FREE Project: On a Cloud of Fabric

Happy TBT!

I hope you all are having a wonderful and creative week. Coming back to my blog after few days of crazy work is like a breath of fresh air. Blogging and sharing my projects with all of you is one of my many favorite parts of the week. For the longest, I wanted to share with you my Pillow Bed tutorial which features Naturella and Nature Elements Collections, indeed a TBT! These are so much fun to make, and I completely forgot about them, I cannot believe it. But, thanks to a productive week I found the files on my computer, oh joy! Please lovelies enjoy making this fabulous Pillow Bed project as much as I did!

To download the step by step instruction click here.

Isn't this perfect for an afternoon picnic? 

What You'll Need:

• 1 yd of Fabric A
• 1 yd of Fabric B
• 1 yd of Fabric C
• 1 yd of Fabric D
• 1 yd of Fabric E
• 1 yd of Fabric F
• 1 yd of Fabric G
• 1 yd of Fabric H
• 1 yd of Fabric I
• 18 pillow forms (14")

Happy sewing my lovelies!

Love,

Pat

FREE Project : At a Crossroads

Hello my lovelies!

I'm so thrilled that you are all having fun entering my giveaway. Remember that the final day to enter is Friday and I will be announcing the winners on Monday!

'Til then, I have a little something to keep you busy while you anxiously wait for the announcement!

Today, I'm sharing with you a free project I made with one of my favorite fabric collections, Hyperreal Garden. It's called the Crossroads Pillow!

This patchy pillow creates diamond shapes with its multi-directional design and uses the piping technique for that extra finished touch. It's so easy to make, you'll be able to make quite a few of them for your home in no time!

You can find the link to the Crossroads Pillow instructions here.

Here's what you'll need:

• Fat Eight of Fabric A
• Fat Eight of Fabric B
• Fat Eight of Fabric C
• Fat Eight of Fabric D
• Fat Eight of Fabric F
• Fat Eight of Fabric G
• Fat Eight of Fabric H
• ¼ yd of Fabric E
• 3/8 yd of Fabric I
• 12"× 24" pillow form
• 1 1/8 yd piping cord (¼" thick)

Feel free to share some juicy pictures of your very own Crossroads pillow in your home on my Instagram! I would LOVE to see them!

Happy Sewing,

FREE PROJECT : Fabric Bin

Hello lovelies!

Today I have a special treat for all of you! I'm sharing with you a stylish way to organize your sewing studio. They're called Stash Away Fabric Bins, and they are the perfect solution for de-cluttering all that mess that has been accumulating in your studio!

Use them to organize your fabric scraps, misplaced threads, or even use them as your current project bag, where you have all your necessities for your current project in one place.

Here is what you need to make the Stash Away Fabric Bins.

The approx. finished size of each bin are as follows: Small bin: 12 ½" x 5", Medium bin: 14" x 6" & Large bin: 16 ½" x 8".

MATERIALS:
The medium size bin:
1. (1) 16” x 20” rectangle of Go-Go London Lustrous (Carnaby St. collection)
2. (1) 16” x 20” rectangle of Raspberry Rose (Pure Elements collection)
3. (1) 16” x 3” rectangle of Raspberry Rose (Pure Elements collection)
4. (1) 16” x 20” rectangle of Hard Interfacing

The small size bin:
1. (1) 14” x 17” rectangle of Ladylike Green tea (Carnaby St. collection)
2. (1) 14” x 17” rectangle of Fresh Water (Pure Elements collection)
3. (1) 14” x 17” rectangle of Hard Interfacing

CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Cut (6) 3½” x 23 strips of Nocturnal (Pure Elements collection)
2. Cut (6) 3½” x 23 strips of Empire yellow (Pure Elements collection)
3. 1/4 yard of Girl about Town lime (Carnaby St collection)
4. 1/4 yard of Girl about Town Rose (Carnaby St collection)
5. 1/4 yard of Psychedelia Gold (Carnaby St collection)
6. 1/4 yard of Psychedelia Peridot (Carnaby St collection)
7. 1/2 yard of double stick fusible.

Here are the instructions for this medium sized Stash Away Fabric Bin with flower applique.

Make two rectangles of 6 strips each (3 strips of Nocturnal, and 3 strips of Empire Yellow).

