Scrap sewing placemats

Several years ago, I went to a yard sale (probably fabric hunting!) and the person having the sale handed me a small piece of Mickey Mouse fabric. She wouldn't let me pay for it. Freebies rule! I washed it, folded it, and it's been on the shelf ever since. I also have way too many bandannas, red ones to be specific. It was time to do something with these. The Mickey fabric was too small to make even a child's garment, so I chose  to make kids' placemats

I cut the red bandannas and Mickey fabric into 2" strips. You can use any width strip you like, even varying widths for a fun look.

I used strip piecing, choosing to sew the strips on the diagonal. The diagonal for placemats is more forgiving if you happen to make a mistake in width of the strips themselves. I like forgiving projects!

I think the bandanna goes pretty well with the blue gingham look of the Mickey fabric! 

I used three styles of back - one of bandanna, one of the Mickey fabric, and two of half and half. This is what one back looks like before I trimmed most of the strips I had just sewn. Again, I was light on Mickey fabric, so I had to stretch it while still keeping everything coordinated. 

This is the back of one of the half and half placemats. 

And here's a completed placemat with red binding. I applied the binding with a zig-zag stitch, keeping with the scrappy and simple scheme of the placemats. All four are different and yet they match. 

I'll be putting these on Etsy when I finish the binding on all four. 

Next stop - summer dresses. I found a vintage pattern that I used many years ago to make a nice high waisted, longish summer dress. I have some lightweight fabrics in a variety of colors, and that should take care of my summer wardrobe. 

What kind of sewing do you have going on?

A few fun links to click

Sometimes, I look at links I've collected and wonder why I collected them. And then I click.

These three have free suggestions and patterns for ways to use up some of your scraps, bigger pieces of fabric, or even recycled clothing or sweaters.

You have any favorite links to patterns?

Hippie pants - basic pants made with muslin and patches, but give you a good idea of what you can do with a little imagination.

Baby clothes patterns using creative fabrics, tee shirts, old sweaters, etc. Right up my alley!

Free clothing patterns including a quilt block apron and drawstring pants. Others too, not to mention lots of patterns for other crafts.

Let there be light!

In addition to new sewing projects, I have old ones that need to be finished up. Those pesky UFOs. We all have them, right?

I'm tying two small quilts these days. I get bored with it quickly, but I keep going back. Can't just do the fun stuff like the piecing! One problem, though, is that I have 58-year-old eyes and can't see as well as I used to. The solution? An $8 lamp from Walmart with a bendable stem so I can direct it where I need to see. It did the trick perfectly!

Lesson learned - don't not do something if you are looking for reasons not to do it. Go buy a lamp. Such a simple thing that makes such a huge difference!

And a pillow for my daughter's friend! & a mini how-to

My daughter met her bestie at Busch Gardens many years ago. They both worked at Land of the Dragons as teens and have been inseparable since. When her friend saw the pillows I made for my daughter, she was verklempt! She had to have one. Her boyfriend also worked at Busch Gardens as the engineer for their train. So, I got the fabric I had leftover, found a coloring page of a military train (he works on a military base now), made a train with fabric and Wonder Under, and voila, a pillow for the friend and her feller. 

Here's the front and back:

This is the front in progress. It is a simple log cabin block variety. I always do log cabin freestyle without really measuring anything other than the center block. For this pillow, I knew I would run out of the Land of the Dragons fabric, so decided to do it more like a Courthouse Steps design. Here are some really simple instructions for log cabin blocks. You can do them simply or complicate the heck out of them with paper piecing and foundation piecing and fussy cutting. I like the freedom of cutting all the strips the same width and just place, sew, turn, finger press; place, sew, turn, finger press; etc.

I printed the pattern, then traced it (so it made a mirror image), tracing also the windows and star on the side. (Source - Military train coloring page)

The pieces were placed on cloud fabric that had been enlarged with the blue print used for items on the train and on the reverse side of the pillow in the log cabin design.

I chose a light blue to outline the windows and star on the train itself, and since there was black in the bandanna used for the train, I used a black satin stitch to outline the train. I always use stitching on a piece that is placed with Wonder Under to keep it from fraying and to give it an accent. In this case, I set the zig-zag to a fairly thin width. 

