Fashion and Indie Folk

Hello everyone!

I wanted to make this blog post for a long time now, but I finally took a little break from sewing and making fun YouTube videos and started typing away. As you all know, I love fashion and I seek inspiration for future collections on the latest fashion runways. Once my collection is finished, I refer to fashion runways and trends, once again, for my LookBook production.
For example, I created these stunning pair of jeans with my Khokhloma Burgundia print. I cut some of the big and small flowers and glued it to the jeans with fabric glue. I was inspired to do so by looking at some awesome fashion trends.  

When I design my collections, I focus on how these fabrics are going to be use for future makers. I want to make sure they can make their outstanding quilts as well as fabulous outfit. For example using Khokhloma Gloom and Flecks Indigo, I created this jacket, which perfect for a Sunday stroll.

So there you have it, a little bit of my inspiration when creating textile designs. Stay tuned for a new video coming up your way very soon. Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell button to be notify of new awesome videos! 

xoxo

Pat B.

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

Mini Infinity Scarf Tutorial

Hello lovelies, 

I wanted to share with you a quick tutorial on a Mini Infinity Scarf featuring Shore Remains Algae voile from Etno Fabrics. Sometimes you just need an accessory to complete your outfit and this fast tutorial will help you with that ☺It will only take you 20 minutes to complete this project, leaving you with an adorable scarf. 

What you'll need:

►5/8 yards of Shore Remains Algae in Voile

►Sewing Machine
►Matching thread

Once you have your fabric folded (diagram 1), straight stitch all the way down the length of the scarf (right sides facing each other) using 1/2'' seam allowance. 

Turn the scarf right side out then match seams of both open edges and pin to match seams, try to sew all the way around while leaving a small opening were later you are going to blind hand stitch.  

And voila! your mini infinity scarf is complete! You can always alter the size of the scarf. In my case I use 20'' * WOF allowing me to turn it over twice, but you can make it bigger depending on the length that you want.

I hope you enjoy this mini tutorial!

xoxo

Pat

FREE Projects: Dreaming in French

Hello lovelies!

Today I feel very inspired by pastel colors and Paris! So I want to share not one, but two free projects using my Dreaming in French collection. Like this stunning Peony Pillow featuring  Pink Coquette design from Dreaming in French and Oval Elements' Petal Pink.

To download instruction click here.

What you'll Need: 

• 2 ¾ yd of Fabric A
• ¼ yd of Fabric B
• 1 (one) 21" pillow form round

And this sweet and cute Romance Pillow designed using Orchid Bloom from Dreaming in French and Pure Elements' Vere Violet! 

To download instruction click here.

What you'll need:

• ½ yd of Fabric B
• Fat eight of Fabric A
• 1 (one) 16" × 22" thin batting piece
• 11" × 18" piece of Steam a Seam 2 Interfacing (Double sided ultra light weight)
• 1 (one) 14" × 20" pillow form
• Color coordinated thread (lime green & violet)

I hope you enjoy creating these two wonderful and fun projects that will illuminate your home! 

Enjoy a happy day of sewing my lovelies

Love,

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 : Quilt as You Go

Hello! It's Hump Day. And there is nothing better to get you through Wednesday than a free quilting project! 

I wanted to take the opportunity to show you a technique on how to attach blocks that have already been individually quilted.

Here's what you'll need:

• Ten (10) 9¼" x 9¼" quilted blocks
• One (1) 1¼" x WOF strip of choice of fabric (in this case I used Pure Elements White Linen)
• Four (4) 1¼" x 19½" strip of same fabric chosen
• For Binding: Three (3) 1½" x WOF strips of fabric chosen (for further instructions on Binding, go here)

The first thing, if you have not already done so, is to trim the excess batting that you have after quilting and to square your blocks so that they measure, in this case, 9¼" x 9¼".

Once they are ready to be sewn, display them on the wall to see what arrangement you like best.

Now you can start to construct the rows individually. It is important that you sew them WRONG side to WRONG side with a ¼" seam allowance. Yes, you read correctly! That is the first part of the trick here!

Press seams open after sewing. You will have at least three layers to press, so press carefully.

Now attach the two rows together, WRONG side to WRONG side again. If you you find that the intersections are too bulky and it's creating difficulty with your machine. You can CAREFULLY trim down the batting around those areas with the scissors.

Press the seam open.

Grab all the 1¼" x WOF strips and fold in. Press ¼" on each of the long sides of the each strip.

In this tutorial, what I'm going to show you is a different way to do sashing in "applique" style in order to cover unfinished seams and also bring more design and visual interest to your piece. As far as color for the thread, you can choose to use matching color thread for the top fabric.

First, attach the longer strip right on and center it with the seam that attaches the two rows. Pin as needed and top-stitch 1/16" away from the edge of the strip of both sides. Press.

Once you finish that strip, you can proceed to sew on the strips that go on top of the "vertical" seams, following the same process as the horizontal strip.

After you have finished pressing, use a rotary cutter and ruler to trim the excess sashing.

Now you are ready to bind it! If you have a preferred way of binding your quilt, go for it. In this case, I used the same technique I usually do on my Free Quilt Patterns.

Pretty simple, huh? This is an easy way to make a modern and colorful quilt. The decorative stitches add a nice and different touch to a solid fabric.

Happy Wednesday!
Pat