Sewing+Fabric

Little Bits Quilting Bee | talking pre-cut fabric

by kath_red on February 6, 2012

in Little Bits Quilting Bee, Quilting, Sewing+Fabric

Throughout February I will be featuring quilts from my book Little Bits Quilting Bee (published by Chronicle late last year). Because designer fabric is often only in print for one season it can be difficult for quilt designers and authors to choose fabrics that will be still available when the book or pattern is published; so to help you out I will be offering advice and alternate fabric choices for many of the quilts in my book. You’ll also need a copy of my book to make the quilts – and they are available in all good book shops and online too.

What is pre-cut fabric?

Pre-cut fabrics are a series of co-ordinating fabrics — usually from a single collecton — especially cut and packaged by the manufacturer. Using these pre-cuts has a few benefits:

  • 1. You get a whole bunch of different fabrics at once – making it easy to build up your stash. You can use them together in one quilt or mix them with other fabrics from your stash too.
  • 2. Coordinating fabrics and colours for a quilt is easier.
  • 3. The packs are cut into handy pieces allowing you to whip up  a quilt very easily and quickly.

Do I need to pre-wash pre-cut fabric?

Pre-cut fabrics are a little difficult to pre-wash, because the pieces are so small they get tangled up in the wash and are time consuming to iron. I usually don’t worry about pre-washing my pre-cuts – however there are a couple of exceptions:

  • 1. You should pre-wash hand dyes and batiks as the colours are likely to run.
  • 2. You should pre-wash dark colours – especially red, purple and navy as these are more likely to run.
  • 3. You should pre-wash reds especially if you are using them with lighter colours.

If you didn’t pre-wash your fabric before making the quilt and you are worried the colours might run (especially if you have a white background) — all is not lost, there are a few things you can still do to ensure the colours in your quilt do not run the first time you wash:

  • 1. Wash your quilt in cold water on a gentle cycle and throw in some colour catchers to soak up any dye that might come out.
  • 2. Wash your quilt in cold water with vinegar – the vinegar will set any colours that are likely to run.
  • 3. Use a product such as synthrapol in the wash, this special detergent is used to remove unattached excess dye.

In my book Little Bits Quilting Bee, I use four different types of pre-cuts to create the 20 unique quilts: Fat Quarters, Charm Squares, Jelly Rolls and Layer Cakes.

Fat quarters:

Fat Quarters are the most widely available and used pre-cut fabric. A fat quarter is literally a 1/4 of a yard of fabric, but it is not cut selvedge to selvedge it is cut by cutting half a yard of fabric in half widthways. Fat quarters are generally 18 inches by 22 inches. Most fabric companies offer Fat Quarter bundles, which contain every print in a collection.

Charm Squares:

A charm square is a 5 x 5 inch square of fabric, and are great for easy patchwork quilts. Charm packs are made up of about 40 pieces of  5 inch squares and are equal to approx 3/4 of a yard of fabric.

Jelly Rolls:

Jelly Rolls are a Moda invention, but are available under other names from different fabric manufacturers: Bali pops, Design rolls, Strip-tease buns, Sushi Rolls, and Roll-ups are just some of the names these are sometimes called. They usually contain forty strips (well 40-44 strips — but check before buying how many are included as different manufacturers offer different amounts of strips) and are a standard 2 ½ inches wide. These are perfect for binding and sashing but are also great in any strip type quilt design.

Layer Cakes:

Layer cakes are 10 inch square packs of fabrics, containing usually 40 squares. The total fabric yardage is about 3 1/2 yards. Layer cakes are fun to use because they are so versatile, you can use them as they are and they make for a quick and easy quilt, but you can also cut them into squares and triangles or use them for applique too. Various fabric companies, as well as Moda, offer these 10 inch square packs under other names, but the amount of squares in a pack may vary.

All images are copyright John Paul Urizar who did a great job on the photography in the book. 

 

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Guest post | Monthly apparel challenge

by contributor on January 19, 2012

in Community, Guest Blogger, Sewing+Fabric

2012 Monthly Apparel Challenge

Becca is a music teacher who knits, spins, sews and tries to keep up with her three young sons in her beloved Minneapolis, MN. You can follow her attempts to sew her way through 2012 at her blog and on Twitter. She is also on Ravelry, where she attempts to design and share a pattern now and then.

