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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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.

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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!

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!

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!

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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.

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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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November: Month of books at Whipup.net

1, 2, 3 Sew: Build Your Skills with 33 Simple Sewing Projects by Ellen Luckett Baker, published by Chronicle books.

When I say I love Chronicle books, it’s not because they are also the publishers of my two quilt books – its because they do quality, beautiful, practical books: pattern sleeve, spiral binding, lovely photos, pleasing design – and well edited too. Ellen Luckett Baker’s book is a Chronicle book and has all these great qualities, plus what she brings to the table – which is well made, well designed, thoughtful and lovely sewn projects.

In this book Ellen has gone back to basics to introduce the new to sewing crafter some basic skills which can then be built upon in a series of three projects gradually increasing in difficulty level – great concept and well achieved! For example – pillows – begin with a basic scrappy straight sewn design and learn about an overlapping pillow finish. Move on to blind hem applique and buttonholes and then learn about reverse applique and making a hook and loop fastener – all while making a series of three pillows. Tote bags are another great example – begin by learning about squared corners, then add in a divider and then learn about drawstring closures and French seams. Brilliant.

Project excerpt: You can make the mouse pincushion using this video tutorial.
Ps. Ellen is multi-talented and has just released a line of fabric with Moda. Congratulations Ellen!

Fresh Quilting: Fearless Color, Design, and Inspiration By Malka Dubrawsky, published by Interweave Press (December 7, 2010).

Malka Dubrawsky and Interweave books – what an amazing combination – one of my favourite improv quilters and one of my favourite book publishers all rolled up together: Malka’s stunning colourful designs, combined with Interweave’s attention to detail – love it – and the book delivers!

Malka’s quilts and patchwork designs are all about colour and pattern. She dyes and over-dyes her own fabric and combines these in eclectic and clashing and fun ways that are part gypsy and part country but the final result is completely modern! Her stitching may be a bit wonky at times and her corners may not meet up perfectly – but for me that not only adds to the charm of these improv quilts but also the accessibility of her style – she all about fearless quilting and sewing – just getting in there and doing it. Her fearless style embraces flaws but also discovers new methods, exciting colour combinations and fantastic designs.

PS. You can purchase Malka’s beautiful creations in her Etsy shop.

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November (and a little bit into December) is book month at Whipup.net

The Art-Full Tree; ornaments to make.  Jan Gilliam and Christina Westenberger.  The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2011.

If your thoughts are turning to decorating your tree this year, you might like to have a look at The Art-Full Tree, which is inspired by objects in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum.

The book begins with a quick history of the museum, that was started by Abby Aldrich Rockerfeller who started collecting and exhibiting folk art in the 1920’s, at a time when common crafts and amateur arts were not highly valued.  She left her collection to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and this collection forms the core of the current Folk Art Museum in Willamsburg, Virginia.

The museum has had a long and treasured tradition of decorating a holiday tree every year with ornaments made by staff, volunteers and guests of the museum.  Some of these ornaments are inspired by items in the collection, and others are based on the skills of each contributor.

The Art-Full Tree presents 33 ornament projects that have been inspired by some of the most popular items in the museum collection.  The book is an interesting combination of museum catalogue, inspiration notebook, project instructions and stitch guide and template sections.

Each project features the original artwork, with a short history of the item and some information on the artist or style of art.  There is a very detailed materials list, and step by step instructions and photographs on making each ornament.

There is a wide range of crafting techniques used in the creation of the ornament projects, including needlepoint, paper craft, punch needle embroidery, foil work, metal punching, painting and collage.  My favourite ornaments are Recycled-Card star (inspired by a compass design quilt), Scherenscnitte Birds (inspired by a cutwork picture), and Aluminium Butterfly (inspired by a metal weathervane).

I really like the process of taking a formal artwork in a formal setting, that is meaningful to the people around it, and appropriating all or part of the work to inspire the creation of anther objet, in this case tree ornaments.  I feel that readers of The Art-Full Tree will be inspired to look around them, in their local museums, public spaces, or around their own treasured and meaningful objects, and to create ornaments for their own family trees that are small and perfect reminders of things that they love.