And that's that. It's been a good sewing week!

Pillows for my daughter's new home

All of my children worked for Busch Gardens in Williamsburg at one time or another when they were teens and older. My daughter, who is moving into a cute little house this weekend, worked in Land of the Dragons, designed for little children. We found a couple sashes from her old uniforms and I put 2 and 2 together and came up with pillows! Who wouldn't, right?

The front include the Land of the Dragons fabric, which I had cut from the sashes, along with some complementary prints that I had on hand. The back is a simple 4" recycled denim 9-patch. She can turn them to the denim side when company comes.

I had fun making these. I haven't made pillows in a while. I still have 2 bags of Poly-fil! I guess I see more pillow making in my future.

Happy Housewarming, Allison and Judge!

Sewing Resolutions for 2014 (Updated 1/30/18)

Did you make any resolutions for the year? I make pretty much the same ones every year when it comes to sewing, so with that in mind, here are this year's goals:

1. Sew something at least 5 days a week, preferably every day. If it's not sewing, it'll be something with fabric, like my new addiction - folded fabric ornaments! - I sort of stick to this. I either paint, sew, or fold fabric nearly every day. 
2. Organize fabrics and donate that which I will not be using. This is the hardest one. Thinning the stash does not come naturally! - Done, along with the remodeling and moving/organizing the sewing room. 
3. Makes some clothes! - Ongoing. 
4. Build a small stock of items for sale at the indoor yard sale in Williamsburg. 
5. Continue with as much sewing with scraps and in a frugal manner as possible.
6. Format prior tutorials for this web site. - Working on it!
7. Do at least 3 more tutorials for this site.  - I think I did a couple.
8. Finish the Cathedral Window doll quilts. - Finished a bunch and made more.
9. Finish tying the lap quilt that is made. - Done
10. Finish tying the Halloween quilt that is made. - Done
11. Finish and tie the two hexagon quilts for the guest room. - The two tops are done. I started tying one and wasn't happy with it, so I'm looking for someone to quilt them. They're 100% done by hand and I want to do them justice. 
12. (See a trend there?)
13. Pet my stash. 

Italic comments added January 30, 2018. 

You have a list? Even if you don't write it down, think about what you'd like to accomplish with your needle, thread, fabric, yarn, or whatever else you create with!

Happy new year everyone.

Gingerbread People Bunting for Christmas

I wanted a bunting (banner) of gingerbread men/women, and so I made one. I have a small alcove where I put up my very small tree and that was the perfect place to hang it. All of the gingerbread people are cut from different browns. The pennant itself is a recycled Christmas gift bag that a friend had made and given to me. The ribbon is left over from a long ago Christmas fabric. The embellishments are all leftovers. I have a small clear container of ribbons and doo-dahs with a Christmas theme.

My gingerbread pattern was found by using Google to search for gingerbread men coloring images. I found the general shape I wanted and tweaked it to the size of the pennant I intended to use. I used pinking shears to cut the pennant pieces and then stitched the gingerbread onto them, just a straight stitch, close to the edge. You could use a Wonder Under application rather than the stitching if you like.

Then I used a satin stitch to do a the final applique stitching around the edge of the gingerbread. I sewed on a few buttons for decoration or eyes, used a snowflake embroidery stitch for some of the eyes, stitched a mouth on a few, used a red piece of ribbon for the mouth on another, and well, here they are a little closer so you can see what I did:

Green ribbon, gold rick rack, and a piece of ruffle on the left.

Buttons, Santa applique, bits of white edge trim, and a piece of leftover red satin for the mouth on the right. (My friend noticed I had sewn the red thread on the white buttons in an X shape and reminded me that this is how you know a cartoon character is dead - the X shaped eyes.)

Flocked red glitter ribbon and machine embroidery on the left.

Red Christmas lace and embroidery on the right. 

Machine embroidery for eyes and mouth, leftover pearls, scrap of Christmas fabric, and green ribbon on the left. 

Buttons for eyes, candy cane button, and some gold rick rack on the right. 

I had fun making these and could have gone on and on, but the bunting got to the length I wanted and that was where I ended it.

I think I'm done decorating for Christmas. I like the way this looks and will use it again next year and then on for as long as it lasts. It makes me smile, and that's a good thing!