I’m not much for New Year’s resolutions, but I do like to take a look back at the previous year and think about what I’ve done. Usually I like to challenge myself somehow, but when I looked back at 2011 I found it to be a bit ho-hum. Not that I didn’t make a lot of things, I just didn’t push myself to do anything new. I’ve learned a lot of skills since I first picked up a pair of knitting needles 8 years ago. I can knit myself a gorgeous lace shawl or a sweater that actually fits. I can spin a consistent yarn that’s nice enough to knit something with. I can make myself a quilt. And I can throw together a pair of pajama pants for my boys in my sleep. What I realized I can’t do yet, is — sew my own clothing.

Now,  I can sew up a basic skirt out of old t-shirts. And I did sew a skirt with a zipper in it once, but it was unlined, a bit wonky and way too big. So there’s a start. But the more I thought about it, I realized that after eight years of being the mom in a wrinkled t-shirt and baggy jeans, I wanted clothes. Real clothes. Unique clothes that were beautiful and fit me properly. I wanted skirts, blouses, dresses and pants that didn’t fall down. And I wanted to make them myself.

That’s when I decided it was time for a new challenge in 2012. I’m calling it Monthly Apparel, and it’s my personal challenge to take my sewing skills to a new level. At the beginning of each month I’ll pick a pattern. I’ll take the month to work on it and by the end of the month I’ll blog about how it went. I plan on working on more fitted, tailored clothing, but I also expect to try to make the perfect t-shirt and maybe even attempt a pair of pants.  I’ll use wovens and knits, cottons, wools and silks. And by 2013 I should have twelve lovely new pieces of clothing in my wardrobe!

Now, a challenge like this is no fun alone. So I invite you to take up the challenge as well! Maybe you have your mother’s sewing machine hiding in the closet because you’re terrified to even plug it in. Maybe you’re a seasoned sewer who sews for everyone else but never yourself. Or maybe you’re like me, somewhere in the middle and hoping to push yourself to the next step. Wherever you are, I would love to have your company while I take on this challenge.

Now to get started,  I’ve found some wonderful resources to help me (and you!) on this journey.

The following five sites are my very favorite for tutorials, patterns and inspiration:

And of course, we need books!

Lastly, no sew-along is complete without a brand new Monthly Apparel Flickr group  to share ideas, questions and lovely new garments!

I’m quite excited to see how this challenge progresses. I’m having visions of my fabric stash shrinking and a closet filled with new, beautiful clothing. I’m a little nervous that accomplishing this without driving my family crazy or feeding them nothing but cereal for supper might be more than I can handle. Despite my worry,  I think this is a doable challenge. Some months might be less complex than others, and I’m sure there will be at least one month that I go back to my ever-easy recycled t-shirt skirt pattern. As I sew, I’m hoping to inspire others to take up the challenge as well, playing a part in this wonderful revival of garment sewing we’ve been seeing these past few years. I do hope you’ll join me!

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Book: Freya and Fred

by kath_red on December 16, 2011

in Books, Sewing+Fabric

I had a chance to ask Janet Clare about her new self-published quilt project book – Freya and Fred: a week full of quilts for a girl and her dog. This beautifully presented book full of imaginative and fun quilts and other projects is a joy to hold and view and I know many of the techniques and images will be inspiring us for a long time. 

Hi Janet, I love the concept behind this book – a little girl and her dog doing a week of activities – can you tell us a little about what inspired this idea?

Janet: I was inspired by the paper dolls and their clothes that I used to play with when I was little. Making an appliqué girl and getting to design a wardrobe of clothes for her was great fun! And then I felt she looked a little lonely so I got her a dog! Freya is my favourite girls’ name, but I had two boys- luckily I have two lovely nieces called Freya now!

You self published this book – is that correct?  … the photography and design of the book is simply wonderful – I love the quality of the paper too – can you talk about the process of going from idea to self publication?