To win a copy of The Art-Full Tree, please leave a comment on this review.  The comments will be open for 72 hours, and a winner will be selected at random.  Good luck!  Congratulations to Becky!

About the reviewer: Kate is a busy mother of four with many craft projects on the go, including, but not limited to, crochet, knitting, sewing, dyeing, paper making, spinning, felting and bookbinding. Kate has challenges in the areas of finishing things, saying no and craft supplies storage. She also has a very very patient and tolerant husband.

DISCLOSURE: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation PROVIDED WHIPUP.NET REVIEWER KATE WITH A FREE REVIEW COPY.

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November is book month at Whipup.net

I Am Cute Dresses: 25 Simple Designs to Sew. By Sato Watanabe, English version published by Interweave Press; Reprint edition (September 13, 2011).

I am happy that Japanese clothing designer Sato Watanabe’s book I Am Cute Dresses is now available in English. The 25 dresses in this book are indeed cute – with sweet names such as I Am Hello Halter, I Am Jumper for Joy, and I Am Shift into Tunic. They are all styled to be filmy, loose, romantic and drapey dresses with simple construction and a few interesting details – perfect for summer cottons and light weight linens.

The dresses are simple to make but not boringly so – practice your skills with the various techniques offered: make peak-a-boo or puff sleeves, stand-up or mandarin collar, shirred pleats on the sleeves or pintucks on the neckline, an asymmetrical tunic or a Kimono cut shift dress. The dresses are designed to be one-size-fits-all – which we know is never true, but with a little measuring you may be able to adjust the patterns to fit your body.

I am just a little bit addicted to this book and will be making a dress a bit later today!

You Sew Girl by Nicole Mallalieu, Published by ABC Books, 2011, is available from the ABC Shop.

Nicole Mallalieu is a beautiful seamstress and designer – she has an online shop where you can find patterns and tools to make her bags and purses – she also makes lovely hats and clothing too!

Her first book, You sew, girl is interesting and runs like a lesson plan. It begins with a detailed techniques and pattern section where Nicole does a great job of explaining her methods – she includes step-by-step photos going through the techniques she likes to employ (such as interfacing and bias binding). Her patterns tend to be quite precise and she shows us some very neat tricks and tools to get the same level of detail and precision which she achieves. The second main section includes both accessories and bags which all use patterns and interfacing and her precision methods – you will make use of buttons and zippers and all the other techniques you learned about in the previous chapter, you will learn how to really make your homemade bags and purses look super professional.

The third section and the final chapter is where its really at for me – this section completely disregards the previous sections and tells you leave your perfectionism at the door while you make pattern-free clothing – learn how to measure and fit your body and work with stretch fabrics to make some very flattering outfits.

I think this book is very nicely done – I was super impressed with the attention to detail, the lessons, and then the ability to throw all that away to work in a completely different style – I am really looking forward to seeing what Nicole does next!
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Guest blogger: Nicole blum from one golden apple

Hello crafty ones. I am so pleased to be a guest here while Kathreen is away. My name is Nicole Blum and I blog about crafting, sewing, and the other stuff of life over at one golden apple.  As a freelance craft developer for magazines, I am lucky enough to be making something on most days, and my etsy shop ensures that some of it is sewing- my absolute favorite way to create. I just finished a sewing book, co-authored by Debra Immergut, which will be hitting the shops in the spring.  It is called Improv Sewing and will contain over 100 projects I’ve designed to inspire and encourage, new and seasoned sewists alike, to be really creative and playful with their sewing machines.

