Thursday, April 30, 2009

Denim Strip Quilt - Recycling Denim/Junk Jeans

You can use up untold number of denim scraps from recycled jeans, jackets, skirts, and who knows what else, making a strip project like this. Cut denim into 2" strips and save those in a bag until you have time to make a quilt or a jacket. There is a tutorial here for the quilt. The jacket itself is simply one that we made adding strip quilting to a sweatshirt.
The photos below are of the denim jacket in progress and one of a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt I made for my nephew's baby. Although this is not strip quilted, it is a great way to use up denim. It's a cute little baby quilt and made to be used and abused.
Recycling denim is one of my favorite things to do. If you have a tutorial to share, lemme know. You can't have too many ways to creatively reuse junk jeans!


Denimjacket_022007

AdamQuilt1_0508


I use recycled denim a lot in projects you'll see on here. It's one of my favorite things to repurpose. My ideas are available as are many more on the web and in magazines and books. The possibilities are endless.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Decorated dish/hand towels

This is a project that I did several years ago when I ran SewingWeb.com (sadly, the site is no longer with us). I used new dish towels, added colorful fish, and created hand towels for my downstairs washroom. I've used this process in a variety of projects and you can too. Great for a gift or just a pick-me-up for a boring towel rack.
Click on the link above for instructions on how to make your own machine zig-zag appliqued dish towels!

14Finished

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

About this thing

A lifelong person who sews (I can't stand the term "sewer"), I'm amazed at all there is to know and learn. Anything I or  you can do to pass along the art of sewing to another person or generation is just plain frosty goodness, in my opinion.
I find fun projects on the web often and sort of collect them. I thought it would be fun to share with you the projects I either have made myself or found on the web.
The tutorials that I have created will open in a new page on a site of mine. Tutorials that I've gathered from around the web will open in their original site so that their author/creator gets full credit for their work. If you're going to make items to sell, please check with the original author/creator to get their permission.
If you have questions or comments, feel free to let me know.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Etsy listings for today

I finally got my stuff photographed and listed on Etsy:
bibblacktrimThis bib has black trim, but I also listed them with flame fabric trim and white fabric trim.
bibmcdonaldsThis one has a pocket for catching crumbs. McDonald's fabric and denim, backed with light flannel.
nascarfront1The one potholder I listed is denim and M&Ms NASCAR fabric.
sscakebib1Vintage cutter quilt embellished with vintage Strawberry Shortcake fabric applique and backed with a soft flannel, bound with another Strawberry Shortcake fabric.
hallowfrontHalloween fabric fashioned into a Grandmother's Flower Garden doll quilt or wall hanging. Backed with Halloween fabric and hand sewn binding of the same fabric. The machine quilting is done in a wavy design with black thread.
sscakefrontVintage Strawberry Shortcake quilt squares put together in a 9-patch fashion, embellished with blue satin ribon, backed with blue fabric with strawberry designs and hand sewn binding with the same fabric. The machine quilting is done in a diagonal fashion.
Whew. I've been collecting stuff for a while. It feels good to get it up and now to wait for stuff to sell :)

Etsy listings for today

I finally got my stuff photographed and listed on Etsy:
bibblacktrimThis bib has black trim, but I also listed them with flame fabric trim and white fabric trim.
bibmcdonaldsThis one has a pocket for catching crumbs. McDonald's fabric and denim, backed with light flannel.
nascarfront1The one potholder I listed is denim and M&Ms NASCAR fabric.
sscakebib1Vintage cutter quilt embellished with vintage Strawberry Shortcake fabric applique and backed with a soft flannel, bound with another Strawberry Shortcake fabric.
hallowfrontHalloween fabric fashioned into a Grandmother's Flower Garden doll quilt or wall hanging. Backed with Halloween fabric and hand sewn binding of the same fabric. The machine quilting is done in a wavy design with black thread.
sscakefrontVintage Strawberry Shortcake quilt squares put together in a 9-patch fashion, embellished with blue satin ribon, backed with blue fabric with strawberry designs and hand sewn binding with the same fabric. The machine quilting is done in a diagonal fashion.
Whew. I've been collecting stuff for a while. It feels good to get it up and now to wait for stuff to sell :)