 

Sew lengthwise with a 1/4" seam allowance alternating colors. You now have 2 rectangles each measuring 18" x 23". One is your lining and the other one is the frontal piece of the bin.

Grab the pieces of Girl About Town Lime, Girl About Town Rose, Psychedelia Gold, Psychedelia Peridot (from my Carnaby St. Collection), and the double stick fusible. Place the fabric on one of the sides of the fusible and iron it at a low temperature. This will stabilize the fabric so that you can cut each flower carefully. Cut through both; fabric and fusible.

Layer the lining and the frontal piece of the box face-to-face and pin them on top of the interfacing (the lining should be on top of the interfacing). Pin the layers together and sew along the edges with a ¼” seam allowance.

It is very important that you leave an opening of about 4" at the bottom, or enough space to turn the piece inside out.

Trim the excess material and turn it inside out. Shape the corners with a small pointed tool.

Press heavily, remember to close the opening that you left by hand-sewing it with an invisible stitch.

Now it's time to close our box. Fold the rectangle in half by matching each corner (the front of the box should be facing itself). Stitch along each side with a ½” seam allowance and then mark the bottom fold with a pin (this is the base of the bin).

Fold the base and align the side seam with the pin to form a triangle. Stitch across 3” in from the tip and repeat the same step in the other side.

The last step is to turn the piece right side out and fold the top edge over.

And that's it! See how simple it is! You can make sets of these to give to your friends or various sets of your own and place them in any room that just needs a little touch of style to organization.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

FREE project : "Love, Mom" Bed Runner

Hello lovelies, it's time for a sewing tutorial!

Every time I turn on the television there are commercials for back to school. ALREADY?!? It seems like summer just started. Back to school makes me think of all of the kids going off to college for the first time. I remember when my son went off to college. I missed him so. I called him every day! But what an exciting time for him to go away to experience life and education.

I'm  feeling heavy-hearted thinking of all of the moms whose children are going off to school. So I'm inspired to make a tutorial for you moms to give your daughters something to remind them of home. It's a bed runner that they can put at the foot of their bed to remind them of you!

Finished size: 24" x 60"

MATERIALS:
For this project, I used the Pure Elements solids that I handpicked for Art Gallery Fabrics.

• 2 7/8 yd of PE-427 Spiceberry
• ½ yd of PE-401 Verve Violet
• ½ yd of PE-432 Sandstone
• ½ yd of PE-413 Caviar
• ½ yd of PE-405 Cherry Lipgloss
• Fat Quarter of PE-425 Mauvelous
• 35" x 75" Non-fusible BATTING
• 3/4 yd SINGLE-SIDED Fusible Interfacing

NOTIONS:

• 10 pearl beads
• Hand Sewing Needle
• Color-coordinated thread
• Masking tape
• Safety pins
• Scissors
• Water Soluble marker

INSTRUCTIONS
Sew all right sides together with ¼" seam allowance. Press open.

Cutting:
For base quilt-

• Sub-cut PE-427 into four (4) 24" x 30 1/4" rectangles

For flowers (10 big flowers and 10 small flowers)-

• Sub-cut PE-401 into four (4) 8" squares and four (4) 5" squares
• Sub-cut PE-432 into four (4) 8" squares and six (6) 5" squares
• Sub-cut PE-413 into four (4) 8" squares and four (4) 5" squares
• Sub-cut PE-405 into four (4) 8" squares and six (6) 5" squares
• Sub-cut PE-425 into four (4) 8" squares
• Ten (10) 8" squares and ten (10) 5" squares of interfacing 

Step 1. Making the base quilt

• Grab the four 24" x 30 1/4" rectangles and sew them in pairs creating two rectangles that measure 24" x 60". One rectangle will be the TOP fabric and the other one the BACKING fabric. Place the BACKING on a large surface (wrong side up). Stretch it with masking tape against that surface.
• Place the BATTING on top of the BACKING.
• Place the TOP on top of the batting (right side facing up). Smooth away wrinkles using your hands.
• Pin all layers together and baste using long stitches. You can also use safety pins to join the layers.
• For this quilt, I chose a straight and modern motif. Start quilting right at the center where there is a seam. From there, create parallel lines 5" apart from each other and quilt. Use a contrasting color thread so that the stitching really pops out. I used beige on the Spiceberry tone.