I LOVE to make clothing, and my upcoming book Improv Sewing will map out how to fill your closet without buying a single pattern. Today, however, I want to teach you to make something fun and super cool for your home. Sometimes I find myself wanting to stitch designs on fabric without even knowing what I want the finished project to be.  Pillowcases and tote bags are always a great way to showcase your handiwork, but today I came up with a way to use some tube I had sitting in the studio closet – my man builds things and this tube is a leftover piece from making footings for our barn.  If you don’t have one, they are easy to get at any building supply place.  I have seen similar projects online before, but they are usually painted.  Painting is fun, but sewing is more fun to me so here is my tutorial for a pretty and very useful…

Umbrella Holder

What you’ll need:

• an 18” length of sonotube* (mine was 10” wide) of course, use what you can get your hands on.
• fabric you fancy that can wrap around the tube with 2-3” to spare and is 18” tall
• contrasting thread
• chalk

Directions:

Cut fabric to size:  Use a measuring tape to determine the circumference of the tube. I pinned the fabric around the tube to illustrate about how much extra you might want to have.

Draw your designs: I use chalk to draw out designs I am going to stitch over.  Sometimes I use vanishing ink, but sometimes it doesn’t vanish- test it first.  You can can use cookie cutter shapes, trace circles from jar lids, or you can go for it and free hand, which I recommend, because really, what do you have to lose? I drew some flower shapes – I like their imprecise form. I recommend starting with simple and large shapes.  It is easier to sew a good line around gentle curves than tight ones. Please pardon the wrinkles, they will be pressed soon.  The light makes them appear worse than they are, swear. Press yours, ladies.

Stitch your designs: Now comes the fun part. Set your machines so the pressure on the foot is decreased.  The tighter the turns, the more you will need to manipulate the fabric, so the more you want to decrease the pressure.  On these big flowers, I set my foot pressure on 2 and it worked grand. Set your stitch to a regular straight stitch or a straight stretch stitch (which is what I did here for a nice bold line). If this is your first time drawing on fabric with thread, you might want to practice making a curve on a scrap piece of fabric.

Stitch around the shape you drew once or twice and then move on to the next one. My tip for success: Keep the needle moving and gently turn the fabric as you need to.  Use the most pressure you can on that foot while still being able to smoothly turn your fabric. Straight lines should be sewn with full pressure so the feed dogs can grab and move your fabric along. Use your fingertips to push the fabric where it needs to go.

Add some lines along the raw bottom and top edges: Instead of hemming the raw edges, simply stitch lines of straight or zig zag (or any stitch, really) stitches along that edge.  This will stop raveling edges and it defines the edge nicely.

I use my presser foot to space my lines.  Line up the the toe on the right side of the foot with the first line (and it was aligned with the raw edge to start).  I used a straight stitch for speed and I spaced them evenly (mostly, not perfectly).  You could stitch several lines and let them undulate gently too- crossing sometimes even.

Sew seam to create the sleeve: When your decorating is all done the way you like it, fold the fabric in half lengthwise and stitch your tube up.  Draw a line with chalk at the correct distance- you want it to fit snuggly. Stitch one line with a regular straight stitch and then try it on the tube for size.  If it isn’t tight enough, your next line of stitches can make it a little tighter.

Continue stitching the way you desire- meandering lines, a new stitch type for each line, whatever.  I made straight, evenly spaced lines for this project and then pinked the edges.

Slip it over your tube and you have a really nice little holder for whatever is tall and doesn’t fit in the usual places.  I could have one of these just for the swords that my 6 year old makes.  It would be a great place for roles of colored art paper- nice and protected- or to display branches for a winter bouquet. I ended up painting the tube yellow because the fabric was a little short- measure twice, cut once.  Oh well.

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Guest blogger: Cam from CurlyPops

Well, hello there dear Whipup.net readers, my name is Cam and I have a little crafty blog named CurlyPops. I’m super chuffed to be guest blogging here today.

My sister recently bought me an e-Reader, and so I desperately need to make a padded pouch so that I can throw it in my handbag without worrying about it getting scratched or damaged. I thought that whipping up a little crafty project for myself presented the perfect opportunity for sharing a tutorial so that you can also make your own.

I’m currently testing out some samples from my new fabric range, and so I’m using my granny square fabric as a feature in this project. Enjoy!

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