Janet: Yes, I did self publish and made all the projects and took all the photos too. My friend Hayley is a graphic designer and she laid out all the pages for me and my lovely husband helped do all the technical bits that I am clueless about! My friend‘s little girl modelled for me. So, in no way did I do the book all by myself, I had a lot of help.

I’m so glad you liked the style of the book and the paper etc because I was very fussy indeed about all that and got the printer to order in the paper especially. The best part about self publishing was never having to compromise! So, I made my book my way and am very, very fortunate that others like it too!

In terms of the process I decided in January 2010 to write and self publish a book which would be launched at ‘The Festival of Quilts’ (the biggest quilt show in Europe, August at the NEC Birmingham), started a sketchbook (new project, new sketchbook!) and asked Hayley if she could help me and then worked round the clock for a few months to get everything made. Hayley, Tony and I worked ‘til the wee hours of the morning every night for three weeks. The files were taken to the printers and I waited and waited and then just the morning before I had to leave for Birmingham I picked my books up- there wasn’t a second to spare!

A couple of things about the illustrations and designs that really stood out for me were the jointed applique templates for Freya and her dog Fred, can you talk about how these came about, and what quilters can use these for?

Janet: The jointed appliqué templates were a brainwave of mine a few years ago. I was cooking dinner for the boys and trying to draw six horses all the same size but in different positions for my Horse blanket pattern.

It wasn’t going well, the dinner was spoiling and the boys were bickering when all of a sudden I just knew I only needed to make one horse that moved. The rest is history! I now have jointed movable patterns for a horse, rabbit, dinosaur, cat and dog and in my book there is a dancing ballerina and a moving Fred.

Using a jointed template for your appliqué makes them very versatile and makes every quilt truly unique. Just position the ballerina as you wish and then trace her onto some fusible web (Bondaweb) or onto your fabric and appliqué as normal. Re-position the template and start again! The templates can be turned over too so Fred can look left and right.

I have suggested photocopying the templates onto card before you use them and you could also enlarge or reduce them too. I have also used my templates for paper crafts and the boys have coloured them in and made little puppets to play with. My appliqué templates are very versatile!

I love that each quilt project is accompanied by a little story, recipe or additional craft project accessory – you obviously had a huge amount of fun creating the projects and concepts for this book – can you talk about your decision making process for each quilt?

Janet: I had the best time writing my book! I had so many ideas that I couldn’t fit them all in. In the beginning I decided to make ‘Freya and Fred’ a lovely object in its own right- the kind of book that you just loved to curl up with and take inspiration from. I was really determined not to make just a project book (although there are many projects to make in the book!) I also decided not to make the book for complete beginners- this meant I didn’t have to include very detailed step by step instructions but could assume some prior quilt making experience.

However I did want to explain my favourite techniques in great detail, so I took a lot of care over describing and illustrating how I use my appliqué templates and how I use free motion stitching to draw with my sewing machine. I hope I achieved this.

Once I knew the book was going to be about a week in Freya’s life the projects and ideas came very easily. I actually made the front cover of the book first and worked through it day by day until it was all done. I drew and painted in my sketchbook and looked at a lot of vintage toys and fabrics from the 1940’s and tried to capture that childish innocence. Writing ‘Freya and Fred’ was a pleasure from beginning to end, and I really feel it shows.

One lesson I have learnt though is to leave more time for the next book- so I’ve started it already! Hayley and I have a ‘book design’ meeting in our favourite bar planned- we’ve discovered that these meetings go better with a margarita!

Thanks so much Janet, I know a lot of people are going to love this book – can you tell us how we can get one for our friends?

Janet: Oh, I do hope you’re right! You can buy ‘Freya and Fred’ from: Etsy,  Amazon (UK) and Amazon (USA)

 

 

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Books: Growing up sew liberated + Sewing for boys

by kath_red on November 30, 2011

in Books, Sewing+Fabric

November is book month at whipup.net

Growing Up Sew Liberated: Making Handmade Clothes and Projects for Your Creative Child By Meg McElwee, Published by Interweave Press (June 14, 2011).