After you have finished, trim any of the excess fabric or batting, squaring the quilt to proceed to bind it. To obtain the binding, cut enough WOF strips of Spiceberry with a 1½" width to create a long strip measuring 180" (about 5). For detailed instructions on how to finish binding, check out my Free Quilt patterns here, and at the end of each quilt, it has diagrams on how to do it!

Now that the base is done, I will show you how to construct one of the big flowers and you can follow the same steps for the rest of the flowers, big and small.

Step 2. Flower Construction

• Start by grouping the flowers. For each flower, grab two squares with the same size and color and one square of interfacing (also with the same size). Place one fabric on top of the other (right sides facing together), leaving the interfacing on the bottom (fusible side facing up).

• Now trace the Flower Template on the top fabric, making sure you transfer all the points. Pin the edges of the three layers.
• Sew on top of the line, going all the way to the points. Go over the first stitches you created to secure the stitching.

• Trim down the excess fabrics to 1/8" all around the stitching line and clip in between each petal to allow for better turning.

• To turn the flower inside you, draw a 1½" long line on the center of the flower.

• Being super careful in order to cut JUST the top layer, pinch the fabric so that you can cut the line you traced.

Try to separate the top layer from the bottom and interfacing.

•  Carefully turn the flower inside out through the hole.

• Press well.

• Close the hole using a hand needle. Press the raw edges towards the inside of the flower and close with a slip stitch.
• Repeat this process to finish all of the flowers.

Now that you have the base and the flowers ready, it's time to sew them together!

Step 3. Putting it all together

• Pair one big flower with one small flower in a contrasting color so that you have ten combinations. 

• Place them on the base quilt to establish the order that your prefer. Pin them in place.
• Grab one big flower, one small flower, and a pearl bead. You will now begin to hand sew them to the base of the quilt. First start by putting the needle through the center of the wrong side of the big flower and go through the center of the flower, catching the bead as well by going through the hole.

• Now, go back through the center of the small flower, then though the big flower and catch the top layer of the base quilt.
• Repeat again.

• Do this a couple of times to secure the flowers well. To finish, do an extra stitch on the bottom of the piece, or in a hidden portion, and pass the needle back through the stitch to form a knot. Do it again to double the knot. 
• Repeat until you have finished attaching all the flowers to the base quilt.

I hope you enjoy making this bed runner. To creating great off-to-school memories!

xoxo

FREE Project : Tablet Coverlet

Hi there! Friday is almost here and it time to get some weekend sewing done! So I have a quickie free sewing project for you that will take no time at all. It's a Tablet Coverlet. Sew one up for yourself, a friend or your techy hubby or dad for Father's Day!

Here are some other fabric ideas.

The Tablet Coverlet is a nice way to keep your electronics protected and make it personalized.

Although this is a simple project, I love using my BERNINA 780 for it. The machine makes this so effortless for my by cutting the thread for me at the end of my seam! Next time I think I'm going to quilt my Tablet Coverlet using free-motion stitching with the BERNINA Stitch Regulator (BSR). That would really make the solid Pure Elements fabric pop!

You can find the link to the Tablet Coverlet instructions here.

What you'll need:

• 3/8 yd of Fabric A
• 3/8 yd of Fabric B
• 1/8 yd of Fabric C
• 3/8 yd of Muslin 44" wide
• 3/8 yd of Fleece 45" wide (sew-in)
• 1 3/4" x 10 1/4" strip of interfacing (medium weight non-fusible)
• Turning Tool
• Hand sewing needle

Happy sewing!

 

FREE Project : Cooking with Spice

Mother's Day in less than a month away! If your mom loves to cook, why not gift her with an apron? Your mom would love a handmade gift from you!

My Spice It Up apron is feminine and flattering and can be sewn up in about a day.

What You'll Need:

• 3/4 yd of Fabric A
• 1/2 yd of Fabric B
• 1/2 yd of Fabric C

Click here for the free PDF directions.

Happy sewing,
Pat

Love Notes for you

Hello loves!
So happy to be talking with you again. After reading your comments on my latest post, I don't have enough words to thank you all the outpouring of love you sent me!! You are so nice... thank you from the bottom of my heart :)

It has been a crazy week here! I've been working on some other juicy posts I'll share with you with my experiences in Paris and London. This year I was very blessed traveling to Europe twice, and I was saying to Walter how much I'd have loved you could come with me and see all the beauty there! But don't worry, I'll try to show you as much as I can :)

On quilting news, I love some projects that I'm working on... my projects... for my blog :) I can't wait because I love making stuff!

