacket for me.
64. Purple corduroy bag for a friend.
65. A tiny, quilty, flag fridge magnet.
66. Flannel pajama pants for my boys.
67. Woven pj shorts for my boys.
68. White undershirts for younger ds when he was 2.
69. Maroon/beige/pink quilt for the end of my bed.
70. Pink pillowcases for my bed.
71. Darth Vader and Yoda pillowcases for ds1.
72. Light blue denim skirt for me.
73. Baby dresses and bloomers for my friend and my niece.
74. Yellow knit dress for next-door neighbor 3 yo.
75. Twirly skirt for neighbor 3-yo.
76. Red and gray striped shirts with red long sleeves for my boys.
77. An offwhite backpack bag for church, with an orange and pink prepatch inner. 2002.
78. Diapers for my younger son, fitted ones and prefolds too.
79. Poquito pants for my younger son.
80. A small quilted wall hanging for my MIL.
81. A roll-up portable chalkboard.
82. 4 Alice in Wonderland dresses.
83. Navy blue hooded sweatshirts for my boys.
84. A pink floral skirt, cut on the bias, for me (1999).
85. Sage green bridesmaid dress, 1997.
86. Dark green bridesmaid dress, 1997.
87. Maroon bridesmaid dress, 1995.
88. Dress made of bandanna fabric, 1995 (poor fit, that. Also not a good style for my body.)
89. Shorts with pockets over the knee, first for my older boy, now my little one wears them.
90. Fleece socks.
91. Hooded sweatshirt for dh, blue sherpa.
92. Hooded sweatshirt for me, pink.
93. Wrap around blouse for me.
94. Flounced skirt for me.
95. Pink skirt for me.
96. Black linen skirt for me.
97. gathered neck t-shirt for me.
98. Shorts for my boys. 2007.
99. Red hooded sweatshirts for my boys.
100. Boxer briefs for my boys.

T-shirt Neckband Tutorial

These directions are for sewing a ribbing-style (not bound) neckband on a t-shirt. You can use ribbing/ribknit fabric, interlock fabric, or jersey that has some lycra content for the neckband. If you use a stable/non-stretchy jersey for this piece, the shirt may not fit over the head of the shirt wearer.



Step 1: Sew the neckline piece into a circle. I prefer to use my regular machine instead of my serger for this step as it reduces bulk. Make sure you backstitch at the beginning and end of the seam.

Step 2: (not pictured) Make sure the neckline piece fits over the head of the shirt wearer, if possible.



Step 3: Use your finger to press the seam open.



Step 4: Fold the neckband in half lengthwise (around the circle), and use 4 pins to mark the circle in equal fourths.



Step 5: Your shirt front, back, and sleeves should already be assembled. Fold the shirt at the neckline, matching up the sleeve seams, and mark the center front and back with pins. Fold the shirt again, matching the CF and CB pins, and mark the halfway points on each side.



Step 6: Pin the neckband into the shirt, making sure the seam is in the center back, and matching all the pins.



Step 7: Turn the t-shirt INSIDE OUT and sew the neckband to the shirt with the neckband on top. You will need to stretch the neckband as you go. Make sure all 3 edges match up, especially along curves. You can skip this step and just serge the neckband on, if you want.



Step 8: Serge. If you want, you can sew in a printed tag or a bit of folded twill tape or bias tape to the center back. If you don't have a serger, you can zigzag your edges together for a more finished look.



Step 9: Topstitch. Again, the shirt is inside out and I sew on the right side of the neckline. I use a normal straight stitch and I stretch the neckline a bit as I go. If I had a coverstitcher I’d use it here. The topstitching makes a nice finished look.



Finished!

yesterday was a cutting day

Yesterday I cut out 4 shirts, one for an order, the rest for my boys and myself, and a pair of green jeans for my 7-year-old. I am going to do a t-shirt neckline tutorial and a jeans waistband tutorial as I sew these up.

sociable guerilla bagging

I'm gearing up to make my first batch of morsbags, see their site here. I went and bought a sheet and a cloth shower curtain at Goodwill and when they come out of the wash I'm going to be cutting and sewing this afternoon. I'm making some to give away and some to keep. And I'm considering making my own version of cloth reusable bags for sale once I get set up on etsy.

I also bought the border fabric for my scrappy log cabin quilt top. I'm going to do a sewalong of how to do the binding when I get to that part of the project.

Other sewing projects near the top of my list: a foldover tote bag for me, for church, a t-shirt for me, and jeans for my 7-year-old.

Jeans-style front pockets tutorial

Here's a sew-along for jeans-style front pockets that I put together. Enjoy!

There are 3 pieces--the pants front, the pocket facing, and the pocket back. Your pattern directions might have other words for these pieces. I didn't take a picture of the pieces before sewing them but you should get the idea anyway.



Step 1: sew the pocket facing, right sides together, to the pants front. Trim the seam allowances. I trimmed the one on the right, it's a little funny at the top there.





Step 2:
After trimming your seam allowances, flip the pocket facing to the wrong side of the fronts and press in place. Some patterns have you understitch, which is a good idea but not totally necessary.




Step 3:
Topstitch.




Step 4: pin your pocket back piece, right sides together, to the pocket lining. It didn't line up exactly for me but that's ok. I will sew the curved edge--from the red pin to the other red pin.




Step 4: sew that seam--here is a picture of the wrong and right sides after sewing:




Step 5: Baste the upper and side pocket edges to keep the pocket in place when you sew the side seams and waistband. I used topstitching thread so it would show in the photo.



Still working on the formatting but it's a bit better now.

log cabin quilt top

Just finished this up. I need to decide on a border for it. I'm not 100% happy with how it turned out, could have used less of the dark orange and red but I used what I had.

3 log cabin blocks

I made these today and I'm really happy with them. I've had these 30's prints for a while and a couple of them I think are quite ugly but I like how the blocks turned out. If anyone wants to swap scraps with me, let me know here and I'll set it up.

Just wanted to post again that I got this idea from Melly and Me. I did make my blocks bigger; the finished measurements are: center square 3", logs 1" wide. Finished blocks are 9"--approximately.

And. Anybody have any ideas for getting the pictures to line up just in one column here? This is ridiculous.

scrappy log cabin

I have been looking at log cabin quilts and blocks on Flickr and really loving them. I came across this tutorial for scrappy log cabin blocks and I'm hankering to make some! Soon! SILs will be giving birth to a boy and a girl in the next few weeks so I'll be making a quilt for each of the new babies. I have a stack of 30's fabrics from a swap a while back and I'm going to start making log cabin blocks from them. I don't know if I'll use the same pattern as in the tutorial or make the blocks bigger. I'm thinking bigger. But I like how it looks to have the middle square bigger than the logs so I'm keeping that in mind while I plan.