Meg McElwee is a teacher and parent, crafter and blogger and she sure knows her stuff. Her latest book is all about sewing for kids – the practical side and fun stuff too. It’s for parents sewing for babies and up to about size 7 – but the bags, toys and dress-ups are more flexible of course. If you know how to size up your own patterns then you can use some of the clothing patterns as a guide to making bigger sizes for your bigger kids. I am going to have to do that with the sleeping johns and crossover tee – I also really love the pants pattern that is included too.

The kids clothing section is minimal because this book is about sewing all the things that your kid will need – there are a few basic clothing items plus other things a cape for dress-ups, a steiner style doll and that fabulous teepee on the front cover! Also there is quite a few baby essentials – including a baby wearing sling, bigs and baby clothes and some sweet toddler alphabet letters. For older kids there is a marvelous nature explorer bag.

For me this book is a big inspiration to throw away (or donate to charity) all those store bought toys and clothes and get back to basics again.

Sewing for Boys: 24 Projects to Create a Handmade Wardrobe By Shelly Figueroa and Karen LePage, Published by Wiley; 1 edition (September 6, 2011).

I want my little boy to go back in time just a couple of years so I can make him some of these cutie pie duds. The clothing sizes range from babies up to age 7 – so if you have little boys in this age group then you are in very good luck – because these duds are super cute and practical too.

Because the patterns are written by the gals at Figgys – you are in good hands – these girls know how to sew and write a readable pattern. The patterns are not all aimed at the beginner sewist – there are some more difficult projects that require collars, pockets, buttons, interfacing, facing etc (The Henry shirt for example) – so there is plenty here to challenge and inspire the experienced sewist – while the beginner is not left out either. The lovely thing about making clothes for your little kids is that they appreciate it and wear it even if it’s not perfect – so the important thing is to give it a try even if you are unsure about whether your skills are up to the job – how else will you improve anyway.

Because I like my kids to have nice things to wear I don’t often indulge in special occasion sewing, but I love that there are some special occasion outfits for boys in here – lovely jackets and shirts with collars, a super cute pair of suspender shorts. But most of my sewing for kids involves quick, easy and practical sewing because I know they will be wearing them in the mud and climbing trees and playing soccer – and luckily this book has some of these sorts of things too – romper suits and raglan t-shirts and drawstring pants.

I did say earlier that the patterns only go up to size 7? You can always size up the patterns yourself – using your child’s current clothing as a guide. I think I might do that with the raglan t-shirt -and the linen shirt.

Project excerpt: Make the cute hat that appears on the cover.

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Book: Microcrafts + Treasured collection

by kath_red on November 11, 2011

in Books, Sewing+Fabric

November: Month of books at Whipup.net

Microcrafts: Tiny Treasures to Make and Share Margaret McGuire, Alicia Kachmar, Katie Hatz, Tamara Barker, Claudia Cormier, Elizabeth Duke, Sarah Goldschadt, Larissa Holland, Melissa Jacobson, Len and Melanie Kachmar, Holly Keller, Colleen Lemons, Mei Pak, Mel Sparkles, Jessica Trail, Hope Wattanaphand, Nadia Marks Wojcik. Published by Quirk Books (October 4, 2011).

Quirk books live up to their name and publish some really interesting and well … uhm … quirky books (they may be quirky but they are also pretty cool!)

Microcrafts is a collection of tiny contributor projects (none more than 2 inches high) – based around the concept of tiny handcrafted treasures and using up odd bits of craft supplies. From mini books to use as jewellery, bunting to decorate a cake, polymer clay candy charms and tiny sewn felt puppies – there might just be a project or two perfect to give at the holidays.

Happy Home Made Vol 1: Treasured Collection by Yoshiko Tsukiori has been republished by Penguin Australia into English with full-sized pull-out pattern sheets adapted for Western sizing (Aus6–16).

You might have come across the original Japanese version of this book – or others like it – if so you will already know that the styling is very oh so simple and relaxed and seemingly without fuss. The clothes are loose fitting but not frumpy – a little bit boho – a little bit hippy, but perhaps just Japanese effortless style is more to the point.

Shorts, smock dresses, pinafore dress, tunic top, crossover jacket and tiered skirt – is what you will find in this book – definitely a couple of items I will make to add to my weekend casual attire. So happy it’s in English – yay!

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