Since I love scarves, I thought you maybe needing quick projects for Christmas, so I decided to make the cute and oh-so-easy "Love Notes" for you. Because this is its name, lol! 

They are really flattering and, depending on the fabric, they can match any outfit on your wardrobe. Now, for the fun part, is to choose the fabric! You can make Love Notes in quilting cotton weight like me  -Miami weather, I need lighter ones :) If you live up north, you can use one layer of cotton and the other one of flannel. This is a great excersise for the brain, like I like to call it... decisions, decisions!

Finished size: 11¼" × 76"

Do you want to make it along with me? Lets's start!

You will need:

• 1½ yds of the fabric of choice
• 19" elastic band (1/8" thick) Cut in half

NOTIONS:

• Turning Tool
• Hand Sewing Needle

Step 1. Cut the scarf fabric
Sew all right sides together with ¼" seam allowance. Press open.

• Cut 2 (two) 24” x WOF rectangles from fabric selected
• Place one rectangle on top of the other and fold them in half lengthwise.
• Make a mark 10” from the corner inward on the unfolded side.

10” from the corner inward

Step 2. Attach pieces at center back

• Attach them the two pieces of fabric crossgrain wise on the straight edge, making sure that the pointed corners (created on Step) are facing outward. This creates the center back of the scarf. 

• Press the seam open.

 Step 3. Close the curved seam 

• Now that you have only one continuous piece, the next step is to fold it in half lengthwise (right sides facing each other).
• Pin and sew along the open edges. Start on the straight side about 2 inches before the center back seam (back-stitch). Sew all around the piece pivoting at the corners with the needle down. Stop 3” (back-stitching here too) from the starting point. Leaving this opening will allow turning later in the process.

• Make small cuts (clips) along the curved edges being careful not to cut through through the seam. This releases some of the tension created when sewing a curve. Press the whole piece.

 Step 4. Attach elastic band to fabric

• Take one of the 9½" elastic bands and sew it on one of the curved seams. At this point the scarf is still inside out. Make sure to pull the elastic as you sew so that when stretched, the elastic reaches from corner to corner. Back stitch at both ends, and if in any case you should stop, make sure that the needle stays down and through the elastic.

• As you sew the elastic on, it will begin to gather with the fabric. Make sure to stabilize the fabric in the back while still pulling the elastic in the front.

•  When you are done trim the excess fabric to reduce volume (optional).

•  Repeat the previous step on the other curved side of the scarf.

  
Step 5. Turn and gather

• The next step is to turn the scarf inside out with a turning tool.
• Place the turning tool on one corner of the scarf, and push it until it goes all the way through the 3” opening you left on step 3.

• Repeat the previous step with the other corner so that the right side of the fabric is completely out. Make sure to push the turning tool well at the corners so that they are completely turned toward the right side. Press well.

• To create further volume in the scarf ends, you will make long stitches along the elastic seam using a hand needle.

Elastic Seam

• Start on one side at the tip of the scarf with a single-threaded needle, using a thread that blends with the fabric.

• Create a long stitch (about 1") in between both layers of fabric. Do NOT go through the back of the fabric.

• Pull the needle so that it is facing you, and when you create the next stitch (on the outside) take care to see that it is a short one (about 1/8”). Continue making one long stitch inside and one short stitch outside. Keeping all the long stitches hidden in between fabrics, and until your reach the same level of the elastic.

• Once you reach the elastic level, pull the thread gently in order for it to further gather the fabric.

• While holding the gathered fabric, finish the stitch by looping the thread so that it stays in place.

• The finished gathered ends look like this:

Step 6. Finishing the scarf

• To finish, close the 3” opening with a hand sewing needle creating an invisible stitch*. No stitches should show on the right side. Press well.

Did you have fun? It's really easy! They are great gifts for your children' teacher -well, not for mine, since he is 23 lol! For friends and coworkers, they're also so cute to give. I am making some for the ladies that work at my local post office. I'm sure they will be so happy!

I want to thank my sweet Priscilla who helped me on some of the photos :)

If you want to have a free pdf file instead, you can download the Love Notes Scarf pattern here, along with various other sewing projects.

Have fun and happy sewing :)